Bryan suddenly sat up and turned his head towards the door. His eyes wide with surprise as he looked at her. Slowly, he stood up and walked towards her. He stood in front of her. They looked at each other, not saying anything. Tears overflowed in one man's eyes, while the other had a pale face. He recovered first.
“Serene…” He reached out to her shoulder and called her name. The sound of his voice was unfamiliar to her. Serene looked at him, then to the man in the room, who had his back against them and was putting on his jeans. Then she looked back to him. Words which used to come to her mind fluidly suddenly were elusive. She just looked back and forth to both men, disbelief written in her face. Silently, she praye
If there was any blessing she can consider in her life now, it was her new job. She poured all her energy in her job that she would go home completely exhausted and would immediately fall asleep as soon as her back touched the bed. Exhausted, she had no time to think about anything, much more to feel about anything. She switched phone numbers and did not let her friends know about what happened, not even Mary. The pain she has was too much. She did not want to interact with anybody. Disconnecting from everyone saved her from having to tell another soul what happened that day, something she did not have energy for. Her heart felt so much pain and recalling the events will just reopen her wounds.A new lease of life is what she wan
In the blink of an eye, two years had already passed. After starting as a staff in the Customer Experience Department, now she got promoted to a Manager. In those two years, she dedicated herself to her work. She made sure she learned what needed to be learned and to deliver more the expectations. In the brief span of time, she also earned the respect and admiration of her colleagues and superiors. Everyone felt happy about her promotion.After work, she and her colleagues went to a KTV bar to celebrate her promotion. Food and drinks poured out. Serene gamely sang a couple of songs and drank her fair share of the alcohol. She has forgotten the last time she had this much fun.
The bright and warm sunlight touched Serene’s face. She winced with eyes still closed she pulled herself to a sitting position, resting her head on the headboard. Her throat felt dry and her head was like splitting into two. “Ugh, hangover”, she uttered under her breath. She clutched her head and by doing so, she noticed that only a white blanket covered her and was naked underneath.Her nakedness jolted her awake and immediately pulled the blanket further up to her neck and wrapped it around her body. Her eyes surveyed the room. The place was not familiar to her at all. It looked like a hotel room. She closed her eyes, shook her head, and opened her eyes again. She looked under the blanket that was wrappe
With such a colossal blow, she cannot help but feel weak. Of all the people she would meet, why would it be him. “I do not fuck dead logs,” she sneered at the recollection. “You don’t fuck women is what you should say. Not that I wanted to sleep with you.”The driver told her they have arrived, cutting off her mutterings. She paid the fare and quickly alighted from it. Feeling weak and dazed from her realization, she walked to her work station like a zombie. She stared blankly at her monitor. Her mind stuck to the events of two years ago.She recalled Bryan, specificall
Serene worked like a robot that day. She got through her routine smoothly, like a well-oiled gear, but her mind floated elsewhere. Serene felt like Fate was playing with her. She encountered not only her ex's husband rather embarrassingly, he also turned out to be the new head of their company."Won't it make working here awkward knowing that the same man intersected their lives?" Serene internally pondered."Well, he is so far up the corporate ladder, we’d definitely not interact with a first level people manager like me. Plus, this company is so big and our floors are so far apart from each other. For sure, I will not see him again," she consoled herself.Finally, the time to go home has come and thankfully there was no need for her to go on overtime. She tidied up her things and her workstation, then politely said goodbye to her colleagues and walked out of their department.She felt her tiredness as soon as her head hit her pillow. Immediately,
To everyone’s surprise, without a word, Serene got up from her seat and went out of the room. She did not care about the incredulous look of her colleagues, not to mention the dark face of her Director, Mr. Kim.She just wanted to get out of that place as quickly as she could. Her chest tightened, her eyes burned. She further hurried her steps and went straight to the nearest washroom. She locked herself up in the first vacant cubicle that she saw.Alone, her tears fell down from her eyes. She suppressed her sobs lest other people would hear her. “They both have to be here,” she muttered. Her emotions were a mess. She felt confused, surprised, angry, depressed all at the same time. Like her feelings, her thoughts were also a mess. She cannot understand why of all the places in the world she ended up working here. While she was happy with her work and the people she worked with, with those two here, how can her life be peaceful again?She though
“It’s not what you think,” It was Bryan who spoke and met Justin’s inquiring eyes. His voice cold and detached.“And what am I thinking, huh?” Justin’s eyes challenged Bryan’s. The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Serene felt trapped between two boulders about to clash on each other.“Mr. Rain,” Serene finally found her voice. “Mr. Cooper and I knew each other from when I was in college. We have not seen each other for quite some time. Let me assure you that there is nothing going on between the two of us,” she explained in a single breath.She’s not sure if the person in front of her believed her because the moment she opened her mouth to explain, the darker his expression became. “I’ll go ahead first, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Rain,” with that she hurried forward to the direction where she parked her car, not even waiting for either of them to respond.Not daring to l
She looked at him squarely. Although she might look like she's able to hold up in a fight, deep inside she's already feeling very weak. "I ensure you I will maintain my professionalism and will not allow our past to affect my work performance," she added to stress that in the end, she was here for work and not to wreck homes.He raised his brows. His mouth twitched as if wanting to say something, but decided against it. He then knit his brows and stared at her. The ice daggers coming out of his eyes were all directed at her.Ex boyfriend. Who would have thought that he would pave the way for these old flames to meet again? He wanted to punch himself in the face for convincing Bryan to return to the country and work for him.“So, he’s the 'Bry' you called that night?” he said with an eyebrow raised and a mouth raised to a smirk; his tone laced with sarcasm.“Excuse me, what?” She knitted her brows, trying to recall when did sh