My high school lover is now my dominant CEO

She was there laying in the bed, thinking about the past. Years ago she was just a young, naive girl, trying to stay away from trouble and to make her dad proud. After her mom left, when she was two, her dad made her responsible for everything that he feels and his whole life. While he did everything for her he expected her to be everything he couldn’t.

He married for her, so that she had a mom. When her brother was born, she became his second mom.

She could not complain. Life was not too good nor was it too bad.

Yesterday she saw him. He used to be a geek, she felt for him when she was 15, he was the smartest in every room.

Lying in her apartment, the soft hum of the city outside was a constant companion. The space was modest but distinctly hers, decorated with remnants of her past and hopes for the future. Being alone had given her the freedom to find herself, but it had also amplified the echoes of her past betrayals.

At 26, she had managed to put a certain distance between her present and the time she lived with her family. Her father, stepmom, and brother were now a city away, but they remained close, their bond unchanged. The occasional call, the family updates, and the shared memories ensured they were never really that far apart. She had left her family home to chase her dreams, and in the pursuit of those dreams, she'd met people - some genuine and others deceitful. Over time, her inherently trusting nature had been taken advantage of more times than she cared to admit. She had been betrayed by those she believed in, colleagues who wore masks of friendship, and relationships that promised love but delivered pain.

These scars had made her cautious, even cynical.

So when she saw his message, her heart skipped a beat. The boy from high school, the geek she'd shared secrets with, was now a man of the world, a CEO with success stories she'd only briefly caught in social media headlines. His text read, "Hey, long time! Fancy a coffee tomorrow?"

The idea of meeting him brought back a rush of old feelings and a whirlwind of memories from a simpler time. But it also came with apprehension. Would he be another person with hidden motives? Or would this be a genuine reconnection, a chance to find an ally in a world that seemed increasingly deceptive?

After a moment's hesitation, she replied, "Let's catch up. Tomorrow works." Their upcoming meeting would be more than just a reunion. It would be a dive into unresolved emotions, personal evolutions, and the complexities of adulthood. The next chapter in their lives would be written with every word they exchanged, every look they shared, and every decision they made together.