For my love 1
The first time I saw Anna, I was standing at the edge of a high-stakes meeting in a smoke-filled lounge in Marseille. She wasn’t supposed to be there—not at first.
The room was a sea of seasoned players, men and women who controlled ports, trade routes, and everything in between.
And then there she was, striding in as if she owned the place.
Anna had this way of commanding attention without demanding it.
Sharp eyes, razor-edged confidence, and a voice that cut through the noise like a blade. Everyone turned to look at her.
She wasn’t loud, but her presence was deafening.
Dressed sharply, with a no-nonsense air about her, she stepped into the conversation like it was hers to own. And within minutes, it was.
I didn’t believe in love at first sight. But watching her that day—how she carried herself, how she outmanoeuvred the loudest, most arrogant men in the room—I felt something stir in me that I couldn’t explain.
She wasn’t just brilliant; she was dangerous.
When the meeting ended, I stayed back, half-hoping for a reason to speak to her. She didn’t give me one.
She walked past me without so much as a glance, her heels clicking like a countdown.
But fate has its way of aligning things.
It was weeks later when we crossed paths again. This time, it was on her turf—a port she controlled.
I was there for business, but my focus shifted the moment I saw her.
she said, eyeing me like I was a problem she hadn’t decided how to solve yet.
Anna
If you’re here to waste my time, leave.
I should’ve been insulted, but I wasn’t. Instead, I admired her directness.
Sebi
I’m not here to waste your time. I’m here to learn how you work.
Sebi
Yes, I’ve never seen anyone command a room the way you do.
That earned me a small smirk.
Anna
Flattery won’t get you far.
Sebi
Good thing I’m not trying to flatter you,
She laughed then—not the kind of laugh that softened her, but one that acknowledged the absurdity of my audacity.
Still, she didn’t send me away. Instead, she let me stay, watching as she managed her operations with an efficiency that left no room for error.
Over time, I found reasons to be near her. I told myself it was business, that I admired her strategies and wanted to learn.
But the truth was simpler: I was captivated by her.
She wasn’t just brilliant and bold; she had this fire in her, this refusal to back down no matter how impossible the odds seemed.
When I met Cairo, I saw pieces of Anna in him immediately.
The fire, the defiance, the refusal to be controlled—it was all there.
But where Anna’s strength was tempered by sharp intellect and an ability to adapt, Cairo was raw and unpredictable.
Anna saw it too. She never admitted it outright, but I could see it in the way she handled him. She was patient, but firm. Tough love, she called it.
I told her once, after Cairo stormed out of a meeting in frustration.
Anna
*scoffed* I’m nothing like him.
But she was. They were both stubborn, driven, and utterly unyielding when it came to their principles.
And just like her, Cairo had this way of commanding attention, even when he didn’t mean to.
I loved them both for it.
Anna, because she had taught me what it meant to stand your ground, to fight for what mattered.
And Cairo, because he reminded me of the fire that brought us together in the first place.
One night, after a particularly grueling day of negotiations, we ended up sharing a bottle of wine in her office. For the first time, she let her guard down, just a little.
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