Always Yours | PAUSED

08 PART 1

SHADOW POV

The morning came.

Full of dread, I force myself into my car. I adjust my mirrors and windows to prepare for the drive to work. The second my windows go down, I hear the clicks.

"Great" I mutter trying to adjust my suitcase onto the passenger seat beside me. It takes less than a second for them to make it to my window and stick their microphones through it.

"Sir Hedgehog, great day I assume?"

"Shadow, do you think you can spare some of your time to answer some of my questions?"

"Sir, rumor has it that conflicts are arising even before the merge, is that true?"

Lately, everything has me on edge, especially the corporate espionage. The media knowing about it proves exactly my point. Someone is leaking confidential files.

I try to speak in the midst of all this noise, yet to be cut off by every fraction of their squeals. Struggling to get ONE word out, my patience runs thin.

I've decided I have had enough and begin to raise my drivers window. With a smirk plastered on my face I watch as their faces change desperately for some answers.

"Wait!"

My ears catch at the familiarity of the light voice causing me to stop. She makes it to my window panting from the run that she took as she pushes through people to make it to me. "Sir, is there someone you'd like to celebrate today with?" she clears her hair from her face, waiting for my answer.

My mind goes stagnant, thinking she was someone else. At my lack of responsiveness she nods her head to singal me to speak yet now with my mind on her question my gaze begins to drop unconsciously.

A few seconds go by, and without realizing a smile tugs at the corner of my face.

"There was one person..." I breathe out.

They grow silent processing my quiet behavior as I turn away from their large cameras. However, just as quickly, they engage and press for answers.

"Sir who is it?"

" Is it Vada the socialite?"

"What about the young lady from weeks ago?" They blurt out

My face scrunches at such accusations and without another word from me, my window fully raises. Starting my engine, I make it out of the building's garage and into the streets.

Two blocks away from my building, I stop at a stoplight. I roll my eyes at my rear view mirror, watching the clowns of the press shouting and running down the street.

My mind draws back the moments from earlier, recalling their questions. With the seconds I have, I dig into my blazer and pull out my locket.

Just like every time, the image always takes my breath away. My fingers make it around it's rustic edges, feeling it's antiquity as if I'm holding time itself. I observe faded picture, feeling a lump on my throat form. It was just her, her smile, her eyes, her hair. She was everything. It was her...