Wooing The Ex-Wife
Chapter 13: Civilized

Jonathan was trying to read through the report but was failing miserably. He read through the words but his mind failed to register them, all he could think of was about Liza and the she guy she went out with. It was frustrating and disappointing at the same time. It had already been a month and he had failed to hold a civilized conversation with Liza, how was he supposed to make her fall in love with him if he couldn't even get her to talk to him. He peered into the adjacent empty office. Liza had forgotten to close the blinds in her hurry, so instead of the usual pale pink and beige blinds, the glass wall was transparent providing Jonathan with a view of her office. Liza's laptop was closed, some manuscripts that Liza had read were scattered around it, Liza's coat hung on the back of the chair and a coffee cup from valentine's sat on the table. Jonathan felt like a creep for spying into Liza's office but he couldn't help himself it was the only way he could get some clue about Liza. He saw books lined up in the shelves, some old and

some new.

He was about to look away when he saw Liza enter. Her hair were now open and she was smiling to herself. He wanted to be the reason of her smile but he knew that it was there because of the other guy. Liza shook her hair a little bit and then fished out a clutcher from her hand bag and tied them into a messy bun, allowing Jonathan a view of her slender neck. He hadn't had the opportunity of seeing a smiling Liza for last four years and now that he had one, he hadn't imagined that it would be with a wall in between them and because of someone else. Suddenly his green eyes met her hazel eyes and he immediately looked away. He didn't want to see her cold stare again. Every time he saw that cold look in her eyes pain lashed out in his entire being, whipping him and punishing him for all the sins he committed. He turned his face towards the report and began reading it again.

Liza was surprised when Jonathan looked away from her. She hadn't expected it, in fact she realized that she had gotten so used to receiving little smiles from Jonathan that she had actually felt a little bit disappointed when he looked away. She sighed at her own stupidity and went up to the blinds and closed them. She sat down on the chair and once again began reading her work. It had been barely an hour when Rachel called her telling her that Jonathan required to talk to her about some deal. Liza got up and threw her jacket on. She walked to Jonathan's office and knocked on the door. She wanted to walk away, to not talk to him again but then she remembered how she had resolved to face him, so she stood patiently waiting him to reply. "Come in please" she heard Jonathan's voice call out. Smooth and deep as always. She entered the office. "Take a seat please" Jonathan said. "So what did you want to talk about?" she said keeping her tone steady, not giving away any emotion. Jonathan was taken aback for a moment. "Uh- h do you remember the lunch meeting we had with our client last to last Monday?" he asked. Liza nodded. "Well he agreed to the deal and has invited us to some sort of celebratory ball. Here is the invitation card." He said handing over the elegant cream colored card to her. "Okay. Is that all?" Liza inquired. "Yeah" Liza nodded once more and got up to leave. Just as she was about to exit the door she turned and said with a slight smile "Oh, Congratulations on your first deal Jonathan" with that she turned and left the office, leaving an astonished Jonathan in her wake.

Liza walked out of the door, silently congratulating herself at keeping her resolve. After her realization that she was no longer bound to Jonathan, that he no longer had any affect on her life, seeing him had become easier. It was like meeting a person from past who had mattered at one point of time but had no relevance now. Liza shook her head. Ofcourse, Jonathan still had some relevance but atleast not in the way he once used to. She had broken free of him, the minute she had boarded the plane and by treating him like she would treat any other colleague she wasn't falling back for him instead it was the opposite, now that she had determined her relationship with Jonathan, she could easily keep him at an arm's length. With these thoughts in mind, Liza started reading yet another manuscript to be published.

Jonathan sat wide eyed on his chair. He couldn't believe Liza had smiled at him, even if it was a faint smile, it was something which he had never expected to happen. He wanted to jump up and down, he wanted to dance with joy, and he wanted to shout as loudly as he could but most importantly he wanted to replace the reason behind why Liza had finally showed something other than anger towards him. He had loved her for so long and he didn't want to lose her again. He had missed her terribly for past four years. He had been nothing but a machine until he saw Liza again. He used to fake laugh, fake smiles and pretend that he actually had something worth living for but now that he had seen some emotion from Liza he had become more determined to win her back. There was a hole in his heart that couldn't be filled by anyone but Liza and he was tired of living with that hole. He knew that it wasn't easy and that she may never give him a second chance but that smile had given him hope and had strengthened him. He was going to try even harder. He would keep Liza in his life in any way that was possible.