I stood frozen in the middle of the boardwalk when I heard his voice, calling out to me. Hold on, why should I let my emotions control me? No, it couldn’t be! I shook my head to wake up from a daze of seeing him again and tried to compose myself. It’s a Miss U moment of grace under pressure, and I persuaded myself to focus on my job and temporarily set aside my personal grudges against the man.

I took a deep breath, worked on my smile, and slowly, I turned around to face him. “I beg pardon for my behavior earlier, you don’t know how surprised I am to see you again.” I acted cool and indifferent, but when he smiled back at me, I had a hard time controlling my heart, that I had to clear my throat.

“I understand, and I feel the same. By the way, you look great,” he said, and I rolled my eyes at his flattering words.

Did he have to use the same line when he first introduced himself to me back then? “Thank you, and you don’t look bad yourself, either.” For a moment, I envied the celebrities of their professionalism when they got to work with their exes, because to be honest, it wasn’t easy! I felt like anytime a bomb would go off!

Omar welcomed me in his villa and offered a drink when we get in but I refused. “It’s been a while, how are you?” he asked as soon as we’re seated.

“I’m great, however, you’re not entitled to ask me that.” I set him straight as early as possible since I didn’t want him a get a wrong idea for my friendliness.

“You’re still mad at me,” he deduced from the tone I used with him.

“Can you blame me?” For a moment, we stared at each other, and no one wanted to break the silence first. Then, Omar shook his head and stood up. He didn’t even apologize! What a bastard. “Shall we get on with the interview now?” I assumed that he’s getting ready for the job and we have to finish it within the day.

“Not now, Anna. I just woke up and haven’t eaten my breakfast yet. Common, join me for breakfast.” He motioned that I should follow him towards the dining area.

“I’m done, thank you.” I refused to eat with him.

Omar narrowed his eyes at me and asked, “Shouldn’t you try to be nice to me?”

My eyes widen at the realization that he’s going to use my assignment against me. “Are you trying to tell me that you may cancel with the interview if I misbehave?” I needed him to confirm my suspicion, and when he nodded, my nostrils flared in anger! “That’s blackmail!” I exclaimed.

“That’s right. I’m a businessman, Anna.” He threatened me.

“You haven’t changed at all!” I shouldn’t have said that, but the words already came out from my mouth.

“Join me for breakfast or you’ll regret it,” one more time, he issued an ultimatum.

I stared daggers at his back, but I had no choice but to follow the dreadful man to the kitchen. Right then, I regretted my decision to return to the villa and tried to be professional with him. It was obvious that he wouldn’t do the same with me, and his attitude proved my suspicions to be accurate.

Smile Anna, you can do it! I reminded myself of the most difficult task I had in the past, and let out a deep breath when I followed him. I expected that there would be several kitchen staff in uniform to serve him, but when I reached the dining area, Omar was alone, and the food on his plate was similar to the food that ordinary people ate for breakfast. “Hotsilog? Don’t you have someone to cook a proper meal for you?” Hotsilog was a meal with rice, sunny-side-up eggs, and hotdogs, and it was far from the meal that rich people usually have for breakfast.

“What’s wrong with it? The eggs are good, and the hotdogs are well-cooked.” He said and gestured his hand that I should try it. “And it’s just you and me…in the island.”

I stared at him in disbelief and said, “No, you lied.”

“Why should I? Are you scared of being alone with me now? You used to love it,” he dared to remind me about our tragic past, and I smirked at him.

Later, I have to ask him why he didn’t use the name Alvarez when he introduced himself to me. Omar Dianon, that’s the name he used before, and I’ve been loathing on a man with that name, but it turned out that he’s someone else! “I have my reasons to be scared Mr. Alvarez, after all, you are a cruel man, and Alejandro warned me about you.” I saw how he clenched his jaw, and I smiled when he became uncomfortable in his seat.

“After breakfast, feel free to explore the island. Let’s do it in the afternoon,” he stood up and brought the plate he used to the sink and washed it.

The man’s actions contradicted from the initial report written by Nikka, but I had no time to analyze it. I took the last bite of the hotdog and followed him to the sink. “You can’t do this, Mr. Alvarez!”

“Why the hell I can’t?” He asked, and I had no answer for that.

“You plan to make this difficult for me, right?” I asked.

“No, you’re wrong about that. I’m just not in the mood to answer questions right now,” he replied, then he stormed off from the dining. “You can take pictures if you need it,” he said before he left me.

I returned to his living room and retrieved my camera. What else could I do? He said that he’s not available at the moment, and I couldn’t just lounge in his modern living room, no matter how I liked the chesterfield sofa. Oh wait, he said I could take pictures, so why not? I grinned at the endless possibilities of exposing his private island and the villa to the public.

With a new set of determination to conquer the battle against myself, I began taking pictures of everything I could find inside his villa, of course, his bedroom was off-limits. It wasn’t part of the job assigned to me, but who knew if I could use it in the future? I focused on luxury items, elegant decors, and the paintings on the wall.

When I was still a student, I dreamed to visit a painting gallery, of course, to admire the artists and their works on display, but the chance wasn’t available to anyone. It’s for the elite and can-afford personalities. However, that long-time dream was achieved, inside Omar’s villa, where some of the most expensive paintings in the world sold in auctions were displayed.

The villa was also full of Mardi’s masterpieces too, a famous artist who took a hiatus from painting about five years ago. Since then, I never heard anything related to Mardi’s works, but I wondered why the artist sold his works to Omar when he was against selling it to the public. Mardi said that he’s contented with his works being displayed in a gallery for everyone to admire, but what happened?

Oh well, money could sometimes persuade people, even the most stubborn one, I thought.

I secured the memory card that contained all the photos I took inside and out of the villa just in case and inserted a new one into my camera. I was checking the back-up file on my laptop when Omar joined me in the living room and sat across from me. “Shall we start now?” I asked, although I couldn’t focus as his fresh scent assaulted my senses. His wet hair indicated that he just came out from the shower, and an erotic scene of two people making love under the shower flashed back on my head.

“What do you like to have for lunch?”

I asked him about the interview, and he replied by questioning what I wanted for lunch. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I couldn’t stop myself from cursing when it was obvious that he employed a delaying tactic towards the interview.

“Mind your language, Anna! Now tell me, what you want to eat.” He ordered, and the man knew how to make someone cower with his voice.

“I want Lechon, sisig, and grilled fish,” I replied to make his life a little difficult because there’s no way he could serve Lechon on the island.

“Okay,” he replied and left.

What the heck? Was he going to roast a pig for me? Seriously? But I haven’t found a live pig outside when I explored the nearby surroundings of his villa. I shut down my computer and followed him to the kitchen. “What are you doing?”

“Reheating the Lechon, you said you want some for lunch.” He replied and checked the oven.

I collapsed myself into the chair and gaped at the man who exerted unsolicited efforts to feed me. If he wanted to apologize for his cruelty in the past, he could just say it, and there’s no need to go overboard. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” I told him.

“Doing what?” He acted unaware of our uncomfortable situation, and his actions only made it worse.

“Why don’t you just apologize for the past and let’s get on with the interview? “ I voiced out my thoughts and he laughed.

“Oh Anna, you’re still the same naïve girl I met five years ago! At that time, it was the best decision, so I don’t see any reason to apologize for it.” Omar said and his statement stunned me!