Crooked.

One: The Phone Call.

A/N: If anywhere in the book you come across the name "Amir," I used to call Soo that in the previous version of the story. There might be a few times where i make the mistake of not changing the name - please let me know if I missed it anywhere. The story may not have updated on your device too, as it shows his name as "Soo" on my computer and tablet, but not on my phone.

Also, this chapter might be a bit confusing - characters will be more fleshed out in coming chapters.

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"And we forgot what we wanted
And we became what we become
Waitresses and bartenders, city employees and temp positions
We are junkies and one kiss poems and we cry the stars
As we write our scars onto dumpsters and electric boxes
Because the only thing that we can hear is our hearts
And the only ones listening are the streets."

-Anis Mojgani.

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[JANUARY 2015 (Present) - Age 25].

3:00 PM.

My favourite time of the day.

Snapping all my files and computer tabs shut, I stretched my arms up towards the white ceiling and gave a long yawn, exhaling softly. The only other sounds that resounded in the office were tapping keys, mouse clickers, flipped pages and the occasional murmur. This was the big week: we were officially launching a marketing campaign for a specific brand of triangle-shaped chips that were available in almost every grocery store, and it would be massive. The company had raked in a contract of $2,000,000 to come up with proper advertising, and it would launch by this Saturday. If the employees did well, we'd all get bonuses - hence the concentrated environment.

Letting a sigh of satisfaction slip through my lips, I rolled my chair backwards and stood up, shoving any garbage in the rubbish bin beneath my desk.

I lifted my jacket off the back of the chair and shrugged it onto my shoulders, calling out to the two workers in the cubicles to the left of mine, "See you tomorrow Percy! You too, Darren!"

"See you Nev," the two late-twenties men briefly looked up, murmuring a quick bye with a nod of the head, before turning back to the large computers that sat on their desks and tapping away at the keyboard.

I grabbed my black leather tote from underneath the desk and shrugged it onto my shoulder, listening to the jangling sound of car keys, lip balm and other stray items clang together as it shifted into place. Turning to the cubcile to my right, I was met with the sight of Mala - my colleague and best friend, who sat staring at me with envious hazel eyes.

"Ugh, I hate you. I'm off in two hours." She whined with her soft voice, a despairing look etched accross her face.

"Mala - go grab yourself another coffee, girl! I don't know how you're going to get that presentation done before your shift is over."

"Uuuugh, I'm going to die." She rolled her hazel eyes in the back of her head and stuck out her tongue agonizingly.

I laughed, tucking my computer chair under my desk and zipping up my jacket.

"How much more do you have left?"

"I wish I knew," She responded, running two hands through her thick mass of golden brown curls and bringing them down her face to rub her eyes.

I puffed out my cheeks and then let out a gush of air all at once, giving her a hopeless look.

"Damn, have a snack to keep you up at least." I replied, reaching into my black square bag to retrieve a Twix chocolate bar and tossing it over towards her. At first a look of confusion crossed over her features, before catching the crinkly golden chocolate bar in her hands and realizing it was the drool-worthy snack hand-crafted by angels. Her facial expression immediately brightened with a wide, gleaming smile that contrasted against her earthy mixed-race skin,
"Thanks Nev. I owe you one."