CHAPTER 414: BEING PRESENT II

Athena was more interested in pushing her thoughts away so that she wouldn’t worry much, than in the question she had asked Antonio; however, she was mildly curious.

Seeing as he was canceling out the option of working with a hunch, what alternative did he have for her to curb the situation in the country, the panic that had ensued in the state?

When she had left the lab—because she had stopped him from coming to pick her, mentioning that he wait outside the cinema for her—she had been approached by a couple of her neighbors, a couple of frightened neighbors, who wanted her firsthand comment on the issue, if they had any reason to be concerned.

She had spent about ten minutes assuring them everything was okay. That was apart from those who had approached her after the movies... and her boyfriend was telling her not to worry?

As she pondered on this, she was more curious to know his reply, to even know what he was thinking, seeing as he looked to be in deep thought.

"Antonio..." she called, when she was sure two minutes had passed. Her tone was soft, but carried an edge of impatience. "What do you think I should do? Go to sleep and hope everything will be better?"

"That will be better than spending hours on wrong information."

Athena chuckled, though the sound carried mild irritation. "Sleep? With the unrest plaguing the state? Is that what you are suggesting? That’s your big idea?"

She shook her head slowly when he said nothing, only staring at her with furrowed brows, like he couldn’t understand why she wasn’t getting his point.

"Do you sleep, Antonio, when something is going wrong at your workplace, maybe when numbers aren’t adding up, when your sales aren’t going the way you want it to..."

Antonio swallowed and ran his hand from the top of his head to the base behind, as if trying to straighten the mass of hair that was already in place.

"It’s not a rhetorical question, darling..."

Antonio frowned then, detecting the sarcastic tilt to ’darling.’ His lips pressed thin, his eyes darkened.

"I would try to find out what’s happening." He muttered, letting the matter go. He was at fault for rousing the sleeping dragon.

Yet, how could he let her worry over nothing? Business was different from medicine after all. Numbers were different from chemicals. They were clearer. Less complicated.

"You see? That’s the same thing I’m trying to do here. I’m trying to find out what’s going on. As the business somehow depends on your intelligence, on your ability to spot the wrongs and right it, so do the lives of people depend on me. Don’t you get it? I bear a heavy burden of people’s lives. I’m not complaining... I love helping—but it also puts on me the need to find out what’s going on if there is a probability of something coming to hurt them."

"I see." Antonio murmured, though Athena wondered if he really saw.

She sighed, reaching for her phone and checking the screen. About nine p.m. She had to leave.

Just then her phone dinged with a message. She muttered an "excuse me" to Antonio when she saw it was from Gianna, and picked up her phone again.

"I’m coming home with some visitors. It’s a surprise."

Athena’s face contorted into a frown, not sure what to make of the message. But knowing that her friend wouldn’t surprise her with a bad gift released the tension on her shoulders, face, and body, rather making her eager to go home.

"I need to leave," she stated, looking up from the phone.

"Is there a problem?"

She shook her head. "I have visitors coming, according to Gianna... need to welcome them."

Antonio smiled faintly, picking his phone from the table. "That’s interesting. I would love to see them too... maybe make an acquaintance... no one that knows you enough to visit is mediocre..."

The last sentence sort of displaced Athena mentally for a second. What did that mean? Was her boyfriend that shallow, to judge people by their pockets or status?

But he was already calling for the server, and she gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was misinterpreting it. Maybe the statement wasn’t as deep as it had sounded.

"Did Gianna give you a name... you know, for the visitors?" Antonio asked as they walked out of the restaurant together.

"No, she didn’t. Says it’s a surprise." She thanked Antonio when he opened the door for her to slide into the car.

"But who do you think is coming?"

Athena paused, adjusting her bag on her lap. "I don’t know really. I haven’t the mind to pick and cross out options," she answered when he stepped into the car.

Her phone dinged with another message, pulling her eyes back to it. Ewan.

"We are home." The message read, causing her heart to palpitate both with relief and nervousness.

Antonio couldn’t take her home. How could she have forgotten so soon about the recap that would take place at home?

She licked her lower lip, her mind racing as Antonio started the car, prepping her tongue on how to break the news which she knew wouldn’t sit well with her boyfriend.

"Antonio, just got a message from Chelsea. I have to pick her up from a junction, so that we can head home together... her car developed some fault."

Antonio gave her a cute smile, dimples appearing faintly. "Oh, don’t worry. We can pick her up. That’s not a problem."

Athena swallowed, forcing her expression to remain calm. "She was specific in me coming alone. I think something must have happened."

Antonio turned off the engine, his face squinching in confusion. "If something happened, then she would need more help..."

Athena sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes as though she had no more patience for the conversation. "This is girl stuff, darling. Don’t worry, we will be fine."

Then she leaned forward and kissed his lips, easing the lines of worry on his face.

"I will be fine," she murmured, maintaining the closeness, eyes open and meeting his, which kept drifting to her lips.

She gave him what she knew he wanted, going as far as slipping her hand into his shirt, only parting when he groaned, when his hands teased the end of her blouse.

"I will see you soon?" her voice came out in a throaty whisper.

He nodded meekly, watching as she stylishly got out of his car with her bag, without fanning out the flames she had started.