Chapter 19

PART TWO "Athena, wait," Frank ran after her, "please, hold on." Athena turned, putting down her phone, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "yes, Frank?" Frank heaved a sigh, licking his bottom lips, he gulped and looked into her brown eyes, the eye-shadow she had on was enhancing her eye color, making it irresistible not to stare at, "listen, I know you didn t expect to see me inside nor running after you but if you must know, I have been trying to get close to you but the opportunity never presented itself, that s why I am taking this chance now," he blabbered. Athena raised an eyebrow, "alright then, you have me here, now what?" Frank chuckled nervously, "come on, Athena, you don t have to speak to me in that tone. You have ignored me inside and I finally got you to talk, don t be like that." "Really? How should I speak to you then? I should slur when talking to you like I am drunken in love or I should speak to you in a singsong voice?" She raised her brow, her lips lifted up in a smirk. Frank was surprised, he had seen her briefly talk to people like that, like they matter not but he never expected her to ever speak to him like that. Athena never replies to him in sarcasm, rather she would be apologizing if he as much as furrows his brows or frown, what is happening now? How come she had changed so much? First she had ignored him all through the time he spoke to her when they were inside and now this? Heaven knows what he went through to trade seat with the guy sitting beside her, he even lost his new Rolex watch and yet he got no reception from her. He licked his lips and flashed a smile, deciding to believe that he was thinking too much or maybe she was just playing hard to get. He ran his hand on his sandy blonde hair sexily and looked at her, his green eyes shining in the light, "well, it won t be bad if you do that, don t you think?" "I m sorry, Frank, but I don t have such time," she replied and turned to walk away. He quickly grabbed her hand to stop her, "okay, okay wait, listen, do you think we can sit down somewhere? I really need to talk to you." "We are talking now, aren t we? Do we really need to sit down somewhere before we talk?" Frank frowned, a little annoyed now, "what has gotten over you, why are you speaking like this?" He decided to use his angry voice to get her to give in. Athena sighed, "if you had stopped me to question me about how I speak, then I will just have to say goodbye to you, I can t stand here to answer your questions," she turned once more to walk away and he stared at her in amazement, what the hell? "Athena, Athena wait," he rushed after her again, "okay, I m sorry, I shouldn t have asked that, please forgive me." Athena tucked her hair behind her ear, "why do you keep stopping me, what exactly do you want us to talk about?" "Please, Athena, we can t talk about it here, out in the open," he looked up at the darkened sky, "if you can just have dinner with me, or lunch tomorrow," he rushed to add when he saw that she was about to reject him, "or any other day, just go out with me, we can sit down and talk like adults, please, that s all I ask." Athena pouted her lips and heaved a soft sigh, "fine, I will let you know when I will be free." "Wait, can t it be tomorrow?" "I said I will let you know when I am free; I don t know if I will be free tomorrow, but if I will be, I will give a call." "Fine, I will be expecting to hear from you tomorrow, or next, whichever suits you." "Great, do have a great evening," she wanted to leave again. "Can I ask you something," he interrupted her movement. "Make it fast," she responded. "I just want to know, I know Sean had claimed it that night we had dinner together but I just want to confirm from you, are you guys really a thing?" Athena smiled then, crossing her arms on her chest, she smirked, "why are you asking me, didn t you hear him well enough that night?" "I just…" "There you are," a voice said behind her, interrupting Frank and making her heartbeat increase, she turned sharply to see the man walking up to them, he was dressed in a sky blue shirt and a black pants, his hair as always was in slicked back, his hazel eyes twinkling as he walked up to them, "I have been waiting for you and when I didn t see you, I had to come look for you," he pulled her into his arms in a side hug and kissed her lightly on the lips. He ignored the shock that enveloped her eyes and turned to the man who was staring at them in shock. "Mr. Jones, I never expected to see you here," he offered a smile to him. "Same here, Mr. Brand, I never expected to see you here." "Oh, you should know by now, where she is, is where I will be. You find her, you find me. Isn t that right, honey?" He glanced at the woman in his arms. "Yes," Athena shook off her dizziness, "absolutely," she added and leaned into his arms, it took all the courage in her to do that, knowing what his presence does to her. "Oh," Frank was confused, he didn t know what was going on, he knows that they are often together but he doesn t want to believe they are dating. He hasn t forgotten how shocked she looked that night he introduced her as his girlfriend, or could he be the one that was doubting it? It s been two months since then; could it be possible that they were really together? "Well, I was about taking my leave," he looked at Athena, "I will be expecting your call." Sean looked at her immediately and Frank smiled secretly, yes, something for him to think about, he raised his head high and said to Sean, "see you later, Mr. Brand," then he walked away when Sean gave him a nod. Things don t go smoothly between them anymore, not since Sean rejected his designs and told him not to bother again that he would be given the contract to Augustus and also the fact that he is the obstacle for him getting Athena back. When they were alone, Sean turned to Athena, "you are meeting with him?" "He wants us to sit and talk and I told him I will call him when I m free," she grinned. Sean smiled then, "ah, till you are free then." "Indeed," she agreed and they started walking towards his car. They were both silent but Athena s thoughts were running wild as well as her heart that was beating in frenzy, she couldn t erase the feel of his lips on hers, even though it was only for a second, it had sent electricity all over her body and it had refused to die down. "Um, Sean, can I ask you something?" "Shoot," he replied as casually as he always does. "Why did you kiss me?" Sean smiled, he had been expecting that question, he stopped moving and that made her stop too, "I overheard his question when I was approaching and wanted to give him something to think about. It would make him believe that he has to put up a lot of fight to be able to get you away from me," he grinned, then with a raised eyebrow, he asked, "you don t think I was going to let him have you so easily, do you?" Athena shook her head with a smile but her smile didn t reach her eyes, for some reason she had wanted him to say that he kissed her because he wanted to and couldn t resist not doing so. Hearing his reply gave her a sad feeling that she doesn t know why. Being with Frank is all she has ever wanted and she should be happy that he was willing to help her, not sad that he kissed her just to show off. Ugh, she really needs to get a hold on her emotion.