Irresistible Deception

16

Ameo stared down at his bathroom sink. It has been a week and Tina's last words still rang in his ears: 'In her eyes, you are nothing but a stranger. Make time for her, Ameo.'

He left the bathroom, his hair still wet. He went to his nightstand and grabbed a pack of cigarettes. Picking up one, he lit it up and walked to an open window to let out a smoke.

He was deep in thought as he watched the sunrise; it wasn't even three in the morning and he couldn't believe that he allowed his nosy sister's words to disturb his own sleep, making it worse than it already was. Damn insomnia.

Though she was right, he didn't even know Blair, neither did she know him. They were just complete strangers living under the same roof. There was nothing he could do about it. She never left her room and he never his office, that was how it has been for the past week now. Though there was this one time she entered his office to ask for a new book to read, but that was the only interaction they had which was once, but he thought there was some progression.

After a while of doing nothing, he then focused on entertaining himself in his office. He didn't need to go to the company, he could just stay at home and do the work beforehand.

He put on some clothes and left the room. The hallway was still dark and quiet, with some workers doing their early morning shifts. Should he change their schedule to a later time? They could get some sleep.

He entered his study and was welcomed with a desk of papers and documents that needed to be looked through and signed. And there goes an entire day with no time for himself. Letting out a sigh, he walked up to his desk, looking through them; starting with the difficult ones.

Three hours buried in the piles of balance sheets for different departments and memos for upcoming AGMs. He found a contract of a demand for a 3% share of his company from an anonymous source. What the...

Ameo contacted Philip, who remarkably picked up at the third ring.

"Hello...? Who is calling in the morning?" His sleepy voice came out as irritated.

"So you are still asleep?"

"Sir? It's you? I'm so sorry! I-I apologise, I didn't see the caller ID," he said in a frantic whispering tone.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Oh...my wife is sleeping."

"I need to talk to you about--"

"I apologise for interrupting, Sir. But can we discuss it later? It is not even 6 yet..."

Ameo rested in his chair. "You are getting too comfortable around me just because of the way I'm treating you, isn't that it?"

"N-no, sir, that's not what I meant--"

"That's good to hear you say that, Philip. See you here in an hour."

He hung up before Philip could have the chance to negotiate.

He turned around in his chair, looking out through his wall of windows that had an overview of the maze below. Ameo blew out a puff of smoke.

Sometimes he was jealous of Philip. He seemed to have it all, a wife who was the reason that he was so happy to come home while Ameo knew that he himself had more work waiting for him instead. Philip talked about his wife any time he got and Ameo was the idiot to let him continue. Probably he wanted something like that and maybe hearing Philip talking about it gave him a sense of hope.

He had met with his wife a few times, and Philip could barely contain his excitement; even if he tried, you could see through him. At first, Ameo thought that there must be something wrong with the wife, that she must have bewitched him or something similar, but after meeting her, he could understand why Philip liked her company. Compared to Philip, she wasn't as expressive of her love toward him; it was more subtle, but it was obvious.