The Not So Perfect Love Story

1|| A very normal day

Normal is an illusion.

What is normal to the spider is chaos to the fly. – Morticia Addams

1|| A very normal day

4 years later...

I woke up to the sound of my alarm and turning it off, I tried to fall back asleep without much success. So I got off the bed and went about my morning routine of getting ready for the day. It consisted of a bathroom routine, working out in the gym, showering and dressing up for the office. About two hours after waking up, I was ready to eat and leave for the office.

Once I got to my office, I greeted Sam, the receptionist and went up to my floor, where Finn, my secretary was waiting for me outside my door.

"Morning Finn, here you go." I said, giving him one of the coffee cups I was holding.

"Thank you so much, Lottie. So today you have a meeting with the Roberts about the investment at 11, then you have lunch with your parents and then you have an appointment with the designers for Amelia's wedding at 4 in the evening." He was good at what he does, and I am happy I made him my secretary after the last one quit a few months after I took over.

"That's manageable for a day, Thank you Finn." I say and he left.

It was only 8:45 now, which meant I had time before the meeting with the Roberts, so I decided to go over the contract and the terms once again. Investing in start ups was risky, but some really had potential and therefore we started doing it as a means of giving back to the business universe what we gain from it. It had been the first thing I had worked on when I joined the company four years ago. It was the right time too, considering the board members were trying to come up with some pro bono activity for our company that will be beneficial to us too.

Two hours later, Finn came in to remind me of the time and I went to the conference room to meet them. The meeting went well and so did the following hours up until lunch. When I reached the diner that my parents picked to eat at, I wished I hadn't agreed. Finn gave me a weird look when I didn't get off the car the moment it stopped like I usually did when meeting parents. Then he looked at the place and realization dawned on him.

"Maybe we can ask them to pick a different place?" he asked gently.

"No, it's fine. Mum's been wanting to come here for a while now. Let's just eat and leave quickly making something up." I said to him, to which he agreed.

The inside of the diner was the same as it was four years ago, when the place first opened. I looked around for my parents and found them sitting in a corner booth, the same booth where I'd had my last meal with the love of my life before my heart was broken four years ago. I brushed it off and walked over to them with a smile.

"'Hey mum, hi dad."

My mum looked up from the menu and grinned. She then got off the booth and hugged me close to her.

"It's been so long. You almost never visit anymore." She complained.

"You saw her on Thursday, Grace, let her go so I can hug her." My dad called out from behind her. My mum huffed and let me go, stepping to the side.

"We missed you child." He whispered in my ear. I chuckled and hugged him back tighter.

My parents hugged Finn too and then we all sat back down, ready to place our orders. As we ate, my mum tried to set me up on dates with her friends' sins and nephews and it was fun to watch dad refuse them before I could. Soon we finished lunch and then I left the place quickly paying the check.

The rest of the day was normal too, with the meeting with the designers going smooth and well. And I know I should have been wary of so much normality. It doesn't make sense for a day to be normal and just be; there has to be a little something here and there for it to be fun, and break the illusion.

But it was all normal. And my good day went down the drain the moment I stepped into the club where my friends were at. Because along with my friends sat the one person who tore my heart apart to pieces and trampled all over them.

There at the booth with a glass of whiskey was James River Knight.