Lahat ng Kabanata ng Entanglement: Falling for Dad's Bestfriend: Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 19

I don’t even know how to start this because it’s all just tangled and i can’t stop thinking about it, the clatter of keyboards this morning, copy machine humming, the stupid little noises that usually just fade into the background but today it was like every sound was pressing on me, loud but not loud, i don’t know, maybe i’m just too on edge. i was staring at invoices, pretending like i cared, but really i was just thinking about him, that guy, the hood, the camera, i keep seeing it in my head like snapshots, click click, except i don’t even know if he took anything but it felt like it. every time the front door opened my stomach did this lurch and i looked up like an idiot, half sure he’d walk in, lean the camera on the counter like it was the most normal thing in the world.Dom kept moving in and out, carrying all those rolled up blueprints like he was hauling secrets around, talking to vincent, always with that tight clipped voice, not looking at me, like i’d done something wrong

the morning wasn’t even supposed to feel weird. like it started… normal. sunlight doing that stupid stripe thing across the floor in the office, coffee machine already rumbling, printer smell (which i hate but it’s like stuck in my head now), and i walked in early—heels clicking too loud cause i was nervous for no reason, i don’t even know why, maybe cause of him, dom, i don’t know.and yeah he was already there. of course he was. always early. sleeves rolled up like he’s some cliché, pencil behind his ear like he’s the only one working. didn’t even look at me at first, then finally did, that half-second eye contact, quick little nod, nothing else. like the almost-kiss the other night didn’t happen. except it did. i feel it every time. it’s like this humming wire between us that neither of us wants to touch cause we’d burn. he acts like it’s not there but it is. i know it is.then vincent barges in, all wind and cologne like the outside world just follows him, and suddenly the whole r

I waited till everybody left, i mean i literally sat there like an idiot watching the second hand drag across that clock, tick tick tick, louder than it should be, like it was mocking me or warning me, i don’t even know. the office was so quiet by then, just the buzzing from the overhead lights and the click of my stupid pen i kept clicking open and shut because i couldn’t sit still, and i knew dad wasn’t gonna come back until late, he never comes back before seven when he’s got those meetings uptown, but still i kept waiting, what if this is the one day he changes, what if this is the one time i get caught.My legs felt wooden when i finally stood up, like they didn’t want to move. it’s so dumb, it’s just an office, just a door, and i know i’m not a thief but it felt exactly like that. the handle was so cold, i noticed that, colder than it should’ve been, metal biting into my palm like the room already knew i had no right being in there. i slipped in slow, not even breathing.the air

The rain was stupid loud by the time i made it up the steps, like not just wet, it felt personal, like it wanted me drowned before i even got the damn key in the lock. my coat weighed twice as much as it should, sticking to my arms like punishment, boots squelching, i could feel water in my socks and i hate that more than anything. my fingers were slipping on the keys, stupid yellow light buzzing over my head, and i swear i could hear my own breath louder than the rain. then—footsteps.I froze because of course i did, i’m always freezing when i should move. slow at first but then quicker, like an echo that didn’t belong to me. i whipped around, keys jammed between my fingers like that would do anything, and there he was. dom. just standing there at the bottom like some scene out of a bad movie. rain in his hair, dripping down his jaw, shirt plastered to him like skin. and his eyes, they always find me no matter what light, no matter where.“what are you doing here?” it came out sharpe