An unknown number is calling me right now.
The caller introduced himself as Jayden Stein, Charles's older brother.
I began to be nervous thinking about why he called me.
"You were at Le Mont earlier, right?"
He was there? I didn't notice him.
He apparently saw me went I was walking towards the comfort room when he entered the restaurant with his father and mother.
I asked where he was seated with his parents. He tole me that they were in a private room.
He mentioned if I saw a huge guy wearing a black suit standing by the door, that was the room they were at.
So it wasn't a celebrity?! Oh yeah, their father is a politician. It's nothing weird or new if a politician has a bodyguard.
"Are you okay? You looked very sullen earlier."
Shoot. Someone saw me!
"Y-yeah, I'm fine."
"Glad to know. Anyways, I mentioned you to mom and dad. They were wondering why Charles haven't introduced you to them. They wanted to see you soon."
Jayden still doesn't know that I already broke up with his brother.
"Uhm... Jayden..."
I eventually told him that it's not possible to meet the parents anymore because Charles and I have already broken up yesterday.
Upon hearing that from me, Jayden was extremely surprised.
"Already?! Charles didn't say anything! What happened?!"
"It just didn't work out. I'm particularly at fault..."
I told him that it is better to hear the rest of the reason from Charles. I even apologized to him that I somehow hurt his brother Charles.
"No way... you two broke up?"
Jayden still can't believe that I have broken up with his brother.
"I was hoping that you are the end game... but whatever the reasons were for your break up, I want to say thank you for making my brother happy even if it was only a short period of time."
I cried again for the nth time upon hearing that from Jayden.
I'm covering my mouth so that he won't hear me I am crying over the phone.
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I'm just lazing around on my sofa and randomly browsing the channels on my TV.
When I landed on a certain channel, Dolly's commercial showing Conrad is currently on TV.
I immediately turned off the TV and tossed the remote on my center table.
"Fuck that shit."
My doorbell suddenly rang and I wondered who rang the bell because I'm not expecting anyone to visit me.
I went to my door and looked at my monitor to see who is at the door.
I was surprised to see my parents and Jayden at the door.
I let them in and Jayden immediately asked why I broke up with Athena.
What? How did he know that?!
"That's the first thing you say the moment you enter to my house?" I said this to Jayden.
"Charlie, why didn't you say you have a girlfriend? You didn't even introduce her to us." My mom said.
"Ugh... I don't want to tell everyone yet." I said.
All of us went to the living room and the two of them are bombarding me questions. My dad just listens to our conversations.
I told them that I broke up with Athena because the both of us have many too differences and realized that our relationship was just forced. I just forced her to be with me.
Jayden apparently called Athena earlier because he saw her at the restaurant where my parents and Jayden ate for lunch.
"Her eyes were so inflamed! For sure she cried hard last night! She even looked lifeless!" Jayden said.
I suddenly felt concerned.
"She was trying to hide her sob over the phone. It does feel like she was really affected about the break up. She's a nice girl! Why you'd break up with her?"
I sighed and told Jayden that I couldn't stand her being so inconsiderate and she apparently has someone she likes.
"Dylan told me that there is something going on lately between Athena and her bestfriend. That's what made me to think twice about our relationship." I added.
My dad suddenly spoke and asked me if Athena was cheating on me.
"...I don't think so." I said this hesitantly.
"What a pity... She was your first love..." Jayden said.
My mom got excited and said that it was her first time hearing that I got a first love.
"Jayden! Show me what she looks like!" Mom said.
Jayden showed a picture from his phone taken last month when my two brothers came to Japan with their respective families.
"She's quite... different from the girls you've dated." Mom said.
Jayden agreed with mom and said "that's what I thought too! His exes were quite flashy. Athena is a simple girl, very compatible with Charlie."
"Come on, stop being noisy with my love life. Can we talk another topic? Time to move on." I angrily said.
My dad offered me if I wanted to meet a daughter of one of his colleagues.
I flatly said no thanks. I'm not interested yet to find another girl.
There was a short silence then my mom spoke.
"Try to come home from now and then, okay? You rarely come home."
I nodded and said that I will try to visit home often.
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Athena did not come to work today.
I'm beginning to feel more worried and anxious.
"Here you go."
Heathrow placed some documents on my table.
"I was looking forward that the both of you would go to my in-law's ski resort this coming weekend but now it will never happen."
I signed the documents she handed over me and I returned them to her.
"Sorry to disappoint you. Now go back to work." I said.
Heathrow is currently saying things that wanted me to feel guilty about my break up with Athena.
"Her birthday is coming up this weekend and she was longing and hoping to spend it someone special ever since. This year will be another lonely year for her~"
I stood up and told her seriously to quit it and I don't want to talk about unrelated topics aside from work.
She showed her clock from her phone and I saw it's already 12:02PM.
"It's break time now. I can say anything."
I sighed at her.
"You probably know what happened to us. It's not my problem if she will be lonely on her birthday. I've got nothing to do to her anymore. Go with her instead or invite that bestfriend of hers." I angrily said this to her.
"Ooohh~ scary." She said this sarcastically.
I went to the pantry and got myself a black coffee in can then I sat on one of the benches.
It got me thinking that I totally forgot that it will be her birthday on Saturday. That's why she was inviting me if I could go with her on a trip.
Why do I feel regretting breaking up with her... but I shouldn't feel this way!
I know it's for our own good to not continue our relationship.
Still, I'm worried about why she would try to be absent today. Did she really bawled her eyes out?
Ugh... I'm excessively worried today.
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My birthday is coming up on Saturday.
Because my birthday is coming up, it was one of my motivation to invite Charles to the ski resort, not only trying to be more active in the relationship.
With all that has happened, I'll be at home, as usual.
I did not go to work today because my eyes are still swollen because I cried hard again last night. I also want to take a time off because I can feel that I am not ready to face Charles yet.
I don't want to see people at the office bombarding me questions about me looking like this. I'll try to not cry tonight so that I could go to work tomorrow!
Tomorrow would be the launching event of our company's new product line. I better be there tomorrow.
I watched anime and read manga the whole day today to feel happy and to forget all the things happened a few days back.
I hope I won't breakdown tomorrow when I see Charles tomorrow.
It's already night time and I was relieved that I did not cry and I noticed my eyes are not that puffy and swollen anymore.
Tomorrow, I'm confident that I will look fine.
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I'm ready to go to the office. I doubled check my look and I look fine now. No more puffiness.
However, while I was commuting to work, I don't feel good...
My anxiousness is eating me up.
I can't imagine how would Charles look at me. Will he give me his usual angry self or he will coldly ignore me.
I went to my work space and Henry suddenly tapped on my shoulder.
Henry sat down on Reese's chair and told me that I better do some of his menial jobs later at the launching event later since he covered some of my tasks yesterday.
"You were absent yesterday so sir Mark assigned those to me." He said.
I agreed and thanked him for covering up my work yesterday.
"You'll just give out some pamphlets and guide Conrad to the flow of events. I've got many tasks to do later so do those for me." He said.
I can pretty manage those. I don't have have much to do other than making sure the event will be smooth.
Henry stood up and went to his work space.
It's still early so it's a good time to return the necklace that Charles gave me.
I don't have the courage to return it to him face to face...
There are no people around his desk and he is still not around so I will take the opportunity to place it on his table.
I went to his desk and thought where should I place the necklace with its rectangular box.
I saw a good spot on his desk. I placed the box inside of his desk file organizer.
I want to keep it hidden so other people won't see it.
I returned to my seat and messaged Charles that I returned and placed the necklace at his desk file organizer.
After a while, the rest of the colleagues are present in the office and are getting busy for the launching event.
The launching event will take place here in building.
It's time to give out the pamphlets to the guests.
I distributed the pamphlets to the guests who have arrived then I was notified by Reese that Conrad has arrived at the holding room.
I went to the holding room and I met Conrad and Naoya.
"I will be guiding you throughout the event. You'll be heading in to the stage after 30 minutes." I said.
Conrad is pretty stylish today. Perfect for the event. He is wearing a trendy casual shirt and pants.
"Okay. Uhm... are you alright? You seem out of sorts today..." Conrad looked at me with concern.
I suddenly got nervous because I thought I look fine since no one commented that I look different.
"I-I'm fine." I awkwardly said.
"She looks fine to me." Naoya said.
"Is that so? I guess I'm wrong then... but are you really fine?"
I reassured him that I am fine but he kind of guessed it right because earlier, before I distributed the pamphlets, we both ignored each other when we crossed paths at the office. I felt hurt when we both ignored each other. He did not greet me or anything.
During the time I was distributing the pamphlets, I was anticipating his reply from my message earlier but I didn't receive one. He usually replies back fast...
He's giving me a could shoulder. Well, I totally deserved it.
My tears fell again.
Conrad and Naoya started to panic.
"What's wrong?!" Conrad asked.
I faced the other way around and wiped my tears with my hands.
"I'm sorry. There's nothing... really." I said.
"Your instincts are on point, Conrad. Maybe because of the power of lo-"
Conrad cut Naoya off by asking me what made me cry.
He went in front of me and asked me again what's wrong.
I sat on the sofa beside us and he followed too.
I'm hesitant to say the real reason because Conrad is one of the main reasons of my break up with Charles.
I don't know if I should say the reason but...
"I got reprimanded by our department head. I made a mistake..."
"Is it resolved? Your mistake, that is." He said
I nodded and made reasons to make my lie believable.
Conrad seemed convinced so his interrogation stopped there.
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I am about to finish my part on the stage. Activities on the stage includes question and answer portion, fan service to guests and the like.
I am bothered about what happened earlier at the holding room with Athena.
Seeing her cry makes me want to hug and comfort her but I just refrained myself to do that since she has a boyfriend.
My part is done on the stage and I am going down the stairs from the stage.
When I got down from the stairs, Naoya and Athena were nowhere to be found. Instead, I saw Charles reading a chart located a few feet away from me.
I approached him and asked if he saw Naoya and Athena.
He said he didn't saw them.
"Probably went to talk with the advertising people at the next hall. You can go back to the holding room since you're done for part one." He said.
I said my thanks and before he was about to walk away from me, I suddenly asked him about what was bugging me while I'm on stage.
"Did something happen at work? Athena got emotional earlier back at the holding room." I said.
Charles stared at me for a split second.
"She and I broke up, that's why."
I can't believe what he just said. He said that with a straight face.
"You can have her." He added.
Anger just entered to my system. The way he put his words were arrogant. He's kind of treating Athena like trash right now.
"Why break up with her?! She was happy to be with you!" I said.
He scoffed and said that I should rejoice because I can now be with her.
"Ask her why. I'm not obliged to disclose further. Anyways, there are many eyes and ears here so it's better to act professional here."
He walked away and went to his colleagues. People around us were far and the music coming from the speakers of this venue hall were loud so no one heard us.
I went to the holding room and I saw Athena and Naoya were reading through some file.
I wanted to talk about what happened between her and Charles but I think it's not the right time since were both still at work.
I was right about something is not right with her today.
Athena guided me with the agenda left for the afternoon and went with it.
I actually enjoyed with today's event and felt flattered for receiving a lot of good response from the company's valued guests and executives.
However, I can't shake off the memory about Charles suddenly saying that he and Athena broke up.
Seeing Athena act that way seems she has already invested feelings for him.
How dare he hurt her like that. I know how sensitive Athena gets when it comes to him. The break up must have been a bigger blow to her compared to the time she was being harassed by him at work.
The part two of the event, which is a live interview that was held via the company's social media account, has recently finished. I got to interact with some fans live.
The product launch is finally over and guests went home.
Some staff of Dolly's wanted to take a picture with me and I happily agreed.
After several picture takings with other staffs, a colleague of Athena named Zilly asked me if she could take a picture with me.
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Zilly is fawning over Conrad and keeps complimenting him how talented and handsome he was on stage.
Zilly asked if she could a take a photo with him, Conrad agreed.
"Athena, could you take us a photo?" Zilly asked.
I guess I can take a photo for her. She asked me nicely anyways.
She gave out her phone with the camera application already opened.
When I took a photo of them, I noticed that the photo I took was blurry. I wanted to delete the photo so I immediately tapped the preview selection of the camera app to delete it which it redirected me to the gallery.
However, I saw something very shocking from her gallery. The moment I deleted the photo, a photo of Zilly smiling with Charles sleeping on the bed without a top beside her just flashed on the screen.
I forced myself to act normal as if I didn't see anything from Zilly's phone.
I returned to the camera app and I finally took a good photo of them.
I signaled them that I have finally took a good photo and Zilly approached me to retrieve her phone from me.
"Thanks a bunch." She said this while arrogantly smiling at me then after she walked past by me.
I just can't believe what I saw... Did they both have a one night stand?!
My chest feels heavy as if I am crushed by a rock or something. Charles really got sick of me and went to Zilly instead.
I want to cry right now but I can't do it here because my colleagues are here! I'm actually at the verge of crying right now!
I walked really fast towards the exit door. My tears already dropped when I was pulling the door to open.
However, the moment I pulled the door to open, I saw Charles appearing in front of me.
I immediately looked down and ran off to the nearest comfort room.
I locked myself at the cubicle and I continued to cry.
After feeling a little bit relieved and tears have finally stopped, I realized this comfort room is my go-to whenever I feel like crying from Charles's rude behavior towards me in the past.
I went out of cubicle and washed my face with water then wiped my face with my hanky.
I sighed while looking at the mirror and thought that I shouldn't be surprised that Charles had a change of heart.
I saw the date of photo indicating when that photo was taken. I remembered that it was the time around Zilly and Charles had dinner together recently, the day that Charles wasn't answering my calls when I went over his place to hangout.
Zilly had her wish come true. She probably knows Charles and I broke up as I saw her being arrogant again.
I started to shake my hands and arms to shake off this heavy feelings I am feeling right now.
When I felt more lighter, I smiled at the mirror and chanted to myself that I will be fine when I return to the venue.
As I went out from the comfort room, I saw Naoya standing across the hallway. He approached me and said that Conrad asked him to check me up.
"He suddenly approached me and asked me to see you instead since he is still bounded by the other staffs. Oh boy, he was extremely distraught when he asked me to hurry to follow you. I don't know the reason but you now look out of sorts, as Conrad said earlier." He added.
I told him that I am alright and told him that I just had a personal problem.
He asked me if it is alright for him to know what personal problem I have.
I looked around if there are people around the area. There are no people around so I eventually told him that personal problem, which is my breakup.
"Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. It's hard to work with him now given the situation. First relationships are indeed painful..." He said.
I apologized for making them worry with my unnecessary personal issues and for my embarrassing acting out.
"Don't be. It's natural for people to get worried. Does Conrad know this issue?" He asked.
"I haven't told him yet." I said.
Naoya told me that I should tell Charles later about my breakup since I lied earlier that I was sad because of work related problems.
"Conrad will be a great comforter for you. He totally understands you pretty well."
I just reluctantly smiled at him.
"Let's go back. I still have responsibilities to do for the both of you." I said.
Naoya and I went back to the venue. I saw Conrad with the advertising people.
We went to him and joined the discussion with the advertising. Conrad was getting a lot of praises from the advertising department.
After talking about his performance earlier, I called the attention of Conrad.
"Conrad and Naoya, we're going back to the holding room." I said.
"Okay." Conrad said.
Before the three of us go out from the venue, I got startled and stopped walking after someone calling my name.
"Barling, give this before they go."
Charles was the one who called me out. I turned to him and he handed out a copy of a document regarding terms and conditions of Conrad's participation for this event.
"S-sure."
I did not look at his eyes, turned around, and went my way to Naoya and Conrad.
The three of us returned to the holding room and I discussed with them about the what to expect after this event and some related about the document that Charles gave me for Naoya.
I handed out the document to Naoya.
"That's about it. Conrad will be generously rewarded by the company for today's successful event." I said.
Naoya looked thrilled and was happy about the outcome from Conrad's participation.
However, Conrad looked as if he is in deep thought. I don't think he was listening to the discussion.
I called out Conrad's attention. He didn't react to that so Naoya tapped his shoulder and Naoya pointed out that I have finished discussing.
Conrad sincerely apologized for not listening to me.
"It's alright. You seem tired from today's event." I said.
Naoya told me that he will be the one instead to explain what we have discussed tomorrow.
"Athena, can I say something? About earlier?" He said.
"Earlier?" I asked.
Naoya suddenly told me that he'll leave the room so that Conrad and I could talk.
"Conrad, I'll be going to the van. I'll wait for you there." He added.
"Alright, thanks."
Naoya left the room. Conrad and I were the only one left inside this holding room.
"I heard from Charles earlier that the both of you have broken up. Is that true?" He asked.
I was take aback that Charles told him that we have broke up. He told me how that happened and with that, I was left with another painful episode.
"Yes, it's true..." I said.
I told him everything about how Charles and I broke up. I really appreciate how he is good listener he from my muttering.
"So I am kind of involved... I'm so-"
I told him that it wasn't his fault. Instead, I told him that I was the one who made Charles to be not interested in me anymore.
"I also don't blame him for dumping me for Zilly." I added.
He asked if the both of them are already together and I told him probably because I saw a picture of them that looks like a one-night stand.
"Anyways, thank you for hearing me out." I said.
Ugh... I'm at the verge of crying again...
I suddenly saw Conrad spreading his arms and told me I can pour out everything to him.
"N-no... You're clothes might get soiled..."
"Nah, it's okay. We've done this before." He calmly smiled at me.
He stood up from his chair and he is still has his arms open for me.
I stood up and went up to him crying again like an idiot. We're hugging each other while I can feel his gentle rub on my back.
He was quietly comforting me until my tears have stopped.
»»»»»End of Chapter 76«««««