Solace

two

FOUR YEARS LATER, MAISIE STILL COULDN'T LET THAT NIGHT GO.

She managed to use every opportunity to tease me about him—the masquerade ball boy was what she'd call him. She had tried so hard to pry out of me exactly who exactly this masquerade ball boy was, but her pursuits were fruitless.

But if my unwillingness to speak about it wasn't me trying to keep that night a memory for only myself, a fairy-tale moment of sorts that only existed between him and I, then at least it was an attempt for me to grow up and forget that night, as I knew his world was one I didn't belong in, and therefore, better to forget altogether. As much I had once wanted to believe that fairytales existed, the truth was, they were always only ever just stories.

And I was older now, mature enough to understand what reality meant. I had long left those romance novels in the attic of my mother's house, and those romcom films donated to the local charity.

My lips quirked up as I sat at my small but cozy desk of the small event management firm I now worked at, AC Events, shuffling files of paper in alphabetical order. I had truly, in every sense, grown up.

It wasn't my dream job perhaps, but I was content with it, and I long learned that it was impossible to have everything live up to your expectations anyways. I had always thought I'd grow up to become a writer, writing romance novels as a career, but it was something I left behind the moment my father decided to leave us for his young, pretty client from work, who he had been cheating on my mother with, proving my suspicions right. It was hard believing something could be real if it proved itself wrong in front of you.

I had began working at AC Events straight after graduation. Since AC Events was still a relatively new, smaller company, most of the work depended on outsourcing from larger corporations. We consisted of a small team that, despite labelled roles, dabbled in a bit of everything. The entire team had a collaborative culture, and we often chatted while doing our tasks, which made it much more bearable.

It was only a few minutes after I had done my usual coffee run in the morning, placing a piping hot cup of decadent coffee on each employee's desk, when, Katie, whose desk was right next to mine, screamed from beside me as she stared at her computer screen in shock.

"Guys," she murmured, her eyes wide and dilated as it latched onto the email shone bright on her screen. "the boss is coming back any minute now!"

And as if the sky had collapsed, or something to that extent, calling for a crisis, the office erupted into screams, and then chaos ensued, as each and every employee began clearing their desks, and the women dabbed lipstick on their lips.

I was relatively new to the company, having only started after graduating a few months ago, and not once in all these months had I seen, or even heard of the boss. It was like he or she was this mystical force in the office that always went unmentioned, and even when I had asked, Jack, our team lead, had shut me up with a file shoved up my face. But somehow the mention of the boss managed to wake even Joe, who could sleep through the daily construction outside the building, the various staff meetings we held, and possibly even a stampede of elephants.

I watched as he, now wide awake, wiped the drool off his face and gathered the piles of files on his desk, stashing it in a drawer.

"What's going on?" I rolled my chair over to Janine, who was busy brushing her midnight black hair, even though it was already perfectly straight and silky.

"Oh sweetie, don't you know?" She turned around to look at me. "The boss is the hottest guy around," her eyes twinkled at the mention of him, and she had a dreamy look on her face, "and the last time he visited the office was over two months ago!"