My Mentor's Secret Baby - His Secret Baby

Now I felt more upset than yesterday. It was vital that I talk to Hazel before she became distracted by the other writers or her ideas again. I jumped out of bed and hurried to put my clothes and shoes on. Once dressed, I ran from the room and made it just in time to catch the elevator. I tapped my fingers against my thigh nervously the entire ride to the conference room.

The elevator doors opened once we reached the correct floor. I got out quickly and looked around the entire room for her. The writers in the group had already paired off and were deep in discussions. It took a few minutes, but I finally spotted Hazel seated in an armchair in a corner of the room. I smiled with relief when I saw her, but the smile was soon wiped from my face when I saw that she wasn’t alone. Sitting in a chair next to her was Jay, the flirty writer.

As I watched them talk and laugh, I felt a knot of anger form in the pit of my stomach. Standing quietly in the corner of the room where they couldn’t see me, I just stayed frozen.

After a while, Hazel got up, hugged Jay good-bye, and left. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for.

I took Jay by surprise as I walked up behind him. “Whoa! Little too close, dude!” he exclaimed as he tried to put some space between us.

Deliberately staying in the same spot, I glared at him for a few seconds before I said, “You better stay away from my girl!”

Jay blinked in confusion before defending himself. “Look, old man, I don’t know you, and I have no idea what you are talking about!” he scoffed.

I took a step forward. “I’m talking about Hazel. She’s my girl,” I informed him.

He laughed at me with disdain. “No, she’s not! She’s too young and pretty to be with you! You’re just a dirty old man who needs to learn how to respect people!” The other writer sneered at me before he walked off. His words left me filled with anger.

I didn’t want to write. I felt like I was losing Hazel. What I wanted more than anything was to get the hell out of there and maybe find a drink. I hurried up to my room, packed my bags, and left as quickly as I could. I didn’t bother to seek out Hazel or talk to her before I caught the shuttle into town. I was too angry. I just needed to be alone. Jay’s words had affected me too much for me to think rationally.

Chapter Nine – Hazel

It had been a few weeks into the retreat, and I was still excited since I had accomplished a lot more than I expected to with my novel in a short amount of time. I was proud and eager to share my work with people. I had already told Jay, who had proven to be a very supportive friend. However, there was one person that I was incredibly excited to share my work with, that was Alex.

It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen my mentor in some time. In fact, I didn’t remember seeing him at all during those weeks. That was something that needed to be fixed immediately. I brushed my hair and gave myself a once over in the mirror before I left my room. Hurrying over to Alex’s room, I knocked on the door. I waited for a few minutes, but there was no answer. Knocking again, I waited longer.

Getting frustrated with waiting, I went downstairs to search for him. I asked around, but no one had seen him in a while, not even Jay. Fed up, I went and asked at the front desk. All they could tell me was that when housekeeping went up a few weeks ago, Alex’s room was empty. They just assumed he left the retreat.

“Thank you,” I told the concierge as I walked away from the reception desk in anger.

I went back to my room because I needed to be alone and let my emotions out. I couldn’t believe he just disappeared like that. No, wait, I could. Alex had done it before, so I didn’t know why I thought now would be any different.

I was so frustrated and angry with him that it felt like I hated him and didn’t want anything more to do with him. He proved once again that he was nothing more than a coward. Once things got to be too difficult or required effort on his part, he just ran off.

Well, that was fine with me. I was much better off without him since I was free to concentrate on my writing now like I was initially supposed to. I didn’t have the additional worry of having to motivate Alex anymore.