I put my forehead on the front door after I slammed it shut and focused on my breathing. I will not cry because of him, he is not worth it, I will not waste tears on him, ‘no crying, Emma, no crying.’ Before my outburst, I had Isabella’s words echo in my ear, she said, “if you don’t raise your voice you won’t get heard,” of course she was talking about machinery at the time, but it was still fitting, and I think Matthew heard me loud and clear, it was evident on his face. The sound of the bag of frozen peas moving was what brought me back to the moment. Right, David got punched square in the jaw. I looked over at him, he was watching me with a caring look on his face. I was the one to break the silence, “Are you okay?” I motioned to his jaw that was now pinkened from the coldness. “I’ll be fine. I learned how to roll with the punches early on,” he assured me, “I told you I was teased for being the fashion guy instead of the sporty guy in school, right

David picked me up early and we went to the office together. It felt wrong to me, being in his office, riding the elevator past the ninth floor, it all seemed so foreign for some reason. I wasn’t even happy working with Matthew, why should this feel so wrong to be here with David?I looked over at him and he had a small curl at the corner of his lips, his hand on the small of my back. He noticed me look over at him and he met my eyes and grinned at me, I grinned back politely.We got to the correct floor and got off, walking the opposite way that you would on the ninth floor. Amy was already there and it had me curious as to what exactly David wanted me to be doing today?I was already familiar with her since I would have lunch dates with David and meet him in his office sometimes, so there was no reason for introduction, but she seemed surprised to see me walk in with David’s hand on my back.“Good morning, Mr. Day, and good morning to

Isabella and I sat there at the table for some time in silence. I was letting her go through things in her head while staying there to reassure her that she wasn’t alone.“I still can’t believe that she would go to him after I told her what he did,” her voice was small and sad. “I mean what happened to the girl code? She’s all about women empowerment and then she goes and breaks the first rule of the girl code.”“Would it make you feel any better if I told you that I punched him?”She finally looked up at me, “Did you really punch him?”I pointed to a spot on my jaw, “Right here,” and she began to laugh.“That actually does make me feel a little better,” she laughed louder, “thank you.”We were silent for a few minutes longer before I finally admitted, in a timid voice, “I need to get her back, Iz.”She looked into my eyes

The day after I met Kay, I was in the elevator ready to go to work when it stopped at another floor to pick up someone else on its way down, the doors opened and my eyes met with Emma’s. She has dressed for her interview that her roommate mentioned to me, and she was obviously contemplating whether to get into the elevator with me or not.The elevator doors began to close and I stepped up to stop them, motioning with my hand for Emma to join me. She was acting like she had glue on her feet and was unable to move, but after a few seconds of hesitation, she finally willed her feet to move and got on the elevator.Her perfume wafted as she walked past me, and it was like I was finally getting my dose of a drug that I had gone too long without. The silence, though, was awkward with the lack of music, and Emma was feeling it too, she almost looked like she was beginning to sweat.I knew I needed to talk to her, and I wasn’t sure when my next opportunity w

I didn’t find anything on this Claudette Reed person when I looked her up on my laptop, I began to wonder if she was another upcoming designer, or maybe a friend of hers? I even looked internationally, but found no results for Claudette Reed, she was a mystery to me.Yesterday, I sent the intern to give Emma her dress as it had been completed days prior. The gown had been hanging up in my penthouse for me to admire as I thought of ways to get it to her. As much as I wanted to give it to her myself and see the look on her face, I decided not to overwhelm her and let the intern handle it, but I gave him specific instructions.The dress was a masterpiece in my eyes, and should anything happen to it in his hands, he would pay the price for it. My instructions went something along the lines of “deliver it by hand, or else.”I packaged it myself, folding it carefully to reduce any risk of creases in the fabric, even though half of the fabric used was