Throughout that day at the office, people were either congratulating her or telling her how they were happy for her. Of course, there were some who gossiped about why she had to be the one that got Tom’s heart. “She is the closest to him, and she has always been a competent lady. Tom is also a brilliant man, so naturally, they think alike and that must have been what linked them together”, one of the ladies working on the CEO’s floor remarked. “Well, I cannot deny that fact, but it makes me mad”, another spat out from the corner and the lady scoffed. “Why are you pained over someone else’s relationship? It’s not like the CEO was ever in your league. It was never anyone’s fault that you have a crush on someone you can never have”, she slammed her and everyone burst into laughter, making the other lady pained. She stomped her leg on the floor in anger, but the lady was not fazed, she had only said the truth. ** * Amber finished her work for the day and went to tender the documents t

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO Anita was happily married to John, the father of Tom, who was a civil engineer in Ohio. He was an excellent man who was good at his job and also had a talent for painting even though he didn’t paint officially. When he discovered Tom also had the talent and was interested in painting, he decided to groom him himself, to the point where he would be able to make a decision about whether he wanted to be an artist or choose another path. He bought painting tools and all other art supplies for Tom’s ninth birthday and told him he was ready to support any dream he ended up choosing. Happily, Tom firmly assured him that he would like to paint, and he opened one of the rooms in the house which he turned into their painting studio. They had taken the lesson seriously, with the dad promising to enroll him in a painting class when he clocked twelve because by that time, he would have finished all the projects in front of him. That fateful day, they had just finished paintin

Never in her life had Anita thought she would hear Tom say he wanted to have a chat with her. The suddenness of his request hit her had so much coupled with the excitement. She quickly left what she was doing to attend to his needs without hesitation because if she pushed him off till she was done, then he might say she shouldn’t bother about it anymore and that would be her loss. “I have got myself a girlfriend”, he announced to her as they went to have their seat, and she jumped off the chair as soon as her butt touched them. With her hand covering her mouth, she almost screamed “You got yourself a what?” “A girlfriend”, he said again, this time with a proud smile. She was so happy beyond expression that the coldness in his heart was melting away, for him to have it opened up for love. Jumping back into her seat, she started her questioning session. “Who is she? Is she someone I know? When are you going to introduce her to me?”, she kept bombarding him that he didn’t even know the

Ever since the brawl happened between Joseph and Tom, Joseph has never gone home. He was sleeping at the company’s hotel, thinking very hard of his next plan, since everything seemed not to be working for him. Charles was out of town for a business event, so he could not call him out for a drink. He kept drinking alone in the room until his secretary came around with a bag of flasks. With a disgusted expression, he raised his eyes to question what it was and who it was from. “Your mother sent this to you, she told you not to starve and come home soon”, the secretary said to him, and he slapped the bag away in annoyance. A loud yell followed as he scattered everywhere, thanks to his drunkenness contributing to his madness. “Why is she so nosy? Why is she trying hard to make me her son? I can never be her son, so she should fuck off! I will make sure they both pay for trying to mess with me, so she had better stop sending trash like this, hoping I will change my mind”, he shouted on t

She felt extremely glad about all that had happened, and she wanted to scream badly, but it would be so rude of her to scream loudly like that in the hospital, so she thought of where to let out her joy and the park that would be empty at that time of the day dropped in her mind. She didn’t even remember to take her phone along, so she missed Tom’s call since she was already in the elevator when he called. Her elevator opened at the exact time he arrived at the hospital, but she also missed him again because she was facing the entrance already. She sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her to the park and shouted to the top of her lungs, all her cells jumping off for joy as the indescribable feeling of happiness and freedom swept through her. She was oblivious of Tom’s presence and finished her screaming session, then turned to return to her room when she saw him standing there with a big smile on his face. He had been cheering her on from the back and left her to enjoy her moment