My Imaginary Ex (COMPLETE)

Chapter 12

Present day

It was a bad day at work.

Three of the interviews I had scheduled had to be cancelled because the three company vice presidents who were supposed to do the interviews got called into an emergency meeting. First thing in the morning, I was frantically trying to reach the interviewees before they got to our office.

I managed to contact two out of the three—and dreaded having to tell the last one that she showed up for nothing.

A phone rang in the HR office, and the secretary picked it up.

"Jasmine?" Ms. Belinda called. "You have a visitor."

I checked my watch. Three-thirty. Expecting the applicant, I said, "Can you send her to the waiting room? I'll be with her in a minute."

While I prepared the forms, I heard the door to the waiting room open and close. I grabbed a black pen and walked over.

Waiting inside was Kimmy Domingo. She was sitting at the far end of the conference table, facing the door. The harsh fluorescent lights did nothing to diminish her beauty, and I couldn't help but notice her flawless, rosy skin.

Zack, couldn't you have chosen a girl who wouldn't easily crush my self-esteem with a stiletto heel?

"You're not the applicant," I said stupidly, stating the obvious.

She rolled her eyes, stood up, and easily towered over me even if I was in heels. "I don't appreciate what you did, Jasmine."

"What did I do?"

"You told Zack rumors about me?" Kimmy shook her head. "That's low."

"Are they true?"

Kimmy raised an eyebrow and sat down. "Does it matter, Jasmine?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What matters is if Zack believes you. I know your source of that rumor, and I also know that if it ever came out that she was the source, no one who knows me and Zack will ever believe it."

"Even if it's true?"

She shrugged, almost like she was humoring me. "It's her word against mine, and I know Zack trusts me."

Kimmy was unbelievable. There was her imposing, intimidating beauty, but there was also a restrained menace in her voice. Though she was seated and keeping her voice down, she was still able to bully me. I felt for Marjorie all of a sudden; I could totally see how she would find a girl like Kimmy a threat. Kimmy seemed to get her way all the time.

She and Tim are two of a kind, was the unbidden thought that popped into my head. But this is MY turf. There will be no bullying of me on my turf.

"But you know Zack will believe me," I said pointedly, putting my papers and pen down on the opposite side of the conference table.

"You already told him. Do you think he believes you?"

"I think he's trying to believe the best in you and it's his mistake."

She seemed to take that as a triumph. "His decision, right? No one's forcing him. He is choosing to be with me, despite everything, and you have to accept it."

"Why are you doing this to him?" I demanded. "You can have any guy you want, I'm sure."

"Why not Zack?" she said. "He's the best guy to settle down with."

"But you're not settling down," I retorted.

Kimmy gave me a lopsided smile. "Why are you so concerned, Jasmine? You've been out of his life for, like, a decade."