Spiraled ⚪⭐⚪⭐ (A Brollins Novel)✔

EPISODE FOURTEEN

Sports Club. Los Angeles, California.

Finding a balance between work and studies is the easiest thing in the world.

At least for her. Mercedes has always felt pride about her intelligence. Back in school, her classmates used to be jealous of how smart and quick of a learner she was. She never minded their contempt glances, their vain, hypocritical attempts to befriend her just to have her aid them during exams and dump her later. She never had a real friend until Pamela came into her life and she was always fine by herself, studying to ensure she top in every subject in her class and enjoy the spiteful stares her classmates spew her way as her teachers applaud her over and over, while the principal advises her seething classmates to follow her example.

She loves to prove people wrong hence when she finished the university and her mother complained one time she can never handle two things at the same time with how much time she always spends doing a single chore, Mercedes found a job and enrolled in tennis lessons the same day. To her amazement, she excelled in her tennis classes and at work, and every week of her life felt like a routine; work and practice at weekdays and spend quality time with Colby at weekends. Her days went fluid and stress-free and she assumed she'll be able to do the same thing with Fergal and Colby.

But relationships once again prove to be challenging and she's quite ashamed of herself to admit she has lost control over situations. She should have heeded to Pamela's advice and given Colby more time and space, have him see all that she was doing to please him and earn his forgiveness while she adores Fergal with undivided time and attention. But she couldn't have waited anymore. Not when Colby was drifting away from her. It was necessary to double her efforts and win back Colby before it was too late. She hadn't had any other alternative left. But the decision has also created a drift between her and Fergal she can't afford to have now.

Ever since she got hired at the Sports Club as a tennis coach and learnt of how wealthy her employers are, she has always thought the Quinn family had a perfect life, free of the problems ordinary people like her and Colby face in their everyday life. But two nights ago, when she'd talked to Fergal for over six hours on the phone, she got to learn the family isn't as perfect as she thought it to be. They don't face the problems she faces with money. They have much bigger problems. Problems she only had a tiny inkling of.

As helpless and broken as Fergal sounded over the phone, it didn't surprise her he went into much detail in their conversation on the first night. He narrated to her how miserable he felt about his sister, Rebecca and how he feels his mother isn't doing enough to solve the problems they have. He then went on to blabber about all the things he used to think were right being wrong now, how much burden he faces with the company--Mercedes doesn't believe that part--and how he has failed to protect his family like his father would have if he were alive. Mercedes mostly zoned out during his blabbering but a few things stuck in her head; Rebecca, Fergal's sister's attempted suicide, the video of this same Rebecca making a fool of herself at her ex-fiance's wedding--it was utterly pathetic when she took a look at the video herself--the slap he received from his mother and how he would have to act in front of the cameras at his sister's upcoming birthday party just like the rest of his family.

It was the last part of him 'acting in front of the cameras' which caught her attention the most. She'd seen enough photoshoot pictures of Fergal and by little of how much she knows him personally, Mercedes is quite aware Fergal has never been the smiley type of person in front of cameras. Her mind had swung to his mother, Annette Quinn instead hearing the acting in front of cameras part. That woman smiles at everyone and everything. She's rarely in a bad mood. The media has only seen her venomous side once when a manager at one of her numerous companies accused her of killing her own husband on live television at a press conference. The family later apologized for the incident and revealed the manager, reportedly called Ric Fleir was a mentally unstable person and the whole scandal died down when he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital a few months later. But now Mercedes is questioning the woman just as she is questioning everything in Fergal's family.