Chapter 32

Frank was surprised when he heard her words, "what did you just say?"
"You heard me," Esperanza got up from leaning on the car, "Frank, I know your history with Athena but I don t care what happened between you two or what you did to her, all I know is that I want you to get her away from Sean so that I can finally claim what is rightfully mine. I have not had any relationship since I met Sean and that is because I love him and I have been patiently waiting for him to realize that he feels the same way for me, I wouldn t want any girl to jump out from the slum and take him away from me." She sighed and glanced up at him, "the question now is, are you ready to get her back, do you want her back?"
Frank didn t answer immediately, he mulled his answer, does he want Athena back? Yes, yes he does, if a man like Sean wants her by his side, that means she is special and he would want her by his side too. Concluding to that, he looked at Esperanza who has been patiently waiting for his answer, "yes, I want her back and I am ready to do whatever it takes."
Esperanza smiled, "good."
"So, now what?"
"Don t worry, I m working on a plan, there is something I have against Sean which I have never used and would never use against him but I can use it on Athena, it would make her afraid of him and she wouldn t want to be close to him anymore."
Frank frowned, for all he knows, no one has anything negative on Sean, in fact, there have never been a scandal about him, he is the one that knows almost everybody s secret and he knows of many people who would pay handsomely just to get a stain on him, how come Esperanza has something? He was curious and his curiosity made him ask, "What could that be?"
Esperanza laughed, "I will never tell anyone that, I want to stand beside Sean in his glory not when he would have many internet backlash and constant trips to court," she chuckled, "don t worry, just do your part by trying to get close to Athena, while I do mine and wait for the right time to use my trump card. Here," she handed him a card, "here is my card, my personal number is there, you can call me when you have any plan you want to share with me and also, there would be a charity auction on Friday, almost, if not all the big shots would be there and I am planning on wearing your Red Sea to it."
Frank gasped, Red sea is one of his newest designs, it was among the ones he had shown to Sean which he rejected, Fashionista hasn t released more of it yet, only the sample was on show and it costs a lot, if Esperanza should purchase and wear it to the auction, it would expose the dress, making its order skyrocket and that would push Fashionista into making more of it. Not just that, it would also expose him for Esperanza has millions of fans who would spend any amount just to get the dress that their idol wore to an auction. His smile couldn t be contained as he shook Esperanza s hand, if she continues like that, then he would really enjoy working with her, "thank you."
"It s nothing, besides, I love the dress," she winked and walked away, he watched her walked to her car which wasn t parked far from his and her driver opened the door for her. When the car sped off, Frank looked down at the card in his hand, damn, this just a whole lot better and interesting. The smile on his face couldn t be wiped out as he unlocked his car and got in.
***
Sean and Athena remained silent in the car, none of them said anything to each other, each lost in their own thoughts. Athena wanted so badly to ask him what he thinks of the photos but she couldn t bring herself to ask that even though she was dying to hear his comment, she ended up asking, "what about TB?"
"He left early, he had something to take care of," Sean answered and she nodded and the car became quiet again. When they finally arrived at the mansion, they went in together and went separately to their rooms. Athena didn t come down for dinner and TB and Sean had to eat alone.
Athena stayed in her room, details of the night flashed in her mind, what could Frank possibly want to discuss with her? It couldn t be that he wants to ask for her forgiveness, right? If so, then why now, why does he want her back? What if she is the one thinking too much on it and it maybe that he just wanted them to catch up? She groaned and turned on the bed, if he should ask for her back, what would she do? Will she go back to him; does she want to go back to him? What does Sean think about her?
Including him in her thoughts only made her think about the kiss and also their first night together months ago, she had forbidden Sean to talk about it and he had humored her and never mentioned about the night again. She groaned, wondering why she had to think about the night herself when she concluded it as a mistake, she couldn t help but wonder if she hadn t told Sean that it was a mistake, what would have happened between them, would they have shared another night like that?
She rubbed her temple with a sigh; she is thinking too much, in fact, it seems to be getting much by the day, why does she always think about what would have become of her and Sean if Frank wasn t in the picture?
She knew what would have become of them, it would have been nothing, Sean had never done anything out of the ordinary, he has never looked at her for far too long than necessary, he has never tried to kiss her apart from tonight which he had said was a show for Frank, he has never invited her into his room and she has never gone there again after seeing him that way that first time which he had always avoided to tell her the reason whenever she asked. So if he shows no sign of being attracted to her means that he is not attracted to her, right?
She heaved a deep sigh and closed her eyes, deep in her heart, she wished that he would never kiss her again just for a show, the one he did tonight is so hard to get out of her memory and she wouldn t want him to do so again. But would she allow him to kiss her if not for a show? A voice asked her in her mind and she sighed, would she? Yes, no, ugh, she doesn t know, she is confused, she doesn t know what she wants and she hates it, she hates not knowing what she wants. The thought alone was infuriating her and she decided to just drop it and go to bed, but even though she said that, she wasn t able to sleep until the early morning when she finally got her mind to shut up.
Waking up the next day, Athena took a shower and dressed into a leggings and a half-cut singlet, it was her attire whenever she would be having dancing lessons with Sean. She stared at herself in the mirror and breathed out through the mouth before taking her hair band and pulling her hair up in a tight pony tail. Heaving a sigh one more time, she left her room barefooted as she love doing some days, especially days she would dance.
She walked to the training room and stopped before the door, she could hear the music playing and knew Sean was already in there, closing her eyes, she tried to block any distraction from her mind and also thought of some irrelevant things that would distract her from staring at Sean s arms which are often exposed because of the singlet he often wears. Pushing open the door, she stepped in and saw Sean leaning beside the stereo, probably searching for another record to play. Athena stopped where she was standing, her eyes on Sean, today he wasn t wearing singlet, he was wearing only a black swift pants, his chest was bare and she gulped.
Only once had she seen so much of his skin and that was that night in his hotel room, months ago. He looked up then as if sensing her presence and flashed a smile to her, he stood up with many CDs in his hands, "hi," he greeted.
Athena looked from his hair which was a little damp to his face and then to his neck and his chest, his biceps were attracting and she was surprised at her urge to run her fingers on his glowing skin, the swift pant was hanging on his waist that she could almost see the V lines. His torso was sexy and strong, she could feel her throat going dry as she looked down to his feet, he was barefoot as well and she looked back at his face to realize that he knew she was checking him out. Colors rushed up to her face and she looked away immediately, she blinked continuously to erase the image from her mind but she knew that she would be haunted by it from now on.