Unexpected Encounter: A Second Chance at Love

"I can drop you—" Ben insisted. The thought of making her walk home alone made him feel very uncomfortable when he was the one who had called her over. It didn't feel appropriate and right.

"No it's fine, you must have other things to do," she remarked. "I'll just go—" At this point, Tina couldn't hide her disappointment anymore. She just turned around and left, without greeting him goodbye.

When she started walking away, Ben quickly approached her and grabbed her hand. "Wait—"

Contemplating for a while, he asked, "Are you mad at me?"

"No—" She looked away.

"Then why are you insisting on going alone?" Ben couldn't understand what was going on and what she wanted. For the first time in his life, he felt very dumb and useless. It was like his brain had stopped working. He couldn't think of anything.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" She looked at him. "You wanted me to go home, right? So I am doing it, I am going home."

When she kept looking at him, he let go of her hand. At this point, Ben's mind was completely blank. He had no idea what he was supposed to do.

He didn't wanna leave her alone but she clearly wanted to go alone. He wanted to invite her for dinner but given how bummed she looked, it was clearly a very bad idea.

When he let go of her hand and just stood there, rooting on the ground without saying anything, Tina pursed her lips and frowned. She was now disappointed and mad.

Without saying anything, she stormed out of his sight and Ben stood there, helplessly watching her leave.

…..

[A Week Later]

[Collins Corporation, Andrew's office]

Rachael placed her hand on his chest and reluctantly pulled away. "I really have to go now—"

"Two more minutes," he insisted as he captured her lips again. They had been making out for half an hour now with minimal touching and he was reluctant to let her go even though both of them had important meetings to attend.

When his hands started sneakily lifting her dress, Rachael slapped it away before getting off his lap. She had to stop it before her husband got overly excited.

Fixing her dress and hair, she inquired, "How many meetings do you have left?"

"Two more," he grumpily answered. He didn't want to let her go but he had no choice. Suppressing the strong urge to ditch work and take her home, he stood up and started looking for his tie which he had taken off before lunch.

Rachael picked up the tie from the floor and hooked it around his neck. "I am going, I have a meeting—" But before she could take a step, Andrew grabbed her waist and pulled her closer.

"Who is going to tie this for me?" He wrapped both his arms around her waist.

She sighed and helplessly shook her head. "You do it every morning by yourself, don't you?"

"That's because you are always busy in the morning making breakfast."

"Oh so you choose food over me helping with your tie in the morning?" She chuckled as she started helping him with his tie..

"Hmm, a man needs food to fill his stomach."

Without saying anything, she quickly fixed his tie. "Done—" When she tried to run away, he grabbed her again.

"Why are you trying to run away from me all the time?" Andrew caressed her hair. "What have I done to deserve your run?"

"If I don't run away from you, both of us will end up staying in the bed all day without getting any work done," she chuckled.

"And that is bad because—"

Just then someone knocked at the door.

Seeing that he was finally distracted, Rachael escaped from his embrace and rushed towards the door.

"I'll see you later hubby—" She blew a kiss at him before walking out of the room.

As soon as she opened the door, Ben greeted her. "Good afternoon madam—"

"Good aftenoon," she smiled before heading towards her office.

….

When Andrew saw Ben, he glanced at the watch. "There is still half an hour for the meeting, right?"

"Yes boss." Awkwardly clearing his throat, Ben said, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" When he started hesitating, Andrew frowned, "You didn't get anyone pregnant, did you?"

Ben: " "

"N-No boss."

"Okay, I thought maybe you hooked up with someone when Owen took you to the strip club and something happened," Andrew remarked. "What is it then?"

Contemplating for a while, Ben inquired, "When madam is mad at you, what do you do?"

"Well, Rachael doesn't usually get mad and whenever she does, it's not hard to coax her," Andrew answered. "A bunch of flowers and she melts."

"Oh—" Awkwardly clearing his throat, Ben threw another question at him. "What van one do if a woman he is not in a relationship with gets mad at him and he doesn't know the reason behind it."

Crossing his arms in the front, Andrew raised his brows. "Tina is mad at you, isn't she?"

When Ben nodded, he inquired, "What did you do?"

"I-I don't know." It had been a week since Tina had stormed out in anger and he hadn't seen her since. In fact, he still had zero idea what he had done. He had also messaged her a couple of times but she had seenzoned him.

"Hmm, did you try calling her?" When he shook his head, Andrew advised him. "Then call her and ask her for dinner or something. Buy her a nice gift and a bunch of flowers."

"I thought of doing that but—" Ben frowned. "What if she gets more mad?"

"Then talk to her first and then take her out," Andrew answered. "Make sure you find out why she is mad at you."

"Can't madam help me out?" He was sure even if he asked Tina what was wrong, she would never tell him.

"That I don't know—" Andrew shrugged his shoulders. "You have to talk to your madam about this."

….