Christopher… My mind was filled with thoughts about him; his voice, his face, his touch. The memory of him clung to me like a disease. It had barely been one day since we’d last seen each other, and I was already on the brink of breaking down. I hated finding out what might happen to me if I did truly lose him one day.
My phone suddenly rang. Thinking that it might be a call from Christopher, I hurriedly rummaged through my bag and answered it without even looking at the screen. “Hello? When are you coming back? I’m waiting for you.”
“I have no intention of being the third wheel. At least remember to look at the name of the caller before answering next time?” Sabrina joked. I blinked owlishly and let out a self-deprecating laugh at myself. I’m going mad.
“Hello? Are you still there?”
“Did you need me for something?” I replied dryly.
“Hey, what are you going on about? Can’t I just hit you up randomly to chat?” she grumbled. Seemingly sensing that I was acting weird, she proceed to change the subject. “Did you get into a fight with that Greek god boyfriend of yours? Come on; you should lower your standards a little! I swear, if I didn’t already have a partner of my own, I would have pounced on him a long time ago. Be careful not to scare him away, alright? I don’t think you’ll ever find another guy like him if you do.”
“We didn’t get into a fight.” I would have much preferred it if we did; at least I would be able to find out why he was so angry at me. Instead, he insisted on ignoring my existence and giving me the cold shoulder.
“That’s good! By the way, there’s going to be a super-luxurious yacht party soon with lots of people attending. Do you want to go with your boyfriend on a little vacation? I bought two tickets, but Zachary is busy, and I don’t want these to go to waste. I’ll gift them to you if you want.”
“No thanks. I don’t think I’ll have any spare time soon to go anywhere.” There was no way Christopher would agree to go with me on vacation.
“You can take leave from work! Besides, there’s a public holiday coming up soon, and it’d be too sad to spend it at home sulking!” She giggled at that.
I could hear her giddy happiness even through the phone. Even though she complained about Zachary, I could picture her grinning at the mere mention of him.
“I’ll consider it.”
“You don’t sound hyped about this… Not even one bit. Listen, I promise there’ll be a surprise if you go. But I guess with Mr. Lane’s wealth, he technically doesn’t need my ticket. He could get an invite if he asked for one.”
Sabrina went on and on as I quietly listened to her, occasionally interjecting with some sounds of acknowledgment until she eventually ran out of steam and hung up the call. I was left holding my phone, staring blankly at the screen and waiting for any sort of message from Christopher.
Nothing came for me. I threw it off to one side and tiredly crawled into bed, curling up under the blankets and falling asleep.
“What’s been up with you these few days, Yvonne? You’ve been lifelessly drifting around… Is everything alright at home?” Mave later asked me while at work.
“I’m fine. Just a little under the weather, that’s all,” I reassured her with a weak smile. I couldn’t possibly tell her about what happened between Christopher and I. She might just figure that I’d read too many romance novels and was pretending to be the ugly little duckling of my own love life.
“Don’t care too much about what other people are saying,” she sighed, patting my shoulder comfortingly. “They always run their mouths without knowing the whole situation. Seriously, don’t they know how to mind their own business?”
I felt my heart swell with relief. Yvette’s appearance had caused a new wave of unpleasant rumors and gossip among the company staff. It was becoming increasingly common for me to overhear other employees talking about me whenever I passed by the breakroom, although I never bothered to try and defend myself.
It was just a shame that my pleasant working environment had gone down the drain all because of my vile sister.
Right before I was supposed to get off of work, my manager called me to his office. “You need to pay a visit to the finance office later,” he told me, a complicated expression on his face. “The company has terminated your contract. They will pay you three months’ worth of salary as compensation.”
