Rosie's POV
I don't know what to feel again.
It's been 3 days since Mr. Crest all but pushed me over to his assistant; 3 days since I was rejected, and my heart shattered into a million pieces. After he callously dropped his bombshell and dismissed me without any explanation, I spent over an hour crying in the toilet and wondering what it was that I did wrong, until I decided I might as well get used to my new position.
Despite my initial displeasure, it was actually nice working with Mr Nick. He was a friendly person, and from my first day of working with him, I felt completely at ease.
Unlike with David, I thought perversely.
Nick was a youngish-looking man, but he couldn't be more than 32 years. Very attractive, too, with his dark eyes that seemed to hold all his charm and the kind of body build that pulled women effortlessly. He was at least a head taller than me, and the way he cocked his head to the side, looked down at me with his smile, and shook my hand, making me swoon a bit.
His humour was unmatched, too. I was sure he might have known something was wrong when I came to his office looking like i had been run over and told him of David's instructions, but if he did, he said nothing to show that. Instead, we worked together in silence for a few minutes until he started telling different stories and jokes in an attempt to lighten the mood. It worked well.
Nick was a very efficient man as well. When I got to his office, there was a pile of paperwork waiting to be done, but within a few hours and with our combined effort, we were able to complete working on every single one of them before the closing hour, and there was time left to spare to work on other things. It was that efficiency and diligence that got him to where he was. I didn't know when he started working here, but I heard from some other colleagues that he started from the bottom and managed to climb all the way to the top and become the second only to Mr Crest. It was truly impressive.
It's also been 2 days since David last showed up at work, too. Honestly, I don't know what to make of that. He stormed out of the office on Tuesday without any information as to whether he'd be coming back or not, and none of us questioned his decision because, hey, he's the boss. But when he didn't show up by Wednesday afternoon, I began to get worried. It was unlike him to be absent from work. In fact, in my 5 years of working here, the only time Mr Crest was ever not around was whenever he had an official meeting that required him to travel. I feverishly monitored the news to know whether there was any accident of any sort that he might have been involved in, but there was none whatsoever, not even a minor one.
I angrily pushed all thoughts about him to the back of my mind. If he wanted to be alone so bad, then that's his problem. If anybody wanted to find him, they could go ahead, but I won't take part in it.
My phone rang, and I glanced at the caller ID, even though I already knew who it was. Jessica had been calling and texting me almost every minute since Tuesday, obviously because she wanted to know how the whole thing went, but I wasn't ready to talk about it just yet, so I kept brushing her off with different variations of "I'm busy" texts. I made a mental note to call her and get it over with later in the evening.
With Mr Crest being absent from work, Nick's workload, and by extension mine, doubled so I had almost no time to sit around doing nothing, and by the time we were done for the day, I was so tired that I couldn't even walk on my own. Nick offered me a ride home that I would have declined had I been in the right frame of mind. I mean, neighbours were bound to start asking questions when I got dropped off by two different men driving flashy cars in the same week.
We rode in silence for a few minutes, the radio breaking the silence by blaring different catchy jingles. An old song we both knew came on air, and we sang along and danced to it, and even made fun of how we sounded. It was so easy being with this man I had never talked to.
It's never like this with Mr Crest.
I shoved that thought to the back of my mind. It was starting to get really crowded there.
In a few minutes, we were at my house, and just like everyone who came there for the first time, Nick complimented the environment and my house in particular. We talked about nothing in particular for some time until he decided it was time for him to leave.
"I'll see you tomorrow, minion" He said in his husky voice, and I laughed. He'd chosen to call me his minion since I started working with him. Not that I didn't like it anyway.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Mr Nick" I said with a smile and waved at him. I waited outside until he drove off, and then I turned around to go in. I saw Sally, a pretty-looking, friendly old woman with a head full of white hair, peek over her fence, probably hoping to get something to talk about with her nanny the next day.
"Hey Sally, how's that back treating you?" I called out with a grin
She laughed, mostly out of surprise that she had been caught "You know, same old, same old."
I smiled knowingly and nodded at her, and then I headed inside.
I went straight to my room and kicked off my shoes first, then slowly undressed. I took out the pins holding my hair in place and stretched, my bones creaking as I did. With the way my body felt, a hot bath was in order.
I tried not to think of the events of the past days, and I succeeded with that until my body hit the water. Every thought, every picture, every "maybe" I had pushed to the back of my mind came tumbling out. I added some soap to the water and watched it lather, while I fielded through my thoughts, trying to get rid of them to no avail.
It hadn't really occurred to me until this evening, but maybe I didn't really love Mr Crest. To be honest, I was probably just reacting this way because he'd changed so much towards me. I mean, there was no reason for me to feel anything towards him. Mr Nick was a much better person than him in every aspect.
Mr Nick. A man I had never talked to for more than 5 minutes at a stretch, suddenly becoming the one person that makes me the happiest at work. Hell, loving him would be much easier than…
My ringtone brought me back to reality. Trust Jess to never give up until she gets what she wants. I got out of the bath and dried myself completely, then got into my nightwear. I picked up the call and braced myself up for a talking-to.
"Where have you been, Rosie? I've been calling every single day since Tuesday, wanting to find out how it went, and you've been blowing me off, telling me you're busy. Do you know how worried I was when you weren't picking up? Do you have any idea how scared I was when you weren't returning my calls? I know your job is demanding, but Christ, woman, it doesn't mean you can't talk to me" She said in a single breath. If she were here, she'd have smacked my face in the heat of the moment.
I knew she was really worried about me, so I said the most honest thing I could manage in that minute to calm her down. "I'm sorry, Jess."
She was silent for a minute, and then she huffed, an exasperated sound that made me feel worse about pushing her away like that. "I'm really sorry, Jessica. I should have called you or dropped a text at least to explain what happened, but I felt so bad about the whole situation, and I didn't want to have to think about it at all. It was a really selfish move on my part."
She must have heard my voice break because she softened up immediately "Talk to me, baby. What happened?"
I had promised myself I wasn't going to cry over the issue anymore, and although my eyes stung, I stayed true to my promise. "For starters, I no longer answer to Mr Crest. He's put some distance between us and instructed me to work with his assistant henceforth. I took my time to get dressed and look really good, and he didn't even spare me a glance until he gave that instruction. And" I felt my anger begin to rise at this point, and my voice became sharper "he left the office in anger on Tuesday and hasn't shown up since then. No reason, no message, nothing."
"Oh" I've never known Jess to be short of words before, so I laughed, a dry, uninterested sound "Oh oh oh oh oh. Now, it all makes sense. You not talking to me, I mean. Your boss is a wimp." She sounded like a 7 year old sulking.
"And a big one at that. What kind of man does that?" She continued, sounding every bit as annoyed as I felt.
"You know what, Jess? I don't think whatever I felt was love. It could have been admiration or happiness at finally being acknowledged, but it definitely wasn't love. I know better now" My voice was even, and I felt completely calm.
"Oh well. That's the end of that. So much for hoping on him." She said in solidarity with me. "Meanwhileeeee" here we go "let me tell you about Bennnnnn"
I laughed as she rambled on and on about their date, and the food, and every little detail, and how they ended up spending the night together. Trust Jess to say things like that unashamedly.
Suddenly, I heard the doorbell ring and instinctively checked the time.
8.43 pm.
I don't have a lot of people showing up to visit me at home, and the only person who would ever think of coming over at this time was Jessica, and I was on a phone call with her, so there was no way it was her, right?
"...he held my hand and-"
"Er, Jess, you know you don't have to show up at my house at this time just to tell stories"
"What do you mean? I'm talking to you from my kitchen"
"If it's not you at the door, then who is it?" I said silently and shakily too
I walked towards the door carefully. My neighbourhood is a very peaceful one. We rarely have robbery cases here. Plus, if whoever that is is a robber, they'd have broken in instead of ringing the doorbell and drawing my attention.
I walked towards the door stealthily and peered through the window at the figure standing alone at my door, dimly illuminated by the light on my porch. Whoever that was rang the doorbell again.
My eyes got accustomed to the dark, and my stomach twisted into knots as realization hit me.
"Mr Crest?"