Arthur sighed a bit and then decided to sit on the sofa where Venessa was sitting, keeping a healthy distance between them.
"Do you want to be with him, Venessa?"
The question came out of blue, taking her aback a bit. Venessa didn't know she would be asked this kind of question by Arthur. She felt a little hesitant to answer although she didn't know if it was for surprise or for some other reason.
"No….no, not at all," she replied whipping the trees from the corner of her eyes.
"Does he want to be with you?" Arthur threw another question despite knowing the answer.
Venessa looked into his eyes this time, trying to read the emotions from it, if there was any at all. But he was quite expressionless.
"No, he doesn't. He loves someone else."
Arthur removed his gaze from her and so she couldn't see his reaction to her reply. But she saw him clench his fist a bit and then nod.
"I think you should sign it," he replied as he stood up and checked the time second time she came inside the house.
"You think so?" Venessa didn't know if he wanted her to divorce Stefan or just tried to help her decide what to do, but she wanted to think it was the former. That's what she wanted to think all along anyway.
Arthur nodded a bit.
Venessa could feel his impatience laced behind his calm face and decided to excuse herself, completing her last task of today. She hurriedly stood up from the sofa causing one of her loose earrings to fall on the dark carpet which made it hard to notice on the floor.
"Sorry for bothering you early in the morning. I think I should leave," Venessa replied but Arthur didn't say anything, except nodding a bit.
"Thanks for today. I really didn't know where to go and whom to talk in this situation. That's for still being friends with me," she continued as she found herself on the doorsteps of Arthur's house.
Arthur put one hand on his door and another in his pocket, trying to offer his practiced social smile so that she doesn't feel further awkward.
She was at his restaurant almost one year ago just like that or maybe a bit worse that today. She lost her father and didn't know where to go with all her sadness.
Although Arthur didn't keep any contact with her, they used see each others face on social event once in a while. Seeing him like that face-to-face after a long time made her feel weaker, and she ended up asking to be his friend again. Arthur didn't seem to entertain the idea in his mind but let her use his shoulder to cry somehow.
It was an exception, she knew that. She also knew he couldn't decline because of the state she was on. No matter how much he insisted on marrying Stefan back then, she was the one who never cleared why she didn't want to marry. It was selfish of her to run away from Arthur like that, because she knew she was becoming so dependent to his presence. And in this way, she just punished herself.
A human can never live without having any attachment, and so no matter how hard she tried to escape from them, she ended up coming to the same position again and again.
Venessa wanted to be friends again and told her she didn't want anything else more than that. It was a lie but she wanted to feed him that. Arthur never denied her occasional visits in the restaurant but he never was the one to initiate any meeting. The wall he created between them was so visibly hard to break. And she didn't pry much because she was still married to Stefan.
Even after signing the contracts, she restrained herself. But now she can finally dive into her goal.
He must have moved on but no one in his heart now at least, she was sure of that much.
She was confident about it, because even though Alexis and Arthur knew each other from six years back for some reason, they never built any relationship. In fact, they didn't even have any whatsoever connection with each other. If something needed to happen, it could have happened already. But it didn't happen anyway, right?
Arthur didn't say anything as he let her express her gratitude.
***
Alexis waited for a few minutes to get a reply but didn't get any. She should be used it by now as the person she was having a conversation would leave her on read or unseen quite often.
Somehow she is not offended anymore. That guy acts like he is all busy and can't bother to give her a reply, then he will come running to rescue her out of the blue as if he owns an emergency alarm connected to her heart.
Even six years ago it was easy to pour out her heart to him than any other person she knew and felt comfortable to share her thoughts with.
Alexis wasn't the type to have a hearty conversation with a stranger and he wasn't the best option when it came to conversation anyway. But something about him always made her feel safe and easy to communicate with. Yet he is so stubbornly declining her offer to be friends.
Alexis switched off her phone so that she is not distracted by anything anymore before nestling herself inside the car. One of her teammates was driving so she let herself recover from the jetlag through sleeping. She isn't used to jetlags even after travelling this often.
"Mathew, please do not wake me up in the middle. I need at least 6 hours of sleep," she spoke out, putting her eye mask.
Mathew buckled his seatbelt and glanced behind the backseat, finding Alexis well settled and ready to sleep.
"You don't look happy to return to work," he replied, smirking a little as he could sense she was a bit displeased to return to work after 10 days. So he decided to tease her further, "Did you have too much fun at the wedding?"
Fun? She didn't know if she had fun in the wedding. But something changed, as this time she wasn't that excited to return to work from home like everytime. It was a rare view for Mathew.
"It was so so."
"Did you score any hot guy?"
Mathew asked while stepping on the accelerator.
Alexis couldn't help removing her eye mask and look at the back of her teammate who was currently driving. "I'm out of the game Mathew, remember?"
"You've been out of the game since forever, honey. Tell me something new," he replied while keeping his eyes on the road, a little teasing peeking from his tone.
Alexis sighed and put on her eye mask again.
"Anything but love, Mathew. Anything but love."
"Roger."
Alexis planned to sleep through the drive but just wanted Arthur to know that she is up to cool things since she left him and she won't be reachable because she is too busy to reply to him.
So much fun she is having! Alexis thought.
She has to cover up all the work loads of past ten days because her team missed her so much; only when it's about work.
Mathew was the only person she worked so long with. She was been assigned in a team with him when she was a junior and since then they have been working together. Alexis has her own company now and Mathew was her biggest shareholder and a best partner in work.
They had similar symphony when it's about photography or liking aesthetics and so they clicked well. She never particularly considered him as her friend but somehow their partnership turned into an unspokeabke and unbreakable friendship. Sometimes naming didn't matter, and that's how it was with Mathew.
He was also only one in the team who knew about her past in a moderate amount, specially that part where she doesn't want to involve herself into any romance and how she brutally declines each guy's proposal like she is an asexual.
Mathew knew she wasn't but never pushed her about it. That's why she liked this Mexican work partner of hers.