THEFT 2 - *Sequel To THEFT* - (A Chris Brown Fan Fiction Love Story)

Chapter 18

- FAYE'S POV

The next day at work, I'm typing away emails in my office when there is an abrupt knock on the door.

"Come in," I say.

I expect it to be Arthur and so stop typing to hide my engagement ring under my desk. But a shorter figure makes their presence known - Michael. I haven't seen him for a while. His eyes are slightly bloodshot. I come to the quick conclusion of a lack of sleep.

"Michael Murray. Well I never," I joke. "Which realm have you been hibernating in?"

The corners of his lips lift the smallest degree upwards. Before being asked, he takes a seat opposite me and surveys the room. "Let's set a few things straight."

"OK?" I fluster.

"I've been nominated by the rest of the board of directors to deliver these notes to you," he notifies me, pointing to the piece of paper in his hand. He reels off each point. "Number one: your department's performance has worsened over the last few months. Two: Your bonuses will be cut if number one continues to be the case. Three: the board will have no option but to fire you if number one continues to be the case. And four: nice to see you again."

"I've checked the statistics; that's bullshit, Michael. The department's performance has bettered! The fucking board of directors... they've never liked me. You know that. I can't lose this job again. Especially if it's over fucking bogus such as this. I've been monitoring the statistics ever since I became the head of the department and they've been steadily increasing the entire fucking time!"

I am so angry right now. I knew things in my life wouldn't be perfect for much longer. I experienced a perfect life for a few hours and now the insight's been ripped away from my heart, leaving me out in the pouring rain again. I put everything I have left to give into my job and I obtain no credit for it.

"I believe you. But you know how it is. They call the shots around here - and if you don't like it, and if you're not willing to put up with it, your only option is to move to another company. If they want to fire you and make up some bull to justify their actions, they are able to do that. That's just how it is around here. I'm not with them on this one. It's out of my hands - but if it was within my power to do something about it, I'd make sure your job was still securely in your hands."

At this point, coincidentally, he looks at my hands and notices my engagement ring.

He hesitates. "A ring on your ring finger? Does that mean...?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. Congratulations," he half smiles, narrowing his eyes. "Who? I thought you and Chris weren't a thing?"

"We weren't for a while. But that changed. Not that you have the right to talk about my personal life, Michael. Seriously, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"I'm pleased for you. Congratulations again. Well, I've delivered what I had to so I best be off."

He gets up to leave.

"Michael?"

"Yes?"

"I don't want you relaying this to anyone else. If I'm office gossip for the nth time, I will know who to show my fists to. Got that? They talk about me enough; no more fuel needs to be added to the fire."

"I'll take it to the grave. See you around."

Nothing else exciting happens for the rest of the day. In fact, in the first stages of Chris and I's engagement, excitement doesn't exist. Chris' workload becomes heavier, causing unbearable separation between us for weeks. His work gets so hectic that he has no option but to turn his phone off most of the time and so I hardly hear from him - which kills me. I try to throw myself into my work but I'm not willing to put additional effort into something I will get no credit for. This leaves me with no option but to waste my life away thinking about everything. It gets me nowhere but it takes up deadly time. I thought that Chris and I would always be together since we became engaged, since he became my fiancé - but having all this time by myself tells me the alternate reality.

A few weeks later, around mid December time, Chris calls me to tell me that he's coming home. I'm extremely relieved and excited that I will be finally seeing him after all this time. And I'm also anxious to see how what we have between us will grow.

It's a cold morning. I get in my car and drive through the gentle overnight gathering of snow, glancing at my phone regularly (OK, obsessively) incase something inevitable happens. I want to see him so much, and I haven't seen him for so long, that the thought of seeing him in twenty minutes seems like a fantasy. I feel so giddy and high off of love right now. I need him like bees need sweet nectar; the time away from him is a huge weight on my shoulders, forcing me to bear a burden that I can't carry anymore. All I want is to see his face.

- CHRIS' POV

Work's been getting in my way recently. It's paused the life I want for weeks - but I couldn't help that. My career has to come first sometimes; that's just the way it is. If I didn't put my career first, I wouldn't have become what I am today.

I've been home around ten minutes. Faye said she's coming over as soon as I told her that the work's finished now. I didn't want us to be separated when we'd just gotten engaged - and I can't begin to imagine how she felt about me just up and leaving like that. Before we left, she was seeing Keyon and I all the time. But when we went on the road, she hardly heard from us. It wasn't an ideal situation. Keyon was constantly asking when we'd be seeing her and why she wasn't with us - and he doesn't even know we're engaged. As far as I'm aware, nobody does except Faye and I. I'm glad it's like that though. We're the two people involved - so it's good that, at the moment at least, it only concerns us. If we wanted other people sticking their noses in, I would have proposed to them also. It has nothing to do with anyone else. Although, saying that, obviously people will find out soon because I ideally hope for at least some people to attend the wedding.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I haven't seen Faye since forever; there's no point in thinking about the wedding right now.

"Dad, when's Faye coming?" Keyon whines from his room.

"Soon," I say, looking at my watch for the time. Another ten minutes, I make it.

I sit in anticipation and wait for her to arrive until there is a knock at the door. I get up slowly and walk to the door, only to hear Keyon's elephant thuds across the landing and his quick stomps down the stairs.

"Keyon!" I hear Faye exclaim.

"Faye!"

I glance at a mirror as I pass by it and slick back my hair some more. I don't know what to do; I want to meet her with a kiss with everything with me - but how will Keyon react to that? I don't want to upset him or anything. But he's going to have to be told eventually. May as well get it over with.

"Hey," I smile as casually as possible. She smiles back and hugs me and, when she lets go, I kiss her lips with the lonely love that's been yearning for her all this time.

"I missed you," Faye says. "I missed you both."

"You're boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"We missed you," I reply to her, ignoring Keyon. It's not that I want to ignore him. I'm hoping he'll either drop it and work it out for himself or Faye will explain. She's better than me at putting things into a context he will understand.

But my son continues to make his issue heard. "Boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Faye walks over to him and crouches down so that she is face to face with him. "Can you keep a secret?"

He nods. Faye whispers something in his ear.

"You're getting married?!" Keyon squeals afterwards.

"Yeah," Faye and I announce in unison.

"Why?"

Faye laughs. "Because we're in love."

"But Dad's still in love with Mom..."

"I love both Mom and Faye," I chip in quickly. It's not the truth but it's the only answer that won't hurt Keyon. "You're OK with that, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I love both Mom and Faye too."

And that was the end of the conversation.

-------------------------------

A/N:

Sorry for the wait! I had major writer's block.