My Father's Friend
My Father’s Friend – Chapter 3

Casey bids farewell to both men, but before he could leave the office Genaro’s voice catches his attention.

-Casey, tomorrow night I will be expecting your father’s presence and your company. Please see to it that this old man shows up at my house. I will give a small meeting.

-Come on Genaro, you know I don’t have time for that kind of event.

-Rafael, it’s for the greater good. A charity meeting, you know, to support the children’s institution.

The young chestnut girl sees how her father rolls his eyes, he almost never attended those meetings. His reason, was because his uncle Genaro was always looking for a way to match him, and by that time it wasn’t a bad idea for him to get a girlfriend.

-We will attend, uncle.

-That’s my girl!

The father looks at his daughter who gives him a smile of victory, it was impossible for her to refuse his request. It was the only thing her father had not changed about her, he thought it was because her resemblance to her late mother was uncanny. They looked like two peas in a pod. The young woman said a distant goodbye to her father and then closed the door, at that the smile was wiped from her lips.

She needed some fresh air, it was overwhelming to have to dissemble so much with her own father. She didn’t know why it was so hard for her to talk to him about her concerns. The young woman bites her lips and walks to the elevator to go up to the building’s terrace…

The cool breeze on her face made her breathe easy, she felt a knot in her stomach so dreadful. She was the worst of the daughters, a fake… the girl walked her steps to the edge of the building, every time she felt suffocated she always ran like a little girl to the roof to get some fresh air. She did it secretly, if her father found out that she climbed alone to that dangerous place, she would surely get a reprimand. And she was already 23 years old.

Casey leaned a little off the safety rails and could see the movement of the cars, which at that height were a little smaller. His father’s building was almost like a skyscraper. Many might replace it scary to be at such heights, but it was fine with her because she felt free.

-If you lean any lower, you’re sure to die a gruesome death.

Casey jerks back, holding on to the railing tightly, scared to death when she hears that loud voice behind her, turning around she notices Cauther leaning against a wall. How long had he been there? She did not notice his presence. He was like a cat, so elusive.

-Mr. Acrom,” she says to him with nervousness in her voice.

-Does your father know that you often come to this place? -She opens her lips, at that moment she noticed that he was smoking a cigarette, which he took with those huge fingers, but it was so… What the f**k did he think?

-I’m not doing anything wrong,” she decided to answer.

-Leaning on that railing isn’t very safe,” she pointed to the pipes with the hand holding the cigarette.

She looked in that direction leading her to flatten her lips, nothing had ever happened to her before and she climbed almost all the time. Embarrassed, she looks up and, in doing so she connects with Cauther’s fierce gaze and that was like a trigger for her heart. It began to beat like crazy inside her chest, she wondered, why was he looking at her like that?

-This building is very safe.

-Rafael wanted it that way, huge… extravagant, but I, on the other hand, thought that two stories was more than enough. We don’t need to impress anyone, we are the richest people in the country, and almost in the world.

The man was so vain that it made her uncomfortable. She had never felt so nervous being in Cauther’s company, well, it’s not like she had been alone with him an infinite number of times. In fact it was the first time she had ever spoken to him more than she should have, he never really spoke to her, the a*****e.

All of a sudden Casey notices how he crushes the cigarette with

Cauther, standing just inches away from her, but still keeping some distance. Nevertheless, that closeness was disturbing and unsettling for the red-haired girl who wanted to jump off the cliff.

-You’ll be in a lot of trouble with your father if he replaces out that you go up to the roof of the building,” She sees how he takes his hand out of his pocket to scratch his incipient beard, was he threatening her or what the f**k was he trying to do?

-Don’t tell my father -Casey flattens her lips, and that’s when she perceives something extremely strange that made her hair stand on end….

-It will be our little secret, Miss Monroe,” Cauther suddenly leans a little towards her to whisper those words, but all that was only in milliseconds, as he pulled himself together and then turned around and left.

In the meantime Casey squeezed the railing with her hands so hard that she felt her hands were stiffening. The young woman gulped as she blinked repeatedly, “What the hell was that?” she wondered as she took a breath of air.

She let go of the railing to put a hand to her chest, it was no lie, her heart was beating hard. Suddenly she felt a slight dizziness that made her hold on to the safety rail again.

-F**k, what was that?! -She frowns as she remembers Cauther’s words, but most disturbing of all, was that half-smile peeking out from the corner of Cauther’s lips. What does that mean?

Casey bites his lips, breathing hard, he was having a panic attack or something. She had never been in a situation like that before. The girl lets the air out, tries to catch her lost breath and, a few seconds later, starts to feel how her heartbeat starts to become rhythmic. She looks up admiring the landscape before her, hundreds of buildings were all around her.

-F**k, this must have been an illusion or something… -She says to herself, trying to forget that incident that had no place in her thoughts.

At that her cell phone starts to vibrate, looking at the screen she realizes it was her father, surely the meeting was about to start. She recomposed her body to direct her steps towards the entrance of the stairs… minutes later, she spotted the meeting room, through the distorted glass she could see the silhouette of all the invited employees, including the owners. And that’s when she stopped her steps.

Oh, shit! Cauther was going to be there too, she feels her legs wobble a little, at the same time she gets a powerful knot in the pit of her stomach. Then she denies, no, what the f**k was happening to her? For a f*****g meaningless encounter she couldn’t behave that way. But then, why the hell couldn’t he move a single foot?

-Casey! There you are -She turns and sees her father’s secretary approaching her-. Your father is waiting for you, come on now… only you are missing.

-Me?

-Yes, let’s go.” He encourages her to walk to the boardroom.

She watched the door from afar, feeling the knot in her stomach grow tighter and even painful. Led by the secretary, Casey, she enters the boardroom almost blind but for the nerves that were eating away at her.

-You’re a little late, are you all right? -It was her father’s voice, she blinked and looked up at him.

-Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she stutters, smiling half-heartedly.

-Then let’s get started.

And those words sentenced her to look at the rest of the staff, as soon as she does, the culprit of her anguish and jumble of emotions was sitting very quietly with a folder in his hands. He hadn’t even looked up to see her, what a f*****g prick he was! While she was going through hardship because of his f*****g whipping behavior, he was like shit happened.