Kendra's heart suddenly began pounding harder, its rhythm faltering. There was no way he could avoid the ballroom anymore. Alissa and Ms. Amala had already seen him arrive. He steadied his uneven breathing, then approached where they were standing. Kendra tried to look calm, as though nothing was wrong.
A sparkle lit Alissa's beautiful eyes—the same gorgeous eyes that had once drowned Kendra so deeply in their depths that he never wanted to leave. To this day, no one had ever been able to replace her in his heart, not even Maura.
"How are the preparations coming along, Ms. Amala?" Kendra asked, trying to ease the awkwardness.
"They're almost finished, sir. Oh, right. Let me introduce you. This is Ms. Alissa, the owner of the wedding organizer company." Ms. Amala glanced at Alissa, signaling for her to introduce herself to Kendra.
"Oh, we already know each other, Ms. Amala." Kendra held out his hand to Alissa.
"How have you been? I never expected we'd run into each other here," he added with a smile.
"I was even more surprised than you. I had no idea you owned a hotel this big!" Her eyes sparkled even more as she took Kendra's hand.
"It's nothing special. I've been building it from the ground up for a long time." Kendra flashed his signature smile—the one with a dimple on his right cheek that people said women found incredibly attractive.
Seeing Kendra and Alissa reminiscing together, Ms. Amala looked away. She wanted nothing to do with her boss's personal affairs.
"Hey, give me your number! Maybe we can keep being business partners going forward." Alissa pulled out her phone and nimbly tapped each number as Kendra dictated it.
When she was done, she slipped the gold hard-case phone back into her blazer pocket. Then she excused herself to coordinate with the employees assigned to decorate the hall. Every now and then, Kendra and Alissa stole glances at each other as they went about their work. Kendra discussed things with Ms. Amala while Alissa busied herself supervising her employees. At the very least, this meeting had opened the door to memories long buried after their breakup. It had been the most painful moment of their lives—their love forced to end even though their hearts were still entwined. Their different faiths had made it impossible for them to be together.
"Ms. Amala, I'm going back to my office. Let me know if anything comes up," Kendra said after talking with them for about fifteen minutes.
"Of course, sir. Go ahead." The woman, nearly fifty years old, nodded respectfully.
Kendra briefly waved at Alissa before heading toward his office. As it happened, Alissa was looking his way at that very moment.
He had barely sat down in his office chair when the phone in his pants pocket vibrated. Kendra never kept the ringer on his cell phone turned up. He usually left it on vibrate. Sometimes he even silenced it completely, with neither sound nor vibration.
A message from Alissa came in.
[Hey, hotel owner, can we chat for a bit at the restaurant? I'll wait for you.]
A photo of her sitting in the hotel restaurant followed shortly afterward. Without a second thought, Kendra went straight to meet her at the restaurant on the third floor. The beautiful woman, dressed entirely in black, was sitting near the glass wall overlooking the front of the hotel.
"Hey, what's up, Al?" Kendra asked, trying to act as naturally as possible.
"Why are you being so awkward? We've known each other forever. Sit down and relax. There's something I want to talk to you about." Alissa let out a light laugh. Apparently, the awkwardness Kendra had tried to hide was still obvious to her.