Chapter Sixty-Five: The Message.
A//N: I did my best to make an impression of the New York accent in this, one that people hardly use nowadays but is still fum!
Angelo's POV
Insanity was said to be doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting different results. As of today it was definitely safe to declare me as the most insane man in New York and that was such a high bar to scale seeing as nearly everyone in this city was off their rocker.
For the third time in the past forty minutes, I pretended I was paying all my attention to the person speaking in this board meeting and scrolled through my phone to Violet's chats. I wasn't even hoping anymore to see that I could now send her messages, I'd learned not to be that optimistic, but it had become a habit, something I did without even thinking.
Unfortunately I had to bring my attention back to the discussion at hand, and just in time too,
"... believe this to be very beneficial, what do you think of this policy, Mr. Sullivan?" The lady, one of the board of directors asked.
"I have nothing against it." I replied, "It seems sensible enough, and it is good to propagate such a change into the workings of the company. But of course only if the rest of the board agrees, all in favor say aye?"
Everyone did and I internally breathed a sigh, finally this thing could end. "Seeing as there is no other business to come before the board, the meeting is adjourned."
After exchanging pleasantries, I walked right out of the room unfortunately very aware that I'd been the youngest person in there, with Miss. Agatha, my Personal Assistant right on my heels.
"Don't tell me there are more things for me to do." I said to her, wishing the sound of her heels on the tiles didn't give me a headache. "It's Sunday for heaven's sake."
"Of course there are Mr. Sullivan, you still have house hunting to do with Meyers and Noah remember? You specifically told me not to let you forget this time, because you've blown them off for the hundredth weekend." Miss. Agatha said and dropped herself into the chair on the other side of my desk once we entered my office. As an afterthought she added, "Would you also like me to book a massage? You look like you need it."
"You do your job too well, Hein" I muttered, "Leave the massage, tell Mey and Noah I'll meet them at the Home in thirty minutes and say hello to your boyfriend for me."
She grinned, "Oh, you mean I can leave? Thanks Boss, though I'm not too confident about leaving you by yourself. Should I call the realtor for you? I'll tell Charlie to bring the car around, just make sure you don't keep him waiting. Also please take your phone off 'do not disturb' so Meyers can reach you, you know how he gets. Oh and please, please try not to think about... her too much, okay?"
"Yes Mother, all duly noted," I told her as she left the office with her bag, phone pressed to her ear.
"I'll bring you guacamole tomorrow, okay? Bye!"
The office was quiet and empty after that and once again, I went back to Violet's chats. Still nothing.
You pathetic, obsessive, disaster. My subconscious reared it's ugly head, much harsher than ever before. Everyday you do the same thing, how much longer till you realize?! She doesn't want you, she doesn't care about you, you have given her a taste of life without you and now she's wiser, you should just kill yours-!
I stood up abruptly. This was why I'd been avoiding silence lately, the moment I was alone with my thoughts, I only felt worse off. Not letting myself think of anything else, I hurried over to the vehicle waiting for me.
◎◎◎
"Well look who finally decided to show up!" Noah called as I stepped out of the car, right in front of the entrance to the admin building of the orphanage.
Since the last time I saw Noah, he'd decided to dye his eyebrows as white as his hair.
"It's the Dark Lord himself! Ain't that right, Timmy?" The guy I could call one of my closest friends looked down to ask the little kid with a death grip on his finger.
"It... Ayelo!" Timmy squealed, trying to clap little, mitten covered hands without letting go of Noah.
"And are we talkin' to him?" Noah asked, raising his brows at me. I paused in my steps with a sigh.
"Yeah!" Timmy grinned, rocking excitedly on his feet.
"No we ain't Timmy, remember what we practiced." Noah leaned over to look at the boy just for the kid's face to drop comically. "We ain't talkin' to him because he don't wanna hang out with us."
"You're so dramatic, Noah. Hey there Timmy, where's your beanie?" I went over and ruffled his light, baby curls. He was the son of a late French Ambassador, we weren't sure just how long he would be here, but for now, he was well taken care of.
Timmy chortled heartily when I tickled his round tummy before pointing at me and looking up at Noah. "Ayelo!" He laughed, his breath coming out in steam.
"Traitor." Noah rolled his eyes at him with a smile, before smacking me on the back out of nowhere. "Nice to see ya, Sullivan. Hope the press ain't too much to handle lately?"
"Ow, I get by, nice to see you too. Where's Mey?" I winced.
"Give it a minute, he's packin' up the thing he made." Noah said and when I shuddered due to a flashback I had from trying Mey's baking once, he chuckled, "Relax, he's gotten bettah, dude's pullin' the finest broads now with freakin' baked goods."
"Did someone say muffins?!" Mey called, announcing his presence as he bounced through the automatic doors. Poor Timmy was startled but quickly recovered when Mey mentioned food.
"Muffy!" He squealed.
"Muffins!" Noah cheered.
"Angelo!" Mey gasped and I braced myself for impact just in time for him to basically strangle me into a hug. "You actually came, bro!"
This was nice, Mey's hugs could heal the world and all except I couldn't breathe, I barely managed to pry away his arms from my face, barely because this dude was like velcro and even as I fought for my freedom, he went on yapping.
"...honestly, Noah and I were going to put our foot down and go without you, man-!"
"Yeah I get it, you both thought I was too bummed to want to come out." I ran my hand over my hair and made a wide shrug, "But I'm here, so now what?"
Mey looked back at Noah who shrugged before looking up at me again, "Now we can go search for the perfect bachelor pad together!" He grinned, "I'm this close to being an adult, man. It's gonna be awesome!"
After we managed to bribe Timmy into letting go of Noah by using cookies and muffins, we set off to find Mey's dream 'bachelor pad'. Of course Noah and I were also in the picture so we had to go big and loud and find a penthouse that could fit all our requirements. So far, we'd found great places, but Mey really wanted an indoor slide to use whenever he didn't feel like using the stairs.
"Remind me how this guy gets more girls than us." Noah said, leaning on the railing of the tenth apartment we'd been to, waiting for Mey to come back and tell us if this place was to his liking,
"Because they think he's adorable? Because you literally can't handle romance and because I'm already spoken for?" I asked as a reply, blinking up at the cold, grey sky. The snowfall was paused for now, but it was still quite cold.
"Spoken for, eh?" Noah cast me a sly look as he put a cigarette between his lips and took out a lighter. Honestly, I thought he had the right idea. "Still no word from Violet?"
I shook my head, "She's taking her time."
"Ah know ah ain't good with these things but you can talk to me 'bout 'em." Noah offered and I immediately let out a dry laugh that clouded in front of me as steam.
"Tempting offer, but I'd rather wait for Meyers," I jabbed over my shoulder with my thumb.
"Are you sure?" He raised a brow, "Ah mentioned her name once and you looked like you were gonna kneel ovah."
"Noah, you still make a face every time someone brings up relationship issues around you." I reminded him.
Some smoke came out his nose when he snorted, "Fair," He coughed, laughing, "Ah can't help bein' a little grossed out."
"Yeah well, if I told you how it feels at the moment, you'd blow chunks all over the place." I stated, leaning my elbow on the railing so I could drop my forehead into my hand. "Feels like crap."
Noah hummed before bumping his hand into my arm, "Looks like you could use this, but quickly before Meyers catches ya."
"Thanks," I said, grabbing the cigarette, except I never got to use it because someone smacked it out of my hand.
"Noah Bentley, how could you!?" Mey asked in outrage as I sadly watched the joint fall past about forty floors. "I thought we all decided to quit?"
"He was bummed out, look at 'im!" Noah laughed nervously.
"What, why?" Mey asked, grabbing my arm, before realization crossed his face, and his shoulders drooped, "Oh yeah, the Violet thing. It's been a month plus right?"
"Two, but really it's fine." I said dismissively, "Now that I think about it, we didn't agree on a way to check if we were ready to get back together, the whole thing was kind of vague."
"All the more reason for her to text you already!" Mey said, coming to rest his back against the railing so I could see the freckles scattered across his nose. "Was it always this complicated with you two when you were together?"
My stomach churned when he said 'when you were together' like Violet and I were broken up or something.
You know you are. My subconscious teased and I took a deep breath to shut him out.
"No," I replied Mey, "Or maybe? I thought it was perfect. We never really fought over anything, we understood each other so well and... sure, I knew she was dealing with a lot of pain, but I wanted to work with her to get rid of it. Anyways, she wanted to do this alone and it's fine, I just wish she missed me a little, you know?"
"What are you going to do?" Mey asked, "Keep waiting? Are you sure you don't want to go back and check in on her?"
"I don't want to barge in on whatever she's got going on." I shook my head, "Besides, this company's not going to run itself, one of the reasons I'm here, remember?"
"Nah, those are just excuses." Mey scoffed, "You think leaving us for months would make us forget who you really are? You're Angelo Sullivan, our bro who always goes for what he wants and makes sure he gets it no matter how outrageous it is."
"Yeah, even though he gets scared first, and overthinks every little detail." Noah added with a mouthful of the chips he'd resorted to eating. "He ends up gettin' it."
"You think I'm afraid." I stated and they exchanged a look.
"We do." Mey said.
"Absolutely," Noah added.
I was still wondering if they were right when Mey spoke up, "So I recommend checking up on her, see if she's willing to talk."
"I'll think about it."
Noah let out a breezy chuckle, "Here's a thought, imagine you got there and she already started seein' someone else, that'll be crazy- ow what!?"
"Dude, not funny." Mey said, attempting to stomp on his foot again only for Noah to shuffle away, "We need to get you a pet dog or something so you know how bad it feels to lose a lover-"
"Nobody's losing any lovers." I said dryly, turning back to the balcony while they squabbled. Unfortunately, my subconscious took Noah's stupid words and ran with them.
Imagine it though, someone else getting with Violet because you're not there. He said and my insides started to churn again, so badly I tasted salt. Someone who she thinks is better, funnier, touching her, kissing her, being with her in ways even you never could~
Mey and Noah paused their mock fight when I doubled over the nearest potted plant to throw up.
My thoughts raced behind the blurriness of my eyes and I thought back to the day I left her. She'd yelled at me, pleaded and laughed humorlessly, but Violet never once shed a tear. It was almost like right there and then, she'd accepted that I was gone.
"Sh*t, ah didn't mean that, Sullivan." Noah was beside me now, and I let go of the huge pot to prop myself up on my knees. "Was a dumb joke."
"Is he okay?" Meyers asked, "Angelo, do you want some water?"
"I think I made a mistake." My voice came out gruff, and I straightened up, heading to the balcony doors.
"Where're you goin'?" Noah asked.
"The office, I have things to do anyway."
"It's sunday, Sullivan. Ya know I'm sorry." He said, "Look. Ya always wanted to carry on your parent's legacy since forevah, ah know this, but you've loved this girl for longer than that. Whatevah you choose though, we're your bros."
"I know. And I'm not mad at you, I just have a lot of thinking to do as it is." I explained, grabbing the bottle Mey was offering and walking out. "I'll call you guys later."
◎◎◎
"I don't need you here, Hein." I called when I heard the tell-tale footsteps of my assistant coming towards my immediate vicinity.
"Sir you said you were going to go house hunting with your friends." Miss Agatha said, pushing the glass door open and coming to stand before my desk in casual wear. "Your driver Charlie just informed me that you were back. And you're... studying?"
"Not with how loud you're being." I sighed, not looking up from my books.
"Well, you seem depressed, that's why I'm so concerned, a depressed boss is a depressed company, they say."
"You just made that up."
"Either way, it's not a good thing, so I brought these to see if they would cheer you up." Agatha Hein said and dumped about three binders on my desk.
"More paperwork." I said, looking up at her.
"Babe?" Someone called from the door and she looked over her shoulder to signal for two more minutes before turning back to me.
"These are pictures, do you not recognize them?" She asked, "Franca tossed these out when she took over years ago, but some kind employee saved them and kept them in the lockers, I found them and kept them at my place. I kind of already looked through them, sorry."
I opened the first one, immediately finding the browned, worn pages familiar. These were brand new the last I saw them. The cover of the biggest one read, 'Angie's Birthdays', the one after that, only slightly smaller was called, 'Precious Moments.'. while the smallest album was titled 'Our Dream Wedding.'
"I'll just go then." Miss. Agatha whispered as I sank back in my chair with the second album.
I had no clue what to expect when I opened it, but I should have suspected the huge wave of nostalgia I felt, seeing my parent's glowing faces and my swaddled, newborn self in their arms. My father seemed to be the one doing most of the photography and boy was he good at it. Mom's handwriting swirled across each page, adding captions and dates along the way, simple ones like "beautiful sunset." and ridiculous ones like "Angie's first tantrum! (We didn't let him eat the neighbor's frog.)" There were also pressed flowers, a ton of them seeing as my dad always got my mom some. I never knew she took the time to press and record them though.
Hours passed and I stayed alone in the vast building, laughing and cringing at old pictures of my family, some of younger Hale and of my late cousins who never lived to be teenagers, all the while my subconscious sat and watched quietly unable to find anything negative.
The album turned blank when it got to the middle, the last picture being a photo of my seven year old self passed out at the dining table doing homework with the caption. "Ever the hard-worker."
Listlessly, I took the empty pages of the album and bent them back so they flipped all the way to the end. I ought to give Miss. Agatha a bonus check or something. Before I went to the next album though, something on the back cover caught my eye. A white button. I touched it, then found there was a white thread loop hooked around it.
When I unfastened it, I realized the back cover had a pocket attached to it. In this pocket was a white envelope. 'For Angelo' it said. A letter? More photos?
I took it out and the yellow, cracked glue holding it together told me it had laid unopened all these years. It was a letter.
"Dear Angelo,
"I've decided to do this as a joke, because your father won't stop being so paranoid. He says we're being followed and that the other day he saw someone peeking at us through the window. He truly believes Franca to be after us, simply because I didn't make her a part of my team for this company. Ha! She's my sister, she would never try to harm me, no matter how much she says she hates me.
"Felix is quite mad I don't believe him though, and so I'm here, in my office, writing a fake letter that you'd never read, because we are not going to die like he believes. I'll show him this, maybe he'll be happy that I'm finally making "proper preparations". Felix even wrote a will, for crying out loud, a WILL! Angelo, I pray you never grow to be an overthinker like your father.
"Imagine he ends up being right though, haha.
"I love you Angie, for ever and ever, even though you did drop my toothbrush in the toilet unprovoked this morning.
"Love, Mom.
"Ps. Okay, perhaps I was a bit naïve. Hopefully we're not dead by the time you see this, that would be a bummer.
Nowadays we have to ride around town flanked by security. Felix and I even have to work from home because a routine would be dangerous, all because someone sent us a death threat.
Franca knows that we're onto her now, but the police has not found enough concrete evidence to keep her detained, so she gets to roam free while we stay trapped in our house.
"I don't know if you'll ever need to see this, but I'll send someone to tuck our memories away in our office, the office that would be rightfully yours someday, or not, who cares, really? Your father and I may have built that company from scratch despite the disapproval from my family, but YOU Angelo Mariano Sullivan are our greatest achievement."
The handwriting changed and I immediately recognized my Father's less flowery handwriting.
"Pps. Don't get it wrong, we'd very much like it if you don't let all our hard-work go to waste, but let it be known that the only thing we expect of you is your true happiness, find it, just like we found ours. We love you Angelo. I probably love you more than your mom does.
"Ppps. No he doesn't, I love you more. I have the C-section scars to prove it."
I could only let out a shocked laugh at the end of the letter and I slumped back against my chair, staring up at the ceiling with a smile on my face. What did I just read?
Suddenly, I received a notification and I didn't realize how dim it was in here until my phone screen lit up. Mey and Noah were probably checking on me. I grabbed my phone, ready to ask them if they wanted to go out tonight only to pause when I realized neither of them had sent me a message.
It was Violet.
I felt like I was going to throw up again, except from pure joy this time. With my heart thudding in my ears, I slowly sat up like the message was going to disappear if I moved too fast. Then I opened the message, only to immediately burst into laughter at the sticker she sent.
A//N: If Angelo's happy, I'm happy.
Rhodes.