Office Affair

Restless night

Dominic

Dominic couldn't sleep a wink. He tossed and turned, and the moment that he managed to fall asleep, it brought him no comfort and rest. In fact, it caused him sweat and bone-deep, chilling fear. He had a disturbingly vivid dream that Anya sent him a text, and in it explaining that she will not be working for him after all, given that she still felt very uneasy about that whole situation, and that she was quitting, effective immediately. It made him spring up. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and started going through texts, looking for any and every shred of evidence that it was only a dream.

„What is wrong with you, Dominic? It's not even morning! I am trying to sleep." He heard Kayla's disgruntled voice on the other side of the bed. Her back was turned to him so she didn't see him rolling his eyes at her.

„I just had a nightmare. I can't sleep." He answered, knowing that a tone of compassion would escape her once more, so he didn't waste his time waiting for it.

„Then kindly go and lay down on the couch in the living room." He didn't oblige her. That couch was cold and hard, and that was the exact opposite of what he needed. Instead, he lay back under the covers and put his hand on his stomach. Sometimes it helped him to focus on the weight of his hand as he breathed. Tonight that wasn't helpful. In fact, it made him nauseous, so he decided to spend the rest of the night just staring at the ceiling. By the time he was sure that it was just the dream and all in his head, it was time to get ready for the day. He took a quick shower, a few big gulps of coffee because he wanted to get to work as soon as possible, and his briefcase. He looked at himself in the elevator mirror and snorted. He looked like death warmed up, and he felt as much.

He looked at the clock as he parked his car in the garage. He would surely be the first person to come in. That was good, because he needed to get a grip and become as presentable as soon as possible. His troubles were nobody else's concerns.

„My god, what happened to you, Dominic?" Michelle sounded tired. So he wasn't the first to come to the office after all.

„I didn't get much sleep last night."

„I can see that. Is there any particular reason for it?"

„None that I want to talk about. How come you're here so early?" He said testily.

Michelle shrugged, unbothered by his tone because they both knew that he would call her to talk about it the second he's ready. It helped him immensely that she was used to his behavior by now, and really nothing that he did was surprising her any more.

„I'm always here so early. You'll be happy to know that all Duncan's ex clients have decided to stay with us." She said, and he nodded. That did make him happy. It showed that he was doing the right thing.

„Anya's not here yet?" He tried to bury the intensity of that question by being casual.

„No, but she texted me that she missed her train, she was waiting for another one. I am sure she will be here any minute. Besides, it's not even normal working hours, yet."

„Send her to my office when she's here, will you?"

„Is she in trouble?"

„God no. I just want to check in on her, to make sure she's all right."

„Oh, good."

He placed his briefcase on the table, took off his suit and hung it on the holder next to the door, sat down and started massaging his forehead and temples. The headache was not subsiding, and he was getting ever so slightly irritated. Everybody always told him that coffee made their headache go away. Lying bastards. He tried to stay away from pharmacy drugs as much as possible, and today will not be the day to start taking them. Instead, he went to the bathroom and washed his face again with cold water. Then, when that wasn't working, he walked up to Michelle and said: