Antidote

Chapter 25.

Unable to get much sleep throughout the night, I found myself awakened much earlier than desirable. As I do practically every morning, I reach for Hayden longing to be close to him. Unsurprisingly, though, Hayden was already gone. Instead of getting out of the bed, I move myself to lie in his usual spot, wallowing in the scent he left behind.

The darkness swallowing the room was the only indication of the time since I left my phone in my study yesterday. I hadn't used it since the morning when I answered Reign's phone call. The entire time that I spent in my office, I ignored every message or call. I found that reading about the misfortune of others who have also experienced missed abortions monopolized my mind.

I am unsure if the reading and investigating that I was doing yesterday was a wise decision. While I feel more informed about what happened, my mind is not only flooded with my pain but I find myself bearing the pain of countless others whose stories I read.

No longer wanting to be alone in the bed with my gloomy thoughts, I get up to search for Hayden. It wasn't long before I found him in his study, preoccupied with whatever was behind his monitor. "Hey," I utter to get his attention as I close his door behind me.

"Hey," Peaking up from the screen, he offers me the most heartwarming smile. "What are you doing up? It's four in the morning."

"I couldn't sleep," I answer. "When I realized you were out of bed, I decided to come to look for you."

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. You?"

"Same."

I sit myself down in the chair in front of his desk, resting my head on the table with a relatively limited view of him from beneath his large monitor. My hand reaches for his free hand resting on the table, "What are you doing?"

"I'm afraid it may put you to sleep if I go into detail." He answers with a soft chuckle. "Just work."

"You can tell me about your work Hayden." I would much rather hear about whatever it is than have to think about anything else.

"I am looking over a few sketches of product designs from my industrial design team. They sent them over last night while I was asleep."

"That sounds far from boring." I feel bad that I've never taken any interest in learning about what Hayden does for work. To this day I have only heard bits and pieces from his phone calls or conversations with my dad and Mr. Alexander. I know he created his home security system and the radio in his house but other than that, I'm pretty clueless. "What is the product?"

"A high-speed smart home device, more intelligent, responsive, and economically sustainable than any other home device that's out there in the market." The way his eyes alight with joy as he talks makes me smile. I wish I hadn't been self-absorbed and learned about his work life earlier. "Do you want to see?"

Before I get the chance to rise from my seat, he rotates the screen in my direction. Several different sketches appear before me, with detailed descriptions written beneath each design. I sit upright in the chair as my interests are piqued to examine the screen more closely. With each graphic more unique than the last, I find it nearly impossible to decide which look I like best. "These are so cool." I settle on saying.

"Cool." He grinned, toying with the word. Maybe it's my lack of vocabulary or use of a word he wouldn't have used to describe the prints, but he is utterly amused.

Without the chance to ask what's humoring him, he speaks first, "Over the next few days, they will be printing the designs out for us to make a closing decision. That's the cool part." He adds with a laugh.