Elliot is seated in his office, waiting for more work to finish before leaving.
When he was younger he used to have these weird dreams, dreams of a world bigger and brighter than the more common earth he is in now. He dreamt of beasts as big as mythical dragons tearing down towns and small puny sized humans going off to take them down, with magical powers and in cool uniforms.
He never knew why he had those dreams. He went to see a therapist about it once and she told him that was just his adventurous spirit crying out for something so great and he better take any chances he can before it fades away.
So that's what he did, although looking back on it he knows he could have done more. He wishes he had done more, because too soon he got stuck with a kid and a wife. And slowly, that ambition, and those dreams, they just seemed to die out and disappear.
For some reason, he just didn't know why he never felt content, he didn't like the peace. Idly, he stares out the window and watches the city below him. The activity amuses him for a few minutes.
He sees people standing around ready to get on board a train to commute, he sees children running into bakeries with their parent's chasing after them... He sees a girl with long dark as midnight hair holding hands with a man with dark-brown hair. Elliot is at the windowsill before he can stop himself, staring with wide eyes.
It's her. He wouldn't mistake it.
But he doesn't know the other guy. Certainly not a friend from their school days. Not someone that works in the company or even in the major parts of the work district that they are in right now, Elliot, in his spare time started memorizing faces on the public registry.
His eyes zoom in on their joined hands, wondering why they would walk around in public like that. Suddenly, his mind takes him back to that day he saw her in the park walking around with that same dark haired man. The memory strikes him cold.
A loud thud nearly makes him jump and he quickly turns around.
His assistant, Bryan, straightens a stack of papers he has just dropped on the desk and looks back at Elliot tiredly. "Let's get these done with, it'll take some time to sort through them."
Elliot blinks in surprise and then quickly turns back to the window only to discover that they are already gone. Unwillingly, he steps away from the windowsill and moves to his desk, ready to dive into a full day of work that will make him forget.
Bryan is a familiar face. They weren't really close in the past—just two people that had walked the same university halls. When Elliot first decided to take a step into the financial world, Bryan was already there, as shark and unshakable as ever.
Unlike the others in their field, Bryan didn't waste time with unnecessary flattery or empty gestures of camaraderie. He was efficient, pragmatic, and—more than anything—honest. A rarity. Maybe that's why, over time, their professional relationship had turned into something that almost resembled a friendship.
Though, of course, neither of them ever called it that outright.
"You look like you saw a ghost," Bryan remarked dryly as he walked in, arms weighed down with thick stacks of documents. His dark eyes flicked toward the window before settling on Elliot, assessing.
Elliot forced a neutral expression and turned away from the glass, schooling himself back into the man he was supposed to be.
"Just the usual," he said, his tone smooth and unreadable. "People watching."
Bryan snorted, dropping the files onto the desk with a dull thud. "Right. Because that's something you do."
Bryan was already flipping through reports, his usual no-nonsense expression in place. "First the investment portfolio reviews. High-net-worth clients. Projections for Q3." He tapped a neatly labelled file in front of Elliot. "The board wants your signature on this by noon."
Elliot opened the folder, scanning the endless row of numbers and percentages. His pen hovered over the page, but his mind was still outside, caught in the memory of her fingers tangled with someone else's.
He needed to focus.
"Next," Bryan continued, not bothering to wait for a response. "M&A reports from last week's meetings. Sterling & CO. is expecting a valuation breakdown before we proceed with negotiations."
Elliot barely heard him. He already knew what he had to do, his grip on the pen tightened.
That man—he didn't recognize him. He was someone completely new.
He flipped a page, feigning interest in the reports, but his pulse was still too fast, his mind too restless.
Bryan's voice cut through his thoughts. "Elliot."
He looked up.
"You're distracted."
Elliot exhaled through his nose, sitting up straighter. "I'm fine."
Bryan didn't look convinced, but he let it slide. "Right. Then let's keep going."
The rest of the day stretched before them—calls with investors, meetings with fund managers, risk assessments. The usual.
It was supposed to be enough.
Work would drown it out.
Work would make him forget.
But his mind kept drifting back to her...
"Oh yeah." Bryan momentarily stops to look up at Elliot. "I've been meaning to ask if you'll be there next Saturday?"
"Where?" Elliot asked, his mind was blank with what could have been planned. It was clearly important since Bryan was asking him and he knows that his wife is incredibly strict with him.
"Grace's wedding."
.
.
.
A wedding.
Elliot couldn't answer Bryan at the time, so he just carried on working until the day was over. Later that night, he finds the wedding invitation he thought that he had never received.
He fishes it out of the kitchen garbage bin and turns it over, recognizing Grace's neat and cursive handwriting that spells out his name and address.
He sees that it has already been opened and pulls out the white card.
You're invited"
Please join Albert Miller and Grace Harper as the two lives become one.
Brown eyes that were filled with sorrow, scanned over the date and address and then landed on the corner of the letter to see a little personalized note that was left for him.
Elliot. I know you are really busy these days but I do hope you can make it. It would mean a lot to me.
Yours Always,
Grace.
Fire bubbles in his stomach as he checks the date of the envelope once more... he realizes that his wife had thrown this letter away more than a month ago. Elliot hadn't put greater thought into it or he would have realized that it would have been taken away with the bin men, she had left it in place intentionally.
She had never planned on telling him. She had wanted him to miss the wedding of one of his dearest friends.
He tucks the card into his pocket and storms into their bedroom where she is flipping through a book, he has every right to pick a fight.
Their argument escalates into a full-blown quarrel, and picture frames are smashed, vases hurdled, and punches are thrown, all of them by her. He seizes her wrists before she can try another useless hit and demands, "Why?"
Her glare is cold and she stares into his eyes. "I know who she is to you. You think I don't, but I do. You thought I wouldn't find out, but I did."
He releases her quickly, as if her touch burned him. "I don't know what you're talking about. Grace is my friend and has been since we were in middle school. This is really important to her—"
"Shut it! The only one you're fooling is yourself!" She breathes heavily and shoves him away from her, only managing to push herself back. "She doesn't want you there. Believe me."
At this he doesn't even try to stop himself from snapping. "You don't know anything about anyone."
"Well I at least know that you're the last person she'll want to see at her wedding. After me, at least." She is surprisingly calm as she says this and Elliot's instincts are on high-alert.
"What... what do you mean?"
She chuckles.
"That girl is clearly in love with you!" she smirks as he freezes up, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping. "Or at least she used to be madly in love."
Elliot doesn't know how to react. Though he is still frozen in shock, his brain reminds him that it is unlikely. That he is just being provoked. But one look into her grinning eyes tells him everything.
He realizes right then, that his wife is no fool. She is clever. Not the strategic kind or in the academic way, definitely did not have the wisdom his mother had.
But it was cleverness that saw through everything. That can spot one's weakness with one look into their eyes. Her cleverness separated her from all the other girls that Elliot had come to know. Her cleverness had seen through him and knew how to get him to agree to a date, and to the one after that. Seducing him had been child's play to her and convincing him that marriage was the only solution to her 'unexpected' pregnancy had probably been easier.
He sees her eyes and her knowing stare and wonders how he could have missed it. She had planned it all from the moment she laid her eyes on him and wanted an 'escape'. And escape from her bland and ordinary spoiled life.
He sees her true colours but he can't even be mad, because they were always on display, he just chose to ignore them and see the bright side. And now, there's no turning back.
He sees and he knows that this time, she isn't lying. She has no reason to. Realization was hitting him like a brick falling atop his head, although he somewhat wished for such a scenario.
Her arms are crossed over her chest as she turns back to the bed and climbs back in, picking up her book and resuming where she left off. "I'm not going to her wedding. And as your wife, I don't think it's a good idea for you either."
And since she is so clever, she already knows that he won't.
On the Saturday of the wedding, Elliot tells his friends that he is not feeling well and sends Grace an email with a very short message:
I'm Sorry.