When We Meet Again
Chapter 54

"Charlotte," Bella cooed. "Come on. It won't take anything out of your body, would it?"

"I never said it will," Charlotte answered.

"Then you should call him."

"I am not doing that. Why don't you call him and apologize to him on my behalf?"

Bella sighed. "You know I will if I can. I tried apologizing to him on behalf of you but he insisted that you call him and apologize to him. Do you know what he said?" Charlotte furrowed her brows. "What did he say?"

"Why can't she do the apology herself? Why are you apologizing for her when you did nothing wrong. Just tell her to call me and apologize. Then we can be, even." Charlotte frowned. Who does he think he is to ask that she apologize?

"And why should I do that?" She asked. "I don't even want to work with him. He should have found another fashion house by now."

Bella smiled. "I thought that too but the manager assured me that he hasn't. He isn't making any attempt either. He loves our work and wants to work with us. All he wants is just your apology. Can't you do that?"

"You still have not told me why I should be the one apologizing not him," Charlotte said. "Why can't he apologize to me too?"

"Come on. He is a man and he has his pride to protect."

"And you think I do not have my pride to protect too. I do, just like he thinks he does. I might be a woman but that doesn't mean I should apologize when I am not wrong. He was rude to me. He spoke to me rudely and blamed me without listening to my part of the story. He should apologize first for being rude and I will apologize for ignoring their calls. Then we will be even."

Bella groaned. "Why are you both the same? Very stubborn and strong headed" she muttered.

Charlotte furrowed her brows. "Did you just call me stubborn?"

Bella groaned. "Of course you are. You both are the same very stubborn and strong headed.". Charlotte stared at Bella, who held her hand. "Can't you just do this for me? Just this once?"

Charlotte pulled her hand away from Bella's. "I am not doing that."

Bella groaned and stood up. "You know what. Suit yourself! I am so tired of trying to make you both apologize to each other. You know what, I am out of here!" she said almost in a yell and stormed out of Charlotte's office.

Charlotte groaned slightly, staring at the number Bella had written on a piece of paper and had kept on her table. She picked up the paper, staring at the number. She doesn't feel right about calling him; she dropped the paper on the table. "No" she muttered. "I won't be the first to call him."

**

"Hello?" Charlotte heard his voice and she sighed.

After thinking about it for a while, she had decided to call him, just like Bella had suggested earlier. She wasn't calling him because she wanted to apologize but to talk some sense into him.

"Hello, this is Charlotte Smith. CEO of..."

"I know who you are," he replied.

He sounded like he didn't care and that made Charlotte frown.

Does he really, know who she is? Or does he have her office number already? He must have been waiting for her call too. Charlotte shrugged. She doesn't care if he knows her or not. She is just happy that she won't have to introduce herself to him.

"Since you know who I am," she began. "Then I will go straight to the point. I want to..."

"I am not changing my mind about not partnering with you," he said.

He sounded so confident; that made Charlotte scoffed. It wasn't like she wanted to partner with him either.

Why does he sound like she needed him?

"I did not call you because I want you to partner with me. I just want to clear up the misunderstanding between us."

"What misunderstanding?"

"The fact that you think I ignored your company's call on purpose."

He scoffed. "I do not think there is a need for that. Because it is not a misunderstanding but a fact."

Charlotte furrowed my brows. "And what is the fact you are talking about, if I may ask?"

"That you ignored my company's call on purpose. You must have thought your company is the best when it comes to fashion and we don't have any other options." Charlotte scoffed. "Why will I think that? I was not the one who applied to your company, Bella did. I did not even know that she applied to the partnering scheme." "And who is Stella?"

"My manager. The one you spoke to. She never told me about it, until recently. How was I supposed to know that the call was from you guys?"

He sighed. "Are you saying that you don't know anything about your company? And you call yourself the CEO?"

Charlotte scoffed. "Look, it is not my job to get involved in things like that. Everyone in my company has his or her job to do and her job is to apply for things like that. I get to know when it is necessary."

He scoffed. "Can you hear yourself? Just accept that you are not a capable CEO. You leave your work to others. And you don't know what is going on in your company."

Charlotte groaned. What is wrong with this man? Does he have a problem with her?

"Why would I not know what is going on in my company?"

"You just say that yourself."

"You don't seem to understand what I am trying to say"

"What is there to understand? You said that you do not know what is going on in your company."

Charlotte groaned. "Do you always misunderstand what others say?"

"I am saying the fact here. You..."

Charlotte sighed. She knew that if she kept this conversation on, she might get pissed off and say things she does not want to say. "Look," she began. "I don't know if you know me or if you have beef against me. But can you just listen to what I have to say?" "There is nothing to listen to. It will be a waste of my time listening to you. I do not want to have anything to do with you."

"And I also do not want to have anything to do with a rude Jerk like you!"

"Did you just call me a jerk?"

"Aren't you a jerk? You are a very rude jerk!"

He scoffed. "Rude jerk?" he laughed. "Are you not being childish, right now?"

"You are not being professional either. You started the childish act. I only build up on what you started."

He groaned. "I can believe I am doing this" he sighed. "What do you want to say?"

Charlotte sighed. "Can we put aside our differences and act like professionals?"

"Is that what you want to say?"

"Yes. I..."

"You are not going to apologize?"

"I have no reason to apologize and even if I have to, it should be after you apologize"

"Why should I apologize?"

"Because you spoke to me rudely and you blamed me without listening to what I had to say. You even ended the call.". Charlotte heard him sigh. "We both should apologize to each other because we are both wrong. Then you can decide on what to do next," she said and he sighed, again. "I am sorry," Charlotte began. "I am sorry I ignored your manager's call. He did not explain much to my assistant so I thought he could be a fraud. That was not the first time we have been receiving that kind of call. If you had listened to me when you called the first time, I would have explained to you."

He sighed. "Fine. I am also sorry for speaking to you rudely and for blaming you without listening to your part of the story."

Charlotte could tell he said those words forcefully but she doesn't care much.

Maybe he is not used to apologizing to others. Or maybe he still doesn't see why he should apologize but he did it because he had to. She thought.

"Are we even now? I mean we don't have any grudges against each other right?" Charlotte asked.

"I guess we are," he muttered.

"Can you be straight forward? It should be a yes or a no, please."

"Fine. It's a yes. We are even."

Charlotte sighed. "Then I think we do not have a reason to speak to each other again," she said and he groaned." If you don't have anything else to say, then I will end the call." Charlotte ended the call and groaned. He is so rude. She thought.

She rested her back on her chair. She hopes that they really, do not have any reason to meet again, because if they do, she might not be as nice as this!