Finally, We Meet
“Good morning, Hayden,” I greeted him when he started stirring in bed.
He smiled at me and how his smile reached his beautiful blue eyes made my heart skip a beat in pleasant surprise.
“Morning, Malissa…” Hayden greeted me in return before he got up and stretched.
I wished that I could do the same but the soreness of my body, especially in that place in between my legs prevented me from doing so. We made love late into the night the night before and my body was paying for it very dearly this morning. Hayden, on the other hand, seemed fit and fine as always.
“Hungry?” He asked.
“Not really…” I replied softly.
“You can sleep in for today if you want. Unfortunately, I have some work to do so I’ll be getting up first,” Hayden said passively.
“Oh no…I’ll rather go with you,” I said decisively.
“I see. That might be better…” Hayden said before smiling a little my way.
By the time we showered and got dressed for the day, Luka was already waiting for us in the living room. His face seemed sterner and more alert than yesterday. One look at his face and we both knew that he had some news to break to us.
“He’s here,” Luka announced.
He…as in…?
“The Head of Silva…” Hayden answered my unasked question as he smirked in satisfaction.
I didn’t know how Hayden knew but he was right. The man that he wanted to meet, the boss of Silva, was now on this very ship. I couldn’t explain why, but I started to have a very bad feeling about these two men meeting. Hayden seemed very fixated on this man who was the boss of the silva gang. The boss did refer to this man as Hayden’s old friend, I wondered if that was true.
“Are you…going to meet him?” I asked in a small voice.
“Of course. That’s why I came all the way out here,” Hayden replied without a second thought.
“Will everything be ok?” I asked.This belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.
Honestly, I felt very worried for Hayden’s safety. The relationship between the two gangs seemed strained and I wasn’t sure if meeting the boss head on was going to be the right move.
“Of course. I can’t be sure if the talks and negotiations will go well but at least you don’t have to worry about having a shoot out here. Head of gangs don’t just randomly shoot at each other, you know?” Hayden said, completely relaxed.
“No…I don’t…” I mumbled.
“Haha! You’re so funny. You’re right, I guess you wouldn’t know…” Hayden said with a laugh.
“I’m just worried since you guys don’t seem to be on good terms,” I voiced my concern.
“It’s just business, but you’re right, I’m not particularly fond of the man. You can come along,” Hayden said flatly.
“Really?” I asked in surprise.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come along but perhaps it was better than worrying all alone in my room. Plus, I could tell that Hayden would feel more at ease if I went along. After all, he’d been keeping a keen eye on me since we boarded the ship, and he did order me to say by his side always.
“Yes. We’ll just be talking so if you just sit quietly by my side, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Hayden said.
“Ok…if you say so…” I replied.
Luka informed us that the head of the Silva gang had invited us to have dinner with him. If I had any worries about being unwelcomed at the dinner my doubts were put to rest with the wording of his invitation.
“See? It does say that he’s inviting me and my lady to dinner,” Hayden said as he showed me the invitation message.
“Maybe it’s because his girlfriend or wife is joining too…” I said casually.
“Maybe…” Hayden said as his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
…
“Will you be, ok?” Luka asked, implying that he wanted to join the meeting too.
“Yes. It’ll be fine. It’s just dinner…and we’ll talk,” Hayden replied casually.
Luka seemed hesitant as he considered what was best given the situation.
“Men from both our gangs will stand guard outside the room. I think that’s the best that we can do. We’ll keep the meeting between the gang’s representative as he had requested. So, for Torex, that would be Malissa and me,” Hayden said firmly. It was clear that his mind was made up.
Luka quickly realized that as well and he nodded in acknowledgement before turning to give instruction to his men who will undoubtedly be standing as guards.
“What is he like…the boss of Silva…?” I asked in wonder.
Was he perhaps like the boss of Torex. Old, wild and with a cynical sense of humor. Pushing and willing to do everything to get his way. The image of the boss of Silva that I had was basically like the boss but with a different hair color. Clearly, I had to work on my imaginary skills…
The appointment time finally arrived. Hayden and I were dressed for the occasion. Fortunately, the light pink cocktail dress that I had on was less tight compared to the dress I wore for the opening night. I mean, it was dinner so having some room for my stomach to expand when I ate would be very helpful.
Hayden held my hand all the way to the room where we would be meeting the boss of Silva. I felt very nervous as I stood in front of the room with Hayden. For some reason, the aura coming out of the room felt very intimidating. Hayden, on the other hand, seemed very much relaxed and ready for whatever was going to happen.
“Shall we?” Hayden asked invitingly as he smiled sweetly at me.
I knew that he was trying to make me feel less nervous, but I couldn’t quite answer back. Nodding my head slightly to his words was all that I could do. I felt weirdly nervous, and my throat felt very dry all of a sudden.
Luka opened the door for us, and we slowly walked in.
“Hayden, representative of Torex,” Hayden said sounding like a monotonous machine as he introduced himself.
“Ethan, head of Silva,” a man’s voice readily introduced himself in reply.
Dark hair, piercing green eyes and a mocking smile that I could never forget. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe, and my chest felt tight. In that moment, time seemed to have come to a complete stop. I was too shocked to move or speak as my mind connected the dots of what was totally unexpected. How could this be happening?
Ethan…why are you here?
–To be continued…