incandescent

iv

lorelai sinclair
october 25th, 2023
manhattan, nyc

╰➤ ❝𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.❞

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*･༓ ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"𝐌𝐒. 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐑, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄 at 5 this evening. I won't be back at the office," Mr. Astor sighed as he rubbed his temple. Isabella glared at me after she caught me staring and I cleared my throat, turning away.

"Do you need anything else from me?" I grimace, expecting another surprise list.

"No." I couldn't hide my shock as I glanced between the two. The atmosphere was thick with tension, and Mr. Astor was an entirely different person. No insults, no unpredictability, nothing. He was quiet, an air of melancholy surrounding him.

"Theo!" Isabella screeched. "Is Claire allergic to anything?"

He stared at her with sheer disgust and spat out, "Strawberries."

"Oh, right," she shrugged as she told her housekeeper. This was the mother of his daughter. No wonder he divorced her. My eyes locked with Mr. Astor for a mere moment, trying to talk to him, before he turned away, conversing with his lawyer.

"Go," he said, more anger in his tone now.

I scurried out, suddenly grateful that I was sent back to work, because I didn't want to be in the same room as a very angry ex and an even angrier boss.

I guess the inner child in me couldn't handle the arguing- it was too similar to my parents. They maintained such a good family image as my father was the mayor, but behind closed doors, it was yelling, screaming, and crying. I chuckled dryly, remembering as I covered Lena's ears when she was only 3 as my father threw anything he got ahold of. And he claimed to condemn domestic violence.

"What's going on, Lolli? Are we playing a game?"

"Yeah, Lena. Shhh. It's called "Who Can Stay Quiet The Longest?" You're doing such a good job, shh. Don't cry."

"Why are Mommy and Daddy always angry?"

There was no time for me to wallow. That was reserved for the holidays. I had shit to do. Back at the office, I allowed no distractions.

I grabbed my headphones, and blasted "my tears ricochet" while rushing to get my lists done. Surprisingly, listening to extremely sad songs got me motivated.

"AND I CAN GO ANYWHERE I WANT, ANYWHERE I WANT, JUST NOT HOME." I screamed passionately as Vivienne walked in, her eyes wide once she saw me in the middle of my concert.

"Oh, dear," she sighed. I froze and took off my headphones.

"Mrs. Lorenzo! I am so sorry- this is not what it looks like!" I scrambled to pause the music and get my shit together.

"Oh, like I care," she scoffed. "My intuition tells me that you're a good person, Rory. That's why I persuaded Theo to hire you. You have that same sparkle my boy had when he was your age. He was so ambitious, and became a workaholic young. As soon as his father stepped down, Theo was so eager to prove his worth. Well, that was before all of this," she threw her hands up in frustration.