Done Being Friends (12 page)

Dylan was right; her father would want to know. The reminder of the impending operation sank her heart, the board meetings and incredible amount of work before her seemed trivial compared to her father fighting for his life in the operating theater.

“Just let me grab the files, and I will be ready to go.”

“My car is parked further away that yours. With the reporters, it’s better if the car is nearer. I’ll see you at the hospital,” Dylan said, and walked out.

Faith was secretly relieved. She didn’t want to be a position to choose whose car to take.

Dylan sighed as he left Zac and Faith, proceeding to the parking lot himself. Although neither Faith nor Zac had voiced their feelings for each other, it was obvious that the two had something more than just friends.

Dylan knew that Zac had kept his boundaries, but whenever anything was wrong with Faith, he would be the first to be there. Whenever Faith needed anything, Zac would be the one she turned to. He tried, over the years to bring their friendship to their next level, but Faith always had a way to dodge his questions or attempts.

He knew that Faith was avoiding the subject completely because she wanted to keep their relationship as friends. He didn’t mind, thinking that he would have time to change her mind, that she would someday see that he was more than just a friend to her.

Somehow, it finally dawned on him that the day might never come.

“Dylan!”

Dylan’s head snapped up and smiled at Jessica. “Hi Jess.”

“Accompanying Faith?” Jessica smiled brightly, but she couldn’t help the jealousy that was bubbling up.

He shrugged his shoulders. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

She nodded but knew Dylan was struggling. It was impossible not to see the feelings Zac and Faith had for each other, besides the two themselves, everyone could see the effect they had on each other. “You want to have dinner together?”

“Can’t, sorry. I’m heading over to the hospital to visit Faith’s father.”

She has already got Zac, so why are you subjecting yourself to more heart ache?
“All right then, see you another time.” Jessica turned to leave, redirecting the question, which she wanted to ask Dylan onto herself.

“You want to come along?”

Jessica hesitated; she really shouldn’t add herself to the entanglement of the three clueless souls. “Sure. Let me get my things.” But her heart said otherwise.

The moment Zac closed the door to Faith’s office, she had to ask, she simply couldn’t suppress her curiosity.

“You called them too, right?”

“Called who?”

“The board members.” Faith knew he was going to beat about the bush.

“What about the board members?”

“Are you purposely obtuse? You know exactly what I’m talking about and you’re just trying to make me angry.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Zac smiled and continued to feign ignorance.

“Liar.”

Normally, Faith would go on arguing with him, but she was so tired that she didn’t have the strength. All she did was let out a heavy sigh.

“Look, does it matter? What matters is that you can focus on what you need to do instead of handling some angry old man. What matters is that you can report to your father how smoothly everything is going, and he will be able to put work out of his mind.”

Faith knew he was right. That was the difference between Zac and Dylan. Dylan would always state what he had done and expected appreciation, while Zac was one who would help someone without ever mentioning it. Faith had found this particular trait of Zac to be really alluring and all she could think about then was to kiss him.

“Shall we?”

Zac had opened the door and held his arm out for Faith. Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, she grabbed the few files and hooked her arm around Zac’s.

“Give the files to Chelsea and ask her to bring them over to your house. It will be a circus downstairs, and you won’t be able to hold on to the files.”

The reminder of what was to come in the car park should have frightened her, but with Zac standing right beside her, she couldn’t muster up any ounce of fear. She did, however, agree that she would probably not be able to hold on to the files with the reporters sticking their cameras and recorders into her face. Faith pouted her lips and nodded. "But I'm taking the chocolates."
 

Zac chuckled at her reaction.
 

When the lift was reaching the ground floor, both of them let out a deep breath. Faith, for the dread of what she was about to face and Zac, bracing himself for the fiasco ahead. "Ready?" Zac asked.

Without waiting for a reply, he continued. "Just keep your feet moving. I will get you to the car, and we will be out of here in a few minutes."

Faith nodded.
 

Once the lift door opened, the reporters flocked to the entrance and surrounded them once the door flew open. Zac's arm was over her shoulder as he dragged her along. The same questions echoed in Faith's ear, and she had to bite her lips to stop herself from yelling at them to get out of her face.
 

She kept her head low and did what Zac told her to do; she simply kept her legs moving. It was actually a rather daunting task with all the reporters crushing themselves onto them, but she managed. Partly because Zac was strong enough to pull her along while he shoved through the waves of reporters.
 

Luckily, he had kept himself in shape.
 

"Get in."

That was when she realized the door of the car had been flung open. Zac placed another hand over her head to make sure she didn’t knock herself in the head and lifted her up into the car with the other arm.
 

Though tired, she noticed that there was something about the interior of the car that was wrong.

Her door slammed closed and within a minute, the driver’s door opened and closed. The flashes kept on, and Zac had to blare the horns a few times, followed by the ramming of the gas to give the reporters the message that if they didn’t move, they would soon be under the car. Zac started jerking the car forward before speeding out of the car park.
 

"Put on your seat belt,” Zac commanded, while looking into the rearview mirror.
 

"This is not going to turn into one of those car chases on TV, right?” Faith asked while she strapped herself in.
 

Zac laughed softly and reached his hand over, brushing her cheeks with the back of his hand. "No, angel. I will never do that, not with you in the car.” He smiled warmly at her. “Anyway, they probably know which hospital your dad is in. Just let them follow, they can't do much."
 

Faith finally tore her eyes from Zac and took a better look at the interior of the car. They were in her huge SUV.
 

"We didn't take this car to work, right?" Faith frowned as she wondered if she had been so exhausted that she had forgotten which car she rode in that morning.
 

"I got Mindy to take my car back to your house and drive your SUV back here during lunch. Otherwise, the reporters would have been camping by the car, and it would have been much more difficult to get away."

Thoughtful.
"It's tough to be your assistant."
 

He smiled and looked at her. "Close your eyes and get some rest. You must be really tired."

"You haven't slept the whole night either.”

"Don't worry, I promise that I will not drive us into an oncoming truck."

Faith had to smile. She tried to stay awake to accompany Zac. She opened her box of chocolates and popped them into her mouth, feeding some to Zac as well. Once the chocolates were gone, the lack of sleep suddenly hit her all at once. Her eyelids seemed to weigh a ton, and she couldn’t think of anything but the need to get some rest.
 

She wasn’t sure when she drifted to sleep, but she jumped when she felt a warm sensation across her cheeks.
 

"It's just me." Zac muttered softly.
 

"We there?" Drowsiness swum in her head. The short nap wasn’t enough to make up for a whole night of sleep. Her head was swirling, and she had to force her eyes to stay open.

"Yes, sleepyhead."
 

Faith stretched her neck and yawned softly.

"Faith, there's a mob outside the hospital too."

"We need to run again?" Faith groaned.
 

Her complaint brought about a fit of laughter from Zac. Frowning, Faith turned to Zac. "It really isn't meant to be funny."

"Yes madam.”
 

Now it was Faith's turn to laugh. She knew she sounded like a spoilt ten-year old, but she was indeed tired of having to run from the reporters.
 

“All right, let's get this over with."
 

Zac smiled. Faith was truly thankful to Zac. He was after all, the one who had been making all of these easy. Without him, she would probably have cowered and camped in the office till the reporters went away.
 

As Zac reached his hand over to the handle, Faith reached out and placed her hand on Zac’s shoulders. Zac stopped, and turned his head back to her.

"Thanks Zac, really.”

Being Zac, he didn’t launch into listing all the things he had done for Faith and how tired he was. Neither did he state how he would like to be rewarded. He simply smiled broadly and said, "As long as you are safe."

With that, he opened the door and the same routine took place with the same flashes from cameras and the same questions repeating with a different, or maybe even the same set of reporters.

Chapter Seven

“My baby girl!” her dad voiced when Faith walked in. He seemed to be in a better condition though he still had several tubes stuck to him.
 

“Hi dad.” Faith walked in with Zac behind her. Dylan was already inside, sitting on the sofa beside Jessica. “Hi mum. Hi granny and Jess!”

“Hi Uncle Jon, Aunt Michelle. Hi grandma, Jessica.” Everyone smiled and nodded.
 

Her whole family knew Zac well; their house had always been an escape for Zac whenever he needed. Faith’s grandmother always had a soft spot for Zac. She knew everything about Zac’s family and admired how a young boy with no one to depend on turned out to be such a fine young man. She never allowed Zac to call her Mrs. Preston. She had made him call her grandma ever since he had known her.

“Thanks Dylan, Jess, for being here,” Faith added, not wanting them to think that they were being ignored or slighted.
 

“Look at my baby girl in a suit! I never thought I would live to see the day!”
 

Faith’s father had asked her a couple of times if she was interested in going to work for him. She had turned him down, and he never bugged her about it. At that moment, Faith was overwhelmed with guilt. If she had helped him, perhaps he wouldn’t be in the hospital bed.
 

“I’m sorry dad, I should have stayed here and helped you instead of trotting all over the world.” Faith looked down on the floor.
 

“Don’t be silly dear, I’m here because I refused to take my bread with less butter and eat anything that is not fried in a gallon of oil. It has nothing to do with you.”

Faith put on her political smile. Her father shouldn’t be consoling her; he should rest and take care of himself.
 

“How was your first day at work? Dylan said it went well.”

“Yes it was. Zac and Dylan helped a great deal dad.”

“Yes, you are lucky to have the two of them watching your back.” Jonathan Preston cast grateful glance at both Zac and Dylan. “Thank you, both of you, for taking care of her.”

Faith then launched into an explanation of what happened in the meeting, telling him how Dylan had called and helped with two of the board members, and how nice the rest of them were. Not wanting her father to worry, Faith omitted the information about Mr. Hiley.
 

Faith’s father smirked and cast a quick glance at Zac when she mentioned how Mr. Jackson was really supportive about the whole thing, giving her advice and all on the projects. He suspected that Zac did have some part to play but didn’t voice it out, or perhaps he knew for a fact about what Zac did, but neither of them spoke about it.

Zac’s cellphone rang for the third time in a roll. He let out an annoyed sigh when he saw that name on the screen. He wondered idly to himself, considering if it was time to change his phone number.
 

“Nicole Smith. Why are you not picking up?” Dylan asked.

Zac shrugged his shoulders. “She’s not important. Just someone who doesn’t understand what no means.”

Dylan smirked and shook his head. He knew it was just another of Zac’s fling. Though he knew that most of the women that gossip magazines associated him with were nothing but nonsense, Zac did have his flings.
 

He never really understood. Most of the time, Zac never bothered much with those women but perhaps it was his aloofness that peaked their interest.
 

The only person he ever saw Zac care about was Faith. He knew that Faith was important to Zac, but when he had asked, Zac had assured him that they were nothing more than just friends. Even though Dylan could see that their concern for each other exceeded the normal friendship boundary, neither of them ever tried to push their relationship beyond that.

He knew it was selfish, but he was pleased that they had stayed just friends. He wanted Faith to himself and as long as Zac and Faith remained status quo, he had a chance.
 

Now, however, Zac seemed ready to make the change.

After awhile, Doctor Leran came in and announced that he had to prepare her father for operation. All the Preston ladies kissed him on the cheek and walked out after the guys.
 

As they wheeled her father into the operation room, Faith closed her eyes and said a silent prayer.