Chapter 38: Chapter 36

Song: ‘unbreakable’ by Jamie Scott

When you lose your way and the fight is gone

Your heart starts to break

And you need someone around now

Just close your eyes

While I put my arms above you

And make you unbreakable

She stands in the rain, just to hide it all

If you ever turn around

I won't let you fall down now

I swear I'll find your smile

And put my arms above you

And make you unbreakable

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Relax guys! The new chapters are coming! To all those who were asking for new updates and anticipating the storyline, I assure you that I’ve read all your messages and applauded all the ideas that you have. It makes me so happy that you all are as invested in the story as I am if not more, truly, I’m overwhelmed with the response.

However, the last month and a half was extremely busy, shifting house and balancing a hectic working life is a skill that I’ve just learned. Hence, I hope you can consider this a reason enough for not updating, or the fact that your dear writer is just a lazy person, haha.

Once again, thank you so much for all your showered love. Kindly comment on the chapters, vote, and share them with other people so we can have a wider readership that might pressure me to become more consistent *wink, wink* 😉

Enjoy the update, hope you’ll like it  😘

HANNAH’S POV

You’re a strong, confident woman.

Come on, come on, come on, Hannah.

You can do it,

You can do it,

You. Can. Do. It!

No, I can’t.

No, I can’t.

I can’t!

You can, Hannah, what’s the worst that can happen? The voice of my therapist echoed within me.

After my therapy session on Saturday and a whole weekend with Jay and Mila, I feel fresh, much more myself. Probably I needed to hear from someone else that it’s my life and I should be the one holding its reigns.

Being in one situation that went against my plans can’t put a hold on the rest, I need to make peace with the circumstances and move forward regardless.

And most importantly I need to sit with him and talk this through. Apparently, communication is the key, guys.

So, here I am, standing outside his office, contemplating whether to go in or not. All the courage I mustered up until now is just vanishing and I don’t even know why.

Since when did it become so hard for you to talk to people, Hans?

Since I got married to a complete asshole who despises words as much as he despises me. Besides, he’s not some random person, now is he?

But you are not some random person either, you’re the Hannah Anne Evans! Reasoned my brain.

That’s right, I am.

You know what, fuck him!

And with that thought, I entered his office for the first time...

Without knocking.

“We need to talk” I announced.

Maybe I should have knocked.

Because he’s not alone this time, not only that but this time he’s with a beautiful girl.

And now they both are looking at me, each having a different expression, of course.

He, as usual, is staring at me with anger, his face is as stoic as ever, it’s just his hardened eyes and clenched fist that’s an indication.

She, on the other hand, is looking at me with intrigue and fascination.

“I’m… I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I’ll come back later.”

“Oh, no, don’t be sorry,” said the girl as she stood up and I noticed how tall she is.

Wearing a pair of the most perfect beige slacks with a sleeveless turquoise silk top that are accentuating her model-like figure, she’s a vision of elegance and beauty. Her long dirty blond hair cascaded on her back, her matching stilettos doing nothing but add more to her personality.

As I stood there admiring how well put she is, she was stepping a little closer to where I am standing, that is at the door that I’m still holding open.

“Hannah, right?” she offered me her hand, “Hi, I’m Eva.” She said with a smile.

“Hey, umm, I don’t think we’ve met before?” I asked in confusion as I shook her hand.

“Oh, I think we have,” and she winked.

What does that mean?

“I’m sorry?”

Instead of clearing up my confusion, she turned back towards him.

“Aww, El, she’s too cute.” She said in a cooing voice.

El? Who’s El?

What’s going on?

“Are you sure you didn’t marry an underage girl?” she questioned him with a hint of humor as she went back to sit.

What the hell! Who is she? And most importantly, how dare she?

I guess my face gave away how confused I am as my eyes diverted back and forth on both of them demanding an explanation.

“Eva is the new project manager, she’ll be working with us on our new project.” Ignoring all the previous remarks, “El” decided to answer this time.

Ah, about that, did he just say our project?

There’s nothing “our” as I’ve never been made a part of the project. I know nothing about any of it.

That reminded me why I’m here. Ignoring the very friendly new project manager, I stepped towards them a little further, finally letting go of the door.

“About that, I need to talk to you if you have time.”

“I don’t”

Excuse me?

“Hey, come on Elijah, now don’t be so rude, of course, you can make time for her” she intervened.

And I didn’t like it, at all. I don’t need her to talk for me.

Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, let me clarify something,

I’m not jealous of her!

I’m just getting irritated by her presence at the moment.

And what’s with this babying voice? I’m not a child!

So, ignoring her once again, I stood my ground, “Then I insist that you make some because this is urgent,” it came out harsher than I intended.

And to be honest, I liked it and I felt relieved like a burden just lift off.

This is what the old Hannah was all about, saying her mind, and standing up for herself, she wasn’t afraid of what people will think of her or how they will react.

At that moment, it felt like I’ve missed her.

The carefree and bold Hannah.

The not-a-damsel-in-distress Hannah.

The Hannah that I lost to myself.

Not anymore, I guess I’ve found her again, it might take me a while to reach her but I have found her.

While I was busy regaining the pieces of my old self I saw him looking at me but with even more anger and hatred than before, staring me down so he can tear me apart.

But as I said, not ANYMORE, so this time I kept staring back at him with conviction, without flinching, not ready to back out.

“Ooh, she’s feisty,” once again she was the one breaking the silence but both of us weren’t ready to let her in just yet.

“I’ll call you back in a while, Eva.” He said to her while still looking at me.

From the side of my eyes, I saw her observing the both of us simultaneously, then she sighed and left.

“Who do you think you are?” he asked the minute we were alone.

“Definitely not what you take me for.” Said I as I sat on the chair in front of him, not feeling guilty for the first time like I’d committed a sin by not asking for His Royal Highness’s permission before doing so.

Honestly, it’s still uncomfortable to do so but I’m not as scared as I used to be.

I don’t know what changed in me over the weekend but something definitely did.

“Now, if you’re done brooding, can we talk, like adults?” as expected, he didn’t answer.

“Alright,” taking a visible sigh I prepared myself and him for what I was about to say, “I know we didn’t hit it off to a good start and that’s okay, I’m not here to talk about any reconciliations, neither am I here to make accusations of good and bad…”

“Get to the point.” Now that he’s pointed it out, I realized I’ve started blabbering again.

That’ll take longer to change, a lifetime perhaps?

“Well the point is that you’re very unfair,” I waited a while to see some reaction which I didn’t get, obviously.

“You’re treating me like a secretary, in fact, worse than that. I’m an interior designer, not an administrative assistant. The point of joining was to learn and grow professionally and not just keep reading and printing paper alone in isolation, I’m better than that. I’m good at what I do, yes, I don’t have experience but this is why I was here, to learn from the best in business.” Nothing, I saw not a tiny spec of change in his expression. not even at a compliment, he sat there completely devoid, with no indication if he was listening to me or not.

“I know you’re the best in the industry, a visionary, youngest of billionaires, yadda-yad, but I’m sorry you’re not a professional. I don’t know what your problem is or why you agreed to that contract but please keep personal and professional aside because you’re hell-bent on ruining my career and I will not let you do that.” He’s just sitting there like a statue, I’m not sure if he’s sleeping with his eyes open or he’s plain dead.

What do I do now, I thought my speech would make him see some sense but judging by his reaction I’m not sure if it’s making any sense to me either.

Think of something, Hannah, this is just the beginning of the battle and you can’t lose in the first round. So in the heat of the moment, I said the first thing that came to my mind.

“And if any of this is not enough then let me put something very straight, this contract is a merger between our companies to which I’m still a rightful heir and I will not be treated any less,” With that, I got up from the seat, “So either you make up your mind about setting this right or we can take a different route. The choice is yours.” I offered him my hand which he didn’t take as expected, so without dwelling further I turned and left.

Woah, did I just threaten him?

Shit, what have I done!

………………………………………………………………………………….

What do you think will happen next?

Are you liking the old Hannah who’s not so passive and very aggressive?

Do you think she did the right thing?

Also, how will our hero react to this new side of hers?

Stay tuned to know more.