[FIONA'S POV]
Heath Duncan has been the only thing on my mind these past few days. Love, was it love I felt for this man, but what kind of love was it?
I have loved before, but never have I loved enough to not want to let go of anyone. Each time I had loved, when I was mistreated, I had always left.
But now I felt hesitant to leave him. When he informed me about Esther being there and out to get me, he sounded caring, loving, but his actions prior were not caring at all.
And now he is always acting strange, being angry out of nowhere, and being interested in what I was interested in, like usual.
"Miss Lennon, the meeting will start soon," Jennie tells me. Jennie would always take over for me when I was filling in for Gian.
"I will be with you," I tell her. I plan to call back to Gian's house to find out how Heath was doing. His state this morning terrified me.
Yes, our fight the previous day was extreme, and it looked like we had reached the breaking point, but his reaction to it all was not good.
I hope we speak more about this because it seems there is more he is not telling me, and it is affecting him badly.
I couldn't call to ask about Heath all day, since the day consisted of me explaining to people I have been working with for years why I am standing in for Gian and questioning my authority.
Like, I haven't been doing this for the longest time, like this scar just erases all the work I have done previously.
"Miss Lenon, are you okay?" Jennie asked worried, "Don't take what they said to heart, they are just heartless people."
"I know, Jennie, don't worry, I just have a headache with all the meetings today," I tell her, "You can go home, I will have Mpho drive me home after I finish up."
Mpho was one of the bodyguards Heath had hired for me. He had driven me here this morning and was set to drive me back home as well.
"Alright, Fiona, please rest, don't strain yourself because of others' stupidity; they were happy with the contract just yesterday, they just want to make your life difficult."
"…"
"Goodnight, be safe," Jennie says before walking out of the office.
This industry was sure made to work against me. When I first filled in for Gian, it was during his honeymoon, and then his clients had treated me like filth because I was a mere secretary, and my family background wasn't appealing.
Then, after overcoming their classism, they were not happy about me being a woman leading a company as big as this; it had to be a struggle for me to be able to be deemed worthy of working for Gian.
And now I have to fight so that they can accept me with this big scar on my face, that, by their words, makes me unattractive and scary to work with.'
"I can never win here," I sighed and got up to leave.
"What happened?" I heard Heath's calm voice echo from the door, his appearance clearly better than how he looked this morning.
"Nothing much, just work stuff," I tell him.
"I have time to listen, over dinner maybe?" he says, his eyes clearly pleading.
"That would be fun," I told him, "Any news about Esther?"
He walks to my desk and helps me pack my stuff. "No, we are still searching, we will find her, and I will make sure she pays for all the pain she has caused you."
"Don't stress too much about it," I tell him, "I am sure she will be brought to justice.
I walk to his side, "Can I kiss you, even if it is on the cheek? I just…..." he says.
"Um…. Sure, of course you can," I say, he gives me a soft peck on my lips.
"Can we talk about this? I hate not being able to touch you or talk to you. I know I was childish, and I am ready to communicate like a mature adult," he whispers.
"Over dinner?"
"Yes, please, I made a reservation," he says, leading me out of the office.
Once we had settled in the restaurant and ordered, he started explaining his actions; it felt absurd and valid at the same time.
"I have never seen it like that. A matter of fact, I don't really mind," I tell him.
"Why?"
"Huh?"
"Why don't you mind that they treat you like a third party to their relationship? I got you introduced to them, and you are protective of Clover, but still," he says in a concerned voice.
"I guess I'm just enjoying helping others."
"But it shouldn't be at the expense of your own troubles, Fiona. I get that you love your friends and you like helping them, but you shouldn't put a hold on taking care of yourself to take care of someone, not Clover, not Gian, not Selby, and certainly not me. You should always come first."
"I get that but..."
"But nothing, your wound is still not healed, there are people who keep treating you like filth because of it, and yet you are being a stand-in CEO for Gian, who could simply just hire someone to do it and let you heal."
"I insisted," I said firmly.
"Well, you should stop insisting," Heath replied firmly. Helping others had always been effortless to me, but it had never appeared to me that it was the expense of my own self-worth.
"I just feel indebted to them; they helped me a lot getting a job and surviving, like everyone around me had paused their lives for some time to accommodate me," I tell him.
"Selby had to be okay with sharing the little resources her parents had, just so I didn't end up homeless. Clover had to share her books and apartment at college so I could be able to get an education. I…. I am deeply indebted to them."
"So, you plan to pause your life every single chance to pay that debt? Haven't you done enough to pay it back?"
"I wouldn't be alive or living comfortably if they hadn't done that, Heath. I owe them my life," I reasoned.
"No, you don't, you do not owe anyone your life," Heath said firmly, "and if your friends loved you, they would learn to not bother you with every small inconvenience."
"That is not fair, their problems are not an inconvenience."
"That is not what I mean."
"Whatever, it seems you don't want to understand my point," I say, standing up.
"You are not understanding me either, Fiona," he says, standing as well, "I am not saying you should cut your friend off, I am saying you should think more for yourself as well."
"I do, I think for myself," I said firmly.
"I slept outside your window, Fiona," I couldn't help but gasp when he said this. I slowly retired to my seat as he did.
"I saw you wake up to take sleeping pills three times, I saw you apply ointment to your face every thirty minutes, and yet you still woke up on time to go to the office," Heath said firmly.
"You are not okay, you are not okay, but somehow someone's okay is more important than yours," Heath says, "I just want you to be honest, Fiona, tell Gian you are not coping because you are not."
"I am coping," I tell him stubbornly.
"Should I call Jennie and ask her how many pain meds you took?" he asked, looking firmly at me.
"No… you… You have a point, I should take care of myself a bit more," I tell him.
"That would be good," he said calmly.
We had our dinner quietly and slowly; Heath's words seemed to be sinking in. Maybe I had gotten used to pushing my problems aside for others, 'He must really love me to be angry about such a thing,' I tell myself.
As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, I got a call from Gian asking us to come to the hospital.