New year

The first three months of the year were always the stressful time for me at work because most companies want advertising for their products, mostly during the time when it was back to school for all the school and collage kids, my team and I had all hands on deck. Even though we recently all got back to work after the festive season holidays, it was like we never left at all. The office turned out to be our second home, having to put in the extra hours to get the job done the next morning.

By the time I got home, I just wanted a bubble bath, a glass of wine and sleep. I didn't even get to see Nathan as much as I could, like in the beginning of our relationship because I was so damn busy lately. The last time we actually got to spend like real time together was last weekend when we got on a sunset cruise for our six-month anniversary, and it was just pure bliss. I was happy, and I don't think my heart has ever been at so much ease in my life.

Today after I knocked off at work, I was already looking forward to going back home to him because he was an important part of my life and every second with him counts for everything

As I walked to my car, I felt like there was someone following me and I turned my head to get the shock of my life to discover that I wasn't wrong. I first saw the soft chocolate eyes I was once familiar with before registering the rest of him, sending my whole body in a neurotic cringe.

“Livy”

Greg.

“You have to be fucking kidding me”, I started walking faster, and he caught up with my pace, grabbing me by the arm and turned me around to face him

“Listen I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but I just want to talk”, he pleaded, holding my arm with both his hands

“Talk about what?”, I yanked myself from his grip

“Everything that's happened. I've been trying to call you and text you but you never got back to me because you blocked me”

I rolled my eyes and continued walking until he stood in front of me, blocking my way each time I tried walking past him. Not only that, but I was growing irritated by just the sight of him.

“Maybe you should take the hint that I don't want to talk to you”, I spat, pushing him to the side. “Get out of my face and move!”

He blocked my way again

“I just want to apologize. What happened between Sheila and I didn't mean anything, I swear”

“I really don't care Greg because I'm over you and your bullshit”

“You're over me?”, he sounded hurt, his face turning in a blend of confusion and pain

“What did you seriously think I was going to do? Sit around and wait on your lying and cheating ass to get your shit together and make your mind up whether you wanted to be in a relationship with me or not?”, I quirked up an eyebrow and this was now the time he decided to keep quiet. I scoffed, stepping to the side so that I can walk past him again.

“Liv wait”, he held me at arms length and I pinched the bridge of my nose, heaving a sigh to calm myself down before peeling his hands off me

“These past few months I've been going out of my mind because of how things ended between us”

“Okay, and?”

His eyebrows ceased up in confusion. “What do you mean 'okay and'?”

“I mean, okay and what do you want me to do about that? Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?”

“No, all I'm saying is what happened was just a mistake, I made one mistake, and I'm apologizing for it, you can't punish me forever”

.......mans really said this with his entire chest out and,

“I-”, was speechless to be honest. I can't believe he's just going to stand there and act like I'm the one being unreasonable that he got caught cheating on me.

“You know what, I really don't have time for this”, I slowly shook my head at him, and he heaved a sigh

“Can we just talk-”

“Greg, I moved on with my life, I'm seeing someone, so I really don't need this”

“You're in a relationship already?!”, he sounded shockingly suprised, and I pulled a dumbfounded expression at him. What did he think I was going to do? Stay single forever after he broke me?

“Yes Greg, I'm in a relationship, is that a problem with you?”, I sounded like I actually cared about what he thought, and he was about to respond, but I interrupted,

“No wait”, I waved my hand on his face, laughing a little. “I really don't care what you think, do you want to know why?”, I didn't even wait for him to give me an answer. “That's because you're dead to me. Fucking D-E-A-D”

“Tell me something…”, he cleared his throat. “Was this other guy already in the picture when you and I were still together?”

I faked a grasp. “Why do you care?”

“Because-”

“Mind your business Greg and stay the fuck away from me”, I deadpanned whilst finally walking past him, flicking him off while at it

“This is not over Olivia, far from it”, he called out as I got into my car and locked the doors before turning the ignition on and drove off

When I got to Nathan's apartment, I used my own set of keys to get in and found him sleeping peacefully on the bed, with Missy sleeping right above his head on the pillow

Missy was our munchkin ginger and white kitten Nathan found stranded outside his office building at the beginning of the year, and she had hurt her tiny paw. After taking her to the vet to be treated and vaccinated he took her to the nearest shelter so that her previous owners could find her if she was missing but no one came forward to claim her...and so we adopted her.

For a small adorable fuzzy fur ball, Missy was extremely dramatic that she would sprawl herself on the floor knowing that Nathan would pick her up and pay attention to her. I wasn't even sure who was suffering from major separation anxiety between me and her because it's like we couldn't stay away from Nathan, we were both obsessed with him.

Don't get me started on the tantrums she could throw whenever things don't go her way. Not that I could stay mad at her for long though, especially when she would look at me in her full pretty grey eyes and sleep on my lap whenever when I motion her to come to me so that I could give her endless pats and kisses. She's gorgeous, cute and a lovely snuggler, I just fell in love with her from the first moment I held her. I could tell she liked me, or so I hoped. Neitherless I loved having her small presence around, so did Nathan, alot.

I took my shoes off and climbed on the bed, cuddling Nathan on his nap and he stirred in his sleep to wrap his arm around me and pulled me in closer. He peeled his eyes open a little, and we locked eyes for a while, quietly saying Hi to each other as he lazily stroked my chin with his thumb and pressed his lips tenderly on my forehead, mumbling he loves me sleepily as he drifted to sleep again.

I laid awake for quite some time, thinking about everything that's been happening lately, most especially today when Greg ambushed me out of nowhere. Honestly, the nerve of that guy and the slowness of how his mind works is astronomical. He has tried reaching out to me these past few months, but then it's like it couldn't get though his thick skull that I no longer wanted anything to do with him anymore. Some people just don't get it.

Later that night; almost around midnight, it was time to do some work because I had countless deadlines to meet before the end of the week and even though I felt like I was pushing myself beyond my physical capability, I really needed to nail the current account we were working on. It would do us good, and we would gain more clients in the high networking places.

Three hours in deep, I could already feel myself slowly dozing off to sleep again, but then I would keep myself up by splashing cold water on my face every 25 minutes. I saw the main lights come on as I was sorely depending on the brightness of my laptop screen for some source of light and Nathan walked into the lounge.

“Hey”, he rubbed the sleep of his eyes before slipping his glasses on. “I wasn't aware you still up”

“I have deadlines to meet before the weekend, so I have to pull an all-nighter”, I smiled faintly at him, and he gave a nod of understanding

“Do you want me to make you some coffee or something?”

“Coffee sounds lovely, thanks”

“Sure”, he walked into the kitchen and I heard the sound of the kettle boiling. Within minutes, he was back with the coffee and sat next to me on the floor, saying nothing more than he just sat there looking between me and the loads of paperwork in front of me.

“I know what you're probably thinking”, I said as I took a sip of the coffee and set it down on the coffee table

“What am I thinking?”

“You're thinking that I'm putting myself under stain with this working overtime thing, I didn't sleep and eat enough and that worries you”

He had raised his concerns a few weeks ago ever since I started working on this new account I was assigned to and even though I managed to convince him that I would look after myself more, and it's only a couple more days until we land this account then after that things would go back to normal

“I know just how important getting this account is to you and how passionate you are with your job, so I'll just be here to ensure that you don't push yourself overboard. You need to give yourself a break through baby”

“It's only for a little while then after that I'll have less load on my plate, I promise”

“I really hope so”, he heaved a sigh. “Do you want me to stay up with you? I know I won't be much help because I'm clueless about your line of work, but I can at least help by typing something out for you”

“No, you have an early day at work today, so it's best you go to sleep”

“Will you be okay?”

“I'll be fine, don't worry about me”

“Okay”, he stood up to walk back into the bedroom, and I was still a little skeptical about telling him about my encounter with Greg, but then we agreed on being open with our thoughts and feelings, it was only right that I told him

“Uh”, I started and saw him turn back around to look at me, causing me to chew nervously on the insides of my cheeks a little. “So, something happened today”

“What happened?”, he sounded curious as he walked towards me once again

“I don't know how to tell you but-”

“If you're comfortable enough in sharing then you can tell me anything”, he said softly, sitting back down next to me and I heaved a sigh before giving him a short nod

“I saw my ex today, more like bumped into him because he kinda like ambushed me in the parking lot. He said he wanted to apologize but then by the looks of things he might have even wanted to get back together, I don't know”, I rambled, and he tilted his head to the side a little, listening to me attentively, and I think that's what made me a little nervous; him keeping a straight face as I talked...making me wonder if it was such a good idea to tell him this or not.

“But I promise you nothing happened, I just left him there. I have no intention of ever seeing him again you have to believe me”

“Olivia”, his voice was firm and yet a little soft as he cupped the side of my face in his hand. “You don't have to prove anything to me”, he started stroking my cheek softly. “I trust you”

He then wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head

“So you're not mad?”, I asked quietly as I was locked into his warm embrace

“I have no absolute reason to be mad at you. You could have chosen not to tell me that you met your ex today, but you did, so thank you for coming clean with me”

This man will honestly be the death of me one day I swear

I signed a sigh of relieve and wrapped my arms around him. “You're amazing”

“No, you're amazing”, he tapped the top of my nose with his index finger and I smiled at him. “So you're sure you don't want me to stay up with you?”

“I'll be fine. Go back to sleep”

“I'll keep your side of the bed warm for you, alright?”, I nodded my head at him. “Don't take long though”

“I won't”