It started as a Game

Work...

Only he had his number. Declan didn't have any chance to contact this guy. Other than through his wife, but he didn't want to push it that far.

On Monday, coming to work, he could immediately feel the tension between his boss and himself. Well, there was nothing new to that really, but it was different this time. He knew she had noticed and he knew she was too proud to say anything and that was exactly what he had wanted to achieve.

But Rebecca Winterbottom was also a very good actress, so she didn't let her anger show. Not even to him. But Declan knew it was there. He had her face still in mind, staring outside, seeing her husband and him talking and laughing and he of course smiled at that.

Initially, he had wanted to leave it at that, but he found quite a liking in both the situation and this man. He was still wondering why such a nice and gentle man was married to such an evil woman. Declan couldn't imagine that Rebecca Winterbottom could be nice and caring. Not even when she was at home with her husband. Everything about her was demanding, dominant and unforgiving.

Declan thought that there was no way that could change. Not even in private. It was just the way she was. Characters might form, but that was in your juvenile years. Rebecca Winterbottom was 34. She didn't change anymore. Declan was convinced that someone like her didn't deserve to be treated nicely.

So Declan had no feeling of guilt. Mostly, because he hadn't done anything. But also because he liked to see her all worked up about the situation. To an outsider it wouldn't be visible. But to him it was. He knew it had resulted in even more moaning towards him from her side but that only affirmed his assumptions and he smiled internally at her while being overly friendly to complete the tasks she had given him.

He knew he had power over her now. He knew she realised that she had underestimated him and that was a fantastic feeling. Declan could bear all the little skits she made. He could easily deal with that, because he knew he had gotten access to her weak spot. And he had only attended this event because of that reason. Because she had bragged about how her husband would accompany her. And Declan hoped she knew that that had been the only reason he had also come along.

"Donnelly" she yelled from her desk and Declan slowly made his way towards her.

"Yes, Mrs Winterbottom?" he replied overly friendly.

"I need your analysis on this until tomorrow" she stated stoically and handed him a folder.

"Sure" Declan smiled and turned around to walk back to his desk. But not before glancing at the picture of Anthony on her desk, smiling up cheekily at him. He had made sure Rebecca had noticed it.

He loved this little game. He loved the fact that she was too proud to say something and he loved the fact that he could have some fun with it.

For the next few hours, he was busy with paper work and research for his analysis. When it was time to leave, he made sure that Rebecca Winterbottom left before him so he could further his plan.

"Since when exactly are you so diligent?" his boss remarked when she was about to leave and walked past his desk, her heels clicking awkwardly loud on the floor.

"Mrs Winterbottom" Declan said and smiled up at her. "You know as well as me that I am a very diligent person when it comes to my job and you have given me this task, so I might as well finish it in my own pace."

"Isn't it nice to see that my employees take their work so seriously?" Rebecca Winterbottom stated in that tone that made Declan want to smash her face in. She smirked at him one last time before turning to leave.

"Have a nice evening, Mrs Winterbottom" Declan said politely, ignoring her remark. "And give my best regards to your husband" he added and smirked when she stopped dead in her tracks on the mentioning of Anthony.

She turned her head and just nodded blankly before heading out of the room.

Declan couldn't help but chuckle a little and waited another 10 minutes before also heading for home.

Home was his fort. He loved his flat and he loved coming home after a hard day of work, relaxing on the dark red sofa and watching telly, a beer in his hand. Sometimes he managed to even cook something but most of the times it was a little supper he enjoyed or from time to time even a takeaway. Of course, Chinese was his favourite and he knew the guy who worked in the little shop down the road very well by now.

Declan didn't have many friends. But the few he had were genuine and he enjoyed meeting up with them from time to time. Mostly on the weekends though. So as it was Monday, he didn't have any intentions on going out again, especially because he had stayed at work for a little bit longer than usual.

So Declan was more than surprised when his phone buzzed. It only could be his mother. Or one of his siblings. Nagging how he should visit them again some time and how long it had been since they had seen each other. He knew it was true but he just couldn't bring himself to make it all the way up to Newcastle on a normal weekend. He always waited for some sort of holiday or he took the Friday off to drive up there early. But he knew it had been quite an amount of time since he had been last up there. At least 3 months. So he considered driving up the next weekend although it was a normal one. But of course he missed his family. He missed his mother the most. He wasn't even embarrassed to admit that. But seeing his brothers and sisters and his nieces and nephews would be nice as well. So Declan played with the idea when he grabbed his phone. Ready to answer exactly that.

Newcastle match on the weekend. Fancy watching it together? Anthony

Declan stared at his screen and smiled to himself. Now that had worked quite to his liking.