49 Chapter 49 – Unexpected Client Meeting
Chapter 49 Unexpected Client Meeting
Hazel’s POV
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I was drowning in exhaustion. The past week had been a whirlwind of chaos, and sleep had become my enemy. Every night ended the same way tears soaking my pillow until I finally collapsed into restless dreams. Yesterday’s conversation with Liam had only made everything worse, leaving me feeling like I’d been hit by a truck.
“Good morning, gorgeous. How are we holding up?” Chl swept into the kitchen and cupped my face in her warm hands, studying me with those concerned eyes.
“I’m falling apart, Chl. This makeup is doing overtime to hide these dark circles. I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus.”
The intercom buzzed, and Chl hurried to answer it while I focused on feeding Leo his breakfast. Watching my little boy was the only thing that kept me grounded these days. He was pure joy, pure love, and just looking at him reminded me that I could survive anything. Those bright violet eyes sparkled as he looked up at me, and my heart felt like it might burst.
“You’re mama’s whole world, sweet boy,” I whispered to him. He clapped his tiny hands and blew me a kiss that made my first genuine smile of the day spread across my face.
“Hazel, these are for you.” Chl appeared from the hallway carrying the most stunning arrangement of red tulips I’d ever seen.
They were absolutely breathtaking, perfectly arranged in an elegant crystal vase with a rich red ribbon wrapped around it. I stood there staring, completely mesmerized. I’d never received anything like this before. Actually, I’d never received flowers at all.
I scooped up Leo and walked to the living room, his little hand gripping mine tightly.
“Holy cow, Hazel, these are incredible. I have a pretty good guess who sent them. Please tell me you’re not going to toss them in the trash. Can we please keep them right here in the living room?” Chi gave me that puppy dog look, clasping her hands together and widening her eyes. like she always did when she wanted something.
“Of course we’re keeping them, Chl. The flowers didn’t do anything wrong. They really are gorgeous. Is there a card?” I already knew who they were from, but I needed to see it for myself.
Chl handed me the small card, and I recognized Liam’s handwriting immediately:
“My beloved Hazel,
Tulips represent perfect love, and you are my perfect love, the woman who owns my soul, and there will never be another who could replace you in my heart. I’m a complete fool. I made an
49 Chapter 49- Unexpected Client Meeting
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unforgivable mistake, and I will spend every day for the rest of my life earning your forgiveness. Even if it takes forever, I will never stop fighting for you.
Always yours, Liam”
By the time I reached the end, tears were streaming down my face again. Chloe gently took the card from my trembling hands, read it quickly, and pulled me into a tight hug.
“He’s such an ass, Chl. He can’t just do this to me,” I cried into her shoulder, my voice muffled by
her shirt.
“Hazel, it’s obvious that you’re head over heels in love with him, and I don’t doubt for a second that idiot is crazy about you too. Maybe you should think about forgiving him instead of torturing yourself like this?”
“Chl,
I can’t just pretend he didn’t say those horrible things to me. I have some dignity left.”
“But he’s not backing down. And honestly, he’s clearly miserable and genuinely sorry.
“Good, let him be miserable,” I said stubbornly. “I guarantee you he’ll forget I exist within. forty–eight hours.”
“I’m not buying that, friend. But what happens if he doesn’t give up?” Chl asked, searching my
cyes.
“He will,” I said with more confidence than I felt, wiping away my tears. “Now let’s get Leo to daycare and head to work”
Before we even reached the office, my phone had buzzed with calls more than twenty times. Liam was relentlessly trying to reach me, and I rejected every single attempt.
When I settled into my cubicle, my boss approached with his usual cheerful demeanor.
“Hazel, how are you feeling today?” he asked, looking at me with genuine concern.
“I’m doing well, Mr. Morris, thank you.”
“Excellent. I need you to join me for a client meeting this afternoon, and I’ll need you to put together the presentation. Here’s all the client information. The meeting will be here at our office. We’re pitching the security software. This is a new and very important client. West specifically requested that you work with me on this,” he said with enthusiasm.
“That sounds wonderful, sir. I’ll get the presentation ready and send it to you. Just let me know what time we need to be there,” I responded with a smile.
It felt good to dive into my new position, which was turning out to be more manageable than I’d expected. Several colleagues stopped by to chat, and Scarlett dragged me away for a coffee break. Everyone at Apex Galaxy had been incredibly welcoming. I never imagined it would be
easy and comfortable, though I couldn’t help missing Owen.
this
49 Chapter 49- Unexpected Client Meeting
The morning disappeared quickly. I finished the presentation, which impressed my boss so much that he praised my competence and attention to detail. The compliment made me feel genuinely proud. I had lunch with my department colleagues, and they were all entertaining, especially Scarlett, who was quickly becoming a real friend.
Soon my boss called me for the meeting. We stepped into the elevator and discussed the software while we rode up. Apex was a technology company that specialized in corporate
systems.
The software we were about to present was revolutionary in the market and essentially connected every aspect of a company’s operations. If one department experienced any inconsistency, it would immediately reflect in the others, and the administrator would instantly know and resolve the issue before it could escalate. It was more sophisticated than that, but essentially it functioned like a continuous audit system with zero tolerance for failures. I found myself thinking that Liam could really use something like this in his company. It would prevent the disaster he was dealing with now. But that wasn’t my problem anymore.
boss held the conference room door open for me to enter, and when I walked through, I came face to face with him. Liam.
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