Mia sat with stiff muscles from being too tense, it made her ache so badly, her eyes kept darting towards the stairs.
'What does he want to do?' She had questioned herself, nervously wringing her wrist.
When she heard footsteps descending the stairs and looked up to see his running feet descending the stairs, she instinctively jumped to her feet, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.
Rey slowed his pace to a casual stroll without the initial hurriedness to his steps, his eyes searching her face with a subtle frown as he drew close.
"What is it?" He had asked her, holding the content in his hands tightly.
He had his eyes observe the dinning.
"Nothing…eer…you were coming…" She had almost raised her hand to scratch her head, a sign of nervousness, he had observed.
"I said to stay put." He placed the content on the table.
"I'm sorry Sir…" She drawled when he shot her a fierce look..
"Babe." She sounded forced, her eyes downcasted and he closed his eyes with a pang of guilt in his heart.
Looking at the paper in his hand with a black card, she wondered for a minute what it was for.
'Did he really want to amend the contract?' She bit her inner cheek before looking up at him.
He placed his hands on the document in front of him and bent even lower to hold her gaze in silence for three minutes, making her breath hitch.
"I bet you are hungry?" He spoke suddenly, breaking the rising tension and she released her breath.
"Hungry?" She asked back and remembering she should have been cooking was about to bow apology when he continued.
"I have placed an order for us, it will arrive soon." He told her and she moped at him, with her lips parted.
"Yeah, I know." He shrugged.
"You are welcome." He managed a smile that parted her lips even further.
'What happened?' She felt funny inside, it was a feeling she couldn't describe.
'Why is the boss acting out of script.' She sealed her lips shut but it went wide again when he held up the document, raised it above his eye level and tore it into two.
Mia felt like she had been thrown into a rollercoaster without her permission.
"This is the original copy of the contract." He paused and looked down at her.
She blinked at him severally as if wondering why he would want to tear up the contract.
When he went ahead to tear the divided paper into another two equal halves, her lagging brain began to process things at an even faster pace.
'If the contract is gone, whatever we share is gone.' She thought, looking down at her side of the table in deep thought.
'If whatever we share is gone, then the money…' She paused and her head shot up with wide eyes to see him fold the now tiny pieces of paper into one.
'The money … the money will be gone and Lucio…' At this thought, she felt like someone had reached out for her heart and gave it a tight squeeze.
She wheezed, her hands shook, her eyes got blurry, she could already imagine the image of dead Lucio lying helplessly on the hospital bed with white beddings placed over his little face.
With the tears now freely falling down her cheeks, Mia slowly and shakily stood to her feet making Reynaldo pause in his action only to observe her with questioning gaze.
He brought his hands down to his side and frowned at her, wanting to ask her reason for standing when she dropped to her knees with a sudden and loud thud that he felt the pain of it on his own knees.
"WHAT…" He had wanted to exclaim, his eyes going a little wide.
"Sir please…" This time, she had both of her hands on the floor too, she could have had her head to hit the floor if she could.
"You can't do this…" She cried, shaking her head vehemently as she looked up at him.
"What is wrong with you Mia? Get up." He had ordered her but she shook her head again and stubbornly stayed on her knees.
At the mental image of her younger brother surfaced in her head, Mia kneeled with a straightened back, clapped her hands on her lips and cried hard into the palm of her hands, her cries came out like a forcefully muffled voice.
'Is this how much she cherished the money?' Rey felt an uncomfortable feeling building up in his chest.
He wanted to frown at her so badly for being a gold digger but could not bring his facial muscles to do the job no matter how hard he tried.
He looked at her and the only thing he felt was pity and intense guilt.
He made to turn around, walk back to his room and force himself to get nauseated by her act, but he only felt his legs get wobbly and he searched for the nearest seat to sag into.
Her tears did something to him, it constricted his airflow as he watched her sob painfully into her hands like she lost a precious family member.
'Lucio would die if I don't get him to change his decision.' Mia bit her lips and made up her mind, she was ready to do anything at all to make him take her back.