"Because I'm not a complete jerk to be oblivious to when someone isn't in a good place Ophelia. And you clearly aren't in a good place for reasons only known to you."
"I don't want your stupid pity," my eyes narrowed at him.
"You want to call it pity then fine. This job, you not getting fired, the apartment is all part of my pity. Whether you accept it or not, it remains the truth." He said adamantly.
"You are such a self righteous jerk!" I hit his chest once, "you annoy me so much!" I hit his chest again. His hands held on to my clenched fists and stopped me from going into a launch of punches against his hard chest. We remained in that position till my laboured breathing calmed.
When I looked up at him, he was patiently staring at me and I sighed. I released my hands from his hold and quietly moved to one of the couches. Barely seconds later, the couch dipped and he was next to me.
"My situation wasn't this desperate a year ago," I whispered. "It was great infact. I had my three bedroom house, a car and a thriving business consultancy company in Seattle."
"I never knew you started your company." He said and I laughed then shook my head.
"How would you have known? It's not like we were keeping tabs on each other or something. But yes, I started my company nearly two years ago."
"So what happened?" I felt his eyes on me but my gaze was glued to the center piece on the table.
"A terrible bastard called Gavin Thompson happened," my shoulders slumped as the painful memories returned. "We met at a work party for the company I worked at before moving on to start mine. We became fast friends. He was there when I started my consultancy business. He was a good financial analyst so I hired him. Eventually he became a share holder, a business partner and a few months down, my boyfriend."
"Oh." I felt him shift backwards.
"But everything bright suddenly turned dark. It was towards the beginning of June last year I started noticing the irregularities. But It was already too late and by mid June, my company had crumbled to dust. Gavin was actually a con artist." I shook my head. "He bought into my shares through fake aliases and eventually sold and gambled my company away leaving me not only penniless but with a lot of debts. By July, I was shoulder deep in debts I didn't even know of. I was almost arrested, literally everything was taken away from me. The bastard of course disappeared, took off with all my money and assets but he was smart so I had zero proof against him because at the end, everything was in my name."
"How did you manage all the debts?" He sounded angry but I was still facing the table and couldn't see his face.
"I couldn't take loans so I went to my sister but she was of no help, only critics," I laughed bitterly. "I didn't want to burden my parents but I had no choice. And by August I was back in my parents house, back to square one and heavily depressed."
"Hey," William slowly turned me towards him by my shoulders, "come here." He held me tight within his arms and I quietly rested my head on his shoulder. A wave of dejavu hit me. This moment seemed to be a reoccurring one lately. Comfort was indeed a beautiful thing.
In the months following the tragic end of my company, I did nothing but sit and stare blankly at the walls. When my mind wasn't blank, I'd contemplate all the what ifs. In rare occasions of expression of emotions, I allowed myself to cry and curse every living thing. That was the cycle that spiralled me in and out of depression for months. My parents tried cajoling me into therapy but I desperately wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I just wanted to wallow in all the pain and self pity.
It was on new year's eve I made the drastic decision to move back to New York, with the help of my parents and start all over again. It wasn't an easy decision but I didn't want the void to eventually swallow me whole.
I pulled away from the man who'd been on my mind a lot then. I'd cursed him, hated him and wished for him all at once in those dark months. Maybe ending up here, working for him really was my karma.
"What are his details? It may not be to late to get him." He said about to stand up but I stopped him.
"I don't even know if Gavin was his real name. Even if by some miracle we do find him, a guy like that would have squandered all the money by now. I left it all in last year already." I shrugged.
A few moments of silence passed before William spoke again, "Did you love him?"
I nearly laughed.
"No and I thank God for that. It would have probably hurt a lot more if I did. He hurt my pride, business orientation, financial stability," I paused for a moment then continued, "but it still didn't feel as much as you managed to hurt." I laughed lightly.
"Your heart." He said quietly.
"Wow," I cleared my throat, "I can't believe I just told you my sob story."
"Me too." He smiled.
"I'm not apologising to Lilian by the way." I said defiantly and his eyes rolled.
"You will both apologise to each other and get separate punishments as well. Until I think of one, you can leave for now." He said and stood up, moving back to his desk. I watched as he walked away and my heart suddenly lurched. I held my chest and shook my head.
I stood up.
"And Ophelia, you look crazy."
"You should see the other guy." I smirked.
"If she's there, tell her to come in." He said unamusedly but the faint line of a smile was still visible. I nodded and walked out of his office. As I shut the door, Heather and Lilian appeared round the corner. Lilian had straightened up but the tell tale signs of our altercation still showed in her squeezed suit and hair.
"Oh Ophelia, please tell me you are not fired or something." Heather walked over to me quickly and I answered in the negative and she released a breath.
"He wants to see you," I told Lilian and walked past her to the restroom with Heather on my tail. I repacked my hair and tucked in my shirt and soon, almost appeared normal again.
"Thank you Heather," I smiled at her as we exited the restroom minutes later.
"It's nothing. Gosh I knew the fight between you two was long coming but I didn't expect it so soon." She giggled.
"Me either." I chuckled.
"You just both misunderstand each other. She just wants to protect her boss but she doesn't know the past between you two. If she did, she'd understand you are not some thotty gold digger or whatever. But I believe all will be fine. I am ready for an early lunch, are you?" She asked and I declined.
"I will see you later then." She patted my shoulder twice and left. I returned to my seat and thought; damn, did I really just have an office cat fight?
***
"Ophelia!" A hand was slammed down on the desk and my eyes flew open. I raised my head off the surface and slowly looked around till my hazy gaze landed on William.
"Sleeping on duty. How novel of you, when not less than an hour ago you were separated from a fight."
When did I sleep off? I yawned.
"You and Lilian will apologise to each other and shake on it. You will be on seat at Illston tech for the next two to three weeks where I will also be for most of the time."
"What about Lilian?"
"She will be here with Heather." He said and turned back to his office.
"Do I still have that last strike?" I asked before he could open the door.
"At this rate you owe me two strikes." He sighed then entered his office. I smiled, leaned back in my chair then rubbed my eyes. Today had been something alright. My phone buzzed, notifying a text just came in. I checked the message and instantly squealed in delight. My salary had just entered my account and that was the silver lining of my day.
***
My weekend was spent grocery shopping, cloth shopping, saving, cleaning and finally resting. Monday morning, I was on my way to my new temporary site of work. It only occurred to me as I entered the building slightly unsure of what to do, that it would be a lonely three weeks for me. No Heather, Joanne, Isabella or John, just William.
"Ophelia? Good morning."
I turned and saw Mark behind me with his briefcase.
"Hey, morning." I smiled at him. We hadn't seen since the day we had the interrogative lunch. I didn't hold it against him though, I'd be curious for my friend too. At least now, aside from William, there was Mark here as well.
"What are you doing here so early?" He asked as we walked to the elevator.
"I will be working from here for a while."
"What happened to Lilian?" He asked and I flushed a little remembering our fight last week Thursday.
"She will be working from D&L."
"Thank God," he said and I held my hands up to my mouth to stop myself from laughing out loud. "I mean she's good people yeah, but she's still Lilian." He sighed. I could relate. There were a number of people already waiting for the elevator when we reached.
"Let's use that one." He pointed to one of the lone elevators opposite the three in front of us. "It's the CEO and some executives elevator, saves time." He explained although I could still remember it. We parted ways when the elevator stopped at his floor which was just a floor below William's.
I passed a few closed doors and boardrooms before reaching the wide corridor leading to William's office. I sat on the swivel chair I'd seen Lilian in a few weeks back and killed time waiting for William to arrive, with video games on my phone.
***
Will and Ophelia alone at Illston tech for the next three weeks, what could possibly go wrong?