Before You Leave Me

17. Cinderella Beautiful

I didn't see Victoria after that day.

We talked through Whatsapp a couple of times the following months after that but at some point, our conversation ended and it never started again.

It's funny how we don't acknowledge most of our lives' losses until they've already happened, isn't it?

"Dan"

"Dan..."

September 29th, 2022

6:46pm

"... Daniel"

I shake my head, back to reality, and see my coworker staring at me.

"You all right, mate?"

I look at him and finally nod.

"Yeah, I was off"

"You don't say" he chuckles, "You've been staring at the wall for almost ten minutes without moving. I thought you had seen a ghost or something"

"Sorry" I say, "I was... Never mind. Is it time to go already?"

"It was, fifteen minutes ago" Albert answers raising his eyebrows, "I thought you were finishing that celebrity mansion project you have to show the board tomorrow"

Right, the project.

The reason I started thinking about Vic in the first place.

The board gave it to me a couple of months ago. The moment I saw the person who had requested it, my heart missed a beat: Harry Edward Styles.

Of course there could be a hundred people in Great Britain with that name, but the board told me to work very hard on it since the owner was going to pay a great deal of money for it.
A few phone calls later I had made sure the future owner of the house I was designing was no other than Vic's close friend.

I thought a lot about her while working on the project. A lot more than I would have wanted to. Wondering if she'd get to see the house someday. If she still talks to Harry, or if she is no longer part of the ex-boyband members' lives. Wondering where she is, what she's doing and sometimes, for some stupid reason, even wondering if she thinks of me.

It's funny how some things take you back to the past even if you don't want them to, and make you relive them as if it had been yesterday.

"Oh for God's sake, Dan! Pull yourself together."

I look at Albert.

"I finished it two days ago" I say getting up and grabbing my jacket from the seat's back, "The board's gonna be impressed. Finished your project already? Yours is due on Monday" I fire back.

"I finished it this morning. Incredible work; yours will be nothing compared to how amazing mine has turned out to be" Albert jokes, "Let's stop talking about work and go have our weekly beers!" he jumps, "Thank God it's almost Friday!"

I shake my head and follow him to the elevator, say goodbye to James the doorman and exit to a warm afternoon in London.

That's right, I live in London now.

I've been living here since I finished my degree and the office where I did my practices offered me a year contract that has been extending ever since. It will be three years in January.

To be honest, I never thought I'd enjoy living here. I was not cut out to enjoy cloudy weather. I'm Spanish, for fuck's sake!

But I've come to love the city.
I love how big everything is. How it can take you hours to get out of town. How you have to drive everywhere. Maybe I wasn't cut out for cloudy weather, but I want to believe I was cut out for greatness, and I've achieved that here. I felt like nothing tied me back in Spain and even though I never thought it possible, London has become the place that I call home.

You should see my house: An amazing duplex that overlooks Hyde Park. Designed it myself and worked my ass off over hours to complete it. It will take me some years to pay it off but, fingers crossed, the project I have to present to the board tomorrow will give me prestige, a big income and hopefully a salary raise.

"I'd like you to overlook my project before I hand it over" Albert says, "Please"

I turn to him.

"Sure" I answer, "come by my office tomorrow before lunch and I'll give it a look"

Albert entered barely a few months after I did and we became close friends immediately. He's the only person in the city I consider a friend, and he's also amazing to work with. Our Thursday beers have been a tradition since the first week we started working together.

"You all right, mate?" Albert asks two beers after.

"Yeah, this Styles project has taken a lot from me this week" I sigh, "I just wanna get home and rest"

"Fine, one more beer and we'll go" Albert nods and gestures towards the waiter to ask for the last round.

It is pouring down when we exit the pub half an hour later.

"Want me to drop you?" Albert offers, "I've got a spare helmet on my motorcycle"

"Nah man, thanks" I decline, "I think I'll walk"

Albert pulls a face but says nothing.

One of the things I like about him is that he rarely asks questions. And yes, wanting to walk in the rain is a weird request, but he knows I have my reasons so he nods, pats my back and walks away.

I look both ways at a red light and step on the zebra crossing.

"Dan!" Albert calls me.

I turn around.

Then I realise it wasn't a call. It was a warning.

At the edge of my field of vision, something I can't quite make out comes towards me at an impossible speed.

I turn to it, two headlights blinding me instantly, giving me just enough time to realise that there is no way I'm going to be able to get out of the way.

There's a shout, which may be my own.

And then there is nothing.