11 Chap 11: Exhausted
Mia
I got up at 5:30 am, withdrew the curtains, did my Yoga and a little cardio. I then went to the bathroom, took a nice hot shower, and got ready for office. It was 8 am when I received a call from Noah.
"Where are you??" I complained, I missed him,
"I am sorry Mia! I am very busy with work" He said with no excitement.
"I dropped so many messages to you?"
"Had back to back business meeting so couldn't revert to any of your messages" Noah and I hadn't spoken for six months but he occasionally replied to my messages,
"So how's everything?" he questioned, and I told him everything, about Ryan, my internship, and the electricity incident. As I spoke, I got no response from him but it made me happy that he didn't interrupt and listened to me before he could say anything.
"Do you like him.?" His first question to me after I told him everything
"Noah?" I said in confusion, that was not I expected from him,
"You know you aren't really a type of girl who any guy would fall for. If he plans to have you at home that means he wants to sleep with you. So move out, it would do good only for you"
"I don't.."
"Don't be dumb. You are just a toy for him"
"I think you can leave that to me"
"Do whatever you wish to. Once he leaves you don't come back to me. I got to go!" and he cut the phone without my response, I knew I did the right thing for our relationship to discuss Ryan. I wanted to hear his point of view, I wanted him to know what I experienced. But sometimes it became harder to love him, I felt that the only person who cared about this relationship in the last few months was me. He always did things in accord to his needs and if I objected he would get mad at me. Things changed between us once I got into a b school and he couldn't. Did he hate me because of it? Did he feel inferior to me?
I went to Ryan's house and as soon as I reached the entrance door, he opened it and saw me
"I was just coming to get you," he said and gave a small smile but his face looked exhausted.
"Goodmorning,"
"Hey" he took my hand and got me inside his house. He closed the door and looked at me,
"What's wrong?" he said as his eyes roamed around my face and my body to check if I was hurt.
"Can we eat?" I said as I removed my hand from his hand and walked towards the dining hall,
"Yeah sure. AO made pancakes. Hope you like them?" he walked forward, withdrew the chair from the dining table and eyed me,
"Yeah, I do. Thank you" I sat and took one huge bite of a pancake and stuffed it in my mouth. He just stood and gazed at me and I didn't want to fathom on it. But why does he show so much concern? I am not used to it and I don't want him to, I don't want to share anything with him right now.
"Noah?" He said and I stopped midway,
"How do you know?" I dropped my pancake on the plate and stared at him,
"I just figured. Either it can be parents or Noah and I am pretty sure work doesn't make you dull"
"So what happened?" And he looked worried,
"Nothing." I looked away, my heart felt heavy with the way he showed his concern for me,
"Mia" he twisted my chair and scooted towards me. He held my hand in his and looked at me.
"I don't want to make things difficult for you, if you feel any sort of pressure or discomfort do let me know, please," he said and looked at me with so much tenderness in his eyes,
"Ryan I am.."
"I will talk to him ok?" he assured me but I didn't want that to happen, this was the last thing Noah would ever want to hear,
"No, you dont have to" I yelped as I looked into his eyes,
"I promise! you won't regret" he assured me,
"Noah will not like it," I didn't want Ryan to get in between us,
"Trust me, Mia," He said, and for a minute I felt I could believe him,
"Please" he pleaded and I figured to give it a try,
"Fine," I said with a small smile, and he relaxed
"Have your breakfast" he got up from his position "and please don't worry." He said and looked at me. I nodded and he sat and took a pancake from his plate.
We ate our breakfast and at 9 he dropped me near the bank, just like we had discussed, and I walked towards the office. I was worried for our relationship, I remember Noah was such a fun and gentleman to be around with, he would always come by to my parent's house, greet them with respect, and would take me out just to spend time with me. We had a lot of fun when we were together but now it seemed we hardly knew each other,
"Earth to Mia", Aidy said
"Yeah," I said to Aidy. My colleague, sat next to me at work.
"What happened, you look lost! are you doing fine honey?" she asked with curiosity,
"Yeah, I am fine," and I smiled at her
"You can share it with me if you want," She said and my phone rang. The name flashed Leah on the screen, and I answered.
"Mia! Could you please come to my office for a sec" she requested,
"Yes Ma'am" I disconnected the call and went to Leah Maam's office
Ryan
"Greg, I want you to inform Rick to go for the HK meeting tomorrow," I said to my assistant Greg, while he stood in my cabin and jotted the things I said, on his notepad,
"Ok Sir," he said.
"Also try not to arrange too many local meetings until it's an emergency." I looked at him and at my laptop to see if I had any important work in the evening
"Yes Sir,"
"That would be all. Thank you" he closed his note pad and headed out.
"Greg, if you wish to take a leave, you can. I believe you just got married and haven't taken the time off." I asked and he looked surprised,
"Yes sir," he said,
"So use this opportunity as I am not taking much of work," I said and he looked touched. Greg has been my assistant for over 4 years, and never once he took a leave. He is one of the best and I cannot afford to not care for him,
"Thank you, Sir, I will let you know my plans soon" he smiled
"That's fine" and he shut the door. I wanted to keep myself free for Mia because I wanted to spend time and show her around. She looked upset today in the morning so I quickly dialed a number on my phone.
"Hi, am I speaking with Noah?" I knew he would pick up from unknown caller id,
"Yeah? Who's this?" he said,
"I am Ryan, Mia's Friend," I said confidently and there was silence from his end.
"Noah, Mia misses you and your actions lately have been upsetting her," I said and didn't wait for his reply, "so you need to stop making her sad and give her the respect, the love she deserves," I said,
"Excuse me, I don't care who you are, what you do, and why you like Mia. All I know is that she is naive and gets carried away by sweet talkers, and you.." he said and it enraged me, I cut him before he could say anything more,
"Sweet talkers?" I questioned, "Do you think I am sweet talking to you?" I asked firmly. How could he think like that?
"she is not your business," he said. What the hell was wrong with him? Did he or did he not love Mia?
"Do you not care for Mia?" I was astonished at the words he used,
"It seems to me you care a lot for her" he scoffed
"Yes! I care for her and yes she is my business. Anything related to her is important to me. She has a lot of loans to pay and the stipend she is getting would have drained out if she had stayed in that hotel. And that hotel was inappropriate for her in terms of her safety" I spoke harshly to him,
"You don't need to worry about her, she can manage," he said
"I know she can but I don't want her to manage, I want her to have healthy food and sleep peacefully. Today when she came for breakfast she sounded sad and she didn't tell me anything but I guessed it. Please call her back, she will be happy to talk to you" I said and he cut the phone on my face, Gosh!, how could Mia be with him? My phone rang and I looked at the caller I.D 'Chloe'. I cooled my anger before I picked up her phone,
"Hey, wassup," I said,
"Where are you Mr. it's been weeks since you haven't come home and we all miss you especially Nina" she spoke,
"Yea, I know, Sorry I was busy traveling abroad for work"
"I don't care, I hope to see you this weekend with no buts and ifs. Got it?"
"Chloe I.." and before I could say anything she cut the phone. Great! how do I tell her about Mia? If I go there then I have to take Mia with me and the way things had turned out at the birthday party and I never discussed Mia with Chloe, my sweet elder sister will give me a hard time. I worked and worked and when my wrist watched showed 6:30 pm, I decided to message Mia but instead I got one from her
'Hey Ryan, I won't be having dinner tonight because Leah is treating us for dinner. She bought a new 3bhk apartment and she wants to celebrate. Hope that's fine with you?' she had messaged around 2 hours back. I immediately shot a message to her,
Sorry for the late reply, that's good news. Please enjoy. And be safe. Just let me know which place you are in so that I can pick you up' I sent
'Na, that's fine. I will come by cab' I immediately received a message from her
'Mia, what makes you think I am letting you come home alone at night. Just let me know where and when to pick you up'
'No Ryan, you aren't my chauffeur. I can make it home alone.'
'I am not listening to any answers of yours. If you have a problem then I will just ask Leah to give me the address and the time to pick you up'
'Fine. I will let you know.'
'That's my angel' I messaged and headed home. Since I had a lot of freehand I decided to swim in my swimming pool and then do some office work before dinner.
"So, where is she?" AO asked, as she prepared my dinner and I had come to the kitchen to drink water.
"She is out with her colleagues" I quickly drank two glasses of water,
"So what have you decided," she asked
"AO, can we not talk about it" I walked away from the kitchen into the dining hall,
"Why?" she asked and followed me, I know AO didn't want her in this house or my life,
"she is staying with me for right now cause I want her to" I stopped and looked at her with agitation.
"Ryan, you are so desperate to have her with you"
"What's wrong with everyone, why do so many people have a problem with her staying?"
"Cause what you are doing is wrong"
"I know what's wrong and what's right"
"I highly doubt that because if you did your granddad would have been alive"
"AO" I harshly called her. Her eyes went big and she regretted it.
"I am so sorry Ryan, I am.." she came towards me, and before she could say anything I stormed towards my room. I was infuriated at her, I was infuriated with everyone my mother, my father, my grandparents, and mostly at myself. AO had no right to talk about my past and compare it with Mia. My past was my nightmare and I wanted to remove that ugly phase of my life, I wanted to avenge for myself but what proof did I have? I wanted to be free but I couldn't and the thought of not being able to be free and breathe normally suffocated me. I didn't want to have dinner so I went to my room and just worked on my laptop. Later by 10:30, I saw Mia's message to pick her up from the bar.
When I reached I saw Mia made Leah sit in the cab because she looked drunk. Mia gave the cab driver the address and the change and soon the cab left.
"Hey" I jogged towards her.
"Hi" she looked happy to see me.
"So did you have fun?" I quickly grabbed Mia's hand and locked it with mine. Right now I needed her. She looked at me confused but I pretended everything was normal and we walked towards my car.
"Yea, it was fun. Mrs. Keaton sang and danced throughout the night." she smiled sheepishly
"Really?" I looked at her with amazement.
"Yup, she did. Who thought she was a poised and a dignified lady" she said and we laughed. We both sat in the car and put our seat belts.
"So what did you do at home, did you eat?" She looked at me curiously, it seemed she knew something was wrong.
"After I reached, I swam and ate a mouth-watering dish, you missed it" I looked at her with a smile while I fired up my engine. She didn't say anything but looked disappointed.
"What happened ?"
"All we had were drinks and only 4 side dishes. That didn't fill my stomach. I am hungry" she said to me and looked so adorable. At that moment I wanted to cup her face and kiss her.
"Angel, what do you want to have?" I asked,
"Anything"
"Okay.." I started the car and drove.
Mia
Mrs. Leah had planned for a dinner with me, Aidy and Rachel, one of our colleagues. She took us to the 'AM bar' and we ordered drinks and a lot of dishes. While at dinner, my phone chimed and I received a message from an unknown number. When I opened, it mentioned that Ryan was pretty upset and hadn't had dinner. In the end, 'AO'. I texted her back to know the reason but I got no reply. Since then I couldn't enjoy the evening, I was worried for him. What happened, did something at work made him upset, or was it personal. When he came to pick me up I could see the exhaustion and the red eyes. I wanted to ask him but it seemed rude to pry on his life. My phone rang and I saw Noah on the caller id
"So you at home or outside?" he asked the moment I picked up the phone.
"I had gone out for dinner with my boss, Aidy, and one of our seniors to celebrate. I didn't have much to eat so Ryan is taking me out for dinner" I said with glee, I was elated to see Noah's call. To receive a call from him made me feel on cloud 9,
"Gosh, Mia, why are you such a pain in the ass for everyone" he yelled and my heart sank, "Noah!" I mumbled and he cut the phone on my face. What the hell! What was wrong with him since when did he become so difficult to talk with. I could feel Ryan tensed up so I chose not to talk about it. Thankfully he didn't ask me and neither did I tell him. We both had something that we didn't want to discuss and we respected that.
