Chapter One
I just ended a four-year-old relationship.
I had always loved looking into Josh’s sharp blue eyes as there was seldom any sadness dwelled within them. They were always content, focused, and impassive. Ironically, I was being the one to cause tears in them now.
“Please keep the apartment, Viv.” He said as he tightened his hold around his bags.
I refused to meet his eyes once again for the fear of changing my mind. “It’s not mine.”
Josh bought the apartment as a present to our love shortly after we’d decided to start living together. It was within this house that I’d dreamt many dreams of the future where I’d always imagined him by my side. But never did I see it coming that I would be the one to cut the chain to our future.
“It belongs to you more than it does to me,” He said, “You poured your heart and soul into designing every corner of it. Please keep it, Viv. There’s no reason for me to have it if you’re not in it.”
“I created it for us,” I said, “There’s nothing left for me here without you.”
I eyed my curled toes to shield my trembling lips from his view. I had no intentions of prolonging his departure any more than it already did. He ought to leave as soon as possible for both of our sakes.
“I’ll be moving out in a month.” I said, “You can move back in, then.”
Beside my feet, I noticed his shadow cast by the streaming sunlight from the corridor. His head was shaking, “I can’t live here without you.”
Closing my eyes, I let my tears break free, “Goodbye, Josh.”
Since only darkness and sorrow clouded my vision, I’d only felt his warm embrace. His arms took my limp body carefully into his confines, making sure to leave space for his mouth to plant a soft kiss on the top of my head. He pulled away briefly after he had noticed that I was not going to return his gesture. Before I looked up to give him a last glance, he turned on his back and walked away.
“Report this to the IT, please, this is the administration department,” I said in a monotone.
The nervous intern looked up at me expectantly. At the sight of her cluelessness, I remembered that it was only her second day here and there was a possibility that she needed help with the directions.
“Let me get that for you, Leah. It needs to be delivered to Jake Smith, right?” I asked as I got up from my seat, pulling the papers from her uncertain hands.
“Yes,” She nodded and pushed a cup of coffee toward me. With a frown, I eyed her kind gesture.
“Thanks, but I already had my coffee in the morning.”
She shook her head, “It’s for Jake. He asked me to get him one every morning.”
“Of course, he did.” I inwardly groaned, “You know what, take that one for yourself. I’ll take care of him for now.”
As I made my way toward the IT department, where my dear friend Jake would be probably waiting for his coffee, I made sure to avoid walking by my boss’ office. Although he was my superior, Jonathan Anderson was a very good friend of mine and Josh’s brother, hence why I preferred to call him Jon. Due to our close friendship, we had a habit of dropping by each other’s office whenever we passed through but not today.
Jon would know in a blink of an eye that something was wrong with me and I couldn’t risk starting that conversation with him. Moreover, if he were to learn that I was having a hard time, he would try to go easy on me with the workload which was the last thing I wanted. Jon needed my assistance more than anything this week and I needed the distraction. For as long as possible, I needed to avoid bumping into him.
Once I reached Jake’s office, I didn’t bother knocking and simply walked inside. His office, like mine and everyone else’s, was surrounded by walls only on two sides. On one of the sides, a complete glass wall overlooked the city, and the other one opposite to it was where the door was held with glass walls again. I despised the design of it initially, as I valued my privacy and didn’t enjoy being looked at whenever people pleased, but I soon realized that it did wonders when it came to maintaining workplace harmony.
“What are you doing here?” His warm brown eyes looked up at me in confusion after I dropped the papers on his desk.
“Doing your intern’s work,” I said in a monotone, “because his boss forgot to teach her the right directions before showing her how to run the coffee machine.”
He rolled his eyes at me, “So I make my interns bring me coffee, big deal. That’s what interns are for.”
“Don’t be a dick, Jake,” I scoffed, “I’m trying to do my best to prevent this office from turning into a corporate environment.”
With a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s in Business Administration, I found it ironic that I despised the corporate environment. If I had taken the traditional route, I was bound to remain in the confines of an MNC. In reality, that was indeed what had taken place a few years ago.
Jon’s father owned an MNC and Jon was supposed to start learning to fill in his father’s shoes. Although Jon was a born leader and excelled in his field, he always thought he had a much greater purpose in life, but he needed time to know what that was. In the meantime, Jon started work at Anderson Motors, an electric car manufacturing company, where he had met me.
After working there for two years, he had pitched an idea to his father about starting a non-profit organization for conserving nature. Once his idea became a reality, I was one of the first people he had hired under his supervision. Sharing the same passion, we made an excellent team as both of us had similar desires and purposes in life.
Following Jon’s departure, it was Josh who stepped in to take over his family business. Josh was every bit just as talented as his brother was, and as an extra edge, he was interested in his family business.
Jake groaned, “Can you please chill? You’re making my life miserable as it is already, turning this office into a medieval Harrapan society.”
I smiled in amusement. He was referring to the latest changes I’d proposed at the office cafeteria, which Jon was more than happy to accept. It was to replace plastic plates and cutlery with the ones made out of mud, as was followed in the ancient civilizations of India. It harbored numerous health benefits that everybody was ready to enjoy, much to Jake’s dismay as he was the only one unsatisfied with it.
“I meant to drop by your office later,” he started after moving the pile of papers aside to make room for his elbows, “but now that you’re here, tell me, what’s been going on?”
I reclined back, “What do you mean?”
“All okay?” He asked softly, “I’ve noticed that you’ve been off lately.”
I shrugged, “Work stress.”
He scoffed, “Don’t bullshit me, you’re doing splendidly at work. Which is why I’m concerned?”
I raised my eyebrows in question, “You’re surprised I’m doing well?”
“Yes, because I know that it happens when you have something going on your personal front and you avoid it by focussing all your energy on work instead.” He said, “What happened? Another quarrel with your boyfriend?”
Since I didn’t want to lie to him, I simply changed the topic, “I don’t have time to discuss personal issues at the workplace. Unless you need me for anything professional, I’m leaving.”
“Wait!” He hissed, causing me to fall back into my chair. “You fought with Josh again, didn’t you?”
With a scowl, I muttered, “Mind your business, Jake.”
“Was it bad?” He pushed further.
Sighing, I nodded, “Perhaps the last one.”
He frowned, “Did you fix the issue?”
“He did.” I said, “Permanently.”
“Wow,” His face twisted in surprise, “Maybe I should start taking lessons from him. I always fuck up.”
An emotionless smile took to my face upon hearing his words. In the wake of my breakup, Jake had begun to appear like an ideal partner. Clara and Jake fought more than any of the couples in our circle which often led me to believe that Josh and I were the perfect couples as we rarely hit any bumps in the road. Jake could be an idiot most of the time, but I knew for certain that his heart would never allow him to break Clara’s.
“Not sure Clara would appreciate that. She’d already told me how having her elder brother as your boss would be an unnecessary influence on you. She wouldn’t appreciate it if you took lessons from her younger brother too.”
Jon, Josh, and Clara were siblings. It was their blood relation that caused us all to become friends. I was the first one to have met one of the Andersons, that was Josh, and soon, Jon and Clara. A little after Josh and I started dating, Jake and Clara had begun seeing each other too. Apart from the five of us, there was also Addie, my oldest and best friend, who was part of our little group. The six of us have been inseparable for years now, although I wasn’t sure what the future held for us in the wake of my separation from Josh.
“Anyway, I meant to ask you about Addie’s party this Friday.” Jake said, “Is it still on?”
“Of course, why not?” I said, “Clara, the event planner, is going overboard with everything as usual. Shouldn’t you be knowing that already, considering that you live with her?”
“Well, I’m barred from knowing any inside information as she no longer trusts me. Thinks I can’t keep secrets.”
“Well, I can understand. You did ruin my birthday surprise.”
“Hey, I thought you didn’t care about surprises.”
“I don’t, but Clara does.” I shrugged. “It’s her you disappointed, not me.”
“Yeah,” He peeped, “Anyway, since I don’t get to plan anything, feel free to use me to run errands for you. I’m an excellent driver.”
“Yeah, we already thought of assigning you the job of bringing the cake. Clara has already placed an order for it. And Jon has volunteered to bring the cupcakes. Remember the time when he brought some cupcakes given by his client to my birthday party? Addie loved them! Clara thought that it would be a great idea to have a few in her party as well.”
“That’s a good idea, actually, since Addie doesn’t really like cake. But was Jon able to place an order? I thought we need to book at least a couple of months ahead.”
“Yeah, I guess he pulled some strings. Not sure. He said he’d take care of it so I didn’t bother worrying.”
“Yeah, you can count on Jon.” He nodded. “Anyway, let’s get to work then? I have a meeting to attend in 15 minutes.”
“Right, I’ll leave you to it then,” I said and got up from my seat.
“Let me know if you want to talk.” He called from behind as I walked away from his office.
“Don’t hold your breath,” I said as I walked away.
