Forbidden Heat

Reiner – Silent Treatment

Reiner didn’t seem to like it that I knew Charles or that I was a little close to him, but he was engaged

to someone else and wanted me to go away. Charles was interested in me, but I haven’t decided to

progress with our relationship yet. Mostly because of my lingering feelings for Reiner.

How do I explain such a messed-up situation? The answer was simple: I couldn’t clear up anything.

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The hand of the clock is ticking by so slowly today. My eyes stared at the hand of the clock as the

seconds ticked by. Was it just me or was the clock ticking much slower right now than on other days? I

hated myself and how rotten I felt inside. I knew that it was my fault and not the clock’s fault that time

was slipping by so painfully slowly. Since the two men went into Reiner’s office, all I was able to

achieve was moving my ass from the sofa to the chair behind my desk.

From this location, I could stare up at the clock on the opposite wall like I had nothing else better to do

in my life. The room was so silent that I could hear the sound of the clock ticking. How long is the

meeting going to last? It was scheduled for an hour…does that mean that I have to stare at this clock

for another 50 minutes? Only 10 minutes had passed?

I’m going crazy…

What are those two talking about? They’re just talking about work, and everything is going smooth and

professionally well, right?

…they’re not talking about me, right?

I had my own immediate problems to work on too such as figuring out what kind of face to make or

what to say when the two men finally step out of that room at the end of their meeting. Why did Reiner

have to act so mad and aggressive like that? It was so abnormal and out of place, so obviously, anyone

would have found it suspicious.

What should I do now?!

I banged my forehead onto the table in front of me before pulling at my long hair with both of my hands.

So many worries went through my head that I didn’t know where to start. One thing for sure, Reiner is

going to interrogate me endlessly about my relationship with Charles and then he’s going to give me a

hard time for it. Although he doesn’t have the right to do so, he probably will…

By the time that the door to Reiner’s personal office opened, I had burned out almost all of my

braincells while trying to figure out how to best deal with this overly complicated situation. When the

two men walked out of the door, I didn’t have it in me to initiative any type of conversation. I just stood

up from my desk and plastered on a polite smile.

“Thank you for meeting me today,” Reiner said professionally.

He didn’t sound super friendly but at least he was professional enough about it. The hostility that he

eluded wasn’t completely gone but it seemed well under control now. It better be, it has been more than

an hour already. Their meeting ran over time, and I was thankful that Reiner didn’t have another

meeting to go to. As for me, I just wanted to go home. Screw working at the bar for tonight, I just want

to hide away from the world. Kat’s going to kill me but that was way better than risking Reiner’s wrath.

“Likewise. The discussion was fun and I’m very hopeful about this project. Let’s work together,” Charles

replied equally professionally.

I stayed silent throughout their entire exchange. Reiner reached out his hand and Charles took it in a

formal handshake. The two seemed to be getting along well on the surface; however, there was a lot of

tension in the air, and it felt like a snowy blizzard had just blown into the room although the windows

were not even open and there wasn’t a snowstorm outside. It wasn’t even snowing, and I didn’t even

know if it snowed on this island. Probably not.

“I’ll see you at the bar, Natalia,” Charles said before beaming a smile at me.

“Umm…sure. Feel free to drop by some time…” I replied stiffly.

With a nod my way, Charles left the room, and I was left alone with Reiner. Was it just me or did

Charles’ overly familiar and personal farewell to me just made matters worse for me?

I could feel Reiner’s stare burning into my back and knew that he was glaring at me from behind.

Great, how do I face him now? I prayed that he wouldn’t ask me any questions because I didn’t have

any satisfactory answers to give him. Honesty didn’t seem to be a virtue that would work well in this

case.

Slowly and hesitantly, I turned to face Reiner. I bit my lower lip as he stared at my nervous and

uncomfortable face. Reiner did not say anything as his eyes continued staring at me.

“Umm….” I murmured as I tried to figure out how to break this silence between us before it killed me.

To my utmost surprise, Reiner turned away from be before disappearing into his personal office. The

door closed behind him firmly and I was left all alone once more in the room. My head cocked slightly

to the side as I stared at the closed door in wonder.

What is going on now?

For some reason that I couldn’t phantom, Reiner refused to talk to me and had decided to spend the

rest of the day in his office. Perhaps he just wanted time alone to work. That was what I told myself

although I knew that that probably wasn’t true at all. He’s intentionally avoiding me, and I couldn’t say

that he was acting like himself.

I had expected that he would deal with this head on and ask me some very interrogative questions;

however, that wasn’t the case. Although I was confused and slightly worried, I was also relieved that I

didn’t have to get into another argument with Reiner.

That day, I left work and headed home alone. Reiner did not come out of his office, and I did not see

him before leaving. The eventful workday came to an uneventful close.

--To be continued…