Isaac Gray Elizalde’s POV
“Oh, so…she’s back…” Vivian smirked. “You didn’t tell me that she is back.”
“And, who are you to tell me that she is back?” I glared at her. “You are not my wife, Vivian.” I emphasized that word. “Please, you ruined everything between me and Deanara. Don’t ruin it now because you are going to regret it!” I warned her.
I had enough of her…seriously? She has been a pain in the ass. At first, I was treating her well because we were friends, we were best friends who promised to stay with each other through thick and thin. She was there for me when I was so down and she helped me a lot. She was my first love, she was the first in everything. Just first, Deanara is the one I want to be my last.
But, that’s too much…this isn’t right. It was too late for me to realize that I was compromising my relationship with Deanara just because I don’t want to hurt Vivian…or because I still want to keep our friendship after all these years. I was treating her right because I respected her…not because I liked her, but I was thought to respect girls and we were together for years. The feeling is still there, I care for her, but I don’t love her anymore.
It’s my mistake. I shouldn’t have done that. It was really late for me…Deanara was already hurting and I was so naive. She’s so understanding that I took it for granted. Now, she hates me.
Vivian is here…we’ve been fighting so much because of her, now we are going to fight again. This girl really needs to stay away from me.
“Wow! We have a son!” She raised her voice. “At least, that’s the reason —”
“We clearly know that he is not my son…” I smirked. “I can slap you with the paper right now if I wanted to…but I am not going to do it because I still respect you as a girl. Say that again and I’ll make sure —”
“Chill!” She smiled at me. I know she is just joking, but when Deanara heard that, she’s not going to believe me anymore. That’s not a good joke. Vivian was really born to ruin my life. “I am not here for you, okay?”
I raised my brow. “And, why would you be here?”
“I heard Ethan is back…” She smiled a bit. “We have so much talking to do.”
“Ethan is not here, so you shouldn’t be coming here again!”
I didn’t give her any chance to say something. I left her and went directly to the conference room. They stopped when I entered the room. Deanara was already standing in front to present her design. I smiled a little. I have always wanted to see her designs. Honestly, I turned her design into a home…and it’s just waiting for her and Sae.
“I appreciate people who care about time,” she said while looking at me. That created a tension between all of us. Wow! I should be scared of how she looked, but that turned me on. She’s so hot right now.
“So, if we are going to work together. Please be mindful of time.” She emphasized that as she turned to the board and started showing her plans.
I just smiled. Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying because I was busy admiring her…and everything about her. I could still imagine her naked body…and yeah, I shouldn’t be doing this while inside the meeting, but she’s just so good that…fuck! I need to stop thinking about it…because this is not good.
I need to focus because she’s staring at me, and she is mad, But, so hot.
She continued what she was saying while we closely listened to her, not really because I wasn’t paying much attention to her as I was really spacing out. It was only then when Engr. Ruiz tapped me for some questions about her designs that I had to pretend I listened to.
“We have some problems with the project,” Engr. Tan told us after a while. “I’m sorry, but the owner of the private property where we want to build half of the ecological hotel doesn’t want to sell his land.” He started explaining it to us.
“Wait, what?” Deanara raised her brow. “I thought everything was already settled since we are here to talk about it.” She looked at me. “Care to explain, Engr. Elizalde?”
“It was already settled until now.” I replied to her. “I didn’t know that there’s a change to that.”
“They just said that they no longer want to sign the contract with us, so since that’s the case...we can’t build the ecological hotel.” Engr. Tan said.
“What made them change their mind?” She hissed. “We are buying it.”
“Someone offered them more money, so…”
“Who offered them?” She groaned in frustration. “Why are you only telling me this? You should be telling me this beforehand. Why just now? Investors from Spain are coming tomorrow to discuss the whole project, then you are telling us that we already lost it? What kind of partnership is this?”
“We are not losing it. They just put the land on bidding, since a lot of companies wanted to buy it after…”
“After what?” I asked. I really don’t know anything about this and I don’t know if Ethan knew about this, too, but it just happened in the morning. Why all of the sudden and they are supposed to side with us since we are the biggest firm where they can benefit from?
“Wow! And, you don’t know anything about this, Mr. Elizalde?” She looked at me.
“He’s not at fault here because they really agreed to sell it to us, and they just backed out right now.” Engr. Ruiz. “It’s already settled, but…”
She brushed her hair in frustration. “So, you are telling me that I wasted time for this project because --”
“We just need to win the bidding,” I said. “Let’s present this to them...and maybe…”
Engr. Tan cut me off. “I don’t think that we can do that.”
“Why?” We all asked him.
“The rival engineer already presented their design so...uhm…” He couldn’t continue his words like he knew that we were going to get mad at him.
“What?” I asked. Deanara was already getting impatient and I could see how this is going to irritate her more than ever. And, I didn’t even know about it which made it worse. I should be the first one to know and now...she’s disappointed in me.
“We have the same project with them…”
“What?” Deanara scoffed as she unbelievably looked at all of us. “The same project, do you mean the same design, too, and ideas?”
“Yes,” Engr. Tan replied. “It would seem that we are the ones who copied it if we are going to present it to them.”
“Are you seriously kidding me?” She brushed her hair as she inhaled and exhaled. “This is the first in the country...and I was the first one who…” She looked at me with disgust.
I know that, I was the first one to know about the project and I am sure that it was really her to think about this. She finished the designs a long time ago.
“Who is our rival company?”
“The Art is Life Company,” Engr. Ruiz replied.
“Vivian?” I raised my brow. “Her husband owned that company…” I whispered under my breath.
“Did you show my project to her?”
“Uh…” There’s a lump on my throat as I try to find the words.
Fuck! I showed it to her, but it was just because...yeah, I never thought she would copy it. How dare she!
“I am asking you Engr. Gray Elizalde, did you show my design to her?” She gritted her teeth.
“Yes...but…”
“I didn’t ask for an explanation, Engr. Elizalde.” She cut me off. “Now, you heard it…” She looked at the members of the board. “The reason why we can no longer continue this. Perhaps you want to ask him how he can settle this. But, I hope you don’t forget to remind your girl that I am filing a lawsuit against her.”
She picked up her things and started leaving.
“I’ll settle this,” I told them as I followed Deanara who was already leaving the building.
And, when she was about to reach the main door...Vivian was walking towards us, making her stop as she looked closely at Vivian. I have never seen her mad like this. Deanara was always calm, refined, and she knows how to handle her emotions, but now...she looks like she is going to explode any moment.
And, there she went...without saying anything, she slapped Vivian.
I saw how shocked Vivian was as she was trying to find the reason why she received such a slap for Deanara. Well, she deserves it. It’s my fault that I trusted her again. Fuck! This is all on me.
“How dare you!” Vivian was about to slap her back when I stopped her. “Gray?” She looked at me with disbelief as if she was wondering why I am siding with Deanara. She should know better not to cross the line now that I know everything. There is no way I will let her hurt Deanara. She deserves a slap and if I could only hurt a girl, she’ll be the first one.
“You deserve it,” I told her. “Why did you do it?”
“Did what?” Vivian innocently acted. I can’t believe I loved this girl before. I was really blinded.
“You copied my project!” Deanara shouted at her. “Do you think you’ll get away from this?” She smirked.
“Do you have any proof that I did it? And, what are you talking about?” Vivian responded. Oh, she’s a pain in the ass.
“I showed you the design, Vivian!” I emphasized it. “The ecological project and you won the bid when it was her design!” If I could hurt a girl, she'd probably be the first one.
“Oh, wow! Excuse me! You showed it to me, but it’s not like I copied it. Mind you, you aren’t the first one who thought about the ecological hotel project. I was inspired by the other country, so I decided to use it. It’s not like you pioneered the whole concept.”
That made Deanara laugh harder. It was a sarcastic one, that I felt like she’s starting to lose patience but still wants to act professional.
“You were inspired by another country?” She grimaced. She’s now staring at Vivian with so much hatred in her eyes. For a second, I thought it was also because of me.
Perhaps, yes. All the pain that Vivian caused her because of me was evident in her eyes.
“You copied my whole concept, Vivian.” She stared right into her eyes. “It’s not only an inspiration.” She smirked. It even made her look hotter. “Even if it was an inspiration, you still copied it from me because my team is the pioneer of that ecological concept in the whole world.” She flipped her hair and left Vivian with her jaw dropped.
That’s my girl.
I left her and followed Deanara to the office designated for the staff. She was so devastated as she sat down in her chair and wasn’t even paying attention to me. It was like that for minutes until she deeply sighed. This time, she looked at me, with so much hatred.
“What do you want, Gray?”
It was really hard for me to shallow the words as each time she looked at me, she lost the love that I once saw in her eyes. I could feel each time, she just hated me over and over again. And, it has always been my fault that I don’t know how to undo it. I guess I can never undo it.
“Why did you show it to her?” She asked me. “I am asking as an architect, and not as someone…” She paused as she held her head. I want to hug her but I am afraid that it will hurt her even more.
“We just talked about upcoming projects and…”
She smirked. “Oh, and…what happens if you don’t have any connection with her?” She sarcastically looked at me. “I cannot believe you are still good at lying Gray.”
“We are not together anymore! She has a family already!” I defended myself.
“Oh,” that made her laugh even more. “Are you her paramour? I mean, so what if she has a family that doesn’t—” Before she could say a word, I pulled her to share a kiss.
She immediately pushed me away. “That won’t work anymore, Gray!” She was mad now. “I am tired of you and everything. This will end now. It seems that you haven’t even settled your issues with her. Go with her!”
“Deanara, when are you going to listen to me?” I said, getting frustrated over and over again, but I know that it was my fault, so I had to bear with it.
“If you are already telling me the truth,” she seriously said. “Oh, wait, did you ever tell me the truth?” She waved her hand towards the door. “I appreciate you leaving as I would think of a project…because it seems like I can no longer make the first one work and it was because of you. Thank you!”
“Deanara…”
“Get out while I am asking, Gray!” She ordered. “I no longer have the patience now, so get out of my life!”
I had to get out for a while because she’s really mad at me. For a while, I set aside personal feelings because my father would beat me to death if he knew that we failed to get the bid. The staff are also talking behind our back now that they know personal feelings are affecting our work. Deanara locked herself in the office and didn't want to be bothered, but she asked the whole team to wait for five hours for her. I don’t know what she is doing, but maybe she is making it work, because I failed her.
“What now?” Engr. Ruiz asked me. “What is she doing?”
“I don’t know,” I replied as I started doing something that could help her. I also asked our staff to think of a project because I still want to win the bidding. From what I heard, the owner of the land was moved by Vivian’s - well originally Deanara’s project - but then they haven’t signed the contract yet and they are still open for bidding, so we can still win them. Whatever Deanara is thinking, that might work. She’s really good.
“What are we going to do?” One of the staff asked. “We heard that tomorrow morning there will be the bidding.” She added. “And, we are afraid that we cannot finish it all by tomorrow even if Ms. Samaniego will come up with a new project.”
“Who says I am going to come up with a new project?” She smirked. The whole team’s face lightened upon seeing her.
She gave us the folder. “I made all the drawings, everything you need…” She smiled at them, but she was looking so fierce when she looked at me. “All you have to do is to do the presentation. And, I think Engr. Elizalde can do it.”
She looked at me and I immediately nodded. She did all the work, and it’s time for me to really make it work.
“We are still going to do the ecological project, but…” She pointed at the paper. “We are going to make the land an agricultural one…not the outside, but the inside of the hotel…we are going to make it work.” It was hard to explain so she just showed us her amazing project.
“Also, I called the legal team…” She was referring to me when she said that. “Please tell her that a lawsuit is already on the way.” She brightly smiled at me while heading off.
I was already five feet apart from her when she stopped me. “I appreciate you doing your work instead of chasing me. We have a bid tomorrow.”
She called the secretary and I heard her ask for a coffee for the whole team. “Shall I cook for them?” I heard her say before she vanished.
“Engr. Elizalde, let’s start.” Engr. Ruiz called me.
“Yes.” I nodded and went back inside to finish the project.
It will be impossible, only if Deanara’s hadn’t finished the drawing. She did well in that span of time, and she was really amazing. The legal team flew from here and we also started talking about the lawsuit because Deanara will not really let it go.
It was already midnight when we were done with the presentation. It was all set, and we just have to review it.
“Let’s just get some sleep,” I told them. “Have you seen Architect Deanara?” I asked one of the staff and told me she’s at her office.
I was supposed to knock but I know that she’s not going to open it, so I slowly opened it to check her. She’s not lying on the couch with paper and pen around her. She looks so tired and it was my fault. I removed my suit and covered her with it.
I kissed her forehead and whispered, “I’m sorry, babe.”