The Rise Of Glory.

Loose Lips Sink Ships.

Thursday, November 5th, 2024.

New York.

The grey pavements of New York have barely managed to dry from the morning rainfall that has left the town damp and lingering with a gloomy feeling. I personally feel as though this gloomy greyness will never pass. It has been raining non-stop for the last week, but deep down I feel like it has been raining for months, the flowers inside me have drowned and wilted. When flowers receive too much water, it doesn't cleanse them or revitalises them, instead, when the soil is constantly wet, there aren't enough air pockets for the flowers to breathe. That's exactly how I have begun to feel— my air pockets are filling with everything falling apart around me— and I'm slowly becoming suffocated within my own self.

As I walk along the cracked, and busy sidewalks, I notice how everyone is busy and hurrying around on this early, gloomy morning. I don't blame them, I would be bustling across the pavement too if it wasn't for an almost-three-year-old on my hip, "love? You there?" Harry's voice echoes through the phone and I draw myself back to the conversation we were just having.

"Yeah, jus' thinking about how I forgot to turn the washer on."

"I did it when I left," Harry responds, picking up the slack for me this morning.

This morning hasn't been the easiest, from the moment Alex woke up, Alex has been whiny and clingy, not allowing me to leave his sight for a second. With breakfast, I couldn't leave him with Harry to finish reading through the daily report from yesterday, and sending out the emails for the day-to-day operations for the next few days. Managing numerous branches of the business definitely keeps me occupied and keeps my mind running at a high speed. Sometimes, I wish it would stop.

"Surprised you know how to use the thing. Been a while, hasn't it?" I softly banter with Harry. It is nice to be playful sometimes, our lives consist of being structured and CEO oriented and sometimes we forget to just banter.

"Oi, be nice," Harry chuckles, "though, you aren't wrong. Just been busy, I'll do better."

"I'm joking," I roll my eyes, even though he can't see me do so.

Here's the thing with how Harry and I work when it comes to household chores. We pick up each other's slack and nothing is entirely assigned to me besides the grocery shopping, he hates the grocery store with a passion. Harry usually does his best with the household, if he sees the laundry in the basket he will fold and put them away and, he does a lot more of the cooking dinner than I do– when he's cooking dinner, I'm usually chasing Alex around to get him washed up for supper.

Harry chuckles on the other end of the phone, "it is alright, love. I hope you know you're late, by the way," Harry says and I can almost hear the grin to his tone of voice.

I heavily sigh and I bounce Alex, "supervising marketing efforts can wait an extra five minutes, I needed my second tea for the morning and I needed to check on Meyer Enterprise without your new team interrupting my phone calls," I murmur bitterly. Harry's New York team aren't as independent as London's, I have to oversee every damn thing they do, and I don't get a minute in my office alone because there is always someone needing my help or needing to pick my brains. Teaching a new set of staff on how to run things our way is more time consuming than I had expected. Making a phone call in private is nearly impossible, hence why I had to do it on my morning tea run.

"Three strikes and you're out."

"Damn, is the CEO going to fire me?" I chuckle but my chuckle fades to grey and I feel a sudden lump in my throat.