“Sebastian?” Stephanie struggled to mutter, and she watched him stand up. “How are you, Stephanie?” He walked to where she was standing. Stephanie wanted to move away, but she was too stunned to move. When he got closer to her, Stephanie didn’t hesitate before she lifted her hand and spanked him in the face.
Sebastian’s face fell to the side and clenched his jaw as he felt great pain in my face. “How dare you, Sebastian!” She yelled, and Sebastian turned to look at her. “I’m sorry, Stephanie.” She shook her head and picked up her bag. “Coming here was a horrible mistake.” She turned to leave, and Sebastian quickly grabbed her from behind and embraced her tightly.
“I’m sorry, Stephanie,” He mumbled, and Stephanie struggled to release his grip around her. “Let me go! How dare you touch me? After what you did to me!” She yelled, but Sebastian didn’t let go of her. Instead, he tightened his grip around her. “Let me go!” Stephanie’s voice was low and quivering.
Tears streamed down her eyes uncontrollably, she kept struggling to get out of his grip but she couldn’t. He kept his grip firm around her. “Give me time to explain, Stephanie. I beg you. I won’t let you go until you hear my side of the story,” Sebastian uttered very close to her ear, and her eyes went shut automatically.
“I needed to leave. I had to. If I hadn’t left I would have lost many things, Stephanie. Please listen to me. I beg you,” Sebastian kept pleading, and Stephanie’s head dropped in tears. “Why didn’t you tell me! Why did you just disappear! You used me, Sebastian!” She cried, and he shook his head. “No, I didn’t. I swear, I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. It was sudden. It was news I had to pay attention to.”
“And then you could ignore me?! Sebastian, just let me go,” She cried, but he kept holding her. Suddenly, she threw a kick to his leg, and his grip loosened. Stephanie hurried to the door, but before she could grab the doorknob, Sebastian hurried to the door and blocked it. He rested his back on the door and stretched his hands out to her.
“Stephanie, five minutes…” He panted heavily as he spoke. “Five minutes to explain what really happened. And then I can let you go.” He pleaded, and she shook her head. “Let me out, Sebastian.” She cleaned her eyes and looked at him. “I swear on my life, Stephanie! Five minutes and that’s all,” He said, and Stephanie huffed and threw her head backward.
“Fine. Start talking.” Stephanie folded her arms and lowered her head. She was too teary to look at him in the face. “Please sit.” He pointed to the chair. “The time is ticking, Sebastian. Start talking.” She clenched her jaw and divulged a frown. “Okay. That night, I got a message from my Dad. And it was a serious one. This company was going bankrupt. My PA was supposed to handle everything while I was away, but he did otherwise. He kept embezzling money. My father told me to leave New York City before he grew worse, but I didn't because of you, Stephanie.”
“I messaged my PA, told him to send me the reports, accounts and all other documents, but he refused to send it. Very early in the morning, I got a message that my PA and some set of people had embezzled more than a billion dollars. I had to rush home. I didn’t tell you because I felt useless. My name was going down the drain, and I couldn’t tell you about it. I wanted to come here and settle everything. I’m sorry,” Sebastian explained, and she scoffed.
“You could have told me! I would have understood! You just left that filthy note and left! After our first sex, Sebastian! What did you expect me to think?!” She smacked, pointing her finger at him. “I’m sorry! I just don’t know how to tell others about my problems, okay? I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to worry about me. I know all these don't make sense. I’m so sorry, Stephanie. I am very very sorry.” He kept his back on the door, he wanted to make sure she wouldn’t run out.
“So you live in Los Angeles, If not for your rich Dad, I wouldn’t know your surname. Maybe it was a big mistake. Right from the beginning, it was all a stupid mistake. And it won't happen again.” Sebastian’s knees fell to the ground, and he bowed his head. Stephanie’s jaw dropped when she saw Sebastian go on his knees in front of her.
“Give me another chance, Stephanie. Robbie told me how hard it was for you after you left, and I feel like a jerk for that. This is me doing the right thing, Stephanie. Here I am in front of you, kneeling and begging for your forgiveness. Please forgive me.” Stephanie raised her head as she felt her throat tighten uncomfortably. “Get up, Sebastian,” She uttered, and he shook his head.
“I won’t stand up until you promise me you will think about giving me a chance. Please. Your coming here is no mistake, Stephanie.” Sebastian’s voice shivered as he spoke. Stephanie could feel him trying to push back his tears. “Fine! I promise to think about it. Can you stand up now? I need to leave.”
Sebastian slowly bounced his head and stood up. He moved out of the way and reached for the door knob. He opened the door and walked away from the door. “You made a promise. Please, Stephanie,” He muttered as Stephanie walked to the door. She stepped out, and Sebastian quickly grabbed her hand, making her stop.
She bent her head and looked at him. “Let me go, Sebastian.” Sebastian heaved a sigh and slowly moved his hand off hers. She held onto her bag firmly and hurried to the elevator. She pressed the button and it gave way almost immediately. Sebastian kept his eyes on her until she entered the elevator, and the elevator closed. Stephanie placed her head on the wall of the elevator and closed her eyes. The hot tears that rolled out of her eyes burnt her face, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand.
“How did I not know he owns this company!” She threw a punch to the elevator wall and hit her head slightly on it. She felt pains all over her knuckles. She looked at it and saw it had turned red. “Robbie, I need to call him. I hope he didn’t plan this!” She hurriedly reached for her phone in her bag and put a call across to Robbie. It started ringing, and he answered in no time.
“Hey, Stephanie. How are you?” Robbie asked in a lively manner. “What did you do, Robbie?” Stephanie’s sad and quivering voice made Robbie’s mood change instantly. “What’s wrong, Stephanie?” He asked. “Why did you send me that link when you knew it was Sebastian’s company! Why did you do that to me!” Stephanie yelled.
“Stephanie, please calm down, okay? Sebastian and I have been talking, and he told me he had things to tell you, but he knew you would never pick his calls or reply to his texts. So he asked me for help. Trust me, Stephanie. I talked some sense into that big head of his! He is truly sorry.”
Stephanie sighed and covered her face with her hand. She was short of words and didn’t know what to tell Robbie. She felt stupid. “Stephanie, I’m sorry. I didn’t lie, I just didn’t tell you the whole truth. He truly needs people to work at the company. Those that were there embezzled his money. He brought up this idea because he knows you are the best and most trusted person he has…”
“So this is about using me again?” Stephanie cut him short. “No! Of course not! Please, just give him another chance. Think about it. Truly he is at fault, but he kind of had his reasons.” There was silence for a few minutes from the two ends after he finished talking. Stephanie spoke up again, “I’m going to hang up now. We’ll talk later.” She hung up the call before he could respond, and she threw her phone into her bag again.
She got out of the company and turned to look at it for the last time. As she stared at it, her eyes fell on Sebastian’s window, and she caught him gazing at her. She could barely see the expressions on his face but she could feel he was sad. Before she could look away, Sebastian moved away from the window. Sure furrowed her brows and kept gazing at his window. ‘Isn’t he supposed to stay until I’m gone?’
She shook her head and almost turned away when she saw him at the window again. This time he had something in his hand. He opened one of his window glass and threw what was in his hand down. It fell in front of Stephanie’s leg, and she looked at it. It was a squeezed paper. She picked it up and opened it. It read, “I still love you, Stephanie, and I won’t stop loving you.”
She gritted her teeth as she read and looked at him. She saw him nod and in front of him, she squeezed the paper again and threw it in the trash can that was not so far from her. She walked away and this time, she didn’t look up.