How It All Started Novels & Stories

There were dozens of our offices all over the country, but this was where it had all started. Actually, that wasn’t true. It had started with my grandfather, the same man who had started this business all those years ago. He had gotten in on the tech bubble before it had even really swollen to the all-consuming state it was in now, and he had set our family up for life with some amazing investments and by working with some talented up-and-comers. I had taken over as CEO as soon as I was old enough, as soon as my father had stepped down from the role. And the first thing I had done as head of Neo was hire Yara as my publicist.

It was her first day at work and she had already witnessed so much drama. She was glad to finally see the room, she pushed the glass doors and walked in, the room was too quiet and it was divided into many cubicles, each covered by a person who was busy with his or her desktop. Nobody even noticed that she has entered, she dumbfoundedly looked around, not even knowing where to start, and if she were to stand here and do nothing then she would probably be standing there for hours without being noticed at all.

What was happening? And then, just as suddenly as it had started, everything went black.

That was where it had started. Not the transaction — the transaction had started at a different table, with a different energy, with a cashier's cheque and an NDA and the careful performance of a man who didn't know how to be anything other than transactional. But the thing itself, the real thing, the thing that had grown and shifted and deepened over two and a half years — that had started on a Tuesday. On that stool. In that light. He called Greg.

Wanted the worst man I'd ever met because he was the only one in two — three — God, how long — who'd looked at me like that. The sound he made and the way he'd looked at the video of me falling apart would haunt me forever. I dug my nails into my own arm so hard like pain could scrub it out. It didn't. God, it didn't. I was disgusting. Fine. Noted. Moving on. Because I couldn't sit here being disgusting all night. I had to think. The police were out of the question. Already ruled that out. Liam? He already called me paranoid. How would he believe my story without a single proof? I hadn't even been smart enough to take photos of those folders.

The one that sat on top that list was the problem that could arise if I did not partake of this ceremonial partnership. “You know… i sniffled my nose as i continued, “I don’t think I am ready for this”. Playfully nudging my shoulders, he said “I don't think anyone is ever prepared for unexpected things like this, we just try our best to make it work out.” Teary eyed I looked up to my brother to see that he was looking at me with a face filled with hope and reassurance and I could not stop the fresh new tears that streamed down my face.

It was just getting started. ​

I could barely think. Getting started? What the heck…

“Start talking.” And just like that, everything changed.

Who on earth started this rumour again? I did what?