Paint Me Saved ✓ Book 1

33. Monsters in the closet, monsters in the light

⚠️I'm sorry if this triggers anyone. Please refrain from reading from the start till the end of the asterisk (*), if you are uncomfortable⚠️

Zemira

When Leo asked me to meet him at his office, I wouldn't say I was surprised.

Always donning the hat of a strategist, I assumed he had another plan. Maybe he wanted to talk about work. Or maybe, just maybe, he wanted to talk about us. It was a kindling hope inside the deepest corners of my heart that I wanted to come true.

I wasn't in any form a delusional person. I knew better than to pin my hope on a person whose contract with me would expire in twenty days. In twenty fucking days Leo would leave. He would go back to the comfort of his job, leaving me in the care of loneliness and desperation that played a match with each other to see which could hurt me better.

I blamed myself for everything - for losing grip of my rogue heart, hoping this time it wouldn't break. In my infinite wisdom, I took a leap of faith, only to fall and succumb to my heart injuries.

In Leo's deserted office, I sat and pondered over the reason for his sudden request to meet. In his text, he didn't explain much and I knew better than to hope for happiness. Yet, I did.

Desire had a strange way of keeping us enslaved. My expectation of Leo staying back, of him giving us a chance to be a real couple was illogical. I had to make peace with his decision yet found myself fighting it.

Since the true Leo took control of me, toppling my walls of restraint, I found it useless to fight his thoughts. One could call it love or devotion but what I felt for Leo needed no defining. It only required feeling.

The glass door rattled with a knock, tumbling me back to reality. Antonio walked in, placing some files on Leo's desk. When he leaned back, his eyes widened upon registering my presence.

"Sorry, didn't see you there," he said with a hand traveling into his matted hair. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. How about you?" I asked. The formal set of talks was in order as I didn't want to make him feel embarrassed for not noticing me. "How's work?"

Had everything worked clockwise for Antonio and me, we would have been a married couple by now. Now we were reduced to being people who felt awkward around one another.

A wretched thought transpired in my mind. Was this where Leo and I were headed too?

The idea of becoming a stranger with the man around whom my world revolved was a blunt force blow over my body. Even contemplating such a scenario had my lungs shoot off the air, lugging me into a state of asphyxia. My thoughts choked me, strangling my insides, squeezing each drop of blood to drip me dry.

"Earth to Zamira." Antonio clicked his finger near my face. "Lost in thoughts?"

"Sorry, I... Sorry."

Every time I thought of Leo's departure, I felt the stable ground beneath my foothold crumble while all I could do was stay cemented and suffer. Feel the vibrations, the crunching of my world without being able to do anything

"I can understand that you're distracted," Antonio said, tossing his body into a chair and dragging it to my side on the couch. He took my hands, gently squeezing my palm. "It's okay."

Strange.

Once, I was fine with him touching me but now the very thought revolted my gut. I was claimed to be someone else's and even the thought of another man irritated the invisible branding my body underwent, accepting Leo as mine.