𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 ✓ (𝟷𝟾+)

The first step

Roger

Mistake

It's a mistake that I fell her for her charm. That I did what I wasn't supposed to do. She was drunk and I took advantage of her. 

How could I be so blind? 

My mind unraveled with flashbacks, playing in a loop. If I was not careful enough around Arin, I might as well slip back into my old ways. The ways that hurt me before, drilled holes in my soul and battered my body to never trust anyone. The way that almost reduced me to ashes, I couldn't rise from.

The whole night I tossed and thrashed in Xavier's bed. I saw relief washing over his face when he saw me exiting Arin's room. That lovesick boy must have assumed I would spend the night with her. 

Xavier was nothing if not helpful. Maybe it was time for me to repay him. 

~

The office buzzing was a little louder for me today. Well, it had to be. It wasn't a normal day either. The Oswald's' were here, everyone of them. Hashing out finer details of the merger deal at the Murphy's, it was the day when we would negotiate business terms for our benefits. 

Accommodating half the Oswald staff into our our office was a task which Mrs. Rose and Georgia happily undertook. I knew difficult when I see one but those two girls made it look like cakewalk.

The new members only had one word on their mind and one person in thoughts- Arin.

Her previous place had become some sort of a shrine for almost every visitors. Everyone wanted to see the lost and found heiress. I was alarmed by the number of footsteps I heard since morning, all halting their strides near her cubicle before moving back. Arin had gradually sneaked up to become the nation's sweetheart. The girl, whom I was drawn to. The same one, who could so easily be corrupted. 

I tried my best to avoid the crowd, walking into the boardroom. The only other person present besides me was the one, whom I tried hard to avoid. Since the night at the party, Arin and I didn't interact. She ensured I never faced her in office, and so did I. 

With the understanding that the current situation was impossible to avoid, I struck a casual hello as the door automatically creaked back shut.

Without meeting my face, Arin nodded her reply. Her gaze remained fixated on the documents  scanning each and every word. My feet paced slow, watching her strum her paint chipped nails on the mahogany tabletop, creating a soft echo in an otherwise soundproof room.

I sat opposite to her on the long table when her gaze met mine and her hoarse tone blurted. "Oswalds' sit there. Murphys' are here." I saw the placeholder when her index finger pointed.

Peering back at her documents, she didn't look when I placed myself besides her. Without disturbing the surrounding air, she tried her best to pull her chair away. There needed no further clarification that Arin too was avoiding me.

"If Oswalds' sit there," I pointed to the deserted opposite side of the table. "Then aren't you supposed to.." It was only meant as a one liner limerick but Arin was too focused to cut off my words with a stern reproach.

"People who work at Oswalds. Not every Oswald. Clear?"

"More than clear!"

The doors flung open. The devil and his spawn spewed through them. Stella Oswald with her father grinned at me with the shamelessness of a thief, used to getting caught.

Stella scanned the room, eying us. "There you are. How are you darling?" I didn't bother caring for whom she spoke to. All I could do was watched Arin through the corner of my eyes. Something inside made me watch her expressions instead of acknowledge the entities present in the room. With no answer to her question, Stella drove up her words. "That's no way to treat a guest, Roger."