Chapter 6 - So we see again.

He stared at the email, he still couldn't fathom what had made his brother invite him for a dinner date. No, Nicholas could not understand it. One thing that would always be constant was the fact that Nicholas and his brother Alex rarely got along, and he rarely saw his brother except they had to go for a family related event or they randomly found themselves somewhere.

The last time they had seen each other at the dinner, they barely had a chance to say more than a few words to each other and that was it. Of course Alex had done his usual prying and prodding with his invasive questions but Nicholas had ignored him.
Alex always wanted to know what he was up to but failed to divulge any information about himself or whatever it is he was up to. Nicholas grew tired of indulging him a long time ago.

His mind was on so many things during their father's birthday dinner, one of which was Cara. The minute he had saw her that night, he had felt his world stop. There was the familiar knot in his stomach and he was speechless the first few seconds. He couldn't even look at her without remembering that night, that was how bad it was.

He could not get that image of her in a red dress out of his mind and he certainly couldn't forget how flustered she had looked when their eyes met. He desperately wanted to talk to her, in fact, he really needed to talk to her.

He didn't know what he was going to say when he saw her but he knew that it was very important that the two of them met  and talked about what happened. He knew he had promised to forget it but it wasn't as easy as he had thought it would be.

Nicholas sighed as he walked towards the view his office provided, it was one of the reason he loved his office, the view it had was second to none and it always seemed to give him a calming effect. It was somehow very therapeutic to him that he could see most the whole of new York from the fifteenth floor in the building.

He was also very proud of himself and how far he had come. One of the major things that he was happy he had achieved was the fact that he had built his business entirely by himself with little help from his family, that was why he took his work very seriously because his architectural firm, no matter how little it was, it was his baby. The child that he had nurtured and taken care of for years.

He was still staring at the view with his pocket in his hands when someone cleared their throat behind him and he slowly turned around. It was his assistant Tiffany.

"Good afternoon Sir. I'm here to remind you about your six pm dinner meeting with Mr Howard."

She said as she gave him his IPad and Nicholas frowned.

"Wait, that's today?"

Tiffany nodded.

"Yes, it's today. If you'd remember Mr Howard wanted it rescheduled because of his trip to Japan."

"Hmm...." Nicholas murmured as he stroked his chin, from the little research he had about Mr Ben Howard, the man seemed to be a very troublesome client and Nicholas had planned to work on the idea for his new project the entire night.

"Do you want me to postpone it?"

Tiffany asked and Nicholas shook his head wearily.

"No, Mr Howard can be difficult sometimes. Moving up the meeting might disturb his trip and he'll get angry. I'll be on my way."

He said as he walked to his seat and picked up his suit jacket. If he wanted to make it early to the dinner he had to be on the road at least thirty minutes before.

"Please inform Lisa to get the new designs ready before ten am tomorrow. I want to review them before our board meeting."

He said as he walked away and Tiffany nodded as he handed her his iPad.

"Yes sir. I'll get through to her right away."


So far he had been lucky and got away from New York traffic. He made it to the restaurant just in time and he was already craving seafood as he handed his keys to the valet. Mr Howard, his client was a very unconventional man, perhaps that was why a lot of people found him difficult.

He always picked the weirdest meeting spots and also he had the craziest ideas, weirdly, Nicholas admired him for it, he also also tired of the mundane and he aimed to create special pieces through his designs. So he was already excited to know what Mr Howard would like to work with him with.

"Good evening."

Nicholas greeted as he looked up at the waiter who smiled at him.

"Welcome to Oceans. Do you have a reservation please?"

"Yes, a Mr Howard and Mr Greene."

The man briefly examined the file and smiled.

"Ah yes, the six o'clock. Your table is right over there. Table number six."

The lighting of the restaurant was dim and the air was thick with the scents of so many different foods. There was also the light chatter of different people in the restaurant and a smooth soft jazz music that seemed to be playing in the background.

Nicholas followed the direction the man was looking at and nodded. table number six,  got it.

"I'm afraid Mr Howard isn't here yet."

"That's okay, I'll wait."

Nicholas said as he walked away. He settled in his table and sighed as he took out his phone, he was going to call Mr Howard. The man wasn't exactly known for being punctual.

Unfortunately, the line went the voicemail twice and Nicholas gave up and decided to wait as a waiter approached him.

"Good evening Sir, what would you be having?"

He shook his head. He wasn't ready to order yet.

"No, I won't be ordering now. Just a glass of your house's white wine please."

The waiter nodded enthusiastically

"Coming right up Sir."

Nicholas sighed as he checked his phone, he didn't like waiting for people. But Mr Howard was a client and besides he hadn't been in the restaurant for even five minutes.

His eyes were roaming around the restaurant when he noticed a familiar face.

"You've got to be kidding me."

He murmured as he spotted Cara sitting on a table at the opposite end of the restaurant. From the look on her face, she looked tired and frustrated. Her hair was scraped back in a low bun and she seemed to be wearing a black dress with a very low neckline.

His waiter arrived with his white wine.

"Will that be all?"

Nicholas nodded

"Yea, for now."

He replied without even looking up at the waiter.

As soon as the waiter left, he took a generous sip of wine and left his table, he was headed straight for her table. She was typing furiously on her phone and she didn't notice him until he was standing right in front of her.

"Hey."

He said and she looked up slowly and gasped. Her phone dropped from her hands on to the mahogany table.

"Hey!!!"

She replied with an high pitched voice. Her heart started beating rapidly as she looked around the restaurant.

"What are you doing here?"

Nicholas shrugged as he slipped into the seat across from her and Cara immediately shook her head.

"No, no, no! You can't sit here."

"Why not? I just need to talk to you for a while."

"There is nothing to talk about, leave now Nicholas."

Cara snapped as she tried to hurry him along but Nicholas wasn't moving an inch. She had been so startled to see him because she had not expected him at all. She was thinking about the investors she had planned to have dinner with, unfortunately they mentioned something about an emergency and they weren't sure they were going to make it, Cara had been worried ever since as she tried to coax them to try and make it.

She was desperately in need of their help. Seeing Nicholas was a surprise and she wished he would just go away or something, she didn't want him knowing what she was up to, nor even talking to her about that night.

"Don't pretend we don't have the time to talk about it Cara. Because we do and we have to."

He pressured and she rolled her eyes.

"For what???"

She briefly glanced around and lowered her head.

"If you can remember we both promised never to speak of it again so whatever you're insinuating never happened!!"

Nicholas raised his eyebrows.

"And how exactly is that going to make it go away? We can't undo what has been done or pretend it didn't happen."

"We can only hope to move forward."

He insisted but she wasn't having it.

Cara raised her hands up in mock surrender.

"What do you want me to say? Right now, even as much as talking to you, is drawing too much attention. Can you please leave my table?"

"No."

Nicholas replied firmly and Cara massaged her temples in frustration.

"What the hell do you want then?"

"I want us to talk about it. What happens now? I know what we did was wrong and we both wished it never happened. But what are we going to do about it now?"

Cara frowned, what the hell did he mean? They already settled that, she already told him they were going to forget what happened

"We're going to move on with our lives like nothing happened. You happy?"

She asked and he looked taken aback for a few seconds. He briefly looked away as he signed and Cara lowered her eyelids and folded her arms. There was something about him that always made her nervous. Anytime she saw him, her heart beat faster than it ever beat before.

"You know, that night... At my father's birthday dinner, when I saw you there I was surprised."

"Why?"

Nicholas looked up at her and shook his head.

"Are you still going to marry him?"

There was along pause between the two of them as Cara let the question hang in the air. She knew exactly what Nicholas meant.

"I have to."

"Besides, you know what would happen if I tell him..."

She added and he nodded.

"I know. But going on with the marriage, is that really what you want to do? You know you're going to carry that burden forever."

He said softly and she blinked back tears. She had thought about it, so many times. But she couldn't do it, she wished she could explain to Nicholas how powerless she was in the situation, but he wouldn't understand and frankly she wasn't expecting him to understand anything.

"What do you suggest I do? Tell him?"

She retorted and Nicholas shrugged.

"I don't know. It's up to you. If you want me to carry it to the grave, I will. But I just want to be sure that you are sure of the decisions you're making."

"I am. Thank you very much for your concern."

Cara replied sharply and he nodded his head.

"You don't have to lie to me, that birthday dinner, I could see the sadness written all over your face."

Cara chuckled.

"What? So you were staring at me? Nicholas, I don't know what your problem is, but we pretty much already had a deal to never mention it again and here you are spilling it all the first chance you see me alone."

"I don't want this to ever repeat itself."

Cara picked up her purse from the table and looked at him.

"I'd really appreciate it if we never talk about this again."

Nicholas sighed.

"Sure, I'll do as you say."

"Thank you."

Cara stood up and walked away from him, her steps were brisk but elegant and Nicholas kept his eyes on her till she was out of sight.

He glanced at his table, still no sign of Mr Howard yet. He stood up from her table and walked back to his own table, wondering why he had even left in the first place.