A month later...
Sam was in the agency going through the just printed Cloud newspaper for the next day. He had taken over as the director at the agency and still managed to keep up with his work as the head Publicist despite Margaret's advice to promote one of the publicist in the agency or employ a new one to relieve himself of that much work. He would always tell her that he'll take it into consideration, but in the end, he would do nothing about it.
He used work to cloud his thoughts from everything that had occured in the past month. And well, it somehow helped.
He was working late again when his phone rang. Without glancing to see the call ID, he reached for the phone in the drawer, from where he had dumped it earlier and placed the phone on his ear, cradling it between his chin and shoulder as he waited for the caller to speak.
"Goo
Sam looked up from the monitor to see his assistant come in with a latte in hand and a news paper in the other. "Here is today's Cloud newspaper sir," she said, leaving it on the desk, as well as the decaf latte. She flipped open her notepad and began to read out his schedule for the day. ". . . and you have a lunch meeting with Louise Sanders at two to discuss the publication of the last book in her trilogy," she finished, hooking the pen to the notepad. Sam nodded. "I'll speak with Louise Sanders in the early hours of the evening. So, postpone the interview till then." She nodded and quickly scribbled it down on the notepad. "Anything else?" "No," he answered. "Thank you, Emilia." And she exited the office. He sighed. He has been awaiting that lat
Then, her face rested on the ‘distraction’ in front of her. After last Saturday, she’d done well to avoid any conversation pertaining to what had happened. And thank goodness, Sam hadn’t brought it up. They were fine, things were great between them. When Margaret had confronted her about it, whilst they were watering the flowers in the garden, Theresa couldn’t hide the colour that formed on her face as she recalled how his mouth devouring hers hungrily and Sam, pinning her hand to the back, taking charge of that situation right then. Unfailingly, Margaret noticed this. But she resigned to just seat on the sidelines and watch how things evolve. Maybe this time, Theresa would get a strong hold of Sam and he wouldn’t bolt like always. His eyes glinted as he smiled at her, before walking into her office, while Theresa closed the door behind him. “Where were you off to just now?” Sam asked, leaning into her desk.
Sam was still leaning on her desk, smiling to himself. He glanced at his wrist watch. Since she left now, it wouldn’t take her more than fifteen minutes to get to the city’s capital. At most, twenty if there’s any hitch on the road. He tucked his hands into his pocket, standing upright. He wandered to the window side and drew back the curtain. Quick enough to see her board a cab. As usual, she had gone with a photographer. He smiled to himself again, recalling the first time he heard her name in the house. It was that Saturday after the award show. He overheard Robert informing Margaret that he’ll be expecting a guest that morning, by name, Theresa Gray. Something had come up with the Cloud papers that morning so he had rushed out to the agency before she arrived. Well, it would have been a shame if he hadn’t been around to see her in the house and she didn’t accept Robert’s contract and job offer. That would mean he probably wouldn’t have
Theresa typed in the last word of the article and saved it. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she rested into her seat. After the speech at the city’s capital she had to go on to the small commotion that had come about as a result of the Mayor’s speech. So, he didn’t deny his statement but blatantly accepted it placating that the people were of their opine. This caused an upset and there were a group of people who demanded he drop out of the coming elections. She had followed up the small protest closely before it resulted into a violent backlash just in time for her to take to her heels. Quite a story she had to write on that one. And she had only just finished. She leaned forward again and quickly sent it to the editor before her intercom buzzed. She pushed down the button and said into the receiver, “I’ve sent it already,” before putting it off. Phew. She mentally wiped sweat from her forehead. Another day successfully completed. Ju
Her reflection on the mirror was more or less how her life was at the moment. Everything seemed to have become bleak. Still trying to date the day things went west, she was standing in front of the seven inch mirror wearing a black bra and a pair of blue jeans. Her hair which had just been blow dried, her lean body, her pale white skin – her head tilted sideways, to the left and to the right as her eyes scrutinized her body. Not only did she look different, she felt different. Her fingers trailed her stomach to her side; to the scar left by the bullet that was taken out. Turns out, leaving Robert's house did not stop those nightmares. They kept happening anytime and every time her eyes fluttered close, even for just a moment. She was always reliving the moment her entire life flashed in front of her; the pistol that was pointed to her face making her entire body tremble for fear that any moment, the trigger will be pulled, and when she was shot, the bullet that pierced
Her last stop was a bar downtown. Theresa found herself feeling more forlorn than ever seated on the stool behind the counter. Now, she was officially out of job. Mentally, she calculated about how tiring it might be as soon, she would have to go in search of another job if she didn't want to get kicked out of her apartment. After she had left Havens Cloud, she had spent what was almost ten minutes outside Havens Cloud thinking of how to go about the rest of the day. Going home was not an option. Not when there was a ninety nine point nine percent chance she would fall asleep and it would happen again.As much as her solitude would feel her with so much comfort, doing that was inviting free roaming of the hundred and one thoughts about everything that happened. To top it, this 'thing' with Sam. Off the top of her head, she prayed she didn't hit a nerve with everything she let out but within her, she hoped to get him upset. She thought it was unfair that on
The only positive she got from getting herself drunk last night was that she slept like a log – a very restful sleep – for the first time in a long while. There were no nightmares which made her want to consider knocking her self out with shots of strong alcohol before going to bed every night. But there was the terrible thing about it. It seemed like someone or something was pulling her head apart. Which meant she would have to get prepared to wake every morning with that splitting headache she was feeling right now. A loud groan escaped her mouth and her fingers dug into her hair frustratingly as she rolled on either side of the bed continually. After a moment, she reached for her phone on the headboard and quickly scanned through it. It hadn't been plug in since yesterday, so she fished out her charger from the drawer and plugged it in. There were about five missed call; two from her Mom, a couple from Anaya and the most
Theresa was just a few stairs away from the living room when she caught the dejected expression of Robert and Sam who were seated, conversing with someone she couldn’t quite get a clear view of. She descended the last stairs and headed into the dinning room where as usual, Margaret was setting up everything for breakfast. Concernedly, she asked about the unfamiliar man in the living room. “Uhm, Margaret?” she called settling into one of the dinning seats as she glanced up at her. “What’s going on?” That countenance Robert had on was certainly enough reason to believe something was wrong. “That man brought news of Robert’s publication house downtown which was destroyed by a fire,” Margaret answered calmly, setting up the plates. Her eyes grew wide slightly. “What caused the fire?” She shrugged. “Well from what I overheard, someone set