His Rotten Apple

53 ~ The Darkness She Lifted

Intimidated stares pricked the back of Connor's neck as he walked through the building. He heard whispers every step he took, doing his best to keep walking forward. Though none of this unusual chatter in the morning bothered him, as he knew exactly how he looked.

His dark circles revealed the mere minutes of sleep he got. His eyes were lifeless and empty. His expression glum and out of place.

"Mr. Davis," A voice called out from behind him.

It was the only thing in the world that triggered a stir in his emotional state. He turned around, eyes landing on Zailey, who was absolutely blooming.

She's happy with Gavin.

Zailey furrowed her eyebrows in concern from his life-drained appearance, "Are you alright?"

He ignored her question, "What is it, Ms. Tsang?"

"James wanted you to take a look at this," she handed him a portfolio. "We still haven't gotten feedback on the last one."

"Alright, I'll get those to you by today. Come by my office around six," he said, turning around to keep walking.

"Mr. Davis, are you really okay?" Her voice sounded sincere.

If you sucked her into this world of yours...

"I'm fine."

You would have ruined her.

***

As hard as he tried, he couldn't subdue the pounding headache that triumphantly prevented him from getting any work done. That, and the blinding image of Zailey walking up to him this morning was giving him whiplash. He tried to assume composure once he heard knocking on his door.

"Mom?" Connor stood up from his seat.

"This place looks nice, it's very fitting for you," Janine walked around his office.

"You're... Early."

"I just missed you too much. Plus it's been a while since the honeymoon ended. We had nothing to do."

"Did you get to visit dad?"

"Not yet... Maybe later," she swallowed. "I don't think he'd wanna see me anymore. We hurt each other a lot."

"He really wants to see you. You can introduce Al-"

He was interrupted by knocking on the door. The door creaked open, as small footsteps entered the room. The steps halted as they were on the other side of the door.

"Zai?" Janine asked.

Zailey's face remained frozen, "J-Janine..."

"What are you doing here?"

Connor cleared his throat, "She's the new ambassador."

Janine let out a short breath, speechless. "Where's Mrs. Jones?"

"Mom."

"She's responsible for this, isn't she?"

"No. I agreed to the arrangement. She was a good business choice-"

"No! Connor, don't do this. That girl is the reason why you were rushed to the hospital!"

"Mom! Stop!" Connor shouted.

Zailey froze in place, her eyes widened. 

Hospital? She felt dizzy, struggling to absorb anything they were saying.

"Connor! Look at you! You're showing the same signs... You're pale, your eyes are red," she examined him. "See what you're doing to him! Get away from him!"