Sin For Me

Chapter 12

"I'm sorry about your dad's business, by the way."

My apology to Zafina seemed empty and half-hearted.
I used the sweetest voice that I could muster up while her sleepy eyes watched my hand as it moved in a rhythmic circle, stirring sugar into my black cup of coffee as it desolved.

My words were offered to her over the breakfast table, with a Nutella stuffed croissant sat in front of her and a bowl of half eaten oats sat abandoned in front of me.
I wasn't that hungry.

For a while, She didn't say anything.
Her eyes moved from my coffee to the croissant in front of her, seemingly deep in thought. Although I couldn't tell if her thoughts were based on my apology or the croissant.

"It's not like it was your fault." Zafina said finally. "Besides, His business doesn't really affect me."

She was right. She was financially independent and barely spoke to her father.
Still, I had this leering feeling that she felt bad for him.
He was her father, After all.

Under her tough exterior, I suppose there was still just a little girl that wanted her father's love.
As the current brand ambassador for shitty parents, I can safely say that Zafina was the embodiment of daddy issues.

Her words hung in the air for a while.

It's not like it was your fault.

To be fair, At the time I didn't know that it technically was my fault.
I didn't know that had Vivian gone out of her way to destroy a man's career because of me.

Well, not entirely because of me. But let's be real, I contributed to a big portion of it.

Besides, if he wasn't a complete idiot he would have a hefty savings fund and he would eventually build his business back up, or invest in another one.
That's the funny thing about wealthy people.

Even when they hit a rough patch or go broke, they're not actually broke.
It's not that easy to take their money away from them, just like it's not easy to be taken out of the cycle of poverty.

So, Zafina's statement didn't bring up the amount of guilt that it should have.

"If anything, I should probably stay away from him right now." she continued bitterly, "He'll just say that I'm making everything worse."

During the peak of Mr.Mustafa's career, the tabloids were up Zafina's ass because of her "alternative lifestyle".
Especially because her family was relatively conservative and extremely religious.

Zafina walking around town with her arm flung around Lily's neck and Lily's lipstick kisses all over her cheeks completely fucked with the family's beliefs and the media ate that shit up.

Drama is drama, Right?
Even though it's not just drama and actually someone's life but whatever, anything for relevancy.

"I'm sorry." I apologised again, "Like, Because of you and your dad...And the way things are."
"Again, Not your fault." Zafina reiterated.
"Still." I insisted, "It feels like somebody has to apologise for this. Better me than nobody, right?"

Zafina shrugged. I poked at my oats with my spoon.
That was the morning that built the foundation of the rest of my day; Awkward.
My day had started just as it ended. Really fucking awkward.

It was my first day at work, at Vivian's business.
Of course I wasn't anywhere near her.
I was working at the retail stores while she stayed at her fancy office in one of those big buildings that you never really know the purpose of, unless you work there yourself.

As per usual, I got the hang of everything relatively quickly.

The only reason that it was awkward was because of the forward, lonely male clients that would flirt with me as if I were available.