Loved

Iris P. O. V.

” I can’t believe three idiots and an elder are under the same roof!”

Guess who’s on the phone?

If you called Megan then you’re correct.

” Look I know you love your brother and hate Hunter but there’s no need for name calling” I chuckled into the receiver.

She called in the office at around eleven am and this is some minutes to one in the afternoon.

We really have a lot to cover and discuss.

” Don’t give yourself credits, when I said elder? I meant Louisa”

That was a pang to the chest.

” Ouch! Megan!”

” Oh shush mush.. I’m still angry with you. It’s really annoying that I got to hear of this Mason Reid through Dylan”

I feel bad that she had to hear it from him too, but it’s already bad enough that he is Meredith’s brother.

In a way, I feel like I’m betraying her trust.

” I’m sorry, but you know. Meredith and all other factors”

” I got to find out he’s Meredith’s brother from Dylan too. What is wrong with the world!?”

She actually sounds frustrated but her reaction is funny.

” We’re sorry”

” Speak on thy behalf”

I can almost see her pouting.

” Alright. I’m sorry”.

” Good. But you’re not forgiven”

This is actually serious.

” I’ll make it up to you”

She started to say something but I didn’t hear her cause Hunter just walked into my office.

” Err- Meg? Code black” I used our signal for whenever an urgency comes up and we need to end our conversation abruptly.

She groaned and ended the call as a sign that we aren’t done here.

” I’ve been waiting for the file for hour’s! What is wrong with you?”

File? What file?

You were supposed to hand him the documents of La Cherie magazine to sign off before Megan called..Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Oh shit!

” I’m so sorry about that” I jumped up from my chair and ran over to the cabinet.

” Just get me the goddamn files”

Hunter has been unnecessarily angry with me all through the week.

I mean, it’s usual for him to be angry at me but this is beyond the normal.

Dropping the files in front of him, he signed them like there’s fire in the ink and hurriedly turned to march out.

” Uhm… Mr McConnell?” I called out to his retreating figure.

” What?”

What’s with the lashing?

” We have a meeting with Dorado exports in thirty minutes”

” Why didn’t you inform me earlier?” He was still in a position like he’s about to leave the door.

” I… I uh- uhm..”

” You what!?”

I actually jumped at his tone.

” I forgot” I whispered and gazed to the floor with a feeling that I hadn’t felt in a long while.

Fear.

He only sighed and walked out. He said nothing, did nothing and his behavior almost said nothing except it was revealing one thing.

He’s angry.

===================

” So if we work with three ply two, we might make more progress”

The Dorado exports officials are clearly here to bite more than what they can chew.

How can they be offering us a fifteen percent gain to increase with later notes?

That’s going to account for a loss in three sequencial years.

Hunter stayed quiet all through the meeting and said absolutely nothing.

At this point when they were done, I looked to him with my side eye as a silent sign to grab his attention but he never spared me a glance.

In fact, through out the entire meeting he never looked my way once.

Why in the world is he so pissed.

” Are these the only points you have?” Hunter questions the men currently present.

The man who looked like the oldest that I assumed to be their leader nodded twice before speaking.

” Yes Mr McConnell. That is all”

I looked to Hunter again so he could let me speak up, but today he is not interested in my opinion.

This is the first and shockingly the only meeting we’ve had this week and he is simply acting like I’m not even here.

” Fine. I’ll schedule another appointment for us to discuss more”

He just agreed!?

I whipped my head to the right only to be sure it’s truly Hunter McConnell who’s seated by my side.

And my eyes didn’t deceive me.

” Thank you Mr McConnell, we hope to hear from you again” the gentlemen got up with smiles on their faces as they walked out, proud that they had succeeded in deceiving us.

Hunter was about to walk out when I called to him.

” Mr McConnell sir?”

He only whirled around and raised a brow as I waited for the last person to leave the hall before walking up to the door and shutting it close.

” Did you just agree to that!?” I almost yelled at him.

” No, I shifted the meeting till further notice. Now if you’ll excuse me”

He tried to side step me but I’m not letting that happen.

” What has been up with you lately? Seriously, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and now Friday and you’ve been giving me a sassy pants attitude. What’s up?” I folded my arms across my chest and I watched as his eyes follow my movement.

” Miss Jules, I don’t have time for this”

He called me Jules?

Why does that feel strange?

” You’re gonna tell me what I did wrong” I stood my ground

” Why would you presume you offended me?”

” Because you’ve been acting weird lately and even in this meeting you didn’t look my way once”

And you just freaking called me Jules.

” My aim of meetings isn’t to check out people’s faces” he retorted.

” You didn’t even ask my opinion” I felt it was necessary here.

” Miss Jules the job of a secretary is to record minutes in a meeting and not contribute to one, if you’re having troubles assimilating that then I’ll have Lily handle it for me”

Did he just say that?

I have this awkward feeling that I have just been demoted.

I drop my hands in defeat.

” Are you being serious?” I asked with a wavering voice.

” I’m not one to usually joke” it was his turn to cross his arms and he did.

I’m very sure my face looks crestfallen, but I have no idea what I did to offend him so bad.

I just stared at him with words stuck at the back of my throat but they aren’t pushing to come out, in fact they are happy there.

” Anything else?” He asked me after a few seconds of silence.

I shook my head ” No. I mean yes. The photo shoot is next week Tuesday”

He only gave me a nod and started to walk out.

But this time I didn’t stop him.

He stopped himself.

” And Miss Jules?”

I turned to see him by the door with his back to me.

” Yes?”

” From now you’ll take the seat at the extreme end during meetings, the one Lily sits in. It’s the chair for our secretary’s”

And then he walked out, leaving me with a hanging mouth.

What did I do?