Pulling away from her, Rey looked at the screen on his phone to see Andrew's message. Their time in the restaurant was up and they needed to head down and off the restaurant.
The breathless and red faced Mia looked at Rey's now expressionless face and wondered what the content of the phone could possibly be about.
"We need to leave." He grabs her hand and she frowns.
"Just like that?" She asked before she could stop herself and he raised a brow at her.
"Looking for something more?" His lips lifted in a mean smile and at once she was brought back to reality and reminded of her position.
"N…no." She stuttered looking down at her legs.
Damn! Being stoic was better than letting him penetrate her thoughts and toy with her feelings.
She looked up at him and saw him tilt his head to the side as if giving a sign to someone. She didn't know what to expect but she turned to look and saw the photographer's back. It seemed their little show was really over.
She looked over at the vase of flowers with a longing she could not hide.
"Do you want it?" She heard his impatient voice.
"What…no. No, I don't." She was disoriented at the moment.
Why would she want the vase of flowers? What would she do with it when it would only serve the purpose of reminding her about her unlucky situation and bad choice.
"Then get your ass moving." He ordered mindlessly, making her blood boil but it would only stop at boiling, it's not like she can knock him over and give him the piece of her mind.
She tried to retract her hand from his.
"And what do you think you are doing?" Rey's frown was evident, he sounded impatient.
"I can walk on my own." She stated but he tutted.
"Behave." He maintained his grip and led her down the stairs and to the car, packed with Andrew waiting inside.
Opening the door for Mia, Rey orders her to enter.
"How was the proposal Rey?" Andrew's voice floated into Mia's ears and it made her ears tingle, bringing her to an abrupt stop.
"What do you think you are doing? Get in." Rey's cold voice ordered but she stood still.
"And you, Andrew, get your shit together."
Andrew lowered his head at the driver seat to get a view of Reynoldo and Mia, seeing the dark cloud over their faces, he decided it was best to shut his mouth tightly and mind his business.
"Get in." Rey's voice was firmer this time, it felt like he was ordering a stubborn child of ten around.
Mia looked up at him, her eyes had a film of tears covering them, her chest heaved and her lips broadened into something close to a smile.
Some people were beginning to troop in and it got Rey pensive, his hand holding the door tightened, his jaw tightened too and his eyes went hard.
"If your aim is to get yourself exposed to the public, you would have to think twice about that. It isn't time yet."
Looking back at Andrew whose face looked straight ahead but his ear twitched, she looked back at Rey and summoned the courage to look him straight in the eyes.
"Don't you think you should be the one paying up the 15 million dollars, Sir?" Her smile widened but the light in her eyes was dimmed, making it weirder for Rey to look at her without having some ounce of pity.
"What do you mean?"
"Andrew." She called out.
"What about Andrew?" He asked with a sneer.
Hearing his name, Andrew turned to see Rey and Mia both looking at him with different expressions and he felt like his life span had been cut short this time. Not wasting any moment looking at them, he turned his face away instantly.
"You told him about the contract."
Knowing what she was implying, Rey scoffed. "Are you dumb?" He asked and opened the door wider, tipping his head towards the entrance of the car unsmiling, urging her to go in.
Mia felt her heart drop to her tummy in a thud, it was painful, a dull pain that brought tears to her eyes all over again and made her throat tighten into a knot.
Somewhere within her, she knew the best thing to do was obey and not utter a word but she allowed herself to be reckless.
"No." She stated, her chin tipped higher as if to challenge him, her free hand tightening into a knot.
"You disgust me." He said yet another harsh word.
'disgust?' Mia thought to herself, her breath came out shaky.
Andrew's hands gripped the steering wheels and he let out a cough, once, then twice.
"Get out!" Rey barked looking straight at Mia, her eyes widened but she made no move to leave. Where was she supposed to head to?
"Andrew." Rey's hard voice called.
"Boss." Andrew's strained voice.
"Get the fuck out." He repeated, his voice harder this time, not breaking eye contact with Mia.
"Ok." Came Andrew's curt reply and the door got opened and closed again without neither of them turning to look.
Andrew looked at them and felt the palpable tension in the air, at the same time, he looked around him to notice that people were discreetly staring at him. This was not good.
"Rey?" He called and tried to inform Reynaldo but only got Reynaldo to lift his index finger into the air at him, signifying that he needed no interruption.
Not wanting to bother him, he got his ass moving, occasionally looking back at them.
"And here I thought you are reasonable and have the ability to think. I was wrong." He looked down at Mia.
"Aside from being my friend, Andrew is my secretary and personal adviser…"
'Who treats a friend the way you do?' Mia thought in her head, blurring out his words.
"Did you think I would have made sure decisions without involving him?" His eyes mocked her.
"Think again. Now get the fuck into the car."
She opened her mouth to argue but Rey had none of it from her, he took her unaware by taking her off the ground in a bridal style and roughly placing her on the car seat.
"We have a lot to straighten out." He spat at her while she closed her eyes to hold in the humiliation, she hadn't been blind to the questioning eyes of some persons boldly staring at them.
Banging the door to a close and turning towards the driver seat, Rey sped off into the road without as much as a word, but his mind was a battlefield with two conflicting thoughts.
Mia who sat at the back had opened her eyes to look at the ring sitting pretty on her finger, taking it off, she looked outside the window and considered throwing the ring away. What was the worst thing that could happen?