ERICA'S POV
If you didn't know my mom yet, then you should. Given the fact that she perfectly had fit in the 'if she wanted, she would' class.

Because now if she wanted, she would throw me out of the house, disown me and disqualify me from inheriting her rights, properties and her luxury possessions. Not that we had any.

That's like mocking my own fam. Anyhow, so where was I now? Oh yes, she would do all the aforementioned things happily to me just for him.

Because who would even want to have a bronze medal when they could have a gold one? And this is who I actually was to her, when dating or men like him barged in.

Mom wasn't wrong tho. I mean, seeing me growing up in an unhealthy family and witnessing all of that had made her realise that I needed to have a man in my life. A protective man at that one.

So at times, I did feel bad about her behaving this way to me and making me feel like an orphan, but in the end all she had wanted was for me to have a happily-ever-after and not have a disastrous-ever-after like of her own life based off of her impulsive decisions. If that was even a thing in the dictionary.

So whenever disputes like this happened between us, I'd had to refresh my mind again and again that she was just an old mama who wanted the best for me for she knew that I deserved the best.

So after all this while, I didn't have it in me anymore to explain it to her that I wanted to be independent for once in my life time, that i didn't want to rely on anyone but myself and that I wanted to be a queen, who didn't want nor need a king to run her kingdom––– for she alone was enough to handle the herd & every single one of them.

But to her, we were past the ancient Dynasty unfortunately, that world didn't work like that anymore and that I needed to have a mascot or a monarch in order to have a happily-ever-after without getting assassinated.

Therefore the pre-cinderalla treatment before she met her prince and before she were announced the owner of her own shoes as she'd fit into her shoes.

Achoo! Winters and their indistinctive noises were completely two different things yet were united by one motto––– pull back before taking a full swing at me.

Shattering my thoughts that shorts weren't coming to help me jogged my mind that cardigans were a must to survive both of their iciness each. 

Now before mom revealed any extra info 'bout me, which could be used against me sometime later in the future by that bulldozer, it was time for me to catch up.

So quickly I closed the door, turned on my heel and rubbed my hands against each other so they would generate some fill-in warmth to supply it to me and would get me moving for the dinner, if not night.  

"So, mom what are we havin' for dinner?" He asked, his eyebrows waggling up and down until it came to a halt as he rested his elbows on the chair's top crest rail.

Awesome! He already had begun to consider my home as his abode. Thanks to mama! 

"Great question, tris. Look we don't have protein bars nor we eat it. Atleast not for dinner. Just so you know." she snapped her fingers at him in a playful way, before she opened the lids of the crockery kept on the dining table. 

I may have not liked her behaviour earlier, but i was deftly enjoying this whole convo.

Any men above 5'5 or 6 feet weren't less than of athletes to mum who looked like they took up premium gym membership the first time they signed up for it. 

Or either they were big squirrels to mom who demanded peanuts (protein bars) whenever they were tired from all the hide and seek. (Gym)

"Fantastico, la mama si fa ma,"  (great, mother is mothering) he mouthed a whistle in an astonished manner while he drew his hands up in the air.

"Haha, you are gonna be such a great son in law in the future yk?" She complimented him, just when her hands slid to her chest as she was amazed by whatever which i couldn't see what she had seen in him.

If she even had the slightest of an idea that how much of a great ex-son-in law he was, she would stop taking care of him and entertaining which she had been doing for the past fifteen minutes.

"Anyways, so as I was saying, we have pad thai noodles, spicy minced meat patties and we also have Erica, you know?" she winked at him right after opening the lids, whispered through her eyes at me to behave once again and to groom myself at the last minute before he turned around his back to me.

Seriously? Like woah... Not only the control term had gotten a hold of her, but desperation had also snak-ed over her.

If anyone glanced from my point of view, they'd know instantly that she might as well sell me off to him.

Like hello?! Okay, I get it that you've made a wrong choice and you're suffering because of it and you want the money, you want the power, you want me to see happy, you want my smile to never for once fade away but... You can't just outlook me as a way of... making money? I don't know.

She did this everytime and made me hella confused, dual minded, indecisive whatever it is that she did was very high-key unlikely of her.

And this was the just and only reason why I didn't bring in any of my guy friends. But the only guy friend I had was noah as of now.

But still it counted right? Yeah for me it did, so then she paired me up with of course my male friends.

I was not at all tugged onto the negative side of stepmom's and how evil or villainous they usually were and I won't ever.

Not when I knew that she was nothing like them but... tristin was the prob here.

He needed to go, right away without feeling the urge to ever come back here again.

I got it, he's been a storm constantly since I have ever met him so no wonder the surroundings besides me have been rough, frizzy and most importantly upside down.

So again it was my responsibility to look after it and flip it the right way.

"Woah that was outta pocket now," his flat lips parted, his mouth fell wide open and his palms were up in the air, kinda floating in the air...?

This was one of the alarms with one long exclamation to let people know that she had a different propaganda on making people stumble upon and making them flabbergasted.

All I could say in accordance was that she was just totally letting out her inner demons and wild creatures.

Happened often with vivid imaginators and creators I guess.

"I agree with him." I corroborated, handing out a faint smile when he jerked his head in my side and acknowledged it by shutting off his eyes momentarily.

Maybe it was a fault on my part? Maybe I wasn't entirely true? And maybe he wasn't as bad as I made him to be?

For the first time, I wasn't joking about him and when he spoke out his mind earlier and had thought that it was outta pocket, I was damn sure that I heard him say bless your ears.

"Someone's on the same page I see. You know how I like it girl," she chipped in-the girl mode was on, diminishing her controlling side for a bit, maybe for the day too, only if we made her forget about it-  pushing her glasses up before she proceeded with the serving process.

"Whatever. I am Outta here." I declared, uncrossed my hands as I mouthed her that I am not needed here at the moment, so will join you later, that too if possible.

And since I was standing behind him, he wouldn't know a thing what I had mouthed about cuz food was all the way on his mind, seeing him digging in his food like that made me wonder from how long was he exactly hungry?

"Don't Erica, he's our guest. And I am sure you know how to behave with our guests." Her eyes widened when she jagged the wooden spatula at me.

When was this whole formalities tape going to end? I was so tired from it. 

"And I am sure you also know that he's your guest. You invited him and not me." I shrugged off my shoulders.

Why was I obliged to act in accordance with her? Why was I supposed to attend this whole dinner thing which barely came off as a catch up time and more of a matchmaking service to me?

Even if it were, the left swipe option needed to exist. Atleast tinder had that.

The basic needs to be regulated into the matchmaking datings platforms, but mom had served me the invalid option.

Yes, the right swipe option was an invalid option to me. Always. Infact, her choices could never be the reasonable one for me. I hated it.

Wasn't that obvious for her?! Or was it obvious but wasn't that imperative to look into?

"How long do you think, Erica has it been since you last tasted a hard core slap from a latina?" She slurred, her mouth stuffed of food.

"Mom actions speak louder than words. Hope you know it. And if you think that my actions aren't louder, then I don't know what else is either." I shrugged my shoulders.

I thought she knew better about this? I thought, she could catch my feelings more than anyone else. But I highly guess not.

"And don't you forget that I am a women of my actions," she shot me a condescending look, squinted her eyes before it changed into an elegant smile as though of a smile consumed at a masquerade ball.

Well the sudden shift of emotions were all because of him, if he didn't avert his gaze from food to her, then she wouldn't be acting like a warden ma'am then.

"Fine, I'll join you guys, but just for like thirty minutes. And after that I am out." I compiled, pulled the chair out before i sat in it and pronged onto the meat patties.

I sincerely wanted to groan out loud like a tiger roared but when I took notice of her and him, I groaned in surely but it was invisible, inside of me.

For I knew that reputation was dear to me and i couldn't trust him although he was a different gender specie because it doesn't take rounds to turn into a gossip vixen.

So had to be extra careful when dealing with him, didn't want to hear rumors that spread and flew away like flyovers about me later on then.

"See. You even did the talking for me now." She emphasized it with a purr of contentment and i copy-pasted the smile she had pearled on earlier.

And just like that, their after convos didn't make any sense to me cause I went out of the way to make sure that I had headphones on, in my ears. (the invisible ones) so my focus dived into the other section of my thoughts.

So glad that dinners hopefully weren't like the conference meetings where you had to pin your focus on it every now and then and had to pretend that you were hearing every single thing about it when infact, you were just scribbling out doodles in your planner under the name of to-do list.

                               •••
I was happy that I had gotten what I wanted, but the catch was, resisting onto it and respecting it for approximately one hour and twenty minutes.

Only to find out that your mother had patronized you to hang out with her happy-crush-guest and take a post-dinner stroll with him for the chemistry which wasn't recommended by anyone but herself.

Could this get any more worse? I was so done with her at that moment in the kitchen that her commands had led me to chip off my nail paint and study the structure of the chimney.

Horrible, when I turned down her commands and she light cored slapped me while he was waiting in the drawing room, totally unaware of the situation.

So I kept mum when we were strolling outside of my house and filling up the remaining laps. 

Our neighbourhood was usually quite given the fact that senior citizens had filled up most of the single family houses because of how their children had dumped them and had flew to abroad to either become a rag to rich or a rich to rag. 

And winters were the most quietest among all the seasons in our neighborhood so either way, the neighbourhood's usual quietness here were like butter to our bread's. 

"So what's up?" He bobbed his head to my side with phone in his dominant hand and the blazer in the other.

What's up? That's like my grandma's usual go-to line. He could have just one strong motive or intentions between the two intentions linked with my mind. 

One could be, he wanted to blend in more and more trouble and bring in the tornado, or two, he wanted to genuinely know what's going on in my life right now.

The first intention did seem to be a little bit dicy though if I didn't lie, and as for the second one... Either way he wasn't a bit reliable. Time to switch on the safe armour shield side. 

"Nothing's much up after you have been here with us." i kept up with his walking pace as I motioned my hands front and back in the air to stretch up a bit side by side.

Sitting on a fabric low back mesh chair and working from nine-to-five wasn't an easy job when steven didn't have any meetings. 

So then I had to catch up on the other stuff in just one sitting and straining while working. 

But it wasn't even like I could withdraw or opt out of it, besides it weren't college subjects to opt out whenever you feel like. Which also doesn't happen these days...? 

"Meany much?" He flashed his annoyingly perfect set of pearly white teeth. 

It's always the vicious critters like him that are the most hottest and delicious barbecues of all time.

This is the full stop of the discussion, end of discussion I formally announce. 

"I can be a lot more than you think." i tsk-ed and rubbed off my forearms to get a temporary shelter from the chilly weather. 

This might be his first time where he guessed my personality just the right way and didn't categorize me like he usually did when he wanted to be on someone's mind constantly. 

"Oh so you're one of  those," His hoarse voice took the lead, making me forget that i was supposed to hate him and he didn't even have to look at me to say that. 

And here we go again! There, just there he made me knock him off and call it quits with this useless convo. 

"And you are convincing me that you're not one of those who categorizes people?"  i was still waiting on for his answer since the day he planned he'll make the okay-ish convo go down the flames in between. 

No one can beat the 'you are one of those' cliche lines. If not 'who did this to you'. 

"Right, I am sorry about that." yass gurl, deflect all you want! 

Last time too, he did the same thing by putting a dead end at it. Kills the exciting surface if you'd ask me for experience. 

"There are tons of more things that you should be sorry for." i corrected him, a hinge of exasperation in my tone as we crossed the fifth lap remaining out of the ten laps max...? 

Not max, I wanted to keep it that way instead. And that much how tolerance level I had in me for him currently, and probably for the lifetime as well. 

That is only if we kept in touch, which was nowhere to be seen in our stars. Astrology was surely there. 

I did hate the fortune tellers who charged handsome amount of fees when they promised with their fancy words that your life was gonna be extravagant in no time soon which was the exact opposite of what was gonna take place in the future, but i never for once minded drinking the horoscopes in the newspapers before i was headed to work. 

"How do you expect me to compensate then?" He asked, concern laced in his tone just as his eyes peered over me in a way where it seemed like he was checking me out. 

But like in a formal way where he thought that i wouldn't come to know when I did. 

Checking out girls with Noah after the classes felt like a total waste of time until unforseen circumstances like this sparked in. 

"It's chill. Atleast you know where you are wrong and it's more than enough. So that counts actually," i tried to pacify his hiked concern while I pressed the lock screen of my phone to check in the time and for how long exactly had I made progress into this convo. 

"But what I expect you to not do is, categorize people." i reminded him as we strode past the flickering street road lamp. 

For unknown reasons, that specific lamp always sent a chill down my spine as it connected my mind to the bridge of horror movies i liked to binge-watch but was scared like any normal human soon as the sun set in or when I was half through the process of lathering up the shampoo in my hair. 

Even after all that, I still had it in me to continue doing so because the thrill was missing out on my part and something needed to fill in for that. 

"Yeah, bout that... Just wanted to apologise to ya for that." He paused when the reality hit him where the masculinity warned him to take a step backwards perhaps? Smelled like that to me. 

"In what context?" i blinked at him before i waved at my hands in the air to one of my friends in the lane.

And she waved at me too in unison. Had been one of my mother's closest companion back in her diva era. 

Senior citizens loved to stroll past 9:30 pm to keep records of the people and events taking place in the neighborhood so they won't be coerced to hire a bodyguard. 

The environment usually around here was pretty much safe except for that one event that took place a year ago.

People always pressed your soft spots no matter what and our surroundings were no exception––– yes, a murder mystery mishap of a single independent girl––– cutting out the potential lovers dangers-risk.

And that's all about it. I am gonna spare us some deets to bring her off of our minds. 

"You know, about earlier... I shouldn't have done that to you." he cleared his throat before his words took off like an arrow.

Though my mind was stuck onto the rustling sound behind us. Talk about bad energy.

"So... You are sorry for that context. Really?" I asked him for a confirmation, wariness transperant with the way words rolled off my tongue.

"Yea, I am. Just not for him but for you i am." I watched his adam's apple bob up and down whilst his head dropped down in his direction. 

"Okay... I guess?" I spoke, shaking off the aforementioned thoughts in my mind.

And honestly, I was too caught up in my own thoughts that i didn't take a note of where my steps were going and that a car was passing & speeding beside me––– so then he acted on time, hasted to grab me by my waist and switched up the sides with me.

A sudden sugar rush of red flushed cheeks were tempted to mark it's stamp on me but then I mouthed him a thanks before my attention fell back to the environment around us.

A protective man sent by the angels? No Erica, we're not going in there again! Not today, duh!

"You know I never wanted to be on your bad term. I just wanted us to be friends you know?" his eyes shifted onto me back to fetch for my reactions to it.

I didn't want to react. Not because I was mad but because my thoughts weren't getting adjusted to the current situation, my thoughts were still on a loop where the car thing left off.

This was nothing compared to the things my thoughts were still stuck onto.

I could still remember some dudes with banana hair laughing at me for no reason in ninth grade and i wouldn't forgive them, I know so like 2016 or maybe even worse than that but it is what it is.

"And Friends let the other one fall into a black hole pit?  That's a new definition of friends I have stumbled upon." I paused, two steps behind him and when he noticed he looked back at me with a not sure look arched on his eyebrows.

This was all simply to shake the previous situation off and thank goodness that I was familiar with deflecting otherwise...

"Okay maybe not friends but... You know what nevermind. Just forget the past and live in the present." Our bods brushed together when we changed and took the footpath lane instead.

Against my will and not wanting it to follow me, my cheeks tinted with somewhere between a shade of cherry red and crimson red.

Just as I felt it flushed, rushed and burn against my cheeks, i flapped it down with the back of my hands.

"I am the one who looks forward to present and the future and I also know for a fact that past is meant to be in the past." As I was making myself clear, i realised that, it was my flip flops that made a disgusting sound when the leafs or the road contents got crushed underneath it.

Whose fault was it to wear those nasty flip flops that had air trapped inside of the sole, the midsole & the bed? Mine.

These kinds of indecisive-flop decisions were always my go-to crash prime events. 

"It's called past for a reason. It was you who kept on digging and digging and categorising me so I just had to answer you, right?" I explained, making damn sure that he forgets about that thing.

"So are we friends now?" He swiped his bottom lip, his long fingers scratching his temples while he bit his lower bottom lip that surely enough turned white for a bit. 

Since when did veiny hands begin to coruscate? That too, at night? Why didn't anyone tell me about that?

Why the fork didn't anyone tell me that he rigorously had a geometric & a cross tattoo on his ripped forearms muscle?!

It was only when his sleeves were rolled up, did I get to know that two tattoos were engraved on his forearms which were then accordingly voluptuous and fruity at the same time.

Tattoos so smutty, ahh! Lord have mercy! You must control your peckish and keep put a curb on it.

"Nobody has to ask for it." I expressed.

"So is that a yes or a no?"

"It's a test for now. It's still under the evaluation section." I inhaled in a breath as i instantly brought my hands to my chest and crossed my arms around it.

It was past 10pm since I last checked it and I was desperate to check it out again.

This man was getting out of my control & out of my understanding level too.

It was now high time that I cut him off before he demanded anything else out of my reach.

"I can't believe that I am a CEO and yet I have to ask for your friendship. How crazy is that?" He scoffed it off with a non-menacing look drawn on his face.

"That's because you were the first one to chase me and show up at my doorstep. No one asked you to do so. Did I?" I brought it up to his notice that it was very clear from the first day itself that I never asked him to follow me around and do anything with me.

"You seem pretty easy on the eyes but are exactly the opposite when one has to deal with you." He countered, shoved his phone into his pockets and covered me up with his blazer around my shoulders.

Well that was unnecessary until it couldn't. Sweat shirts & pants were enough to... No they weren't.

The queen side was automatically dead here... His blazer smelled like citrus fresh scent.

Not exactly smell, I wasn't that dumb obviously to smell his blazer in front of him and get labelled as a lonely creep later on––– but like the fragrance then attracted me towards it and it somehow got to me and swayed my nose.

"Thanks for the compliment. I appreciate that coming from someone like you." I acknowledged and dug my nails onto his blazers to not let it fall down. 

"How do you know that's a compliment?" His gaze brazed against me.

"There are many ways to say wise to someone without them boasting. You just have to figure it out by yourself." I shrugged my shoulders during a half- smile escaped me to reach him.

"And I can also see that you are pretty amazed by me. Aren't you?" I poked his mind to see if he gave in and clutched onto the blazer harder.

"No it's just that it's taking time to process things." He chuckled at that while thinking of a way to not admit it as he fidgeted and flipped his phone multiple times.

"Take your sweet time. Pretty things do take time to register," I covered up for him, unclutched onto the blazer and placed it back on his forearms.

Unyielding guys could never admit that something or someone were right and so was the case with him––– he never admitted that I were right and then just like how any other boring convo would head into, it did with us.

I think I could hang in there for about, let's say, like ten laps Max. But that was it.

I was bored of him and he might've sensed the same thing so then he dropped me off to my doorstep...

We walked up to our doorstep and he did the sweet talking to mom and she had sweet tooth just like me (more than me actually), she reciprocated the same thing back but just double the sweetness.

Now I wasn't afraid of this, I was rather afraid of what was more to come for the truth was seeped into my mind that this was just the sample––– the real outcome & effect of the product was yet to manifest.

Happy realisation to me and I unequivocally didn't look forward to it.
                                 •••

Mornings had become more & more baseless and tasteless just like food without salt was. 

Except for the surprising fact that instead of running to the coffee machine which apparently was the first thing mom did when she was done drooling & dreaming of the mafia dons, she made the salsa session with me a must to tick off the box of her to-do list. 

Now that she was living her dreams and creating her own fantasies that included him and me, I think that's what made her tipsy in the morning as well and made her commit to these happy and non-grumpy salsa sessions.

Keeping music as your top-tier priority, listening to them and grooving to it as the first activity of your morning helped to soothe your whole mind and body so that your mornings wouldn't suck anymore, especially for single human species like me. 

This psychology was also a small part of my mom's study which now was scientifically proven & tested. 

I approved of her genius theory though i could testify my statement on stamp papers that the aforementioned theory didn't seem to work at all for someone who were a part of the corporate jobs.

Because even if the grooving session in the morning didn't suck, the people in your workplace were going to make you curse and suck your job eventually. 

So how could the situation in our office be any different?

I was on time today, thankfully. But few of my colleagues had always kept a professional habit of clocking in before time, so then as usual my two gorgeous deskmates were already cramming and sulking in their own respective desks. 

If sulking were all they gonna do then what was even the point of clocking in, when they could do so many better things than this. 

This apparently was the first quiz in my mind that I had set for them to which they had waved a hand in the air by saying that they didn't have time for all this and that this workplace were their escapist. 

Where was the lie though? At first, I didn't quite seem to understand them until my situations were turning like them. 

"Mornin' guys," I chirped in, a wave of buzz with the way i wished them morning as I kept my contents on the desk. 

It was nothing much, just five essential things of what i needed to carry with me when I was off to work–––mom's car keys with the disneyland keychain to it like the Disney princess she already was, of course waiting for her prince to show up irl. 

Then I had the water sipper with me to pretend that I was taking booze shots when I couldn't make it to the friday club night and also to prevent myself from the toxic dehydration.

The next things were phone, work binders and the shades without missing. 

Mom had a maroon Honda Accord the 90's model so when I didn't feel like getting into the crooked public transportation, that's when her car came into work. 

But I was given a strict rule to not break––– keep the car's condition as it was cuz if I by chance did her car's wrong then no one could be more bashful than her in our fam.

The heirloom a.k.a her youngest daughter Georgia (the car lol. What else did you think of?) was precisely more precious than me so to say. 

I was already invading her privacy by asking her to hand over the car keys to me but she had to end the convo by saying that first timers weren't all that promising as much as someone with experience were. 

So it wasn't until that day that I realised that she had found a new way of mocking my no zone restricted dating area. 

"Mornin' hun." Val replied back in that perfect aussie accent of her's before her eyes fell back at the typing computer board.

The first gorgeous deskmate of mine. I still remember her coming to salvage my job when I had messed up the sheets in the printer machine.

Rookies were allowed to do that right? I mean, not having much of beginners luck had me messed up the things where proficiency and efficiency instead had been expected from me.

But luckily she had been in pantry at that time that she noticed me struggling with the papers so then there she was.

"A very good morning queen. How are you? Wait, what's that under your eyes?" Liam's one hand was placed on his chest while his one hand were gesturing at me, somewhere under my eyes.

You must have spotted the dramatic queer queen already by the way he delivered that monologue.

The one who had been kicked out of our boss cabin's the other day and who was threatened that he might not be able to visit his bf that often again because of how his relationship with his bf had an impact in his monthly's progress report.

Narrowly a month in he was, and interns in here had surpassed his unbreakable records the past month so it was pretty indeed that love did seem to have made him... silly.

"Where? Here?" I asked him in an unbelievable tone of mine when I caressed the upper part of my cheeks.

If he was talking about the eyebags then I had no choice left but to pretend that my skin were flawless and that I was the most obedient kid of the fam who kept her screen time minimalist and used to teleport in her dream world at sharp nine or ten max.

Afterall no one could beat my online interesting life, could they?

"Hey, that's rude Liam. No one asks a racoon what is under their eyes. When will you grow up?" She berated him with a fine line arched in the middle of her brows.

Val had perfectly fit in the "hot girls" community.

Not being good at maths, having strict parents, having two a's in her name and even having anger issues––– she'd fit in all, infact were aligned to it like tooth aligners.

"Yeah that's why no one asks you," i replied back and pulled out the chair to take a seat on it.

"Whoopsie, busted!" Liam bursted out in cackles as soon as his hands were clenched into a fist and were banging on his desk until he fell off from his chair.

The dramatic effect was always present in there, no matter how hard we tried to get past his humour.

"Ha. Funny ain't it?" She forced a smile when her eyes couldn't resist the urge to roll at him.

"Funny yes. But very funny." I acknowledged their chat just so in the meantime the computer would turn on.

"Whatever. So our group is having lunch. Wanna join me?" Her eyes lit up, her eyebrows waggling up and down in a notorious way when she peeped at us through the workstation office desk partition, her hands braced the partition.

Considering the fizziness in her, the catch had to be there somewhere lurking and hiding in the dark.

Her offered deals popped once in a blue moon, so either this had something to do with her gc or the latest gossip she wanted us to fill with.

"Nope. As much as I would love it, I am having a date with my bf." He threw us a thumbs down in the air, his voice too going into that direction, his eyes were still glued to the screen when all we could hear were him typing his contents onto the typing board in immense aggression.

He only resorted to this under two circumstances––– one, when he was under work pressure and two, when he chatted with his bf online.

The second circumstance made more sense given the fact that he was once caught snap chatting his bf who worked under the same roof as him.

Love had no boundaries but the extra stupidness that arrived with it also hadn't made much of a sense.

"Okay you jammer. No one asked you anyways." She was hunched at the front when she lent me a hand to hi-five but i shrugged it off as a resolver.

"Jammer? Is that even a word? Do you even speak our universal language?" He whipped back, his savageness benching his attendance as he leaned back onto his chair & swiveled it until the other work staff grumbled at him for the noise his chair made everytime he got up from his seat, swiveled it or practically did anything that made a screeching sound.

"No I don't, i have to invent new words for boring housewives like you," she too leaned back in her chair, her hands clasped together at the back of her neck.

"You're a bitch. Period." He scowled back, his middle finger up in the air waving. Agitation and provoking got the best of him.

"So are you. Muahh!" She flew him some 'kiss my ass' kisses in the air until they both went back to their usual shelters.

I as the middleman here knew their situationship and both of them better than anyone else.

And as always, the wise person had already quote that people should stop having birthdays if they are not going to grow up.

And I couldn't find any better examples than them here in the office or anywhere.

"So are you done with the planner babe?" She bobbed her head in my direction & asked me, her knuckles under her chin as she rested her elbows on the armrest of the chair.

"Yeah I am. But... You know how our boss is right?" I reminded her while I clicked the pen two times before writing in the sticky notes.

"Is that even a question? Of course we all know that how he is, but can't you like crash?" She tried to pitch in, her voice low and soft like melted butter, her head still into my direction.

"Beats me. But I'll try to." I exhaled out a loud breath and returned back to read the sticky notes inwardly before pasting it onto the wall of my desk partition.

''c'mon babe, you need to relax and besides this ain't a life question." This time, she reminded me whilst she studied her well manicured-coffin- trendy-nails.

I was pretty sure that I was looking upto the former prom queen.

"See you there then," A sigh growled outta me as I gave in while i sticked the sticky notes on the desk wall, making sure to thin the finishing ends and edges of it.

It had the company's targets written on it which I had to accomplish before the new year's.

Work was getting more and more hefty the more we were moving closer to the end of year but it definitely wasn't impossible.

"Perfect. Just how I wanted it to be," she purred with her hands clasped together in the mode of wild giddiness sculpted on her face. 

"What are your plans for now?" she murmured, her hand covering the side of her lips to prevent herself from the trouble that was gonna appear sooner or later like a parrot she was.

She talked in bulk. Just imagine something like that. 

"Work for now." I scrunched my nose, held up the binders in air and tapped on it for emphasis.

"I am jealous. Why aren't you a lazy ass like us?" She moaned, rummaged  in her designer satchel bag for a caramel popcorn hand cream which she purchased online from plum body lovin' and moisturized her hands with it.

Her keto diet had always restricted her from having any sorts of junkie which might be hazardous to her by adding one or two inches to her waist although she were an eerie of marylin monroe.

Thus, the succulent caramel popcorn flavour perfumed to it so the least she could do is smell it, if not eat it.

"Cause I need the money." I pulled out the chair and gave her an unfurling smile.

"Right, dreamers need that caffeine." She then waved me a momentary goodbye in the air while I were headed to Steven's cabin for some stuff to report. Work Calls I guess.

I hated the reporting part. Really. After finding out the truth that steven had lost his mind somewhere, he was in no mind to continue as a CEO, but still he did.

And I still had to run behind him and look after him like a nanny i already was.

Revamping my thoughts to act like a professional atleast here and to keep my cool, I gave a slight knock on his cabin. And there he was, no response.

But I tried again, yet no response was passed from that brute.

This was very unusual on his part for he were head over heels to travail me in the worst way possible.

So I did what any curious cat would do––– sticking my butt in & eavesdropping him outside the cabin.

And I regretted eavesdropping on him for the first time.

The janitor were in here with me the whole time and yet... I dared to act like a thief when I had the PA I'd card dangled on my neck the whole time.

Half awkwardness had already been in the air but before it turned into full, it was about time we exchanged puckish grins and went on our own ways. 

"Boss the estimated rates are he–––" the puckish grin had flown somewhere just as i blinked away to readjust my mind and to the paramount view.

"Did I walk in on the wrong time?" I let out a small chuckle, my hands twiddling on the doorknob.

To which shasha mouthed a small pressed 'yup' while her hands were busy fiddling her dangling earrings.

"Umm right, I didn't see anything. Sorry." I filtered on a smile, my lips twitched up & i turned my back on them to close the door behind me.

This can't be. This was impossible even in the afterlife.

The thought of them... doing things which not many teenagers wanted to explore made me feel like something. 

Even if I was physically on my desk, mentally I was not.

Every time I gave a massage to my eyes from the continuous screen time,
I was reminded of the aforementioned scene through flashbacks.

When I walked in on them earlier, she was seated on his shaft which seemed like home to her but I knew that i wasn't going to get anything from that and that I was in deep shit. Badly.
                                 •••
Today the lunch break was necessary. And I was gonna give it my all to savour it.

The cafeteria, the party animals, the change of environment and everything was super necessary to get them of off my mind.

So here I was summoned, waiting in the line to get lunch, feeling tepid with my phone in one hand and the bagasse lunch tray in another.

Thinking of what to get for lunch had played a tremendous job by offering me a lifeguard.

But as the waiting line was moving forward, I was becoming more and more indecisive of what i wanted though the menu of our cafeteria had been memorized by me, by-heart.

So then I had to take a look around me to see what people usually enjoyed, the varieties and what looked more appetizing. 

Taking a look around me wasn't helping me much as I thought it would. 

Copycats were abiding to their nature––– copying and having the same usual ground beef or quarter pounder with cheese, heck they were scarfing down the cheeseburgers as if they were some kind of driveway menu of macdonald's. 

Though today wasn't the day to have meaty and all.

So then I decided to get a four cheese pasta, cafeteria's special salad and a mulberry drink to wash the discomfort down then got down to the payment process and venmo-ed them.

Now, up next was the actual eating part and as always peace was awaiting me because what was mine, was mine.

So without wasting any further, I scanned the whole cafeteria to search for my awaiting-not-engaged-table where I could give some time to me and my unorganised thoughts.

But with any luck, my gaze had to perch up on Val & her over friendly reporters gang and she caught it apparently and gestured me to join them.

Sure, so I was now compelled to keep my word then.

With an insincere smile pulled up onto my lips, I gripped on my tray, my phone slew into the side pockets of my tailored suit trousers and walked apprehensive-ly towards their table.

Now all I wished was for them to have a normal meal without the unnecessary crap talk.

But judging them by their reactions towards me, I don't think that was ever possible. At least not possible with me.

"Babe, here. Come sit with us." She beckoned me over, a high pitched squeal erupted from her as she eyed her friends with rest bitching faces to scoot over so I could settle down with them.

The chairs concept at our cafeteria was abandoned long ago, so we had oak rectangle tables & benches scattered all over the place.

"OMG you guys! Did you see that?" the blue ombre dyed girl marked wryly as she chewed onto her chicken fingers.

Then all of them cocked their heads over her shoulder's direction and huffed out small laughs.

I was so lazy and too caught up in my own thoughts to even lift up my gaze to pay attention to any of their convos.

I was better off without the convos.

So I basically was food fidgeting with my back slouched at that very moment.

I always had an idea or two when i didn't feel like anything and today was just it. But still I was dragging it with me against my will.

Dragging & enduring just was something that fell under my spell.

But I was unsure if that were a spoken or an unspoken jinx.

"Yeah we all did. Pinch me, I can't believe it." Val rolled her eyes and arrayed her forearm to me.

"Uhmm see what?" I was dumbfounded, the fork still clutched into my hands with a brittle smile manifested on my face. 

"Babe you're too innocent. Now look at them," she braced my chin and turned it to their side.

"Did you see it now?" She asked, a thrill of curiosity in it.

"Hmm." I hummed in response and I knew it in the first place that it was going to take me eternities to process all of that.

Seeing them sitting diagonally from our table and having lunch together with fun & great expressions worn on their faces (atleast on shasha's face), it was just the icing on the blank space cake.

Looking at them every now and then was difficult so much so that it made me have flashbacks of them in an explicit situation skinship and i couldn't unsee it now.

I have had a plethora of walk in on's but this was a strange situation.

"Babe so we all were wondering if you knew about this already?" Val twiddled her thumbs together, a crisp of mischief weaved in her tone.

"Knew what?" I flipped back the question to her because we all were too rigid somewhere to admit it.

And I wasn't a versatile goddess when it, especially came to this.

"Tsk, you know, them. When did they started to date?" She faintly asked as she pointed her finger at them and all of her gang leaned on in closer to me with their elbows planted onto the table.

"They are dating? Since when? But they don't look like one," I half-lied in amazement while i kept a hand over my mouth when munching the contents in it.

I never planned on to have an idea or two about their relationship but I did know that somethin' was cooking on their side.

"Sure, only someone with a mind of science would outlook them in that way." They all huffed out a loud sigh in unison and went back to their usual stuff.

If they ever knew that–––I had already gotten a glimpse of something which i shouldn't have, they would never leave me & would suck the hell out of me.

And jeez, that's the last thing I'd ever wanted, let alone hangout with them.

And in any case, isn't a hawk better off without a herd of pea-brained parrots?

"But like seriously, you didn't know about this?!" She screeched, her look fixated on me, her I'd card flopped on the table's countertop as she leaned in.

"No, why?" I shook my head & looked perplexed on purpose, hoping they would buy my fib.

Either way they would, they would persist to think from their knees anyways.

"Heck babe. How can you not as a pa know of their relationship?" She gave me the dirty looks, overturned the strands of her back and stabbed the lettuce of her salad with the fork before she took a bite of it.

"Cause they didn't tell me." I shrugged, chewing more & more on the four cheese pasta because the cheese was getting started on me and was giving glue like taste on my taste buds.

"You don't need them to tell you about it duh! You should've kept an eye on it."
She scowled before lending me the eyelash roll off.

Honestly, I could tell that none of these if-you-like-it-you should-put-like-on-a-ring-on it-pick-me-girls starter pack seemed to like me & were just using me as a sleigh to get to their destination but when they didn't get any, they were pissed off.

Thank christ though, I signed up to be his pa. He did save me a lot of drama.

But what about the explicit drama then?

But why was I even doing these to myself? Again an under pressure wrong decision on my part.

"And why should I have?" There was frown & grumpiness on my face for no reason.

Infact, this whole convo thing was as meaningless as men jogging with their clothes on.

Why couldn't they be carefree as though as models of Vogue runway? Why couldn't they show off their bods like that? When they expected us to bask in the sun with almost little to no bodysuits on, why couldn't they?

"C'mon Erica. We need gossips. We run like that." There she was. Whenever val was super angry at me for not moving the earth and the heaven's for her, she stopped hyping me up and acted like a real val she was.

"Yes and I don't." I eyed her up, wiping the sides of my lips with tissues.

And if I wasn't hallucinating in the afternoon––– think they mouthed super slayed & period.

I didn't do that for validation anyways––– the only validation i ever needed was from god, my bestest loyal immortal refuge ever and myself.

"Are you being for real right now? You're so utterly boring babes." She gaped at me and tossed the tissue ball behind her which definitely landed at Liam & his bf.

No one could seperate them ever apart, and this was just a tissue ball made out of paper pulps.

But that didn't stop from Val getting a repercussion, cause she did––– he launched a middle finger at her without even looking because of how he was swamped with his bf giving each other breathless mouth-to-mouth wet kisses which disgusted the shit out of not many people, but the least it did was enkindled jealousy in their single asses.

"I am not boring, I just... don't know how to be nosy and gossip like you guys do." my tongue did magic there by getting them to hear the truth which weren't any less than blenders noises to them while I chewed onto the silicone straw, and it did feel like them.

"Are you talking about us?" She supped up her fruit punch drink while making bubbles on top of it while she sibilated the word 'uh-uh you better not,'

"I mean who else is here other than you guys?" My gaze jumped from here & there before coming back at them.

"Huh! You are kidding us right?" Her tongue hitched for a good moment before she lifted one of her eyebrows & asked me inwardly if she could still count on me, that if she could still use me one more time for her appraisals when all she did was stay sophisticated this whole year and if she could use me as a ladder to get her way up to steven.

Sike, the ladder broke!

"Ain't I too old for that?" I didn't even have to bother her to get on her nerves, she's always been borderline triggered.

This whole situation was just an excuse.

"So that's how it's gonna be I see. Well then suit yourself." Whoa! Took her just a sentence to chugg that drink down.

Cute, never knew had the power to start my own reality show & give people reality check––– today was the first day of it and knocked off five cakey people already.

"C'mon peeps let's go," she raised an eyebrow at me, bossed them and one by one all the ducklings followed their mother's lead.

And not after too long, val flung the whole empty tray with bits and balls of tissue papers at the server.

This was her way of paying back the grudge.

Not because she had a habit of venting out her anger on the wrong people, but because they both were mutual enemies.

The server had one time purposely or mistakenly dropped off the piping hot gravy on her hands so since then she was determined to go to any lengths to make the cafeteria feel like prison to her.

So put your hands up for Val or vq short for Valentina quinn. That's her. The Aussie 'IT' girl.

Cliche things disgusted her and were like janitors to her in her portfolio, but yet she was a redhead.

She even had befriended me after that incident had occured because the prior help was due.

She didn't need drama, drama needed her to be his better half till death did them apart.

Overachiever things weren't her style,  but still she overachieved her height and now stood at five feet seven.

All in all, she'd be a classic charcuterie board––– if it weren't for her slithering mentality that somewhere needed a quick revamp.