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What was going on?
The meeting commenced, and it became a question that Fawn appeared fated to ask practically every minute.
Lou was tasked with the opening remarks, and the beautiful vice president performed her task with envious ease. She made all the right jokes, albeit a little bit too risqué for Fawn’s taste, and once in a while her taunting gaze would seem to seek Fawn, as if mocking her for not doing anything about Grant’s unfaithfulness.
Fawn had never had her confidence so undermined, and only the knowledge that the prince’s bodyguards were there behind her, ready to come to her aid at the first sign of trouble, gave her the strength to stay.
A round of applause erupted from the small crowd, punctuating the end of Lou’s speech.
Grant replaced her behind the podium—-
And he turned out to be a complete disaster.
It was like watching a train wreck unfold, she thought sickly, and she was a helpless bystander without any power to stop what was inevitable.
For as long as she could remember, Grant had always thrived in the limelight, someone who never had trouble charming and impressing all kinds of audience.
But that Grant was not the Grant she was watching now.
“So...”
Fawn managed to stop herself from cringing. It was the first word that Grant had spoken, and so far he had repeated it three times in the past thirty seconds.
“The project we’re here to discuss today is...” Grant broke off.
“Anything wrong?” the president asked impatiently.
The projector had the first slide of his presentation on display, and Grant turned to look at it with a vaguely bewildered look, almost like the entire text was written in Latin.
And it all went downhill from there.
The hour-long presentation was reduced to ten minutes, but it was still the most painful ten minutes for everyone in the room. Names that even kindergarten students would have no problems with were either misspelled or mispronounced, and project estimates miscalculated even though they could have been easily computed without a calculator.
It was one humiliating and inexplicable mistake after another, and by the time the president furiously got up to reschedule the meeting, Fawn’s heart had long broken for Grant.
“On behalf of Mr. Bennett,” the president bit out, “I apologize for this inexcusable waste of everyone’s time. We’ll have this meeting rescheduled next week.” He shot a hard look at Grant, saying coldly, “Let’s hope for a better outcome then.”
As soon as the meeting was officially adjourned, the president was the first one to stalk out of the room, followed by an irate-looking Lou, who hadn’t spared Grant a single glance. Everyone else filed out, including the prince’s bodyguards, but only after they had gotten their cue from Fawn.
The conference room was empty in less than a minute, leaving Fawn alone with Grant.
He was slumped on the chair next to the projector, and she approached him slowly, unsure even now of what she could say to him.
She might be his girlfriend, but it was nothing but a nominal title now.
When she was a foot away from Grant, she hesitated, wondering if she was doing the right thing.
What if Grant didn’t want her now?
What if he wanted Lou?
And yet—-
Lou wasn’t here.
She was.
And Grant was still a man she had once loved.