Regal Love

Chapter Eleven

“Good morning Ma’am” Stella wished me as I entered the office. I looked at her and said,
“Good morning too, email me my appointments right away”. It was not her job to assist me anymore but she was always ready to.
I entered my office and rolled my eyes at the clownery of a place that Veronica had made it but I did not have time to waste whining over it.
Maria served me my hot cup of coffee and then I started reading some legal books. I did my level best to pretend that I didn’t see Aiden. Though it was only day one since the firm was opened, it was a busy day. We had amazing group of lawyers who were so exceptionally clever, they could send an innocent person to jail or even give lifelong freedom to a murderer. Our first few cases were like that, and we won each and every case that we handled. The first eight months were spent handling such cases, they were hard but they brought in a lot of profit for the firm. I was so engrossed in work that I even stopped going to church. “Maybe that was better” I thought, because not going to church made me feel less guilty of all the shit I did and the sins I committed. For months I had believed that leaving behind Bryant and all the sadness he caused, but it wasn’t true. I admit I was a terrible person when I was dating him, I was mean to my colleagues, to my family and even abandoned my family. But I just realized that, I’ve only become a worse version of that “me” if that was even possible. I could see my colleague get cheated on and lied to by his own wife (yes, they got married a few months ago) and I didn’t even have the heart to tell him. In fact I hardly talked to him, the only time that I had any interaction with him was when we would have meetings. I avoided all the firm parties he hosted, I ignored his texts and his “good morning” wishes but that fool would not stop being kind to me. My behaviour had changed so much that Michelle had to move out and I didn’t mind because I always wanted to turn her room into a library. My friendship with Michelle deteriorated with time and I was no longer her friend, I was only her boss.
“Hey dear are you not going to come home for Christmas?” Mom asked. The only people that I ever had proper communication with were my family. I was this ruthless and emotionless person to the world but I was still this sweetheart to my family.
“I don’t know mom, work is just piling up” I sighed.
“You should give yourself a break. We miss you. It’s going to be 6 years since we last saw you.” She teared up.
“Okay Mom. I’ll come” I spent the next two hours talking to her. I didn’t tell her about the abuse or the issues that I was going through, not that I needed to. I’m pretty sure that she knew I was crying myself to sleep every night. That’s the beauty of parenthood, your child did not have to tell you the things that they are going through, you just know, you just know.