It’s the last day of the seminar, and it’s almost time for Luke’s speech. This is the huge finale to the whole convention. Everybody will be there. Well, lah-di-fucking-dah, and good for him. He’ll be the star of the show. I feel extraordinarily bitter today, as I should be. I don’t know how I will sit there and watch him give his speech. I know this is my own damn fault for hooking up with my boss.

I won’t be able to do this when we get back to the states. I can’t be his assistant if he can’t even respect me enough to tell me his feelings. He can’t just keep stringing me along until he’s ready to make up his mind about me.

I know he has feelings for me. Maybe not love, but certainly some sort of affection and desire for me. But the fact that he won’t tell me bothers me. It’s like he’s ashamed he has feelings for me, and I think that part hurts the worst.

I stayed up half the night, crying and looking for a new job.

I walk into my bathroom, hoping I don’t have to see him for the rest of the day. I don’t want to talk to him. I just want to get through the rest of this trip and go home. I’m so over this entire episode.

Before we came on this trip, I wanted to be with him so bad that I would have sacrificed almost anything to make it happen. I would have done whatever he asked me to so we could be together. That had been a mistake. I never should have given my heart away.

I just want the pain, the hurt, and the anger to stop.

I want it all to go away.

There’s a knock on the bedroom door, and I hold my breath, but it’s obviously not important because there isn’t another knock. There aren’t sounds of him clearing his throat or any desperate declaration of love. My breath comes out in a rush. At this point, I have to admit that there never will be.

I turn the shower on, setting it all the way to hot. I step inside and quickly suck air in through my teeth. The water is almost scalding. It stings my skin like cleansing fire. It’s a good way to burn away my feelings.

The bathroom is steamy already, and I haven’t even been in for very long. I wash my hair and then my body, trying to free myself of what I’m feeling inside. Of what I’m thinking. I stand and let the water fall over my body for a long time. I’m soaking up the heat. I know I’ll have to face him again when I get out.

Finally, when I can no longer put it off, I reach down, and turn the water off. I slide the glass door open and snag my towel off the nearby rack. The cool air sweeps across my naked, wet body, leaving goosebumps in its wake. I towel off and look for what I will wear.

It takes me almost an hour to get ready, but that’s because I’m dragging this out. I have to go to his presentation, regardless of how I’m feeling. I have to sit and listen to the man I love talk to hundreds of strangers when he refuses to talk to me.

When I emerge into the lounge, I see that everything I laid out for his speech yesterday is gone, and so is he.

I wait until the last minute to head to the auditorium. I’m nervous. My stomach is in knots. God, why am I so nervous? I’m not the one who has to give the damn speech. I’m not the one that has to stand up in front of hundreds of people and make my company look good.

I walk over to the giant convention center that’s attached to the hotel. My heart feels fragile as I think about how excited I was when we first got here. Everything seemed like such an adventure. My first trip abroad. Being with Luke. My heart had been so carefree and so full of expectation. I thought I was going to have fun.

I place my hand on my stomach. I still don’t understand why I’m so nervous. I smile politely at people who smile at me as I enter the convention center. I’ll die before I let any of these people know I’m not okay.

My eyes dart around the room. I don’t see Luke, but I assume he’s in the back somewhere waiting. He should be starting in just a few minutes. I find a seat towards the front. I wanted to sit in the back, but I know I need to be close, just in case he has issues with any part of his speech. Broken or not, it’s still my job to be his assistant, and I owe him that much. I won’t just leave him high and dry up there if things go tits up.

I only wait five minutes before someone comes up to the podium. It’s one of the people we met when we got here. Something that now seems so far away. A distant memory that maybe one day I won’t even remember, along with the rest of this trip.

The guy introduces Luke and the room claps. He’s a big name, and everyone here has been looking forward to his presentation. I have to catch my breath when I see him. He looks so gorgeous, so hot, so distant. It seems incredible to think that I had sex with him. I woke up next to him. My heart starts to race. I hate that I have to stare up at him for the next hour or so when I cannot have him. My eyes fill with sudden tears. It’s dark in the hall and I surreptitiously wipe my eyes.

He smiles at crowd before stepping up to the podium. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. For the three or four of you who don’t know me, I’m Luke Remington, CEO of Omega.”

A wave of laughter sweeps through the room. He’s already got them eating from the palm of his hand.

“I’m so glad to be in this beautiful country, talking to you today. It’s been an honor to come here, to learn about the culture, and meet a lot of cool people. Although I mostly came for the Thai food.”

The crowd laughs again.

I look around at the hundreds of people here, all watching Luke. I wonder what it’s like to stand up there and have all of them staring at you. It’s got to be nerve-wracking. But Luke is as confident and commanding as he is in a personal meeting. Despite everything, I’m impressed.

“I know that I’m supposed to be up here talking about business,” he says. “I’m supposed to make you guys trust me and like me. I’m supposed to make you trust my business. But there’s something else I want to talk about. Something far more important.”

I’m confused. None of this was in the notes I prepared for him. He’s going off book, and it’s really irritating me because I worked so hard on it. It’s almost like he’s kicking me when I’m down. Like, ‘Hey, Jade. Let me stomp on your heart some more. This speech you worked so hard on is useless.’

I want to walk out of here and never look back. Instead, I stare at my nails, trying not to let my anger show.

“You see,” Luke continues. “I came here on a business trip, hoping to get some new clients and expand my business. What I didn’t come here for was love.”

I freeze and look up at the stage. He’s looking right at me. He found me in the dark! I’m not sure what he’s doing, but I know I’m supposed to be listening. I continue to make eye contact with him while he continues his speech.

“Today, is a momentous day for me,” he says. “Because I’m going to make an announcement to you all. I am madly in love with my assistant, Jade. And before everyone freaks out as to why this matters, I’ll tell you why it matters. I hurt her. And I’m sorry.”

I vaguely hear gasps and muttering from the crowd, but it’s all white noise in the background. Tears sting my eyes, and I’m trying hard to hold them back. I don’t want to cry in front of all these people.

“I hurt you, Jade. And for that I’m sorry, but I need you to know something.” He looks around the room. “I need all of you to know something.”

He gets off the stage and walks over to me. Whoever is running the stage lights follows him with the spotlight.

“I’m in love with you,” he says, standing in front of me with the mic still around his head. “I love you, and I want to be with you. I’m ready to take the leap if you are.”