BRIELLE

I was the only girl in the room. 

RetroCorp was an obvious men's club and it pleased me greatly to see how far I'd come.

Things were really going to change when I became vice president though... I was all for women empowerment.

“Brielle! Come, take a seat, take a seat.” Shawn Thomas directed with his usual vigour, but even as I took my place beside him, I realised his tone lacked its usual excitement. I leaned in and whispered. “Are you alright? Why hasn’t the meeting started already?” He didn’t meet my gaze. “I’m alright, and the meeting will start soon. We’re just waiting for one other person.” I nodded in understanding and sat upright, briefly wondering who this other person was.

I heard the door open and close, but I paid it no mind, my attention on my phone since the meeting hadn’t started yet.

“Good morning everyone.”

I froze.  

That voice.

It sounded deeper yet, so familiar.

“You're late.” Shawn said disapprovingly, his gaze shooting towards the door. We all turned to look at the one person who had managed to get Shawn out of his usual jolly mood. My eyes widened at the sight of the one person I never thought I'd see again;

Dylan Thomas. 

Dylan freaking Thomas!

He strode confidently to the table, taking leisurely steps like he was on a stroll, even when he knew perfectly well that he was the one we had all been waiting for.

It was definitely him alright. He looked mature and had shed the cute scrawny high school boy look, only to replace it with manly charisma and an intimidating body. His muscles were defined and you could notice them even though he was in a fucking suit, and his hair, damn his hair was still the usual mess I remembered… the kind that had made me want to reach out and ruffle them some more back when we were in high school and I admired him from afar. My fingers involuntarily curled as I wondered how it'd feel to run them through. I quickly brushed the thought away like I'd been burned. 

And then I waited.

Waited for him to give me that look of recognition, and, I don't know... maybe fall down on his knees with a promise to want me this time despite it being so long ago, or some other completely romantic shit. I don't know exactly what I was looking for, but suffice to say, it never happened. He just stared long and hard at me and said, “Ah, you must be the Brielle Renaud. Nice to finally put a face to the name.” 

“H-how do you know who I am?” I stuttered uneasily, which was weird, because I rarely found myself lost for words.

He caressed the table softly and scrunched his face thoughtfully. “Well, it wasn’t that hard. I just took a guess, seeing as you’re the only woman in the room and all.” His gaze shifted from me to Shawn. “Now dad, is that anyway to talk to your only son who you haven't seen in ages?” Dylan said with tsk, coupled with a small chuckle.

Dad?

Son?

Dylan was Shawn’s son. 

Unbelievable! 

I never expected to see him... like ever again in my life! Not after that embarrassing high school encounter… hell I’d avoided him for the rest of senior year and what, he just turns up all of a sudden? And on my big day too!

Then like some freaking icing on the cake, 

Boom.

I hear he’s the son of my boss.

Fuck, fate really was a bitch sometimes.

It all fucking made sense now though.

How I had thought Shawn looked slightly familiar the first time I'd seen him. Turns out he was the father of my mortal enemy, also known as my once one true love.

But why did I have to know this today of all days?

Today was supposed to be my happy day.

“Okay, so what does this meeting have to do with Shawn's son? Does he even have to be here?” I asked in what I identified to be irritation, slightly disappointed, and yet mostly pleased that he didn’t recognize me. A part of me wanted to proudly declare who I was, so he could see that I was no longer the naïve nerdy little girl who had blurted out her love for him, but I held back. I felt the cocktail of emotions merge to become one strong violent sensation.

Anger.

My mind replayed how hurt I had been when he had rejected me, and all of a sudden, I didn’t give two fucks if he was the bloody son of the wealthiest person in the world, I just wanted him out of the room. 

“Can he leave so we quickly get this bloody meeting started already? What’s one other person? We can still carry on.” I pressed when no one seemed to pay me any mind.

“Please, have a seat, Mr Thomas. Miss Renaud, we'll get to that soon.” One of the directors calmly stated. Dylan sat down and I resigned myself to the fact that the meeting was going to go on with him present.

“We called this meeting with regards to the vice president position.”

“Yes, what about it?” I asked impatiently. Seeing Dylan again had totally wrecked the calm facade I'd been sporting all morning. 

I was like a ticking time bomb now.

And I just wanted to get everything over and done with.

“We all admit that you, Miss Renaud, are one of the very best at what you do. But your... uhm campaign for vice president had gone uh- without any contest.”

“And what the hell is wrong with that? Everyone here knows I'm fucking good at my job... that, I’m capable of being vice president. My guess is, everyone thought it wise to not start a battle they couldn’t finish.” 

“Easy, Miss Renaud.” Dylan butted in, causing me to shoot him a glare. “Look, no one is denying your ability to be in this position-”

“And no one asked for your fucking opinion!” I barked harshly. 

The nerve!

He raised his hands in surrender and reasonably kept mute. I turned to face the board, breathing in deeply to calm my rising temper. “Can you just get to the point please?”

“Well, alright.” The bald headed man adjusted his glasses and nervously cleared his throat, causing me to narrow my eyes in irritation.

Something wasn't right.

The board knew of my... unbridled temper, and it seemed they were trying hard not to do anything to set me off. Now that I was paying more attention, I realised that no one else was speaking, the entire atmosphere was tense and uncomfortable. Even Shawn couldn't look me in the face.

Something was seriously wrong.

“Mr. Palmer.” I addressed the bald man. “I'm listening. You can go on.”

He took a deep breath. “The board agreed that we needed at least one other person to be in competition with you, so the position could be given to someone we were absolutely convinced was the best for the job.”

My heartbeat slowed as I sneaked a glance at Shawn, my eyes expressing my hurt and betrayal only for a brief moment before a blank mask shifted into place, he winced slightly and went back to staring hard at the table.

Shawn knew.

He knew and didn't tell me.

We were very close... father-and-daughter close, he told me everything.

Well everything except about his son.

All I knew was that he had disappointed Shawn so much, and the old man didn't like to talk about him. 

But this was something he could have told me about.

So, why didn't he?

The problem was obvious though. So obvious… it was literally screaming at me in the face to call it out!

The chauvinistic bastards just had a problem giving the position to a woman.

I wasn’t going to give them that satisfaction. To speak out so I’d be the one with issues.

Nah. I was bigger than that.

I shifted my gaze back to Mr. Palmer. “So why wait till now? Why raise my hopes up when you could have just informed me about the change of mind?”

“We were still looking for a suitable adversary.”

Adversary? 

Did this man think this was some kind of wrestling match?

“We managed to get a hold of him just yesterday, but there was a probability he wasn't going to be interested after all. We wanted to confirm everything first before making you aware.”

We managed to get a hold of him yesterday.

I stared at Dylan... like really gave him my full attention now.

Trust fate to make him even more handsome than I remembered.

So he was the adversary they had picked.

A tingle shot through me, and I quickly snuffed it out. “So, you all decided that daddy’s boy -who mind you, doesn't even work here- could be more qualified for the position than I am?” I asked incredulously, shifting my gaze back to Mr. Palmer.

“You wound me, Miss Renaud.” Dylan interjected. I spared him a glance. “You know, it’s people like you's way of thinking that made me hesitate to work for my father in the first place. Simply because, y'all would just assume that any feat I managed to achieve would have been due to his influence and connections.” All traces of a smile had disappeared from his face. He looked pissed.

He looked hot.

Wait, we couldn't afford to be attracted to him again. I shook away my inner thoughts.

Dylan's anger just irked my very core. He didn't get to barge in here, rain on my parade and then play the victim card. Perhaps, the fact that he didn't seem to recognize me was what was irritating me even more, I don't know, but I felt the need to lash out, and so I did.

“Look, Mr. Thomas. People would have thought that alright, simply because, it's the truth. It's practically inevitable, which is why I can't even begin to fathom the reason as to why you'd be so dumb to return back here in the first place.”

He raised his eyebrows in an oh-you-did-not-just-go-there manner, causing me to shudder inwardly. His eyes glowed with malicious intent. He was going to hit back.

And he was going to hit hard.

“Oh, so you think, I'm dumb?”

“I think we should all focus on the issue at ha-" One other member of the board tried to cut in, but was silenced with a simple look.

“Humour me, Miss Renaud. It's pretty clear what you think of me, I'm a daddy's boy, fine, but what exactly does that make you?”

What was he droning on about?

“Look at this institution, such a male dominated organisation, and yet you've managed to rise so high, and in such a short period of time too. Does it mean that I can call you, I don't know, my daddy's pet maybe? or even worse, his whore?”

“That's enough, Dylan!” Shawn roared. “You will not speak to Brielle that way.”

“Oh, so she gets to call me names, but I don't?”

I opened my mouth to retort back, but no sound came out. I was still reeling from his outburst. I mean, I expected it to hurt, but this was a whole new level of low. I learnt something out of it though; that, that was what he thought about me. At least my brain and heart understood that now, so it made it easier not to hope... not to dream that I'd have a second chance with him.

Because even though I wasn't showing it, my mind, my body couldn't stop hoping.

This had been a very hard reset, a reminder of why I hated him in the first place.

He was still a jerk, simple. 

Thankfully, Shawn continued with the rest of the announcement. “You two will be given a couple of months and a list of investors we'd like to partner with RetroCorp. Whoever manages to get the most investors wins the position.”

“You have to thread carefully though, make sure we don't lose even a single person on the list, because that will be a hard blow to the company. We're facing some... hardships right now-"

I raised my eyebrows in shock but Mr. Palmer was quick to assuage my fears. “Don't worry Brielle, it's nothing serious... well, it is but we're confident you two will not let us down.”

I sat silently for a moment and let it all sink in.

“So what happens to the loser?” Dylan asked. He was answered by another member of the board, Mr. Maloney this time. “Whoever fails to get the most investors will be transferred to our Oklahoma branch, the one in Tulsa to be specific.”

Just my luck.

Being transferred to head the Tulsa branch was a promotion alright, but it was a demotion too. The company was just starting up over there, and granted; I could easily bring it to a level to be reckoned with, but I would have to up and leave my whole life behind. Silvie, dad, my brothers, my cosy apartment... nah, I wasn't ready to give all of that up yet.

I was determined now more than ever to emerge victorious.

“Alright. Are we done here?” I asked cockily.

“I think we are.” Mr. Maloney affirmed. “We'll forward the list to you two by the end of the day.”

I stood up. “Have a good day gentlemen.”

Shooting a glance at Dylan, I smirked. “May the best candidate win.”