She Is Different

Amber was waiting in silence. It's been three minutes she stood still there waiting for Ruby. Ruby, who was watering her plants, was aware of her presence.

Putting down her watering can then took a towel to wipe the leaves. "How is she?" Ruby asked, then focusing back on wiping.

"As we planned, Nicole made a scene." Amber said while holding hard on the document. She actually didn't understand her boss this time. Ruby was not this bad. She didn't harass someone just because she didn't like her. There must be something that she didn't know.

"Good, granted her the thing we promised her." Ruby folded the small towel and put it at the end of the cabinet. She walked to her chair and had a seat. "How is she?"

A few seconds of silence passed. Amber met Ruby's eyes, "She is a strong girl." That was her answer to the question.

Ruby lifted her chin slightly hearing the words that were coming from Amber's mouth, "She didn't cry?"

Shaking her head, Amber said, "She didn't."

"Interesting." Ruby handed out her hand asking for the document that Amber had been holding.

"Oh…" The documents were passed to Ruby. Amber cleared her throat and continued relaying the details. "Blake didn't agree with this proposal and the directors asked me to pass it to you. For your opinion."

The silence came again when Ruby started to flip on the documents. After reading two pages, she asked, "How is he?"

Furrowing her eyes, Amber guessed 'he' that she meant was Blake. "He had been quiet this past week."

"Quiet?" Ruby raised her head.

"I mean, both of them." She clenched her fist thinking whether she should tell her what she knew.

Raising her brows, Ruby looked impatient, "Continue…"

"They didn't contact each other." She ended up spilling the information as she always did.

"And why is that?" Ruby's brows were creating a bridge in between when she frowned. In the meantime she had a thought about what she had done over a week ago. Was that a reason for it to happen?

"That is something that I couldn't clarify." That was the honest answer from Amber. Their relationship was their privacy and what happened between the two of them in private was something hard for her to get through.

Ruby looked at Amber for a while before she went back to the documents. She flipped and read until the end. After she put down her notes on the proposal, she signed them. "Here…" She handed the documents back to Amber.

"If you don't have anything more, I will take my leave now Madam." Amber was ready to take a leave when Ruby stopped her with a question.

"She…" Ruby stopped and looked straight at Amber who was puzzled. "She is different right?"

<><><><>

The club music was as loud as it should and there were two guys who were sitting at the table sipping on their drinks.

"Not going to ask for a daily report today?" Jackson moved his wrist to swirl the whisky in his glass.

"I'm sure she is doing okay." Blake acted uninterested while taking another sipped from his glass.

Putting down his glass, Jackson leaned to his seat and shifted his eyes on the dance floor. "Not really…"

Blake didn't respond and gulped down the last drink in his glass. He put it on the table and rested his head on the seat while closing his eyes. They were in a private room with a clear window to see the whole club atmosphere.

"She was slapped today…" Jackson broke the news and waited for his response.

But the no response that came from Blake surprised him. They had been best friends since they were kids and last week he came to him with one big surprise, Marissa. He never introduced or told him about a girl that he was interested in, not once. That was why he wondered why he didn't tell him anything about Marissa.

"Seeing you are not interested in her anymore…can I make my move?" He sent him a threat. A half honest threat.

The threat did affect Blake, he opened his eyes. "I told you not to make your move on her." He weakly uttered the words with his eyes staring blank on the ceiling.

The response he received from Blake made him burst out laughing. "Tell me, did you hide her from me because you are afraid?"

Blake scoffed. "Not even in my dream."

"Then why haven't I heard about her before?" Jackson asked, curious.

Blake stared at the light on the ceiling thinking of the answer for the question. Honestly, Jackson was known as the biggest playboy in the city but hiding Marissa from him because he was afraid was not the right answer. He tried his best to hide her from anyone that had a link to his grandmother and he really did great until recently.

He sighed all of sudden. After he received the message from Marissa that day, they haven't contacted each other. He didn't know why he stopped trying but he guessed for a while that would be better. He needed to give her time to heal her heart. So, all this time, the man in front of him at that moment fed him the info on Marissa. How she was doing great at the training. How she had a great social skill and how she was so friendly with everyone.

"What with the slap?" He finally asked. The thing that he eagerly wanted to know by playing ignorant just to hide his pride that was being hurt by Marissa's rejection.

Jackson crossed his arms. "Teett…time is up."

Blake fixed his sitting position and a glare landed on Jackson. "Come on Jack, I don't think I am in the mood for a joke."

"Oh?" Jackson shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not joking, I am not in the mood to tell the story anymore."

They were staring at each other before Blake stood up, walking to the door, perhaps he wanted to leave before they ended fighting each other.

"I really find her interesting, I didn't think I could stop myself just because you asked me to."

Blake's hand stops at the door knob. He turned and glanced at Jackson shortly. "Up to you." The smirk that appeared on his face hinting Jackson that he had a small chance of winning the game that he was trying to participate in.