Melodies of a stranger

Chapter 12

Riftan rubbed his head in frustration as he read the page on his laptop screen in front of him. He'd been at this for hours now and he was still no closer to finding a job he wanted to apply for. He didn't want to go from one job with little hope of progression to another. He wanted to find a career where he could flourish. 'But what should I do?'

Riftan sighed and closed his laptop roughly. Whatever his dream job was, he wasn't going to find it today. Just then, a shout was heard up the stairs.

"Riftan? Are you home?"

"Coming."

He wondered what this was about. He wasn't expecting anyone, and he hadn't ordered anything recently, so it wasn't a delivery. Riftan stretched as he made his way to the stairs. He was stiff from hunching over his laptop for the last 3 hours. Elliot was standing by the front door with a grim expression on his face.

"Agnes is at the front door for you."

Elliot shot him an apologetic look as he walked deeper into the house to give them some semblance of privacy.

'This isn't going to be fun'

Riftan took a deep breath and steeled himself before opening the door. Agnes was standing on the other side, blonde hair scraped up in a ponytail, wearing no make-up and looking exhausted.

"Hi, I just came to drop off the few bits you left at my house and to grab my stuff from here."

She was looking at the floor and was refusing to make eye contact with him. Riftan stood to one side to allow her entry.

"Sure, come in."

Agnes hurried in, obviously keen to get out of there as soon as possible. She went straight upstairs and into his bedroom.

"Thanks, I'll be as quick as I can."

Riftan watched with sadness as the woman he had once been particularly fond of started awkwardly grabbing various knick-knacks from around the room and hurriedly shoving them in her bag, desperate to get away from him.

Riftan sighed. He should be the one to tell her about Maxi, it would be worse if she found out from someone else. He closed his eyes and drew on all his courage. This was not going to go well.

"Listen Agnes, there's something you should know..."

She stilled, her hand stretching out to pick up a hairbrush. Slowly she grabbed it, before turning around to look at him. Her face was pleading with him not to make this any harder on her than it already was.

Riftan swallowed.

"I've started seeing someone...."

Her face fell, pain and confusion were written all over her.

"We've only been broken up two days... I know things haven't been right for a while, but two days?"

Her eyes were shining with tears, taking in what he had just told her. He could see the wheels in her head spinning.

"Is this why you left me? You were sleeping with someone behind my back?"

"No, I-"

Quickly her face began distorting with anger.

"Seriously how could you do this to me? We were together eight months. eight. months. Why did you do this? Do you really think so little of me?"

"Nothing happened until after-"

"Obviously something happened, or you wouldn't be shacked up with someone else two days after breaking up with me. And you couldn't even bother to break up with me face to face. Instead, I get a poxy phone call at 9pm on a Saturday night."