ANMELDENCory I didn’t mean to lie to her. Twice.I panicked and the words just continued to slip out. I couldn’t stop myself.Sitting inside my car, in the company’s parking garage, the air felt too thin. I had to crack my window open to get proper ventilation.I had a chance to tell her how I felt, a chance to finally be honest, to unload all that I had in my mind for the past eight years and counting. And I fumbled.I didn’t know if I was going to get another opportunity again. Even if she didn’t feel the same way, it was important she knew just how much she meant to me.The staring wheel felt slick under my palms. Eight years, that’s 2,920 rehearsing a truth that died the second it hit the back of my throat.I leaned my head against the headrest, watching the exhaust from a neighboring SUV curl towards the concrete ceiling.Flashes of last night resurfaced and I closed my eyes to shut it out. This shouldn’t be affecting me this much. I should have let the whole si
Remy “Mmmffphhh!” I scream in my pillow immediately I dropped on my bed.“Oh oh. Judging by what's going on right now, I’m guessing the talk didn’t go well.” Aliyah said, from where she had curled up in a corner of my bed.I looked up at her, my mouth folded in a line. “Why in the name of the lord did I listen to you, Aliyah. I just had one of the most embarrassing moments of my entire life.”I buried my face back down, shaking my body violently as another muffled scream escaped me.“Come on, it couldn’t have been that bad. What exactly happened?”I rolled on my back, staring at the ceiling as it spun in a dizzying blur– kind of like my brain right now. “Aliyah, it was horrible. Everything we thought we perceived as his feelings for me, was just…politeness.”The word stung in the air like a bad smell. Aliyah winced, her eyes widening in sympathy.“Oh, I’m sorry boo. That must have been a very hard conversation. But, I for one have witnessed on multiple
RemyI’ve had this conversation with Cory in my mind a thousand times already. But nothing ever prepared me for the actual moment.The air in the room felt heavy, like the oxygen had been replaced with something thicker and harder to consume. Cory sat in his chair, hands around his now empty glass. His gaze drilled through mine, which made what I was about to do more painful.For months, I’d rehearsed my opening lines while sitting beside him in the car everyday, in the shower, and during those restless hours at 1:00 AM while working. In those versions, I was articulate. I was calm. I was the one in control. But looking at him now, eyes searching me like he was on the verge of uncovering a scandalous secret, all those polished words dissolved into a static hum in my brain.“Cory,” I finally whispered. The name felt like a jagged piece of glass shredding at my throat. He didn’t flinch, but I saw his grip tighten a little around the glass cup. “I know wha
Cory“A toast.” I raised my half-empty glass of white wine. “To the newest editor-in-chief.”“Not officially,” Remy countered, rolling her eyes, “but I do like your enthusiasm.”She lifted her glass anyways.“Well I for one believe, Cory, that spot is yours already.” Aliyah slipped in, clinking her glass against ours before taking a sip.“I still need to beat Freya to achieve that goal. And she isn't making it easy for me.” Remy exhaled deeply. “She’s currently leaning towards the mayor’s office like they are her personal PR team.” She added, her gaze drifting to the window where the city lights blurred into streaks of gold and neon. “From what I heard, Sterling liked the data.” I chided, taking a gulp from my glass before refilling it.“Yeah, he did. But he wasn’t satisfied. He’s old school. So he works with pure unfiltered facts, not just patterns and observations. I just need more evidence.” She bit her lower lip, which made me tilt my head and smile despi
Remy“You know you eventually have to go to sleep, right? You look a mess.” Aliyah complained for the umpteenth time. She wasn’t wrong, but that was only because I had to wrap up the first phase of the audit on the Vanguard case before the sun came up.The living room floor was a graveyard of Luke warm espresso shots and crumpled print out of tax filings that made my eyes bleed. “I’ll sleep when Vanguard stops laundering the people’s future,” I muttered, not even looking up from the glowing blue light of my laptop. Aliyah leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over her pajamas. “Remy, it’s currently 3:02 AM.” She touched her phone screen to be sure of the time, before tilting it towards me to see. “You’ve been staring at those spreadsheets so long I think you’re starting to blink in Excel. If you show up to the morning meeting with your boss looking like a background character from the walking dead, Freya would definitely eat you alive. She probably sleep
FreyaYes. I was a bitch, I couldn’t even deny it even when I tried. That’s just who I was, it was in my DNA. But, it’s not like I was this way towards everybody. Just a selected few. Remy Raymond happened to be among those few. Every single thing about her pissed me the fuck off. The way she talked, the way she dressed, the way she carried herself like she was much more better than the rest of us.The fact that she was sulking up to the Wilmers, made the situation much more annoying. She literally had everything handed to her on a silver platter, while the rest of us had to fight tooth and nail for it.I’ll be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised they didn’t just hand the promotion over to her. But I guess that was their mistake, because I was gonna make sure to take it from her, no matter what it took.The elevator door slid open with a sharp ding, I stepped into the fourth floor, like I owned the marble beneath my heels. I caught my reflection in the glass of
Cory“So, what you’re trying to tell me is that your last relationship was like what… five years ago?” Remy queried. She sat opposite me, a half empty glass of white wine cradled in her fingers. “Cory, that's a really long time”“What can I say?” I replied with a shrug of sho
Remy“I have to say, this apartment looks even better in person.” Aliyah said, sinking into the sofa beside me.“I still can’t believe I signed the lease,” I admitted, resting my head against the back of the cushion. The scent of fresh paint and floor wax was still heavy
CoryIf I was asked how to describe Remy, I’d say she was the most amazing person to ever grace this earth.She moved with a kind of grace that couldn’t be comprehended. The same grace that made me fall head over heels in love with her.I know that made me a terrible p
AliyahI watched the way Cory stared at Remy while she talked. The way his face lit up whenever she told a joke. If there was one thing I was positively sure about, it was that Cory liked Remy.He wasn’t just listening. He was captivated. Everytime Remy gestured with her







