جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

NICOLEOne Month Later...The alarm goes off and I immediately crack an eye open and groan as I turn to my side to grab my phone and switch the damn thing off.It's seven AM—the reason why I'm waking up this early is that I have a job interview in an hour. I should've been up two hours ago to get ready for it, but it's nearby, and anyway, I haven't been putting special care into my appearance.I just have to shower, pull my hair back, apply some gloss to my lips, get dressed, and get fucked.I mean going.Get going.I sit up with a groan. Lately, I've been more tired than usual and I have no reason why. I mean, I do, but it's gotten worse.My mental health is on a gradual decline and there's nothing I can do about it.It doesn't help that I haven't been home since I left that stupid party. I've been ignoring everyone's calls and eventually, blocked all of them. I can't deal with anything I've done right now. And yes, that's extremely immature and highly unlikable on my part, but my sh

NICOLE"Hello? Sebastian? Yes, that's right. It's me. How has my favorite godson been?"I have a few sips of my cold coffee as I listen to Katie speak to her godson. The smile on her face really breathes life into her features. She has pale blue eyes paired with really pale skin, but they don't make her look dead. On the contrary—everything about her is vivid and bright."Yeah, well. That's true," she's saying. I zoned out for a bit, so I didn't catch the rest. "Well, I have good news. I'm sitting here with a wonderful woman who'll serve you and your company well. That position still isn't taken, right?" My face reddens and a smile tugs at the corners of my lips. "Well, give her a shot. Interview her. I'm sure you'll be impressed. When?" She glances at her gold watch. "Yep. Sounds good. She'll be there. We'll see each other on Sunday. Bye, take care."After hanging up, she does a little shimmy. "Well, I have good news. You have a job interview in about thirty minutes.""What?" I burst

NICOLE"It's a pleasure to meet you," Sebastian says to Carmen. He then gestures to me. "This is Nicole. She works with me."I can't keep my eyes trained on the ground. I'm only humiliating myself more. So, as hard as it is, I look up, and my spine turns to steel as I look at Roman's face.He isn't looking at me, though.His eyes are on Sebastian, and his jaw is clenched."Hm," Carmen says, drawing my attention. "You look familiar to me. Have we met before?"Yes. I spilled a drink on you once, and a month ago, I snuck into your birthday party and got my heart shattered into a million pieces. I smile and say politely, "No, I don't think we have.""Ah," she says before her eyes return to Sebastian's face. "Well, it was nice meeting you. I'm slowly getting more and more acquainted with Roman's friends and let me tell you—I don't think I'll ever truly know everyone."Sebastian laughs politely. "Yes, well. He's Roman Hayes, after all."Though my eyes are on Sebastian now as he speaks, I ca

NICOLEToday is my first day at work, and honestly? I'm excited.Considering the awful thing that happened last night, that's actually a miracle. I was surprised by how calm me collected I was the whole time. After Roman left, I didn't cry, even though I did earlier.I'm a mess, what can I say? But that's expected, right? I got my heart shattered by a man I'd been in love with my whole life. I never experienced this level of betrayal before.But I don't want to think about that.Sebastian spent the whole of yesterday showing me how things work around his office, so now, I can get right to work.I watched a few YouTube videos (yes, after Roman left) to kind of figure out how to do certain things. To be fair, everything is fairly easy and reminds me of the work I did for the charity. Managing calendars. Email filtering. It's not that complicated.Sebastian had no system beforehand. He deals with people all over the world from different time zones, and he barely kept track of when meetin

NICOLEThe whole week just flew by, and before I know it, it's Saturday.Meaning I have to go to Katie's.If she'd been anyone else who invited me, I would've called with an excuse, and I wouldn't have gone anywhere. But I'm actually looking forward to seeing Katie. I love how I feel whenever I'm around her, and of course, I couldn't turn her invitation down after everything she did for me.How rude would that be?I finish getting ready, then stare at my reflection in the mirror of the bathroom. I can't see my outfit—just my face. It looks fine. I've applied plenty of makeup to hide the signs of my depression, and I'm trying to be as upbeat about this dinner as possible.It's only once I'm in the car, driving toward her house, that I ask myself what she said about the dinner. Did she mention more people would be there? For some reason, I can't remember. So much went on that morning.It was hard, keeping track of everything.Upon arriving, I realize that I'm not the only one she invite