LOVE AGAIN?

Monica

I opened my eyes, and as I usually did, glanced at the hanging clock, on the wall almost opposite my bed. It was thirty minutes after six morning time, I groaned lazily, but then gradually scooted over to the left side of the massive king - sized bed. It was one of the few remaining properties that i could still proudly call my own and I had never gotten tired of using it, even if it only kept reminding me of my never at home brother, Derrick.

I stood up, off from the bed and shuffled my feet towards the bathroom, opening the door with a slight push, I entered and went over to the bathroom sink, turned on the tap, scooped some water and then washed my face. Raising my head again, I looked at myself in the mirror positioned above the sink,

'huh, it's another Monday' I thought

'the beginning of another dreary week'.

After freshening up a bit, I left for the kitchen, I still had hot water to boil and the left over food from last night wasn't going to warm its self. Everywhere was quiet, but I was already used to living alone, Meagan, my friend from work called me a loner but I just liked my peace and quiet.

With the water already placed on the stove and the food heating in the microwave, I began my daily routine of stretches.

It was fifteen minutes passed seven, by the time I left the house, I had to rush a bit because I had to be at work before eight and the place wasn't so nearby. I made my way to the small kiosk at the the end of the street that was just before the bus stop, that was where I usually had my morning coffee.

"Splendid morning Miss Monica"

"Good morning to you too, trevor, how is little maggie?"

I opened the the side pocket of my handbag, and brought out my wallet. Trevor smiled why covering the steaming coffee which he had just poured into the plastic cup.

"she is getting better, the doctor says she would be fine in a day or two"

"that is good to hear I replied" I paid for the coffee, moved over and sat down at the bench beside the store and began sipping the steaming hot brew, bit by bit.

I was a regular customer of Trevor's so we were close acquaintances, he made a good cup of coffee and I loved his slight British accent. He had a beautiful five year old called Maggie, and she would usually be seen bustling around inside the store in the morning before going of to school, but in the middle of last week, she had fallen sick and had been at home since then. I had been quite close with the girl , so I had been checking up on her through her dad since then. Thankfully she was almost better.

The bus arrived a few minutes later, throwing the empty cup of coffee into the nearby trash can, I waved Trevor goodbye and steeped into the bus, I found my regular seat, sat down and then mentally began to draw my plans for the day.

Marcus

It was a Monday morning and I was not happy, that was never a sign of a good week to come. Why was I unhappy? , because some stupid board members had had an impromptu company meeting yesterday and had ended up messing up my stable, good life. It would be fine if it did not concern me, but I guess sometimes being too outstanding is a problem itself.

The chairman of MEDURG Pharmetueticals, Micheal, who unfortunately was my father was the one who called the meeting, reason being that the manager of one of the major branches of the company, just called in a sudden resignation, he had not given a reason, or at least not one that was reasonable enough for my father. And so the New York city branch of the company would be without a head from the coming week, that is if my dad did not do any thing about it.

So they had the meeting yesterday, and then decided that I would be going over there, 'since someone had to do it, why not the best available?' that was how my dad's personal advisor Sam explained it over the phone. so they voted on it, and then decided that that was that.

" Stop with all the frowns, Marc dear, you will grow ugly of you keep doing that you know"

I scoffed and frowned even deeper as I talked with my mom over the the phone through the video call.

"look on the bright side" she said

" you will be on your own over there and your father won't be able to Interfere as easily as he could over here, isn't it the freedom you had always wanted?"

I shook my head and said " not like this mum, not like this at all" I sighed heavily and then waved my hands,

"forget it mum, there is no point in talking about all of this now, we both know that once dad decides on something, to change his mind is almost impossible",

I said with an exasperated smile

"it's not that I'm angry about the change of post, but that it was too abrupt and I have made no plans either here or over there and I have to wing it for a while now"

My mum smiled with her eyebrows raised saying ;

"don't worry about that, I can help you with things over here and as for over there... Would you like to know what your dad had to say about that?"

I narrowed my eyes and gave her a nod, curious about what my dad had said.

"he said that you're too rigid at times, with a stern look all over your face every where you go, planning this and planning that and that while it makes you a bit more efficient in work matters, you're just acting too old, so because of that, you needed people like him springing things like this on you, once in a while to keep you looking younger" towards the end of her speech, I could see that she couldn't hold back the smile crawling onto her face and and once she was done speaking she immediately burst into laughter, because my face wasn't looking funny at all.

" Don't be like this~" she said with a forced almost serious looking face "just..."

"bye mom" I immediately cut her off from saying anything else and then ended the call.

I shook my head, and wryly smiled, checking the time on my phone, it was thirty minutes after eight, patting my suit's breast pocket, that was holding my plane ticket, I moved towards the check in counter and began the processes I had to go through in order to leave, I was booked for the nine thirty flight and I didn't want to accidentally miss the plane, I could not afford that kind of mistake now. So carrying my luggage; a medium sized, portable, black bag, I passed through the check in point.

Monica

I guess today was just one of those work days that you never wished to have, on entering the company building, I immediately knew that something was wrong the few staff present were all tense and even the ever vibrant and quit talkative Eva,[which I could never bear to tell her] who was the receptionist on duty this morning apparently, looked a bit more subdued and sat solemnly on her seat, only replying with a barely audible 'ehhn' as I greeted her. My work, included parts that concerned some field work, so I did not enter my office or the building at all when I came earlier this morning. I had just signed in with the automated machine at the entrance and then went on my way.

So this was actually my first time stepping into the company, making my way to my office, I passed by Janice a fellow colleague, asking her with my eyes what the hell was happening, she just shrugged and hastily kept moving downstairs. Bemused, I kept going up the stairs. Using the elevator was an option, but I preferred the stairs, getting in that bit of exercise wasn't bad for my health.

My office was on the fourth floor, so yes, it was not a small journey. On getting there, I walked to my office standing in front of the door, I rummaged through my bag and brought out my bunch of keys, singling out the one needed I put it onto the key hole and turned it.

'huh?' , I thought,

'Did I forget to lock the door on Friday?'

Slightly confused and while trying to recall my movements last Friday, I pushed open the door and stepped into the office, closing the door, i groaned and thought out loud

'am I sure that I will keep on with this stair exercise, it sure isn't easy'

"yes, I planned to ask you that as well, I mean are you so deliberately bent on coming late that you don't even want to use the elevator or is it something else?"

I jumped backwards in shock almost shouting out loud. My comfy office chair was swirled round and on it sat a stranger.

" who are you! What are you doing in my office and on my chair" I had ended up not shouting, because reason came back to my head, telling me that there was no way a complete nobody would be able to get past all the security and staff, and end up sitting in her chair and her office comfortably.

"wrong" the man said heavily, it is 'my chair, in my office, on my floor, in my building errr.... Anything else?" he asked while looking at me.

Flabbergasted I stood still, and silently kept looking at him, specifically his eyes, they were soo blue, not the sky coloured kind of blue, but the heavy, steady and almost transparent blue of the the sea. Something inside me was stirred right then and I knew that trouble had finally found me.