The replacement

EMMA'S POV

As soon as I confirmed that the door was open,I quietly dropped my bag on the floor.

I took a glance at my wristwatch and realized it was already eleven minutes past one am. Everyone would most likely be asleep,seeing that I lived with married couples.

  I couldn't wake them crying because I thought a burger had broken in.

  What if I had by some chance forgotten to lock the door?

  Although it was hard to believe,there was a possibility…

     I picked up both my heels,and I held them,hoping to use them as a weapon.

  I tiptoed in quietly,as I pushed the door further.

   The light was turned off,and the entire room was pitch black.

  I walked towards the switch,with my heart in my hands.

  Surely,It would be harder for an intruder to attack in a bright spot.

I touched the walls,until I came up to the switch.

   Quietly,I turned it on.

  I was facing the wall,still afraid to turn around. 

  Honestly,I was too scared to find out who was in my sitting room.

       “Your home is a raging mess.” The intruder spoke.

  My heels fell on the floor.

 I turned around to find him sitting uncomfortably on my cushion.

  It was no surprise that he had almost zero comfort. My entire house was only one quarter of his home.

        “Alex” I called his name.

  I looked around to find that two of his men were with him.

 Of course,he never walked alone.

The heartache always came in three.

     “You need to be tidy.” He spoke again,and I felt a boiling rage in my heart.

  What the hell did he think he was doing at my place in the middle of the night?

  And what right did he think he had to tell me how to live?

   “It's none of your business.” I retorted, acknowledging that my space really needed some work.

    “Only that it is.”

    “You broke in.” I accused,and he nodded.

      “Romeo's not a bad man.” He said,and I noticed the polaroid photo he had in his hands.

  It was a picture of Romeo and I on our date. We had decided to do something fun.

    “What are you doing with that?” 

     “Romeo is not a bad man.” He repeated.

  I seized the picture from his hands. I half expected him to come after it,but he remained seated.

    “He is a good man.” I agreed with emphasis. I hated when Alex stalked me.

  I hated that he trailed me everywhere,making it seem like I was his property.

    “He is a good man…who doesn't deserve you.”

   I hissed. 

    “Who deserves me,then? You?” I barked at him.

He remained unfazed.

    I watched as he stretched his legs,and placed them on my center table.

     This guy must be a joker.

   

    “Why are you here? What do you want from me?” I snapped at him,but he remained silent.

I sighed in resignation.

     “Please leave.” 

     “No.”

Now,he could reply?

    “Please.”

    “No.”

     “Leave!” 

     He ignored me. 

I slumped onto the empty chair. 

  We were back to this lifestyle. I thought I had left it. I thought I had buried it.

     “You know this goes,right?” He asked.

    “I am not having sex with you.” 

   “I never said you should.”

I sighed. I knew what he meant. He would not leave,he would spend the night here. 

  The worst part is,I would not wake up to him. 

  We would both sleep in these positions,and tomorrow morning,he would be gone.

  I will get to work,and he will become a beast I do not understand.

     “You need to get some sleep.” 

  “I know.” I replied.

     “Your hangover will be horrible tomorrow.”

     “I know.”

   “You reek of alcohol,”

    “I'm aware,”

    “You have a pile of paperwork tomorrow.”

    I sighed. “I know…”

Now,it was my turn.

   “You chose Isabella…” I said.

   “I know.”

   “You made me the laughing stock of the company..” 

    “I know.”

“You hurt me.”

   “I know.”

  “You broke me.”

  It was his turn to sigh. “I fucking know.” He growled.

  I knew he was mad,but not at me. He was mad at himself,and I felt exactly the same way.

    “We will never get what we want.” 

    “We will.” He countered.

  This was not a part of our routine.

    

   “I'm sorry.” He went back to the routine.

   “I'm sorry.” I replied.

With that,we both slept off.

  

                         —

 Alex was absolutely right.

    It was ten minutes to ten am and I was sprinting towards my office like a mad woman.

  The hangover was terrible,at the very least.

 My hair was not brushed,my teeth were smelly,my shirt was rumpled,and I had a very horrible feeling that I was wearing two different pairs of shoes.

I stumbled past the clique of workers as I sprinted to my floor.

  My head pounded heavily in my chest,as I arrived at the first floor.

  My boss would ruin me. I hated that I would get to see this side of Alex today. He had never tolerated tardiness,not even from me.

 The coffee I held in my hand fell abruptly to the floor, as I stumbled on one other worker.

    “I'm sorry,” I quickly apologized,hastening my footsteps.

   “I am so dead..” I said to myself as I pushed past people to get into the elevator.

  My reputation would be even more tarnished than it was right now. I looked at the elevator mirror and groaned.

I dropped my bag on the floor. At least,I had two minutes to deal with my hair.

 I brought out a large comb.

A man behind me sneered.

    “I'm sorry…”I apologized as I started brushing my hair. I couldn't walk into my office with hair that resembled a hornet's nest.

About four minutes later,I was finally at the top floor.

  Every single worker was already either in their cubicle,or in their office.

    I raised my chin up as I walked through the workers who exchanged glances as I walked by. I knew my mascara was terribly smeared,and my lipstick had been drawn in the shape of an amoeba,but I ignored it all. Elegance

                            —

 As I stumbled into my office,my jaw fell to the floor.

A team of maintenance crew were moving out my stuff.

   “Hey! What's going on?” I barked but no one answered.

  I quickly swung my family portrait from the hands of a man. 

      What the hell was going on?

I watched as a lady with blonde hair stepped into my office. She pointed at my lamp stand. “Take that away.”

   I watched as a maintenance man picked it up.

     “Who are you?” I asked,turning to her.

She sneered at me for a minute,be

fore her eyes widened in realization.

    “You're Emma Martinez. Aren't you?” 

  “I am. Who are you?”

    “I am Stella McCartney,your replacement.”

       What?