Office Affair - A new beginning

A day to be annoyed

As soon as Anya left, Dominic went back to feeling miserable, and it's been a hot minute since he last felt that way. He didn't want to overbear Anya with his problems, because most of them had nothing to do with her, and he didn't want her to worry unnecessarily if he could solve the problem himself.

Three things were almost equally annoying him. The first one was the situation between Mike and Michelle, and he feared that either of them could, possibly, end all communication with him by the end of the trip that didn't even begin yet. That is, unless he finds a different tactic and diffuse the situation. Anya was right, he wouldn't have spent months searching for employees and checking their references if he wasn't happy with them. Michelle herself had mentioned something like that in passing, but he believed that she would never question his judgment.

Mike wasn't off the hook either. Dominic was more than slightly annoyed with him for not letting him in on a secret about his whole history with Michelle. After all, they were like brothers, and he believed that Mike would at least want to mention something about knowing Michelle. So why did he keep it a secret all this time? Was he afraid that Dominic wouldn't be able to remain unbiased if he knew about their relationship and their breakup?

He also knew that Michelle was perfectly capable of traveling on her own, so Mike really didn't need to be there at all. But as Anya had explained, despite his loud protests about going with her, there was a very real possibility that that was just the bruised heart that was talking, and not his genuine feelings towards her. So if that were true, there was still a chance that they could reunite, and Dominic didn't want to pass up on that opportunity. Having decided that, he started searching for the best hotel for them to stay at. If, and it was a very tiny 'if', the two of his best friends end up happy and back together, their stay needed to be as pleasurable and relaxed as possible.

And then, of course, there was the presence of Dominic's mother, which he very much disliked. He was able to tolerate her existence when she was abroad, continents away from him and with very limited contact, which mostly consisted of very short phone calls and not much emotion in either of their voices, and there was a specific reason for that, as far as Dominic was concerned.

His mother was a type of person that always had to make everything about herself. He wasn't completely sure why, and granted it could have been something to do with her upbringing, but he had deduced long ago that Patricia had made competition and jealousy her most prominent personality trait. She always had to be the best in everything, better than anyone at whatever she was doing, and every other woman was her enemy. Judging by the number of times that she was married and divorced, she never loved any of the men she was with, and that was to be expected. Dominic never attended any of her weddings despite her insistence and emotional threats, and neither kept in contact with any of her ex husbands. He didn't care enough to create any sort of emotional bond, even though one of them made a slight effort to get to know him.

Patricia's second marriage was to Bill, and it was deliberately planned the day before Dominic's birthday. She had concocted the fabulous idea that they would all go to the honeymoon together, to celebrate the marriage and Dominic's 15th birthday, because what could be more natural than that, but the idea was cut at the knees almost immediately, because Dominic's dad, who wasn't a completely kind or reasonable man but had his shining moments, found an excuse that he needed Dominic's presence abroad, since he'd moved to Czech Republic after their divorce.

While he was sitting in the passenger seat, thanking his saints that he was missing the wedding, his father said:

"Listen, kid, I don't really want your help with anything, but I would hate for you to see the shit-show that is 2about to unfold. The wedding is a farce, they will divorce before your plane lands back at Heathrow in two weeks. Why don't you use this time to roam free and discover the city?"

And so, that was the moment when Dominic fell in love with Prague, and Prague fell in love with Dominic. He felt safe there, sometimes even safer than London, despite having to keep his belongings very tightly to his chest at all times. He wanted to ask his dad to permanently move in with him, but even though their relationship was better than they both had with Patricia, there was not a bond between them that was tight enough, to make it work.

They both knew that they would start resenting each other for the smallest things, and since he had already witnessed that while they were married, Dominic didn't want to necessarily go through that again. He loved his peace of mind when he wasn't around either of them.

Needless to say, ever since then he actively began finding ways to not be too connected to his parents, and it was working so well, until Kayla had stirred the pot once again. He dialed her number, and waited until she picked up. He had all the time in the world.

"Dominic, what's wrong?"

"You tell me, Kayla. Is there any reason why you thought it would be a good idea to bring Patricia into our marriage? You know exactly how she is."

He knew that she had no valid excuse, other than she was so pissed at him for following his heart, but he needed to hear it from her, regardless.

"It was a moment of desperation and weakness, Dominic. For what it's worth I am really sorry. What did she say?"

"She is coming to London."

"Well, shit. She promised me she would only talk to you, she didn't mention anything about coming to visit."

"Yeah, well, you should have known better." He said and disconnected the phone. He was seething, and there was nothing he could do to reduce that anger.