"Did you perhaps know me before? ''Piper's voice stopped him and his heartbeat skipped a thousand beats.
At first his intention was to ignore her words but he found himself turning around to give her a reply.
"No, have not seen you before"He replied, putting his hand inside his pocket.
"Then why did you stutter when you pronounce my second name along with my surname?"she questioned.
"Did I stutter?"He asked and scoffed.
"Well, if you don't want to admit you stuttered, then it's fine,"Piper uttered and bowed again.
"Riley, let's go and wait for the staff at the reception"Piper said walking out of his office.
"Oh!, Yes I'm coming with you" Riley uttered, running after her.
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Collins couldn't believe his eyes, so he went back to sit down in thoughts. Am I really running mad? He thought, or this nemesis. No it's not nemesis, am not a bad guy.His phone rang out distracting him from his thoughts.
? Hello sir"Owen said.
? What is it?"Mr Walter muttered.
? You said I should come back to work today sir. But I call back to confirm those words you said earlier"He stuttered.
Collins scoffed, rubbing his forehead in a frustrating way.
?Did you think, I was threatening or what"Collins roared angrily, storming on his feet.
? If you don't report today, consider losing this job"He uttered angrily, ending the call angrily. He stormed on his feet and walked close to his office wide window, one can see those cities from his office floor.
His office door burst opened, revealing Nova.
"Why did you barge in "Collins muttered angrily, throwing the mug on her head.
"Ouch!"She whimpered, falling to her knees.
"Oh my goodness, what have I done?"Collins stuttered, covering his mouth. He ran to assist her but the blood won't stop.
"Sir,, the ,, first-aid kit..."Nova stuttered. Collins panicked, running to shelves to get it.
"I don't know what to do, Nova ''Collins screamed, losing his mind. Those painful flashes keep coming back to his head.
"Mr Walter, please get someone outside, I am feeling dizzy"Nova stuttered.
Collins didn't think twice before running out of his office, he took the elevator from the 100th floor to the 1st floor. His workers were startled by his behavior...
"Get the ambulance!"He roared angrily at his staffs.
"Yes sir"They answer running out of each office, somewhere making calls. Collins rubbed his forehead and crouched slowly fighting back those painful memories. In as much he tried to fight back those tears, he could hold himself anymore.
He wailed loudly, holding his head.
Meanwhile, Riley and Piper have been staring at him strangely.
"Wow! He's short tempered"Riley whispered.
"Yes, he is. But it seems like he wasn't like that,"Piper uttered, sitting properly.
"What did you mean?"Riley asked.
"His cold attitude and everything is because of his past, his mistakes or something, I am not really sure of what might cause his cold attitude but I think it's something, something turned him to this Mr Cold"Piper uttered.
"It might be because of a woman, or someone he loves,"Riley reasoned.
"Yeah, I think so,"Piper uttered, standing up on her feet.
"Where are you going?"Riley asked.
"Don't follow me, just watch me this time around"Piper uttered.
"Oh!"Riley exclaimed, and sat quietly on her seat.
Collins still couldn't fight those memories, tears streamed down his cheeks as those painful memories kept coming to his head. Piper crouched to his level and placed her hand on his shoulder. Collins was startled a little, but something happened that made him raise his head up.
Those memories that were giving him sleepless nights, hard times at work vanished immediately. It happened as if it was wiped away immediately when he felt someone touch him. His face looked calm immediately he stared at her.
"Those eyes, those feelings were the same thing"Collins thought.
Piper gave him a wide smile revealing her white set of teeth
"Are you okay, Mr Walter?"Piper asked, staring at him closely. Collins kept staring at her as if he knew her somewhere.
"Mr Walter"Piper called, snapping him out of that wonder land he was in.
"Yes,, Yes,,, Yes..."He stuttered, looking around.
"Are you fine sir?"Piper asked again, assisting him on his feet.
"Can you save someone that's bleeding, perhaps you can do CPR on someone. I don't even know if she's dead"Collins stuttered.
"Who did you injure, who is hurt?"Piper panicked.
"I hurt Nova"He replied with a cool voice, which amazed his staff.
"Who is Nova? Where is this Nova?"Piper asked looking around.
"She's one of the staff who works here and she's in my office. I accidentally threw a mug at her, but her head got hit alone."He stuttered, rubbing his hand against each other.
"OMG, she must be bleeding a lot,"Piper stuttered, covering her mouth.
"Someone should get the ambulance quickly.. We have to save Nova" She screamed before taking his hand and ran to the elevator. Those memories kept flooding in. He became weak immediately, he wasn't himself at that moment.
"She's dead, she died right. Who is she?"Collins thought, he really has a lot of questions on his mind feeling scared to walk with her.
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Collins couldn't move closer to her after experiencing those feelings he felt earlier. Piper screamed after seeing how bloody his office was.
"Miss Nova, are you okay?"Piper asked, putting pressure on the open wound.
"Am,, good,,,"Nova stuttered.
"Am ,,,, sorry,,, Piper"Collins stammered.
Miss Nova eye widened immediately he apologized,
"Huh. Did you just say sorry right now or it's my ear that is receiving rubbish"Nova asked, with widened eyes. That moment she was careless of her present situation. She couldn't believe her ears.
"Is he a grumpy type?"Piper asked.
"Yes, he is. "Nova chuckled at her response.
"Is he really cold towards his staff?"Piper thought.
The door burst open, revealing the nurses and some assistants with a stretcher. They assisted Miss Nova on it, and walked out of the office.
"Are you really grumpy and cold towards your staff?"Piper asked.
"I wasn't,"Collins argued.
"Oh, you are. I saw how you yell at them on the first floor"Piper replied.
"I,, I.."Collins stuttered.
"Why aren't you grumpy towards me? I kept asking if you know me somewhere but you said NO. Why are you cold towards people that are around you but not to me. And your stares towards me were different from the ones you give them. No wonder Miss Nova was shocked when you apologized. You---her words were cut soap when Collins did the unexpected.
Yes, he's kissing her as if his life depends on it. He even had the guts to wrap his hand around her waist and her neck.
"Sir"Piper uttered, but Collins took it as his own advantage and kissed her deeply. Piper didn't know when she gave in and kissed him back.