Robert Arisen

~Narrator~

Sitting in his seat in his office, Robert's mind replayed the past events like a broken record.

~Flashback 1~

A young woman, with bouncy brunette curls, walked into his office with a sweet smile and placed a cactus in a pot on his table.

"What is this?" Robert asked surprised and amused.

"I thought that you must be used to getting flowers, but this suits your personality better." The girl gave a playful smile making Robert smile as well.

"Mr. Robert, keep smiling like that. It suits you." The girl complimented him and then brought her hand forward, "Friends?"

Robert glanced at the extended hand and before he could change his mind, brought his hand to meet hers, "Friends."

The girl smiled satisfied.

~Flashback 2~ A few weeks after the events of the first flashback,

The same girl with curls sat on the passenger seat of Robert's car as he drove. She held on to his hand and pleaded sweetly, "Rob, please, let's go on a dinner date. Please, come on."

Robert didn't want to turn her down, but as much as he liked being with her, he had no choice, "Blaire, please. I have some stuff to take care of in the evening. Some stuff about the mansion. And you know how sick Mother has been lately."

"So, it means it is true what I have heard about you." Blaire mused seriously, losing her bright smile.

Robert straightened up subconsciously and asked warily, "What have you heard about me?"

"Only that you don't socialize in the evenings. Don't go to any events or even leave the house after dark. Don't meet friends or anything." She answered. Robert kept his eyes on the road. It was true but not for the reasons anyone could assume.

"I am not going to listen to anything. You are coming on a dinner date with me tonight and it is final. I am not going to hear any excuses. We are going on our first dinner date and I will not hear anything else. That's it." Blaire said playfully as she put her hands over her ears, pretending not to hear him, and looked away to pretend that she did not notice his expression. 

Robert looked at her being playful which no one had dared to be in his presence. It was a new and surprisingly nice feeling.

~End of Flashback~

Robert stood up from his seat feeling restless and walked over to a window looking over at the cityscape below him. Nothing seemed to calm his regret or guilt that seemed to drown him the more he thought of her. 

Another flashback came before his eyes, from the night of their engagement when they were soon to be married.

~Flashback 3~

Blaire stood on one of the balconies of his mansion, sighing in bliss as her curls danced with the evening breeze. Her eyes were closed. 

The whole mansion had been decorated for their engagement. And then, when the guests had gone, Blaire had stayed, wanting to spend more time with her fiance.

She did not notice Robert ascending the stairs behind her and slowly creeping up to her with an unrecognizable expression on his face. Only he knew what he was going through, the demons that he had given himself up to. But before he knew what was happening, it was too late, and all he was left with was life-long regret of decisions that should not have been made.

~End of Flashback~

Robert noticed the time and like clockwork stood up to go home for the day. 

He drove in silence and walked over to his father's study room attached to the mansion library. He did not have it in him to greet his step-mother, so he didn't. He knew she was waiting in her room, just like he knew she had been waiting in her room in the morning when he had left for work.

He poured himself into the registers that had accounts of his ancestral farmlands and the rest of his properties, including the Arisen Mansion that he lived in. But as soon as the clock struck eight in the night, the pen dropped from Robert's hand and he stood up as if hypnotized.

He left his coat on the hanger in the study and walked mechanically up the stairs to his bedroom, the only occupied room on that floor. It was safer that way.

He got inside and locked himself up for the night. 

The household staff watched him go but did not bother to ask or stop him for dinner. If he had wanted it, he would've had it before eight. They were not allowed to ascend the stairs to his floor between eight pm and am every night for years. They knew what happened in Robert Arisen's room but they were bound by loyalty not to say a word to any press or paparazzi who were hungry for a bite from the great business tycoon and multi-billionaire Robert Arisen, the most eligible but reclusive bachelor of the city and the sole heir of Arisen Group of Industries.

Robert sat on his rocking chair in his room as a gorgeous ghost smirked with full lips covered in perfect red lipstick and a red scarf around her neck. Thick long hair swaying with every step as she slowly glided towards the man with a proud smirk at his punctality.

Robert sighed in defeat as he felt her everlasting and haunting presence coming near him and said in a tone one uses with children, "Still stuck on that thing, are we?"

When she did not receive a reply from Robert, she resumed, "She fell and died on her own. She was a coward. And all cowards should die."

Robert looked up and slowly stood up, walking over to the ghost that had been with him for many years.

He looked in her eyes, smiled sadly, defeated, he let himself be taken over by the urge.