OPHELIA I walked through the admissions foyer of the hospital and Rianne's mother was waiting for me at the entrance. After greeting her warmly, I immediately asked her if Rianne was awake yet, although deep down I knew that it was a long shot because she probably would have texted me.It still hurt to hear that nothing had changed since she left last night. I tried not to show my disappointment on my face though. "She may have come to overnight. I haven't seen her yet today because I was waiting for you." I smiled at her thoughtfulness before she continued. "So is your other half coming today?" I pursed my lips at her question and she read my expression immediately. "Don't worry about it, dear. He did seem a little uncomfortable yesterday. I am sorry if it was because of me." "No, no, it wasn't. He should be here soon. He is just at work right now." "Oh?" She looked at me inquisitively as we walked side by side through the Accident and Emergency unit."Where is he working? I am
OPHELIA It took me half an hour to find him but when I did, I somewhat wished that I hadn't. He was sitting on a bench outside the hospital entrance, and I realized that he often resorted to these when he wanted no one to find him. My heart was pounding in my chest as I gazed at him from afar for a moment. I could immediately tell that there was something wrong with him. He was curled up with his head in his hands and even from across the street, I could see that he was shivering. When I got closer, I realized that it was not just from the cold because he was shaking with sobs. Infact, his body was wracked with them."Oh, Nicholas," I whispered and raced up to him as fast as I could. He tried to stand up but not before I grabbed his hand to pull him back down. The sound of his harsh breathing as he roughly wiped his tears away was the only sound on the desolate street surrounding us. “Talk to me," I pleaded. Alarmed, I tried to place a hand on his face but he shifted away. "Don't
NICHOLAS Two hours later, we were sitting in my bed, swaddled under the covers with a random movie playing on the television. Our legs were tangled together with her cheek was against my chest, and there were plates of unfinished food around the dresser beside us. Usually, the mess would have been bugging me but right now, there were more important things on my mind. Currently, it was watching Ophelia’s face break into laughter every time something funny happened on the screen. Her hair was usually in the way, but when I did glance down and saw her chuckling softly, something powerful ignited inside of me. I loved seeing her smile. Infact, I needed to see her smile. It has become as essential as food and water to me and I had never been so captivated by someone before in my life. She noticed my stillness and tilted her head up to glance at me. She was silently asking me what was wrong, but I couldn't think of a single cheeky remark, not even a joke to hide my true intentions. Her
Rianne leaned into me and said, "Stop worrying. You'll do wonderfully, girl."I grunted at my roommate's mediocre attempt at comforting me as I shoveled my cereal even faster down my throat. Smiling falsely, I managed to answer the tall woman perched on the seat beside me despite my full mouth."I'm just so nervous," I mumbled as I gulped down another spoonful."Hey, hey, slow down. Unless you want the interviewer's first impression of you to be the girl who puked coco puffs all over their shoes."I burst into laughter despite my changeable mood, managing to repress the anxiety bubbling up inside of me ever so slightly as I finally finished my breakfast and scrambled towards the door. Grabbing my coat, I took one final scan of myself in the mirror, smiling in relief when I saw that I actually managed to make a rather convincing businesswoman. A bold red pencil skirt ended just above my knees, paired with a flowing white shirt that was probably one of the nicest things I owned, as wel
Panicking, I did a pirouette on the spot before bolting out of the door. Thankfully, his office was directly next to the elevator, so after prodding the call button more times than was really necessary, then diving in at lightning speed, I managed to escape the building relatively quickly.As I climbed into a taxi, the inevitable feeling of mortifying embarrassment set in, which made me to run my hands through my hair in exasperation. Luckily, the drive back felt much shorter now that my nerves had calmed down slightly, only to be replaced by an overwhelming feeling of humiliation- but still, I was actually able to lean back and breathe normally for the first time in at least a few days.And, to be completely honest, I thought the interview went pretty well, apart from the moment when I was caught creepily gawking at the CEO. But other than that, I thought I had a shot at this job, or at least, I really wanted to have a shot at this job.***I nibbled at my thumb absentmindedly as I s
Excitement threatened to swallow me whole as I approached the towering Kendrick Corporations building. I seriously regretted my decision to walk the distance from our apartment to my new workplace because, although it did help calm some of my nerves like I had hoped it would, it also resulted in me looking and feeling rather flustered as I waltzed through the double glass doors. A brief flash of gelled, black hair caught my eye as I walked purposefully to the elevator, and a grin came over my face at the comforting sight of a familiar face. Shane, Nicholas's bodyguard and the only person I knew other than the Greek god himself, smiled at me as we joined two other bored-looking businessmen in the elevator. Thankful for something to distract myself with, we started a casual conversation about the weekend's events, and for a brief amount of time, our bland small talk shut out the nervous thoughts which were raging in my head.It was seriously much too early on a Monday morning to be see
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't hear the first two screeches of my name as I stepped out of the elevator, but soon enough, I realized it was Sarah who was hollering at me from inside the staff lounge.Great! Now everyone within a ten-meter radius knew who I was."Yes! Hi, I'm here," I told her loudly in an attempt to shut up her obnoxious yelling. To be honest, I was actually rather grateful that I had someone to sit next to at lunch, even if she was rubbing off as a little over-the-top. God, it was like middle school all over again."Oh, Opelia, this is Diego. He works in the reception with me, and this is Harry. He's Mr. Kendrick's limo driver."Limo driver? Wow!I shook hands with both of the men sitting beside Sarah, unable to help but marvel at both of their insanely good looks. Why did everyone here look like a model? It turned out Diego was the one with the highly gelled dark hair and a slightly crooked smile that caused him to rub off as a man in his mid-forti
"What if we go tomorrow?" I suggested cautiously. Finally, he seemed to snap out of his speechless state."Tomorrow?" he repeated bluntly."Yes. Tomorrow evening, after work," I replied just as bluntly. He nodded slowly, still looking bewildered as he glanced in the driver's direction. I saw Harry nod as if he understood what to do simply from that one look. Soon enough, we were doing a U-turn and heading back down the highway we just came down. As we drove steadily, I nibbled on my thumb and gazed out of the window beside me, the majority of my attention being used as I tried to stop myself from glancing over at the man beside me. We all stayed silent for a while, pondering silently to ourselves, until Harry suddenly turned on the radio and it began ro blast music from a random station as loudly as possible.A crooning melody began to echo throughout the spacious car, and a feeling of familiarity washed over me. As the song reached its first chorus- the high-pitched voice singing