Lauren

Coming home after a long day at work and finding the place ripped was something that I couldn’t stand. I was a neat freak just like Monica from Friends, perhaps worse than her, so seeing my tiny two-bedroom apartment that easily ended in just a few steps in a mess was something that didn’t sit well with me.

I cleaned the entire house at night before going to bed, yet right now it looked like some sort of natural disaster hit this place and took away everything with her.

"What the hell is this?" I shouted, looking all around from my living room to my dining room.

I ran inside the house, but it was ripped apart. Everything was out of place. The cheap couch that came with the apartment was torn in the middle as if someone had used a knife to slash it in half. The cotton was all over the room, flying, resting on the floor while the small wooden coffee table that I bought from a dollar shop was missing its feet, which I found a few inches away.

The wreck didn’t stop there. My fruit bowl, which had an apple and two bananas, was on the floor with the broken glasses, which used to be my water pitcher and mug, splattering all over the place.

For a minute, I felt like someone had robbed this place. It was impossible when Ashley was here all day. How could anyone come and just take everything from here when Ashley was present?

"Ashley, Ashley. Where the hell are you? And what happened here? Don’t tell me you partied here with your junkie friends at my house. I am going to kick you out of here." I opened the door to her room, thinking nothing really happened.

There she was, my dear older sister on her bed. The only difference was that she was sleeping beside the needles that I knew she used to take her drugs. I was going to walk out of her room, but something caught my eye. Her mouth. There was something in her mouth, like a piece of fabric.

"Ashley, are you okay?" I whispered, moving toward her. "Oh, my god." I ran towards her and took away the soft cotton from her mouth. "What happened?"

She sighed as she felt the water coming out of her eyes like a river. That was my first clue that something bad had happened here.

"What happened? Tell me what happened here, Ashley?" I shouted at her.

"He took everything with him." Her breathing was rough; she needed a few minutes to calm herself down before she spoke. I knew all of this, but I felt a rush in my heart.

Hearing her words, all of a sudden, adrenaline hit me, and oh boy, it crashed into me hard and badly. I could hear my heartbeat. The sound was loud enough to give me a headache. The plume of blood felt like it was going way faster than it should.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, moving backward from her toward the door of this room.

"He drugged me and took everything. Everything Lau. He robbed us."

I ran to the kitchen. I didn’t care if everything I owned was gone or if someone took it with them, but the money that I had in the kitchen cabinet beside the pasta inside the flour container was significant. All I could think about was the $100,000 I’d kept there two days ago after withdrawing from the bank and the $5,000 I’d borrowed from Joe, one of the guys who worked with me at the company.

That money couldn’t go anywhere, even if the entire world was getting mugged.

The entire kitchen was in a good state. Better than the living and dining room, however, the lid of the container was open. Not all, but most of them. And among most of them, it was the one where I put 100K together. I found the other 5K, which I pasted under the kitchen counter.

It was done. I was done. The money that I saved up so hard was gone. I lost every little penny that I earned by running around with arrogant, rich white people, fulfilling their absurd wishes. Most importantly, I occasionally allowed some of them to insult me. Just so I could pay an absurd sum for this hell, food, and my mother.

I sat on the floor, gripping that 5K in my hand.

"What am I going to do now?" I asked myself but failed to answer the question.

I wanted to think of a way that could help me to get out of this nightmarish situation, but sadly, I didn’t find any. This morning, I found ways for Mr. Astor to dodge the bullet of leaving the office without any notice. My brain worked faster than a bullet when I was making those calls to his clients.

Then why couldn’t I think of a route for myself?

There had to be something. There had to be a way, a lane, something that would help me buzz off this nightmare. I needed to get the money back. I was desperate.

"He took everything with him. When I opened my eyes a little because of the sound that was coming to my ears, I saw him counting the money. That was a lot of money. He left with the money."

"Who is he?" I asked coldly.

"Jonathan. My boyfriend. He was here last night when you banged on my door last night. Remember?"

"I didn’t see anyone. How long did you know this Jonathan guy?" I had zero ideas why I was asking all these questions to her. There was nothing I could do even after knowing all this stuff about a guy whom I had never met, even when he was under my roof with me a few hours ago.

"Two days," she whispered.

"And you fucking brought a man into my house who you knew for two fucking days?" I stood and walked toward her.

"It was a mistake," Ashley said, moving away from me. The fear in her eyes was clear, but I didn’t care about what the heck she was going through at this moment. All I could think about was the money that I had saved by working hard day and night along with the stuff that I needed to do with those paper bills.

"Mistake? Do you have any knowledge of how much he took with him?"

"No," she whispered and shook her head.

"100k."

"Oh my God," she said, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Your fucking two-day robber boyfriend took the money that I needed to give to the hospital so they wouldn’t kick her out of the bed she is staying in." So she can have her meds and the treatment that can bring her back to life, to me, to us." I broke down and fell to the ground. "He fucking took away my mother from me."

"I am sorry," Ashley said, but I didn’t hear that.

I knew my brain captured something like "sorry," but my heart wasn’t ready to acknowledge how sorry she was. That didn’t matter in the end. That wasn’t going to bring back the money that I needed to pay for the hospital tomorrow.

I had no idea how I came to work. I felt like I was in a hallucination. Perhaps someone else was controlling me through some remote or the newly invented tech stuff. I didn’t know. Everything that was happening to me felt like a series of dreams to me, as if I was sleeping and then I was going to wake up and everything would disappear.

Only that it was the reality and it fucked me.

"Mrs. Kennedy, are you okay?" a male voice asked me.

"Yes," I replied as I noticed Mr. Astor standing between his and my office doorways."Is there something you need, Mr. Astor?"

"I have been calling for a long time, but you aren’t answering your phone."

"Oh." I rubbed my temples.

"Can you come to my office? There is something I want to talk to you about."

"Sure."

After Mr. Astor went to his office, I rubbed my face with my hand. That was when I understood the tone of the conversation I had with my arrogant boss just now. Something that has never happened before.

He was sweet, gentle, and patient with me, which could not have been possible if we were in a different world. But here it was impossible.

The last time I didn’t answer his phone because I was in the washroom was a month ago. He didn’t come out of his room and talked with me that time as a substitute. He sent me a letter from HR letting me know I would be fired the next time I didn’t pick up his call on the first ring.

Both of them were the same man and still had two different behaviors on the same occasion. It was clear that this man was indeed sick.

I entered his room with my notepad, pen, and iPad as always.

"Yes, Mr. Astor. Do I need to fix your meeting with Mr. Ashborn today?" I checked his meeting schedule on the iPad. "You have an empty spot around 4 p.m. I can fit the meeting at that time if you want."

"Please take a seat, Lauren. And please call me Gavin." He said with a smile.

The way he said those words with that smirk sent electricity to my bones. If I wasn’t numb today, I would have jumped out of this chair and run out of this building in fear of what I was hearing.

I noticed the change in this man since yesterday. I assumed he was under the weather or drunk, but right now seeing him saying this stuff, I couldn’t get that. Simply, I was finding it hard to understand what was really happening.

"Sure," I replied.

"There is something that I need you to do for me,"

"Sure,"

"I want us to get married. Within a month, preferably," He said as if it was nothing.

Now, I was hearing stuff. Gosh, I was close to losing my mind. That was why human beings needed to have proper sleep or rest before starting their day. Otherwise, this was what happened. You apparently heard your boss was proposing to you.

The devil who never looked at you properly didn’t have a word of conversation outside of work; scolded you for every little fault you had, and would be the last person in this world to say those romantic words to you.

"Sorry, I didn’t catch your words, Mr. Astor," I pulled out my notepad and pen, ready to write down whatever was about to come out of his mouth. He smiled, seeing me ready to note it for some reason.

"Lauren Kennedy, I, Gavin Astor, would like to take you as my wife. Give me the honor of being my wife."

And that was the last hit for me.