The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 97

Work had never felt so boring. Or rather, she had never been so distracted before. She glanced at her phone every few minutes and stopped when Mina called her out, only to check it again.

When Mina caught her this time, she took her phone away. "What are you worried about? Angel is probably having a blast learning numbers and attracting dozens of little friends—especially girls."

She chuckled, knowing she was about to be reminded of Angel’s age, but Avery only laughed this time.

"I didn’t get to tell him goodbye clearly. He was too busy playing and I didn’t want to take him away from his friend when they were having so much time." She sighed. "But now I wish I did. What if he thinks we abandoned him?"

Mina pulled the seat opposite Avery’s desk over and sat on it, next to Avery’s. "Angel is quite sensible. There is no way he will think that way."

"What if he does?" She was still worried.

"Then thank goodness Aubrey is in his school. She will assure him that parents always leave in the morning and return in the evening to pick their kids up."

Thinking about Angel’s new friend, she was less worried. That little girl was a treasure.

"I should get back to work. You have a meeting with Le Blanc Group in an hour, let me help you get ready." She stood to leave Avery’s office.

"What would I do without you?" Avery muttered.

"Talk yourself out of your depressed state and prepare for meetings on your own—neither of which sounds like a blast. But don’t worry. You will always have me."

"What about me?" Gabriel asked behind her. "Will I also always have you?"

When did he get here? She wondered, but judging from Avery’s expression, she had seen him cone in and had not said a word. Traitor.

"First off, you know your sister is right here. Don’t say such lewd stuff. Secondly, no you won’t." She sauntered off.

"Why? Mina!" He watched her disappearing back then turned to Avery pleadingly.

"Go after her." She gave him the permission he was scared to ask for. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with two fireballs at her workplace. She would rather have them settle their differences in the shortest time possible.

Gabriel ran after Mina and caught up as she entered her office. She didn’t stop him and instead crossed her arms. "Look who we have here. The devil himself, falling right into the trap I set for him."

"What makes you think you are getting out of here alive?" She slid her stiletto off her left foot and pointed it at him threateningly.

"I don’t care whether or not I’m leaving alive...what’s wrong with you?"

She already knew he was a scumbag but his question was a ton of bricks. "You are the one walking all over the city with barbies hanging off your arm, yet I supposedly have a problem?"

"Why does it matter which woman I hang out with?" He dropped the bombshell.

It took her ages to process his words and when she recovered her wit, she nodded. "You are right. We didn’t talk about anything and you didn’t promise to stay away from other women. So now that I have come back to my senses, you can go ahead and enjoy your barbies."

"That’s not what I meant!" He said, but it was too late as she had walked away. It had taken him too long to realize what she thought he meant.

"’Because I like you.’ Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say?" He sighed at how difficult it was to understand women, let alone make them understand things.

_____

There was only one hour left before she could pick her son up and the meeting was taking forever, which was only made worse by the cold war in the conference room. She had not understood the gravity of it before but this was why there was a policy against workplace relationships in every company.

They kept acting as though the other didn’t exist and as long as anyone observed them for a few minutes, they would know what was happening between them. Avery massaged her temples.

"That should be all. Gabriel, I need the weekly report on my desk within an hour." She ended the meeting, sending everyone wondering about the parts that were yet to be covered. She felt as awkward as they did as she explained, "I need to rush somewhere. If there’s anything urgent, let Mina know."

She let everyone leave the conference room and as though Mina and Gabriel knew she wanted to talk to them, they stayed.

She stood to shut the door before crossing her arms and glaring at them. "What’s wrong with you? Didn’t both of you decide to be together despite the work policy?"

"We changed our minds and I’m sorry for all the trouble it has caused. Can I get back to work?" Mina excused herself and coudln’t get to the door fast enough. It was obvious how furious she was with Gabriel. On the other hand, the man sat in his spot, whining about how unfair she was being for not hearing him out.

Avery sat on the chair beside his and when she swung it to face him, he had a feeling he should have bolted out when Mina left.

"I warned you against playing with my friend’s feelings."

"I’m not playing, I swear. I was only trying to push her to tell me she likes me." He briefly explained, then felt awkward when she looked at him like he was an idiot.

"If you like her, why don’t you tell her that? You can’t expect her to be the one confessing her feelings if you went out with another woman, you idiot." She wanted to smack him.

"But that woman isn’t even anything to me. I met her at the convenience store and she wanted my help getting away from her abusive boyfriend. I couldn’t just leave a damsel in distress, could I?"

Seeing how serious he was, she didn’t know what to tell him. A damsel in distress? If she was indeed one, she would have alerted the store’s security or called the police as soon as Gabriel helped her get away. Clinging onto his arm would have been the last thing on her mind. Besides, "Do you know what happened after she left the store?"

"She went home." He guessed. "Look, it doesn’t matter. Mina is mad at me for a reason that doesn’t exist."

She was speechless. Was there any way of helping him? She wanted to ignore him and let him lose his perfect woman for his stupidity, but her friend was getting the short end of the stick in this so she nudged him. "Find Mina and explain everything. Don’t leave a single word out, and apologize for not explaining it to her sooner. Go."

He hated being ordered around so when he dashed out and made a beeline for Mina’s office, she was finally convinced. Gabriel didn’t just like Mina. He was falling in love with her and probably didn’t know how to process it.

____

It felt great to finally pick Angel up. She and Damon had initially agreed to pick him up together but his meeting took longer than planned so she decided for them to meet him at his place.

She had thought Angel would be waiting for her but instead, she didn’t see any sign of him. Excited kids filtered out of the classrooms section and ran to their parents, and as the school emptied out, she became worried. Where was Angel.

She left her car and went out looking for any teacher and was relieved when she met a woman she knew must be Angel’s homeroom teacher.

"Mrs. D’Aboville, you are finally here. Angel is waiting for you." She smiled when she saw her.

"Where is he?"

"In the classroom, the third one on your right."

"Thank you." Avery walked towards the direction the teacher had pointed. "It’s Miss Vaillant." Was Damon addicted to introducing her as his wife at every turn? 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"I’m sorry. I just assumed..." The teacher cleared her throat when she realized she might say something that would make Avery uncomfortable. "Your son is quite the darling. The other kids hovered over him all day."

"Really? Did he fit in? Make friends?" She was curious.

"He did. The girls were practically fighting over him and offering him snacks while the boys wanted to play with him. He ignored all of them like a little boss."

She knew the teacher was prattling on about Angel to stray away from the topic of how she had addressed her but she didn’t mind. It was lovely to hear all about her son’s first day of school.

Before she got to the class, Angel attacked her with a hug.

"My baby!" She picked him up and kissed his cheeks. "How was it? Do you want to come back to school tomorrow?" This was what she wanted to know the most.

He nodded excitedly and got down, then ran back to class to bring his friend.

"Hello, Aubrey." She greeted the cute little girl, who must have stayed to keep Angel company. She was proved right when Aubrey’s mother left the classroom, looking tired. "Are your friend’s parents here? Can we go home now?"

"She wouldn’t budge until Angel’s parents got here." She explained to Avery, and the two laughed.

"I’m Elizabeth, by the way. I realized we didn’t get a proper introduction."

"Avery." She shook her hand and took Angel’s. "Let’s go home. Do you want to say goodbye to Aubrey?"