When I went into work the next day, I didn’t even so much glance at Aria because I wanted to let her continue believing that I was done with her. If she wanted things to be different, she would have to come to me this time. Maybe I would even make her beg… after all, I did suffer a great deal for her sake, and she needed to not only know that, but appreciate it fully so that she would never try and make things difficult for me again.
The few times I did look up towards her booth, I caught her staring at my office, to my great satisfaction. She obviously wanted to run in here and ask me what was going on, especially since I never even replied to her email. Well, she was free to walk in any minute; she just wouldn’t get any prodding from my end.
To my great surprise, she never came in the whole day, and when I saw her begin to leave from work that evening, I almost reached out to her myself. But I had to have better restraint, if things were going to go my way from now on. I couldn’t let my need to talk to her overcome me, since I was trying hard to never show another sign of weakness. Thankfully, I didn’t have to test myself for much longer because soon after she left the bank, my phone rang. It was her, so I thumbed the talk button.
“You have decided to speak to me then,” I answered the phone.
She didn’t speak for what felt like almost a whole minute, after which she said, “I sent you an email!”
“How thoughtful,” I said sardonically. “I sit ten feet away from you.”
“You never wrote back,” she said softly.
“I had nothing to say. What did you want me to say?”
“I don’t know. Our contract. What is going on, Zayden? Just tell me, are we still doing this?”
“Last I remember, you wanted desperately to get out of this contract,” I scoffed. Perhaps I should have stopped; I had already given her enough of a scare, but there was something about the feeling of being powerful that I just could not pass up on.
“That’s not true,” she snapped. “Obviously, if I emailed you asking where you stand on the contract, it means I’m still in.”
“I think,” I said with a triumphant smile. “I think you need to revisit the dictionary in reference to what constitutes the word ‘obvious.’ In no way have you said to me that you want to continue the contract. You need to, I mean.”
“Look, I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not biting. Just skip the games, Zayden. Do you want this or not?”
“What am I trying to do?” I asked pretending to sound surprised. “It’s pretty funny that you think you know something I am supposedly doing that I don’t know myself, don’t you think?”
“You want me to beg,” she said simply. “You want me to tell you just how much I need this and how I will do anything to continue the contract.”
“Well, then?”
“Are you definitely getting rid of your ex?”
“Already done it, thanks to you.”
“Sarcasm?”
“No, not at all!” I exclaimed. “Because you put me in a situation where I had no choice but to end it with her–”
“You had a choice,” she sounded delighted now. “You always have a choice.”
“Aria, don’t be such a smart ass. As I was saying, since I had no choice in the matter, I had to come up with a way to end it with Gina in a way that best suited everyone involved. Without that kind of a pressure to
get on this right away, I probably would have been trapped forever.”
“What pressure? I didn’t put any pressure on you!”
“Right,” I scoffed. “None at all. I am not complaining, Aria. You did me quite the favor.”
“So your mother?”
“She will not be giving me, herself, or anyone else any more trouble.”
“You sound like you murdered her,” she said giggling.
“I wish,” I joked. “I just played her own games against her so she now feels responsible for ruining my life. Petty details, really. But let’s stick to what is important. The contract. You were saying? Something about really, really needing–”
“I didn’t say that,” she said, the defiant tone back. “Your ex is gone, then, that is good news. And how about who I am allowed to speak with?”