When a curse is broken

3. Help me

The week passed in a blur. In the morning Marlyn had worked at Golden Enterprises while in her free time she had taken her bicycle, usually with Ellie in tow sitting on her baby seat, and made deliveries in a rush against time. It was a relief that her delivery company paid per week, some clients had even left some tips and it was enough for their survival, Marlyn was utterly grateful for them. The first thing she did after getting her wage, was to pay for the bill and finally her heart had felt a little at ease after a long time.

The training at the company also had been erratic: she had been shown around the building, updated on the latest news and changes, introduced to the tasks she would absolutely do for the boss and so much more. At the end of the day she would get so exhausted that she had risked falling asleep on the bus many times.

She needed to remember every single information she was given and every single task she was taught if she wanted to keep the job, that was the dark cloud still looming over her head.

They wanted a miracle in only a week, but she was only a human, well not, but she needed time to process all the information. In the night she would sit awake beside Ellie, and read all the notes she had taken in the morning or some analytical files about the company to better understand its situation.

That Monday morning everything had to be absolutely perfect, words of Laila, the girl who had taught her most of the things.

At that moment, Marlyn and Mrs. Adams were waiting for the new CEO at the receptionist. He would get there any moment.

“...then you show him around and introduce to all the head departments, make a good impression. We don’t want him to start firing people today,” Mrs Adams signed, the company had been sold to the man they were waiting for. The business was going down everyday leading it to be sold, some said they were lucky someone even bothered with it, closing it would have been disastrous for all the employees and their families, certainly it had been a good for Marlyn. They just hoped the new boss wouldn’t decide to fire people.

“Of cour-'' Marlyn wanted to reply but was shushed by her recruiter, “That’s him…” she whispered. 

A car stopped and a man followed by
a woman came in. 

Marlyn’s smile froze on her face. She blinked once, then twice, she looked at her shoes and back to Mrs. Adams' face. Am I hallucinating again? Marlyn wanted to give herself a couple of
slaps to wake up. 

When her eyes met a pair of familiar green gems, her mind realised it was too vivid to be only her imagination.

Towards her walked Benjamin Williams, her demise, once her world. 

God, help me.

Mrs. Adams started to talk, but Marlyn’s ears were buzzing, her legs turned into jelly, her hands clutching harder to the notepad, the knuckles turning white.

What wicked game are you playing, fate?

She felt a hard elbow in her stomach, 
“...Ms. Moony will show you around.”

“I hope you have chosen competent staff for the job,” his damned voice said, looking straight at her.

No emotion showed in his eyes, was there even a flicker of recognition?  

“Good morning sir, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” Marlyn finally connected her mind and grit out the sharp words.

She wanted to bash his head with a baseball bat then give it to her nonexistent carnivorous dog, at the same time hug him so so hard and cry all her surrows in his arms that used to give her comfort and feel at peace with the world.

“Nice to meet you too Ms. Caden, hope we will be great colleagues,” she added more softly to the other woman, fortunately her mind had managed to get pieces of the earlier conversation.

Is this really happening? 

She faintly heard Mrs. Adams release a relieved breath.

“Please, follow me.” 

Somehow she managed to give the tour civilly. They passed each floor and she explained to them what every room contained and how things worked. 

When they passed the nursery, she had her heart caught in her throat.

Looking back and forth from the nursery’s door to Benjamin's face, she wanted to drag them away, not even mention the existence of a nursery.

“What?” at some point he asked. Her frightened expression was too evident.

“Nothing…” she gave him her back, “This is another coffee machine...and...and there is also a nursery,” she wanted to burst out crying, why she was so emotional over that bastard after all these years she had no idea, maybe her period was nearing. Yes, that could be the only reason, because after all the suffering she had gone through, her tears must have already dried out, like the damn Sahara. How could she still have something to cry about? She shook her head.

Get your waves together, Mars. 

She cleared her throat, and unconsciously pressed her hands on her skirt, to straight out any crease. 

She went straight for the stairs then, not even suggesting to look inside the daycare. “There is the sales departments upstairs…” She continued, not giving them a chance to get any strange idea.

When they finally ended the tour, Marlyn showed them their offices on the top floor where the view was nice.
“...and here you can find all the supplies you will need, there are pencils, pens, notepads and...and ...” She explained while opening the series of draws. There were just Marlyn and Benjamin left in the room. Marlyn felt self conscious, at the brick of having a panic attack, he was standing right behind her.

“That will be fine, fill me in with the latest ongoing projects”

Almost running, she flew to the shelves, anything to get a little away from him. 

He sat down when she dumped on the desk a series of files she had studied with heart in the last week,“These are the hotels they were trying to renovate, but there were not enough funds, but you can find the details of everything also on the company’s database” and she showed him his credentials. The discussion went on for a while. Him not even acknowledging that they ever had known each other. Maybe he forgot about her? The thought made her want to cry all over again.

“That will be all,” he said.

She nodded and went for the door.

“Mars,” he called.

Her heart skipped a beat, it was almost like returning back in time.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to swallow back the sourness in her mouth and the swelling tears in her eyes.

“Yes?” she said, her voice fragile and back still turned.

“Get me a coffee.” 

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Can you believe at some point I burst out crying!?🤧

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I'll upload the next chapter on Monday💥
See you then!

17/07/2021