Two weeks. It had been two weeks since I joined back the office and no matter how bad it sounded, coming here everyday and burying myself in work helped.

Although it was wrong that I wasn't letting my inner thoughts reach me and I wasn't giving much time to myself but if it meant that it kept me from overthinking about everything, then I had to learn to live like this.

Mr. Rhodes and I didn't have much of an out of ordinary incident after that and I was starting to think that he regretted the time that we spent together. I mean at that time I was vulnerable and I just gave in to him when he cared and looked after me with so much engrossment.

But I was starting to think that maybe he felt like he gave too much. He didn't show it or he wasn't rude to me but recently whenever I looked into his eyes, the passion and longing I once saw wasn't there and although I knew it was coming sooner or later, it still hurt me that he forgot everything about us and the bond we shared so easily.

I sighed and got up from the chair as I wondered what could he possibly call me for now. He barely called me into his office these days unless it was necessary and now that he did, I figured it was something important so I took a deep breath and made my way to his room like the professional secretary that I was.

"Oh good, you're here. I need you to make some reservations for me, Miss Reinhart," he said and I nodded and waited for him to continue.

"I'll be flying to Germany tomorrow evening," he said and started working on his laptop like my work was done here and that I was dismissed.

"Uh— how many days will you be staying there, Mr. Rhodes?" I squeaked in a small voice because hello I needed full details if I had to make reservations for him.

"Umm...well I'm not sure yet. Just make the reservations in the hotel I e-mailed you right now. It's my friend's so I don't think there would be any complications," he shrugged it off and that was my cue to leave because that man did not even bother to lift his eyes up to give me a second glance.

"Sure thing," I said and turned around on my heels as I exited his office as fast as I could.

My heart clenched in my chest when I thought about how nonchalant he was about me. How he didn't even bother to properly look at me.

I could feel the tears brimming in my eyes but I took a deep breath, held my chin up and swallowed back my tears.

I couldn't cry over him.

I knew that the both of us could never work out so I didn't even know what was I hanging on to all this time. He was a billionaire and I was nothing compared to him.

How pathetic of me to think that there could ever be anything between him and I.

************

Three days later, I was sitting on my office chair and going through the recent article they posted about the great event held in Germany.

Of course the only reason I was reading this article and watching the pictures was because Mr. Rhodes was in the spotlight and in each and every picture, I saw him with a blonde model named Natasha.

Natasha was so utterly ravishing that seeing her with arms hooked with Mr. Rhodes made my blood boil in anger and an emotion that could only be deciphered as....hurt.

I was hurt, mostly because the way Mr. Rhodes was smiling and the way they both were having the time of their lives in each other's company. It made me realise that she was the one who truly deserved someone like him.

I wasn't sure if she was her date for that night but by the looks of it, it seemed as if she was with him. They looked like the star couple.

And I wondered why Mr. Rhodes didn't ask me to accompany him this time, I sighed.

"Hey Belle, what's up?"

Sasha barged into my room with a file in her hands.

She plopped down on the chair and sighed before looking at me weirdly.

"Why does it look like you just saw a ghost?"

"Nah. I'm good," I closed the lid on my Mac and held my face in my hands resting my elbows on the table.

Since Mr. Rhodes was gone, the office was a mess. Nobody had any idea when was he coming back so nobody even cared to follow the rules anymore.

Like here I was guessing that Sasha was probably off to the copy room but she decided to take some rest when she saw my cabin and came in.

Yes I was that observant.

"Who's Natasha Perez?" I casually asked with a neutral face, trying to play cool but of course, it was Sasha we were talking about.

"Ohhhh, so you saw the articles too, eh?" she wiggled her eyebrows and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah duh. It's all over the internet. I'm just asking out of curiosity," I shrugged.

"Sure sure. Well she's a model and I've heard she's Mr. Rhodes old acquaintance. Probably old friend or something," she said and I nodded my head, hoping to get some more information out of her since she started working here long before I did.

"Someone's jealous," she smirked and tied her hands at the back of her head.

"Pfftt, yeah sure," I lied and dismissed her with a wave of my hand but of course I couldn't shake the strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

*************

"Haven't you heard? He's coming back tomorrow," Alex said into the phone and all the colour in my face drained.

"Oh?"

It almost had been a week since Mr. Rhodes was gone and I didn't know how to react to the fact that he was coming back tomorrow and that I being his personal secretary still didn't know about it.

I wondered if he even planned on telling me.

"Well I've gotta run right now. Talk to you later Jellybelly!"

"Yeah sure bye," I said into the phone and cut the call before throwing myself on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

I didn't know how to feel about the fact that he was coming back. I mean there was no denying that I missed him but some irrational part of me was still mad at him for forgetting about whatever bond we once had.

I wanted to see him. The entire week, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. When I didn't have to take coffee to his office every morning. When I wasn't scared to sneak out a little early. When there was no one to call me so my entire day was spent staying in the office.

I knew it was him. But I just didn't know if things would be different from when he left or not.

*************

I didn't know why I did it.

I was never the one to put so much effort in my daily attire.

Today when I was getting ready for office, I spent half an hour on choosing what I was going to wear and after some shit load of effort, I finally settled on a black dress with black heels and tied my hair in a messy bun.

My outfit wasn't too fancy, but it couldn't be called casual either.

This was ridiculous. I didn't even know why was I so excited to see him again.

After entering the building, like everyday, my eyes went to Sasha's table and she mouthed a OH MY GOD when she saw me.

She gave me a thumbs up and I giggled like a teenage school girl.

When I reached my office, I sat down and got to work. It was obvious that if Mr. Rhodes flight landed this morning then he'll be in the office by noon or evening.

So I knew I had to cover everything up before he came back because I didn't want him to think that I loosened up on the work while he was gone.

Which I did by the way.

************

It was five when I got a call on the landline and I just knew it was him. My gut feeling told me it was him and sure enough, when I picked up the call he told me to come to his office.

I stood up from the chair and after fixing my hair and dress, I made my way towards his office through the joint door, biting my lips nervously.

"Welcome back, Mr. Rhodes," I said in a tiny voice as I stood before him and saw him flipping through the pages of a file.

"Oh thank you. Please have a seat Miss Reinhart," he lifted his eyes up, took one bored look at me and went back to reading whatever it was on the pages and my heart clenched in my chest as I sat down opposite to him with a forced smile on my face.

He didn't even bother to have to proper look at me.

"So Miss Reinhart, tell me what'd I miss?" he casually asked and raised his gaze with the same bored and uninterested look in his eyes that I dig my nails deep in my palms to focus on the physical pain rather than emotional.

I mustered up my best smile with glistening eyes and started talking about everything that had happened this week so far.

My eyes were fixed with his, and although I was ranting about work, I knew he wasn't listening to me. His eyes were boring into mine, he was looking for something.

Maybe looking for any traces of the pain he caused me. Too bad, just like him, I also knew when and how to mask my emotions.

When I was done, I so gracefully stood up from the chair while just for a second I noticed an emotion cross his eyes that was gone as soon as it came.

I wished him a good day and turned around to walk back into my office as tears started filling my eyes.

****************************

Poor old Belle lol.

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