The CEO's Secret✔️

28: The Crash

September 2011

C H A P T E R  T W E N T Y  E I G H T

T H E   C R A S H

Katie looked at her phone again as soon as she got out of work and sighed when she saw the many missed calls from Colin. It seemed as if no amount of ignoring she did was going to stop him from trying to reach out to her. She was surprised he hadn't turned up at her apartment yet, but maybe he had gotten some sense and realised that would be crossing the line and Katie would be even more furious with him if he did so. She was trying to get on with her life, it had taken months, and she was still learning but things were getting better for her. She still thought about Colin from time to time, especially when he left texts and tried to call her numerous times every day, but she was strong and independent, she had lived her life without him before, and she would get on fine after him.

Although she had not gotten back out on the dating scene yet, she had been preoccupied with work. Once she kept busy, she would be fine. Her mind would not linger on the continuous scenarios which used to play around in her head a month or two ago. It felt like there was still no amount of work that she could bury herself with in order to get rid of Colin. He still seemed to linger in the background, usually creeping up on nights when she began to wonder what it would be like if things were different a couple of months ago.

Katie had to learn that she couldn't change anything. It was not possible to go back in time and make Colin do everything differently, make herself stay that day at the Anderson's home and calm him down, reason with him that he was making a bad decision giving up on the two of them. When looking at the situation from the outside, it definitely seemed desperate, but Katie felt so much all at once, indescribable sadness, nostalgia and anger all mixed into one. She didn't know whether to hate him or love him for it, because Katie could only remember the bad times with the good, neither could be looked back on without the other.

Colin, although she did not want to think of him, was trying desperately to find a way to make it up to Katie. He knew by then, words would surely mean nothing at all. He was falling apart, of course he turned to his vices, his addictions at times when he felt helpless and alone- which was a lot when he wasn't with her. Knowing that he was the one that ruined everything between them was killing him slowly, and understanding that he might never get her back tipped him over the edge.

But that night, things took a turn for the worst.

Colin tried to call her, like he usually did around the time she was finished work. Her finger lingered on the screen, she didn't know whether to decline or pick up. And for once, the only time she decided she ever would, she accepted the call. Her hands shook as she held the phone to her ear, wanting to hear him speak.

"Katie... Katie. Hello?" He questioned her desperately on the phone, needing to hear her reply, to just say something. He hadn't heard her voice in so long.

But Katie couldn't do it. Tears began to form in her eyes that she forced back, she wouldn't cry, just hang up and try to forget. She was only tempting herself. What good would have come from a phone call? Colin was a married man, nothing he could say could right his wrong. She could never be his friend again.

Colin was left heartbroken as he stood in his apartment, staring down at his screen in complete shock. Why had she answered for once and then hung up? He didn't want to think it was a mistake, that she might have accidentally accepted the call and soon realised what she'd done. The small action tormented him, she had no idea though. Instead of thinking about what had happened, she pushed it to the back of her mind, even if it was only for her trip home.