Resolve

Auguste dragged Margaret to the parking lot where his car is parked. The latter has no choice but to just let him take her out, because as she tried to struggle his grip becomes tighter. In the end she stopped struggling and just went with the flow.

Auguste let her go when they arrived at his car. He opened the door to the passenger seat of his Mercedes-Benz.

“Get in,” he said.

“It’s okay. I can go home myself,” Margaret said as she started walking away instead.

“Hey, wait!” Auguste followed her and grabbed her arm to stop her.

Which Margaret pulled away successfully. “Will you please stop grabbing and pulling my arm!”

Auguste stared at her, finally realizing what he has been doing.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to stop you from going.”

“You dragged me out of the hut, then out of the restaurant and you just want to stop me?” Margaret is really annoyed right now. “Why do you even care if I just showed up like that in front of your friends?”

“Because they think you’re someone I’m interested in,” Auguste answered.

“What?” Margaret frowned at him.

And Auguste has no choice but to explain. “When we met in Pure Act Café, someone took a picture of us. He posted it on our Facebook Group, and everyone is asking who you are, and they think you are some new girl I am dating. They think you are my Cinderella.”

Margaret remembered when one of his friends called her Cinderella. That might be what he’s talking about.

“I’m sorry if I dragged you out like that. I just don’t want them to think that we really have something, and they might say things and ask questions, and this might blow up into another issue again.” Worse, this might get to his parents and Auguste would need to dismiss the idea again and make his parents feel disappointed. Just when did they started feeling disappointed about his lack of romantic life?

“And you think that with what you did, they won’t have questions anymore? Like, is it not suspicious enough that you just pulled me out like that and took me to wherever? I think that’s more questionable.”

Auguste realized what Margaret meant. Yeah, maybe he did overreact back there. To his defense, he felt a little agitated when he realized what Marga’s sudden appearance might bring to the situation. For sure his friends would not let it pass just like that.

“And why Cinderella? Are you even a prince?”

Auguste stared at her. How could he explain to her the reason behind that without sounding arrogant and haughty? How can he say that she does not belong to his circle – the upper class, that is – and not sound like he’s belittling her?

Before Auguste can resolve his thoughts, Margaret started walking away. He followed her, but this time did not bother stopping her.

“Where are you going?” he just asked.

“Home.” She didn’t even bother stopping and just continued walking.

“I’ll take you to your house.”

“You don’t have to.”

Margaret stopped when they were already on the sidewalk. Fortunately, a Call-A-Taxi is approaching. She hailed the cab and it stopped in front of her.

“Marga!”

Margaret stopped getting inside the backseat of the cab. She looked at Auguste.

“I told Fatima that I'll take you home,” he said.

“If she asked, I'll just explain I don’t want to bother you and just took a cab.” She proceeded to ride the taxi.

Auguste just looked on as the taxi started leaving to bring Margaret to her house. When the cab is already out of his sight, he decided to go back. Not inside the restaurant, but back to his car. He decided to go home himself.

*************************************************************************************

Margaret kind of expected that her boss would question her about what happened to her and the guy named Auguste last night, but she still didn’t like that her suspicions really happened the following morning. As much as possible she doesn’t want to talk or hear anything about that guy who just constantly grabbed and pulled her at his own will.

“Did Auguste do as he said last night? Did he take you home?” Fatima started as soon as she sat down on her executive chair.

“He didn’t,” Margaret replied. “I told him he didn’t need to.”

“Really?” Fatima fell deep in thought. “He didn’t come back last night, though. We thought you left together. But it seems he just used the situation to escape.”

Well, wherever he went or whatever he did last night, Margaret does not care. What's important is that she was able to get away from him.

“Can’t blame him,” Fatima said. “It was just a very difficult situation last night. Like, he’s supposed to feel angry and remorseful that he lost Astrid. But instead, the prince apologized to him for what happened. Can you imagine a prince accepting all the blame for Auguste and Astrid’s breakup? How would you even react to that?”

Really? Margaret suddenly became curious about that prince. If only she could have met him last night.

“So I can’t blame Auguste if he decides to just leave last night and escape. Good thing you came.” Fatima looked at Margaret. “Talk about perfect timing.”

“If you did not leave your cell phone last night, I would not have come.”

“Well, I didn’t leave that on purpose. Could it be that it’s fated to happen?”

Okay, so her boss is about to lead into a conversation that Margaret thinks she would not like engaging in. She needs to get out of the office before she could not get away from the conversation anymore.

“If there is nothing you need from me, Ma’am, I’ll go back to my desk now.”

“Margaret, what do you think of Auguste?”

Margaret is stunned. Now what does her boss like from her?

“He’s very good looking, isn’t he?” Fatima continued. “His face is handsome, he’s tall and well-built. I think he exercises regularly. His eyes are blue- oh! Have you seen them?”

Margaret shook her head. How can she notice when she always meets him in places where lighting is not the best? Even the lights inside the hut last night were dim, and when they saw each other, she was a few feet away from him so those types of details are something she did not observe.

“His eyes are blue, and he got them from his mother who is half-French. And speaking off, I think he also speaks French. He's smart. I always copy from him back in school.”

Margaret smiled at her boss’ mischief.

“And he lets me copy always, because he’s kind. He's one of those rich people who are not arrogant and are very down to earth. They don’t care about a person’s social status. If they like someone, as a friend or more than that, they engage in a relationship with them whatever family they came from, no matter how much annual income their parents earn. What matters to them is the friendship that that person gives them. That’s because they also give their all.”

Margaret remembered that time when they first met at the bar. Based on that encounter, she can agree to what Fatima just said. Auguste is really a nice person. But why did he act like that last night? Was it really because he was agitated because of the prince and his ex-girlfriend?

“If only he can find someone to love again. Someone who can make him forget Astrid completely. I have a hunch that until now, he’s still affected by her, and that should stop because Astrid is getting married already. So Auguste should find someone for himself.”

“What if they are really meant for each other?” Margaret asked. What if Astrid is really the one for Auguste? That things just happened, but in the end, they are destined to end up with each other?

“Are you saying that Astrid would break up with the prince? Or get divorced? Because the other thing that could make them separate is something that I don’t even want to think about.”

The prince’s demise. Margaret winced at the thought.

“I don’t like that,” Fatima said. “So instead of thinking that the prince will be out of the picture, let’s just think of a way on how to make Auguste fall in love with another woman.”

“Are you making this your mission?”

Fatima smiled. “Get ready. I might need a lot of your help.”

“I’m at your disposal.”

Margaret kind of liked what her boss is thinking. It's like when they planned on making her husband fall in love with her before. Margaret is always there to help Fatima, and the result is a success.

But unbeknownst to Margaret, Fatima is planning something else on her mind. To her, Margaret will not just be her assistant. She might even be the solution to the problem that she wants to resolve.