Blessing in Disguise

Chapter 8: Clay pigeon

Nyx finished eating but didn't leave immediately. Instead, she leaned her back on the chair, crossed her legs and looked at the contract James had just signed. Her eyes fell on his signature and studied it carefully. The letters looked like curls, but exquisite and fine. Compared to her signature that looked like some child trying to draw an EKG heartbeat line, James's looked like calligraphy. The prettiest signatures she had seen.

Pretty face, pretty handwriting.

She remembered when she once asked James to teach her a pretty signature for herself only for her to get so frustrated after not being able to do it that she ripped the paper into pieces. James had laughed at her back then, wrapping his arms around her. His chest was pressed against her back and she could feel the vibrations of his chest from laughing on her back. He had kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear.

“Don’t get angry, okay? I love you.”

Nyx smiled and put the contract in her backpack. She checked the time on her phone. It was almost two o'clock. So many hours to pass by until this day was over, and then tomorrow would be the same as well...

She thought she could use this suspension period to look for a new apartment and maybe relax, take up a hobby like painting or gardening, but it wasn’t that easy.

Without her job that kept her busy to such an extent that she sometimes would forget to eat, the days felt empty. Pointless. She felt like she was missing something.

Nyx knew what she was missing. The problem was that Mr. Missing Piece wasn’t an option anymore, and she had to find another solution. But what kind of solution could she come up with when she hadn't been able to think of any for five damned years?

A sigh breathed past her lips.

Should I dye my hair again?

She took her backpack and walked out of the Taco Bell's building, but not having walked even half the way to her motorbike, she noticed James that was still in the parking lot. He had his back to her and didn't see Nyx, but Nyx still recognized him. In front of him was a dark-skinned young woman who looked twenty-something who was talking to him.

The young lady was stunning. She had long black hair that reached her waist and a killer body that was showed off by the white bodycon dress she was wearing. Nyx looked at the woman’s beautiful face and body, then she looked down at her own clothes, most of which were from a thrift store because she thought they looked cool, and couldn’t help but frown.

Her eyes went up at the woman again. Only then did Nyx notice that there was another man close to her, but he seemed uninterested in the conversation James and her were having. His head was lowered looking down at his phone, texting.

The corner of Nyx's lips twitched.

Even though Nyx hadn’t seen the woman James married two years after they broke up, she was sure that this woman was her. She didn’t want to jump into conclusions, but Nyx was getting more and more irritated looking at her. The way she stood, looked like, talked, her body language... all of it annoyed Nyx. She knew it was because this woman was the one James married, but she still couldn’t help her emotions.

This irritation only got worse when she looked at James.

He looked so uncomfortable. Slumped shoulders, eyes looking everywhere but at the woman, fidgeting with the paper of the taco he was holding in his hand. He looked like a bullied puppy, so pitiful that Nyx had the sudden desire to walk to him and hide him behind her back, away from that scornful look the woman was giving to him.

She couldn’t bear to look at him like this.

But Nyx didn't rush to him to do that. Instead, she looked away and ran her hand through her hair in frustration.