Chapter 17.

Sixteenth of April. Thursday. 9:08p.m.

The bar man placed the drink in front of her and Megan flashed him a tipsy but appreciative nod. She was starting to feel the alcohol hum in her blood but she was far from being drunk.
Perhaps, drinking so much for the last two days had increased her tolerance.

This was her fourth bar in two days and more than the other nights, she had solid reasons to get drunk today. She wanted to forget everything and just feel good.

Her life was becoming a mess and she didn't get why. All she could do was continue to consume an alarming quantity of alcohol.

It had started off as a bad week, when she realized through a flimsy text that Roman had left the country to sign a deal in Beijing without informing her personally.

She had also seen a picture of him and some Chinese men online shaking hands with the headline tagged "Harrington opens another bridge between New York and Beijing."

She immediately tried to call his number but it hasn't gone through. She had wandered around in a daze, shocked at the cold way Roman had dumped her.

Although she had realized immediately that they had never started dating. Just because they had had sex and flirted back and forth and had sweet moments didn't mean they were together. All he had done was end their fling.

But it still hurt. It hurt so much that she had been forced to go to the club they had met at to get drunk the night before. But after her second drink, she had seen Nick and Camille, her boyfriend who cheated on her and her best friend whom he had cheated with, laughing and clutching hands as they strolled in. They held hands like long time lovers and walked to the bar to order drinks.

She watched them for what seemed like hours and noticed how they seemed to have forgotten about her existence. It occurred to her that they had barely given her any thought since she had seen them in bed together. The weight of their betrayal made her so angry that she wanted to go to them and slam their heads together. She wanted to pour alcohol down Nick's shirt and tear at Camille's hair. But for some reason, she felt ashamed to walk up to them.

So instead, she had quietly left the club and then walked straight into a bar on the other side of the street. She got blindingly drunk and couldn't even remember how she made it home last night.

It hadn't ended there. To make matters worse, she had walked into work the next morning with a splitting headache and red eyes. She had tried to hide it with her concealer and a strong cup of black coffee but the headache just wouldn't go anywhere. Then Sapphire,Greg's annoying girlfriend had walked in in her usual annoying fashion, looking like a bimbo with no life, and had started to order everyone around like a bitch.


Megan had intended to ignore her attitude but she had taken it too far and with all that Megan had been through, she snapped and gave Sapphire her due. Her colleagues had all been open-mouthed, stunned at her excessive boldness to treat Sapphire that way but Megan just didn't care.
Most of them silently applauded her for it though, they never had the courage to stand up to Sapphire for fear of losing their jobs.


It had come as a shock when Greg immediately fired her over that. It just didn't make sense, she had been working at the company before Greg even met Sapphire and she had given it her all. Not once had she gotten a query or been accused of a single thing but just because she had responded like a human instead of a robot, Greg had her thrown out of the company like a beggar.


It was just so unfair that she was now scorned and jobless. Still reeling from the after effects of losing her job and the depression that came with it, she decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to drink some more.

It took her a moment to realize there was a guy beside her trying to get her attention. He had curly hair and a nice pair of glasses and his eyes appeared to hold some worries too.


"Hey princess."

She didn't like cliches but it seemed to work on her tonight. "Hey."

"Can I have the seat?"He gestured at the seat next to her and she nodded. He scooted in with his drink.

"So what brings you here?"

Megan scoffed.

"What? Can't a girl just come enjoy some after-work drink?"She asked.

"It doesn't look like it. You are on your fourth and you are drowned in worries."

"You are right."She admitted. "I got fired today. Sucks like hell."

"Oh, I am sorry. I am pretty jobless myself too."

"You lost your job too?"She asked, leaning a bit into him so he could hear her over the bar music.

"Nah, not quite like that. I am an artist. Got another rejection for my exhibition. Same old."

Megan felt a sort of comradeship with him despite not being an artist. At least, she wasn't the only one whose life was a mess.

"You know what? Let's say fuck the world and get drunk all night long, yeah?"

"I couldn't agree more!"

He grinned in a cute way and called the bar man over.

The next morning, Megan woke with a splitting headache. It took her a moment to realize she was on the bed but something felt off.

She felt the weight of soemone's hand on her back and twisted to the side to see a cute guy with curly hair. It was the man she had met at the bar!!

What was his name again? She struggled to remember.

Andrew? No that wasn't it.

Anthony! She thought as she slowly jerked away.

Anthony stirred as she lifted his hand off hers and then she noticed she was completely naked.

Fuck!!

She thought.

She quickly pulled the blanket over her body as she sat up, feeling completely at odds. The headache came back with a vengeance.

"Morning"he mumbled.

"Morning."She said awkwardly, then cleared her throat "We must have ended up here last night and had sex."

Anthony nodded. "Yeah, it seems we did."

Megan internally screamed and immediately walked towards her wardrobe for a robe. She throwed the large material over her frame and knotted the belt tightly at her waist.


"You need to leave immediately.

"She said, turning back to the Anthony, who was still standing around.

"What?"

"Look...Anthony. Am I right?"

He nodded that she had gotten his name right and she continued.

"Last night was a terrible mistake. I don't go to clubs and get drunk and bring random men home so you need to leave now. It's a one-time mistake."


Megan practically walked him out of her apartment, glad to have her space back. She dropped her head in her lap, unable to believe what she had become.

How could she bring yet, another man home just like that? She wasn't the type to get drunk on her own and regardless of how messy her life was, it just wasn't right. What if he had been a murderer or a psychopath? She resolved within her that it was going to stop today. No more bars and clubs, no more bringing home strange men.

And more importantly no more alcohol!!!

Just then, her phone bleeped and she picked it up from her dresser, surprised to see a text from Roman. What did he want now, after leaving without informing her and ending their fling without the courtesy of telling her to her face.

She opened the text and read it.


'Hey babe. Been out of New York and didn't have time to tell you. Emergency business trip. I can't wait to see you. Missed you.'

The phone slipped out of her hands after she read it a second time. Oh, what a mess she had made.


*******

Mrs Louisa took a bite of the fresh muffins and hummed in delight. She just couldn't resist whenever it came to muffins.
"You like it that much, huh?"Roman asked with an amused look from the other end of the table. He had watched his mother have the same reaction to muffins since he was a child and he was sure she would never get tired of them.

"I love it. Where did you get this one?"

"A new cafe opened close by. Phillips was going on and on about it so I picked it up on my way back from the gym this morning."

"Speaking of cafes, what's with you and Megan. You still haven't talked to her?"

Roman lifted his fork and picked at his eggs, pushing them around the plate.

Mrs Louisa didn't relent "Roman, you need to come to your senses. This Megan seems to be a very nice girl. I know what you are afraid of, but you can't let what Petra did to you stop you from recognizing a good woman. "

"This isn't about Petra, mom. "

"It's exactly about her. You haven't found it easy to trust another woman and that's a mistake. You need to give love a chance. "

"I was giving it a chance before she got pregnant with three possible fathers. "

"Roman, I am sure there's an explanation. The poor woman is probably more confused than we all are. There's a reason you liked her. And remember how delighted you sounded when you spoke to me on the phone about her?"

Roman dropped his fork again and looked up at his mother with confused eyes.


"I know. I can barely get her out of my mind as it is. Even though we haven't spoken in a long while, she's constantly running through my mind. But..."

"But what?"

"But I am still confused. Plus...I said some nasty things to her during our last argument. That's why I couldn't face her that day at the cafe. She wouldn't want to see me."

Mrs Louise smiled "Roman, you know you are a sweet talker when you want to be. And I gave you such a handsome face. Go show her that and your sincerity. You never can tell."

Roman laughed and nodded and they kept eating breakfast. It only occurred to him as he was driving to work that there was only way for his mom to have known Megan is a nice girl.

She already met her.