No words were said, just a heated eye battle and they both quickly detached from each other. She was still trembling a bit and avoided meeting his gaze. She quickly moved away from the door without looking at him. She moved to her desk, aware that he was looking at her but she was not in the right and sane state of mind. She heard the key turn in the lock and the door open. He went out and shut the door. She did not go back until her colleagues started her calling her phone asking where she was.
She went back to the studio mustering up every piece of courage and sanity left in her. She avoided meeting his gaze and did not once spare him a glance. She was almost acting like he was invisible. She was mad at herself. Way to move on she thought. She hated that she was still hopelessly in love with him and she was even more mad because it seemed like he knew it and he just wanted to play her, and use her while he could. Two more days, she told herself and they were done with the tracklist and she would not see him for at least some time before the tour started. And while they were on tour the chances of the meeting would be so slim that they would hardly run in to each other. She left work early after complaining of a mild headache.
The first thing she did when she got home was hug her daughter, tightly.
She still spoke to Tim on the phone. He said he was calling to check up on her. And she felt guilty talking to him after what happened and added to the fact that she was always giving him excuses when he asks for them to meet up. He asked if they could meet the next day, and she agreed. She agreed because she needed conviction that he could help her move on, and she wanted to be sure of how she felt. She still could not believe that justin had done that even after Tim introduced himself as her boyfriend. That was indeed wild, and she was very sorry for Tim but the wild justin was looking like what she really needed. When she met with Tim the next day, she would come to a conclusion. She would either reject Tim’s proposal and wait hopelessly for justin, or she would accept Tim’s proposal and risk cheating on him or fighting Justin off and telling him off once and for all.
When she got to work the next day, she was a bit late and everyone was already there before she arrived.
‘ good morning’ she said to everyone in the room.
‘ good morning’ the boys were saying. Justin did not say anything, he had a worried look on his face as he looked at her. She had complained of a headache yesterday, and he was worrying that it might have been his fault. Maybe he should not have done that, taking in to consideration how hard she had been working for the past few weeks. Maybe he had misread and misinterpreted her body language and her eye signal. He had never been wrong about that before. The truth he did not know was that julie did not have any headache, she just wanted to get away from him and she used that as an excuse.
 
‘ how are you feeling julie?’ joe asked
She was taken aback for a second, and then she remembered how she had run off yesterday.
‘ oh, I feel better now’ she said smiling.
‘ how is it going?’ she asked.
‘ we are rounding up, just have to finish up with this and we do the final listening tomorrow’
‘ okay you guys just go on. I have meet with the creative director. I’ll be in my office if you need me later’
She went down to  the dance studio, and scheduled their practice session with the creative director.
When she was done with that, she went back to her office. She was still not over what happened the previous day. She wondered how he felt about it too. After tomorrow she would not be seeing him for a while. She was so deep in thought that she dosed off.  She woke up startled, when her phone rang.
‘ julie, we need you’ joe said over the line.
‘ okay, I’m coming’ she said.
She retouched her makeup and headed to the studio.
‘ what’s up joe ?’
‘ we exceeded the two hours show time. We might need to make some cuts to make it fit in to the time’
‘ lemme see’
She took a seat and got to work.
‘ okay, so from track one…..  and she got to work.
‘ let’s cut from here, and fade it into the next song’
‘ add an interlude here, what do you guys think?’
 
They ended up doing the whole cut and listening that day and by the time they were done , it was already late. Tim had called while she was working and she answered while she was in the studio. She however moved away a little from the crew, so that they did not overhear her.
‘ hey Tim, I know I have been canceling on you  a lot lately but there was some little problem at work today and me and the entire team are still here sorting it out. I am afraid I will have to cancel again.’
‘ why don’t I wait back for you, you know to at least give you a ride home? I am sure you will be pretty tired when you finish. We can also grab dinner on the way. What do you say?’
‘ okay. I might be another hour, is that okay with you?’
‘ is there something you want, so I can go grab it right now. And you can eat while I drive. How is that?’
‘ thank you Tim, really I appreciate it. I will see you say in an hour’s time.’ and the line went dead.
She turned back just in time to catch justin looking away. Had he been listening in on her conversation or just stealing glances at her. Which ever option it was, it felt nice knowing she still had his attention. Shame on her she chided herself, she had  just got off the phone with Tim and she was enjoying the attention of some one else.
She got back to work. It took almost an hour for them to get the tracklist set and ready. Finally, she could at least take the next day off.
‘i already spoke with your creative director and choreographer. He should receive this audio by tomorrow. I think we can face other things while he comes up with the choreography. And you guys have to meet him too, in case there are any original choreos that you intend to keep.’
‘ I might be taking the day off tomorrow, so I would likely not be here tomorrow. So if you have any problems at all, please contact me’
‘ we don’t have your phone number’ justin interjected quickly cutting her off.
‘ what?’
‘ how are we supposed to contact you without having your phone number?’
‘oh’ she was finally getting what he was saying.
He turned on his phone and handed it to her to type in her number. Julie did not want to make the situation more awkward than it was. She however took notice of the fact that he had become more audacious and daring than before. He was of course a thirty two year old adult now and could do whatever he liked. She remembered the news articles about him and his mystery women. Perhaps he was not the same person he used to be, perhaps she did not mean anything to him anymore.
 
She tried to keep the mood happy and light as Tim drove her home. She had left instructions with her colleagues and she was definitely taking a day off the next day.