Star-crossed Lovers

I had prepared myself for the awkward silence surrounding us in advance but as it turned out Jack had left already with his father by the time I was ready to leave the house. He didn’t even leave a message, nor bothered to call me. He must be really angry or just knows that I know my duty to follow them to the company. Since I should know their schedule by heart the good assistant I am.

Still, there is a part of me that dreads meeting him but in a paradoxical way I also want to see him. I was glad that we managed to get over what happened in the car and now we are back to square one. I don’t want to go away like this. But I have no idea what in the world I should do to make up for it.

After arriving at the company, I tried to delay the moment of meeting him, which wasn’t that hard, considering that his secretary gave me plenty of tasks to keep me occupied. If I didn’t know better, I would think Jack did this deliberately in order to avoid me. But thankfully, my intuition proved to be wrong. I was in the middle of writing a report for him when he sent me a message telling me that he had an appointment in the afternoon, so I shouldn’t wait for him but head back home directly after I was done. When I asked him if I should accompany him, he told me not to. I put down my phone on the table and checked his schedule but there was no change to it whatsoever just as I expected.

Was this only an excuse or really did something come up? And even if it did, shouldn’t he have notified me earlier? I am supposed to be his assistant. Naturally, I should be the one to know it first. Even before him.

I tried my best to erase every thought of him from my mind but I just couldn’t. When I could finally face the fact that I could not concentrate on the task before me, I stood up and decided to take a walk to ease my mind.

Not many people were walking around in the corridors except me. I bet it’s mainly because the old man wouldn’t appreciate his employees slacking at work. Not that I can’t understand it, it’s justified. I am just stating a fact.

Before returning to my office, I decided to take a rest at the railing. I didn’t have the chance to do this for ages and now it seemed oddly appealing. So, I walked up to the railing but as soon as I rested my arms on it I heard two women’s voices talking. As I leaned over the railing, I saw that they were sitting on the couch a floor below me, holding cups in their hands with probably coffee in them. They seemed to be chatting happily even though the topic they were discussing was far from happy.

“That’s a shame,” said the one closer to me. “You two looked like you were meant for each other.”

“And it felt like that too,” said the other. Her voice was full of sorrow with which I can sympathize. No one knows better than me how that feels.

“Perhaps, you’re star-crossed lovers. A couple that is meant to be together but can never stay together because your fate says otherwise.”

“That’s not helping,” said the woman with the sad voice and started to cry. Her colleague, probably also her friend hugged her and started patting her back to console her. This made me realize I had no business being here and listening in on their private conversation, so I stepped away from the railing and went back to my office.

Star-crossed lovers, huh? I wonder what Jack would say upon hearing this. I cannot ask him this since we are on bad terms now but I am a hundred percent sure he would disagree. He tends to be more optimistic and reckless. It’s in his nature but his age probably also plays a part in it. While me... I try to be realistic. Which is extremely hard many times.

I looked out the window and thought to myself how unfair it is that everything seems to be perfectly normal outside even when someone is in turmoil on the inside. Maybe it’s a sign that I shouldn't be thinking about any of this because it doesn’t matter. It won’t matter... Is what I want to believe. I saw a bird landing on the balcony next to another bird and I thought to myself that even birds have it better off than me.

Suddenly, I heard someone clearing her throat behind me which startled me a little. As I turned around, I saw the old man’s secretary standing a few feet away from my desk.

“What is it?” I asked, realizing the oddness of asking the same thing Jack asked last night.

“Chairman Liu asked me to inform you that he would like to have a word with you,” she told me in a perfectly normal way but the unexpectedness of the request still made me uneasy. I had a foreboding feeling I just couldn’t shake off.

“Did he tell you why?” I asked, so I could prepare myself mentally of what to expect.

“No, as it is none of my concern,” she told me matter-of-factly.

“Alright. I’ll be there in a minute,” I told her which was probably to her satisfaction since she smiled at me, then left the office.

I looked back at the sun shining outside and thought to myself that whatever may happen now or in the future, at least we will be looking at the same damn sun in the same damn sky. So, even if we were never to meet again, we will have the same view before our eyes when we look up at the sky. Not much of a consolation but I wasn’t trying to console myself either.

Whatever. Maybe it’s for the best. I am going to leave tonight and after that, all of this will be history.