Chapter 27

Sean was at lost when he saw her tears; did he hurt her badly yesterday that she was deeply affected by it? Or is his apology too simple to be compared by how traumatized she was? For once in his life, he doesn t know what to say to calm a woman. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, "I m really sorry, Athena, I promise that whenever I will be in such mood again, I won t be at home so that you won t walk in on me, it s a promise."
Athena shook her head when she heard that, "you don t have to run away, what better place to cry out your sorrow than in your own home?" She choked out.
"But if I was away, you wouldn t have seen me and I wouldn t have hurt you and you wouldn t be traumatized by it."
"I m not traumatized," she answered, releasing herself from his hug to look into his beautiful hazel eyes.
"Then why are you crying?"
"Your apology."
Sean frowned, "what s wrong with it?"
"I have never been apologized to in such manner and certainly not when I was at fault. If I hadn t gone to your room even after TB warned me, nothing would have happened. I should be the one apologizing, not you."
"It doesn t matter if you came into my room when you weren t supposed to or not, the fact is that I hurt you and I should apologize for that."
Athena didn t say anything and just hugged him again. He hugged her back and whispered 'I m sorry, to her continuously until she stopped crying. "Thank you," she said to him when he finally let her go.
"Anytime," he smiled to her, "can we go now?" She nodded and he walked with her to the backseat side and opened the door for her to get in when TB came running out of the house.
"Hold on there you two; you didn t think I will let you leave after ruining my hard work?" He rolled his eyes, approaching them in a slower pace, "wait right there and let me touch up her make up," he ordered and they waited ten minutes for him to finish his touch up.
Sean and Athena arrived in front of a fancy restaurant known for its perfect spot for celebrities to hang out and Smith came down from the car to open the door for them. Athena wowed as they walked inside, a man approached them immediately with a smile and Athena tried not to notice how everyone was staring at them. "Mr. Brand," said the man, "how nice to see you again."
"Hello, John," he smiled, "how has it been?"
"Perfect, Mr. Brand, please come with me, I will show you to your private room. Mr. Monroe is already waiting for you," the man said.
"Ah, someone is going to bite my head off," Sean joked and the man smiled.
"I don t think he would, please follow me," he turned and started walking to his left and Sean could only follow him with Athena s arm looped in his.
"Is someone joining us?"
"Yes, I figured you would like to meet one of my friends which are very few by the way," he glanced at her with a smile. "Leo Monroe is a very dear friend, we started off together as young boys, I was eighteen and he was twenty. We have been together and close since then and it s been seventeen years now."
Athena glanced at him sharply, "seventeen years! How old are you then?"
"How old do you think I am? Twenty five or maybe twenty three like Frank?"
"Well, I was thinking twenty eight," she shrugged.
Sean chuckled, "I passed that age seven years ago," he grinned when he saw the shock in her eyes, "I m an old man, I m thirty five. Turned it a month ago, three days before I met you," he winked.
"Wow, which means that you are older than me with thirteen years?" Athena was more than shock.
"I told you, I m an old man and you," he glanced at her, "you are just a mere baby."
Athena couldn t tell why she didn t feel insulted by his words, maybe it was because of the way he was looking at her, or maybe the way his eyes were twinkling or maybe the fact that he is grinning from ear to ear, all she knows is that her heart was beating so fast and the hallway they were walking on was suddenly too hot. She blushed and looked away from him, trying to hide her eyes, and that was because her mother had always told her that one could easily read what she was feeling in her eyes, and for some reason, she doesn t want Sean to know, she doesn t even know what she was feeling either.
"Right here, Mr. Brand," the man ahead of them and who hasn t said anything since they have been talking suddenly stopped in front of a door.
"Thank you, John," Sean said.
"It s my pleasure sir," he bowed slightly then looked at Athena and then at Sean, "do have a lovely evening," he smiled and left them alone.
Sean turned to Athena with a smile, "we will continue talking about the baby you are some other time, now, let s dine with a few friends," he said and pushed open the door. He entered and Athena joined them, he closed the door after her just as the people in the room looked up.
Athena was surprised when she saw them, two she knows and one she doesn t, the two she knows where no other than Esperanza and Frank. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest when she saw Frank, their eyes met and in his green ones, she knew that he recognized her and for some reason, she doesn t want to sit in the room again.
"Well, I will be damned," Sean whispered, he was surprised when he saw Frank in the room, he knew Esperanza would be there because Leo wanted them to discuss about the Face of Fashionista but he didn t expect to see Frank as well. From the corner of his eyes, he saw how Athena was fidgeting and he was already having a bad feeling that the night that started so beautifully might not end well.