He hesitated for a while, looking at her.
'What did she mean by she had something better?'
'Was there a man in her life?' He questioned himself, staring at her completely dressed in her uniform, totally different from who she was last night.
Her phone began to vibrate and his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach when she refused to pick it up.
"Your phone." He hinted, his hand still holding out the plate over the trash can.
Taking out her phone, already knowing who was calling, she picked up with a soft voice and said, "I will call you back B, code red." He scoffed at the secret signal, his heart thumping painfully.
"Code red? A lover? Aren't you shameless?" He found himself questioning her.
She looked at him with the same expression but inwardly, she was boiling in anger.
'What right does he think he has?' She scoffed internally looking at him.
"So what if I am shameless? Aren't you my master?" She had wanted to ask back but refrained from making the situation worse.
Pouring the food onto the floor, looking at her as she looked down at the floor.
"Come and have a taste of your rubbish."
"What!?" Mia's eyes widened in disbelief. He was surely not serious but when he kept looking at her like that, she knew he wasn't joking.
Mia looked back at him, biting her lower lips hard, the intensity in her gaze increasing at a fast speed. She shouldn't have agreed to sign the contract; she should have stood her ground! But it was too late crying over spilled milk.
"No? You won't?" He questioned, taking his hand forward to look at his gold-chained wristwatch.
Breathing at once, Mia closed her eyes, blinking the tears away. On opening them, she had made her final decision, she swallowed her shame and walked forward.
***
"Look man. You can take my entire pay for the month but can you not frown this much? It's hot in here." Andrew fanned himself with his hand, looking at Rey as he did, hoping to get something out of his ice-faced friend.
"About the text messages." He started, but Rey's hand hit the middle of the steering yet again, making him jump a little at the hooting sound of the horn.
"All right, I will take my car." Andrew found his way out of Rey's car before he would find himself strangled and deprived of his life in a few minutes.
"Couldn't she just beg!? Couldn't she just stand her ground or something!?" Rey was getting mad at the memory of Mia bent over the spilled food on the floor.
"Were you talking to me?" Andrew came back, poking his head through the half-opened window but seeing Reynaldo's unwelcoming face, his playful smile disappeared.
"Aah, I guess not." He was gone before Rey could turn towards him.
***
Falling on her knees, Mia's shaky hand reached for the content on the floor. Reynaldo's chest constricted.
"Are you going to do it?" His voice had a hint of iciness to it, but Mia's was worse; her voice was frozen.
"Just as my boss wants." Reynaldo expected her to beg, but she didn't.
She got down to scuffing it down her throat without a pause. He had his hand in his pocket, watching her; his eyes were cold, and his jaws kept going between a tight squeeze to a relaxed state countlessly.
'Are you doing this to get back at me?' He questioned her in his mind as he couldn't stop watching even when he didn't want to watch.
Mia's sniffs were heard once in a while before she finally looked up at him from her kneels meeting his eyes. He flinched at her gaze.
"I finished it." She declared like he was supposed to clap for her.
"Good." He smiled emotionlessly, and she returned it tenfold.
"To avoid repetition, a beautician will be here by 6 to get you ready." He told her.
"Okay, Sir." She bowed as he strode out of the dining and then the house.
Mia retched, holding her stomach, but she was unsuccessful in holding it back. She rushed to the visitors' toilet and poured out her guts. Rey, who hadn't left, stayed back to listen to the heart-wrenching sound from her, his heart finally shattering at the swear word from her lips hurled at him.
***
At the meeting with his executives, Reynaldo's mind kept drifting to the scene of Mia on the floor. He felt sorry, he felt angry, he didn't know what else there was to feel, but it was a lot of complex emotion he could not pinpoint.
The redness of her eyes in her glare was bound to haunt him in his dreams. He sighed and the presenter paused.
"If you don't like the idea, we can always come up with another." He said in a fit of panic, and most people nodded in support.
"The meeting is adjourned." Was his tired response. The rest of the executives looked at him as he loosened his tie, rubbed his forehead, and sighed again.
"Are you alright Mr. President?" The presenter asked, making Reynaldo completely aware of their presence.
"What part of the meeting is adjourned, don't you all understand?" His eyes looked at them one after the other till they scampered out of the room, some forgetting their materials.
"That was a hard one, Rey. What's going on?" Andrew asked, drawing his chair closer to Rey's.
"Now I know this isn't about me or Sienna." He continued but made a calming motion with his hands when he saw Rey glare daggers at him.
"I apologize."
"Is this still about getting a girl before the old man's birthday?" He asked, and Rey opened his mouth to reply; he was tired of keeping it in, but his phone chose that moment to vibrate.