LIANA I sat at my desk in the bustling office, surrounded by the familiar sounds of typing, running coffee machines, phone calls, and coworkers chattering. My best friend, Lara, sat in the cubicle next to mine, her blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun as she focused on her computer screen. We had been friends since college, and I couldn't imagine working in this office without her. Her sweet, comforting words always made everything much easier. I glanced up from my work and caught a glimpse of my diligent boyfriend, James, walking toward me. He flashed me a quick smile before disappearing into his own cubicle across the room. James and I had been dating for over seven months now, and I was grateful that he also worked in the same office. I have heard people say it's a bad idea to date your colleague, but I, on the other hand, thought it was nice to have a beloved someone to share lunch breaks and vent about work with. There were so many topics we could relate to, and we just
ZAYLEN I watched three pairs of eyes on me, entirely shocked at my appearance, as if I had manifested out of a UFO with three heads on my shoulder. Judging by their astonished look, it totally slipped their minds that this was my office and I always worked overtime. But today, I wasn’t in the mood to work much overtime, so I decided to go home, only to find the guy named James getting sandwiched between two women. How can boys be so dumb? First of all, you shouldn't cheat. And even if you do, do it carefully. How can you get caught? It just ends up with everyone having bad blood. Anyway, it was not my business, but I had to step in because it was happening in my territory. I couldn't tolerate enmity among co-workers. It affected the work environment and work quality; besides, that James guy wasn't even making great reports either, despite having two women in his arms, which made me a little bit curious: what did either of them see in this dude to fight over him? “What’s going
LIANA “Where to now, Boss?” I inquired, not knowing his full address. He had just told me the area he lived in, not the exact location. “Which block do you live in?” “Well…” Zaylen twitched his lips as he thought. “Keep going straight for a bit.” I kept driving according to his instruction, and when we were passing by a park, Zaylen spoke up abruptly, “Stop here.” Immediately, I hit the brakes. “What happened?” He shrugged and opened the door. “I want to take a walk at the park for a while,” saying so, he stepped out of the car, leaving me alone and absolutely clueless. Should I leave him here? I was assigned to drop him home, which I had done already—technically. But surely, the park wasn't the place he called home, was it? So in other words, I still had to stick with him. Instead of waiting inside and getting bored, I decided to follow him. Looking up at the dark sky, I thought I would spend the entire night crying in my bed with a sad tub of ice cream in my lap. But here
ZAYLEN “So if you don't mind, I would like to ask you something again, Zaylen,” Liana started after I told her to start using my name from now on. She had a hesitant look on her face. “Yeah, sure. Ask me whatever you want,” I gave her permission. She looked into my eyes and asked skeptically, “Why do you really want to help me?” “I already told you my reason, didn't I?” I shrugged. “No, no, there has to be a legitimate reason. It's not charity that you don't need a reason for. You agreed to take revenge!” she pointed out, her voice slurred. “Plus, I'm pretty sure it's not just out of goodwill.” “What? I don't look like a person who has goodwill or does charity?” I teased, which seemed to have caught her off-guard. “No… that's not the case. I mean… you know what I mean!” she rambled. “Now tell me the real reason why you would help me.” Getting curious, I took a closer look at her face. Her eyes were a little unfocused due to the alcohol getting to her head, but they were red an
ZAYLEN My eyes widened in shock, my breath caught in my throat. Before I could react, she pulled away herself and slumped her head on my shoulder, lulling herself to sleep. I was left flabbergasted at her action. It took me a whole minute to come back to reality. I let out a sigh as I mumbled, “Drunk people really are the worst.” I looked down at the girl on my shoulder and ended up chuckling. “Pretty sure you won't remember this, will you?” I stood up with her in my arms. “I will let you off the hook for that peck because you are drunk and heartbroken. Anyway, let's get you back home.” It was after I reached her car that I realized I didn't know where she lived. “Guess I'm going to have to take you to my place,” I said to her knocked-out self. I put her in the car and called the maid to prepare a guest room for her. Once I got home, I laid down Liana on the prepared bed and took off her heels before covering her with the duvet. I was used to putting drunk girls to bed, thanks t
LIANA I knew nothing, but all I knew was, I had to run away from here now. I grabbed my phone and purse and put on my heels. Before leaving, I glanced at my messed-up self in the mirror and it didn't at least look like we did anything else last night, despite my haggard state. But now was not the time to be bothered with that. As I got out of the room, it just occurred to me how rich my boss actually was. His mansion was huge, and it had a vintage vibe as well. I had no idea he came from old money. I mean, of course, I knew Fournier has been a long-standing brand with a reputable history. Who could have guessed we had such a similarity in the type of place we grew up in? I told my dad to keep the mansion vintage, but no, he had to renovate it to become modern. Well, whatever, not like he ever listened to me. Shoot! Now is not the time to compare our mansions! On my way down the stairs, I noticed a big painting, which made me pause again. It was of a woman with long white hair st
LIANA Zaylen and I walked out of the elevator together, earning a lot of stares. Definitely, everyone was wondering why the boss was using this elevator while the smart ones started working more after realizing the boss was on a round now. As Zaylen started roaming around, I went to my desk—I disliked this desk now. The image of James and Lara having sex appeared in my mind. Moreover, my desk was near theirs since we were all in the same department. Nevertheless, I kept my bag on the chair unwillingly. Lara seemed to be at a meeting today because her desk was empty. Sighing, I thought I should get started on work as soon as possible since I was already late to arrive. James appeared in front of me all of a sudden, making me scrunch my nose in disgust. As if my morning couldn't get any worse! “Hey…” James greeted him, but I ignored him and took a seat. I thought James would move when he would notice I was ignoring his existence. But boy, was I wrong. “Liana, can we talk pleas
LIANA With a genuine smile on my lips, I followed Zaylen to his cabin. Thank God, I don't have to hear that stupid James’ blabbers anymore. “You misunderstood,” “I love you,” blah blah blah. Once I stepped into Zaylen’s neat and clean cabin, he instructed, “Please take a seat.” I took a seat and asked, “So what did you want to talk about?” Zaylen sat on his office chair and crossed his arms against his chest. “Since I agreed to help you and I don't like to delay things, I need to know. Do you have any plans ready on how to take revenge against James and Lara?” “I am still thinking,” I said, biting my lip a bit. “Do you want me to take your revenge in one-shot?” he suggested. “I can fire them and give them a terrible recommendation, making sure they don't end up with any decent job anytime soon, or not even in the coming twenty years minimum.” His revenge plan was really tempting, knowing he has the power to do so. However, I didn't want things to end so easily. So I annou