“Yeah, you?” he asked her and Belle clenched her jaw. What was happening to them? Weren’t couples supposed to eat together?
“No, but I’m not hungry I guess,” she said and watched as he walked over to the couch and sat down with a thump.
“Jesse,” Belle said, placing a hand on her left hip. He looked up at her, while he plugged in the controls of his playstation.
“Yeah?” he asked, and he looked away, like he wasn’t expecting her to say anything important. Now that she looked at him, she realized that she felt nothing. None of the emotions she had felt when Devon had looked at her. Even without touching her, he had managed to make her bubble with excitement. Something that Jesse had never been able to do.
“What are we going to do about next month’s rent? I won’t be able to afford th
e whole thing,” she said and gulped. She had so much more to say, to ask him, but his attention was drifting already.
“We’ll manage. I’ll figure something out,” he said distractedly. Belle rolled her eyes and breathed in deeply. Her cellphone on the kitchen counter beeped and she walked towards it. She was feeling mixed emotions of guilt and anger, and they were all directed at Jesse.
On her phone, she saw that she had received an email, from Devon Rymer. Quickly turning her back to Jesse, with a flush of guilt rushing to her cheeks, she opened the email.
Hello Belle,
I’m sorry about what happened in the office earlier. It was entirely my fault and I take the blame for it completely. But I don’t think we should allow for it to happen again. I’m going to ask Susan to move you to our Brooklyn office. You’ll keep your role, but just be out of my way. I wanted to warn you myself.
Devon Rymer
Belle read it again, three times over and then Jesse’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She hadn’t been able to believe what she was reading. She had expected things to get awkward between the two of them now, but this was the last thing she saw coming.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said and she jerked her head up to look at Jesse. She could feel her nostrils flaring.
“I’m being moved to the Brooklyn office,” she said, as she stared at him with unblinking eyes. She still couldn’t believe it.
“That’s great isn’t it? Your office will be closer to us that way,” Jesse said, still tapping away at his playstation controls. He was speaking robotically, just with mild interest in what she was saying. He was more engrossed in his game.
“No, I want to keep working at the Manhattan office,” she said, suddenly snapping out of her dazed thoughts.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Jesse asked.
“I’m going to go speak to Devon Rymer. I know he doesn’t leave his office before seven. If I go now, I can still make it,” she said and looked expectantly at Jesse. She wasn’t sure why she was staring at him. Perhaps she was hoping that he would stop her, that maybe they might sit together and discuss the situation and he could give her some support. Perhaps she was waiting for some sort of sign from the Universe that would tell her that she shouldn’t be going to see Devon.
But nothing happened. Jesse continued to play his game and Belle licked her lips. She knew that was not what Devon wanted. That would be exactly the opposite of what he wanted. But if he was going to move her from the Manhattan office, she wasn’t going to go out without a fight. She was going to face up to him. After all, he was wrong; he wasn’t entirely to blame. She was just as much at fault as he was and he needed to know that.
Devon
Devon had the lights dimmed in his office. He was aware that apart from the security personal downstairs, there was no other soul in the building. It was nearly eight now, but he continued typing away at his computer. Keeping himself engrossed in work had helped him to distract his thoughts from Belle and what happened earlier that day.
He was also glad that he had found the strength to send that email to her. Once she moved to the Brooklyn office in a few days, he wouldn’t be in danger of bumping into her in the elevator or the corridors. He’d be able to take the temptation away of calling her to his office too.
The soft ping of the elevator doors opening outside alerted him, and Devon looked up from his typing. A few moments later there was a sharp rap on the door.
“Come in” he called out, thinking that it might be Lily and that she had forgotten a file or something. The door opened, and instead of Lily, Belle was on the other side.
She was panting, giving him the impression that she had been running.
“I wasn’t sure if you would still be here but I decided to take my chances,” Belle said, stepping in confidently.
She was dressed much differently than she usually was for work, and that took Devon by mild surprise. In a pair of distressed boxy jeans that just about reached her ankles, and an oversized t-shirt; Belle looked casual chic and fashionable. Her waist length bronze hair was left open and was still a little damp, and he wondered if she had just had a shower. She usually tied her hair in a bun or plaited it for work, so seeing it open like that made Devon shift in his seat.
“How can I help you, Belle?” he asked, in a curt voice.
She entered his office and shut the door behind her.
“You can help me by explaining why you want me gone from this office,” she said, striding confidently towards his desk.