Jasmine finally left my house and I was happy she was a source of comfort to me during this bad times. I was honestly still confused on what I felt for daniel, I wanted to bring myself to hate him soo bad but I honestly don't even know how I was gonna go about that.

I didn't want to go to work because I had no idea on how I was gonna face him but I knew I shouldn't feel that way.

I wasn't the one in the wrong, he was!!!.

He hurt me soo bad that accepting the fact that he had hurt me was more of a bigger deal to me than it seemed.

After much mental deliberation on the matter at hand, I decided to go to work the next day, I shouldn't hide or be a coward when he was clearly the one who did me wrong. I wasn't gonna feel intimidated this time around, not by him or anyone else.

****

It was a Monday morning, the sun shun brightly high up in the sky, birds were chirping around trees in a sonorous manner, yellow leaves kept dropping from their trees, I could have said it was a beautiful summer but yeah....nothing looked impressive to me anymore. I was too mentally drained to even notice what was beautiful.

I quickly went into the bathroom and took a quick shower, a really hot bath to cool my head and to mentally prepare myself for whatever was gonna happen at work today.

I wore a really simple black gown and flat shoe, my hair was packed in a tight bun. I took a quick look at myself in the standing mirror and yeah.... Two stressed doe eye stared back at me, the girl in the mirror looked soo outworn that it was as if she was gonna black out any minute from now.

I wouldn't give anyone the pleasure of seeing me in this state so I quickly went to my makeup box and dressed myself up more. I went back to the mirror with a wide smile on my face to look more applausive and yeah I did..... The girl in the mirror suddenly changed to one who had nothing to worry about, the smile on her face looked so genuine that I almost fell for it myself, I smirked at this fact.

I got to work around 8:30 in the morning only to be met by stares from different people, people were talking in hushed tones. I honestly didn't have to hear what they were saying to know what they were talking about. Things like...

"She thinks the CEO got her back that's why she comes to work whenever she wants."

"She was never like this."

"She as the assurance that she would be made a permanent staff that's why she's doing whatever she wants."

"Seducing the CEO for position, just how desperate can one be."

"I would kill to be in her shoes."

.....and soo many more small talks defaming me. Those old hags just don't know when to rest, I already learned how to handle gossips like that since I was a teen, those kind of things didn't move me in the slightest way possible......or maybe they did. I had become rather popular at work of late. Some people even tried to get on my good side because they felt Daniel and I were close....yh, we were.....but not anymore and never again.

I got to my desk and the other staffs had refrained from sending me their usual daily errands with the belief that their jobs were on the line, I was the CEO's princess to them, they definitely must have watched a lot of romance movies.

I sighed as I looked at the pile of documents I had to work on, on my table, skipping work was definitely not a good thing, my work load of a week ago just piled up, adding to my headache.

I was about to pick one of the document's when I inhaled a familiar smell of cologne around me, I looked up only to be met by Daniel's dotting eyes. I quickly looked down back hoping he would leave on time.

What the heck was he doing here.

"Can we talk?"He finally said in a rather husky tone.

I looked around me and saw a lot of people staring at me, waiting for my response. Envy was written all over Emma's face, Jasmine was encouraging me with her eyes and some of the others were eyeing me suspiciously, they were all waiting for my response. I myself was waiting for my response, I knew if I didn't reply him another kind of rumor will begin to circulate, one I wouldn't be able to handle. I knew I was supposed to say something or do something but my mouth and body wouldn't move, I went numb.

I suddenly felt a tight grip around my wrist cutting off the suspense. It was Daniel's, he pulled me along with him to his office and shut the door behind him, the others had started murmuring loudly, loud enough for me to hear what they were saying.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked as soon as we got into his office, jerking my hands away from his grip.

He didn't reply and went to shut his windows first before turning to look at me who was obviously boiling in anger.

"I thought about this for a week... I'm not gonna apologize again, I'm not gonna beg you to forgive me... I just need you to listen to what I have to say." He replied calmly but that wasn't enough to calm me, it just aggravated and irritated me the more.

"I don't wanna hear anything you have to say, I don't even wish to see you again... I just want you to leave me alone, I don't want to have anything to do with you again." I yelled and I could honestly feel my blood boil.

"Do you really mean that?" He replied as he kept moving close to me, I didn't know what to say, I just kept moving back. I gulped hard when I finally reached a dead end ..... The wall, I couldn't move any further.

The fact that I had reached a dead end didn't stop him from moving closer to me, we became soo close that I could feel his breath within my space, the strong smell of cologne from within a distance had heightened, his stare was more intense, and I could feel that I had gone numb.

He grabbed me by my waist and was about to kiss me, I closed my eyes out of reflex, I was gonna let him....or rather I wanted him to not until I came back my senses. I quickly put my index finger on his lips preventing him from continuing, I wouldn't let myself be consumed by the fact that I still had feelings for him.

"Yes I do....I meant everything I said, I really do hate you, much more than you could ever imagine."I said in almost a whisper but I was sure he heard everything I said due to the close proximity between us.

I released myself from his grip not wanting to look him in the eyes, I left his office without anything else to say.

The company workers kept staring dagger at me as soon as I left his office, not that they heard what we talked about but because they were wondering why he suddenly had to drag me into his office. Jasmine had an obvious look of worry on her face, but I just sent her a small smile, assuring her that I was ok....or rather was gonna be. I went straight to my desk to complete my work, pretending not to hear the loud gossip about me, some of them were intended for me to hear and feel bad but I wasn't gonna give them have the pleasure of doing so. I tried soo hard to concentrate on the file in front of me while trying to keep my mind out of what happened in Daniel's office.

I was happy when work was over, finally... I could have a break from all those stares and gossip....... especially a break from Daniel.

I watched the sky get dark as I strolled down the dark alley. For the first time in my life, I wished I was the sky, it had nothing to worry about and could burst in tears whenever things got soo hard(rain).

Silly me..

I took my eyes off the sky and watched as my shadow got dimmer because darkness was about to fall, just as I was about to take my eyes off my shadow.. I saw another shadow standing next to mine, I was about to look at who it was when I was stuffed with an hanky containing some kind of chemical in my nose, I suddenly blacked out due to the effect it had on me.

****

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