September 2004, NYU

Chanty Strindberg was trying to keep her cool.

Liam Heaton and Zachary Astor kept throwing the same crumpled paper back and forth at each other. It would have been okay if she was not sitting between them, but she was—unfortunately.

When the paper struck her face for the fifth time, Chanty lost her temper and glared at Liam.

“Give it to Zach,” he whispered, his lips barely moving.

If you had been picking the same crumpled paper four times already, you would feel the same fury Chanty felt.

“Chanty…” Zach pleadingly whispered from her left.

She ignored them and continued answering her paper.

“Chanty…” Liam urged.

“No,” she hissed, picked up the paper and threw it forward, across another long aisle of students in the amphitheatre.

“Grouch…” Liam and Zach muttered from both sides.

“Cheating bastards…” she retorted back with ire.

2013

“No, I’ll be there!” Chanty Strindberg almost shouted on the phone. She was in a rush and she was expected to be in the office in five minutes. She still had to drop Willie off at her brother’s place where his wife was going to take care of her four-year old son.

If Philip, her brother, would only leave his precious home, she would not have so much trouble with this new project.

She had to be in the constant presence of Liam Heaton, the representative of the Astor Industries that just signed a merger with Strindberg Corporations to develop a new line of business. Chanty was tasked to handle the new project. It would have been Zachary Astor who should do the job with her, but the man was busy with his own life chasing women around with that stupid show he got into.

She threw her phone on the empty seat beside her and turned a curb that would lead her toward her brother’s house. Why the hell did his house had to be so far off the city?

“Mommy, you forgot my blanket,” Willie said behind her. He was strapped at the backseat.

“Honey, come on…you know mommy’s busy. You just use aunt Cass’ blanket.”

He did not answer but started to tug on his seatbelt. He was always too excited to see Cassandra. “No howling, no running around and no scatters, okay? Uncle Philip doesn’t like that,” he reminded her son as she climbed out of the car and went to his side to free him of his straps.

“But aunt Cass said I can shout, run and play with dirt,” Willie uttered innocently.

Chanty stared at her son’s brown eyes for a moment and when she was sure he was not lying, she nodded. She would not be surprised if Cassandra would tell her son something like that. That woman had always been doing something her husband didn’t like.

“Okay, give me a kiss before you go,” Chanty told her son who obliged and gave her a hug as a bonus. She let him climb out of the car and run to the front door of the house. Before he could even reach the door, it opened to reveal the pregnant Cassandra.

For weeks now, this had been their routine and most of the time, Chanty was running late. Cassandra waved at Chanty who did not bother to walk with her son. He was already wearing his backpack on. He had everything he needed.

No, he doesn’t, a tiny voice told her. He needs a father.

Chanty shook her head. No, her son didn’t need a father. Cameron was dead to her. He had left five years ago when she needed him the most. She survived and she would survive with Willie without him.

She climbed back inside her car after she waved back at Cassandra and drove to her office.

Dressed in a simple black collared blouse and white slacks, Chanty strutted in her new black pumps into the entrance of the new five-storey building Strindberg and Astor Industries had set up since the merger began.

“You have been receiving the same call since I got here,” her secretary, Dana, started narrating everything the moment she got inside the main office in the fifth floor. “He had been calling five times now and he said he’d call again in five minutes. And the meeting is just about to start. Everybody’s waiting for you and Mr. Heaton.”

That stopped her on her track. Her black-haired secretary immediately did as well. “He’s not here yet?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, his secretary came in here—”

“I don’t want his secretary. We’re already late as it is and—”

“I’m here!” The familiar voice said behind Chanty. She rolled her eyes. She had never seen Liam Heaton since that dinner for the celebration of Cassandra’s pregnancy. And that time, she did not even bother to talk to him. The last time she checked, the last normal conversation she had with him was four or five years ago before he left NYU for an apprenticeship.   

“Good,” she said as she turned around and met his eyes. He was still as handsome since she first laid eyes on him. Brown hair and eyes, square jaw, straight nose and smiling eyes. And he looked great in his blue-and-white, striped, long-sleeved, collared shirt that folded up to his elbows. But that was not the point. He was still the Liam that she knew. She did not even bother thinking about how Zachary Astor was right that moment. She bet the two of them were still glued to each other. Heck, Liam was even part of the Astor Industries now. Since the moment she learned that they would have to work side by side, Liam had missed a lot of meetings and every time, his excuse was that he was with Zach. Zach needed him in Vegas. Zach’s parents needed him to drive them to a ranch. Zach wanted him to stay around for the TV show. Really, the two of them could very well get married!

“Hi, Chanty,” Liam grinned down at her. That stupid grin reminded her too much of NYU and NYU only reminded her of Cameron.

Before she could reply to Liam, Dana interrupted once again and said, “Ms. Strindberg, what do I tell Mr. Cameron if he calls back?”

“What?!” she and Liam both shouted in unison, their eyes now bored toward Dana.

Her secretary seemed unperturbed, probably too used to seeing the same reactions. “Mr. Cameron, what do I tell him?”

“Cameron who?” Chanty asked, her heart hammering against her chest that she was almost sure her black silk blouse was moving with it.

Dana looked down at her pad and frowned, “It says here…Cameron, Cameron.”

Chanty’s face turned pale and everything went black.