Chapter 36: The car accident

I walked into his office, somehow eager with my cleaning materials in my hand. I didn't see him all through yesterday and I could only hope that he was going to come today.

All through the night, I couldn't sleep, I kept turning around on my tiny bed. I picked my phone up to fifty times, contemplating on whether or not to dial his number but I just couldn't find myself doing it.

I had a really bad premonition about his absence. I didn't know if it was because he has never missed a day at work or it was because the last time I saw him which was nights ago, he left angrily.

A hollow feeling appeared in my chest when his office was locked and I had to lock it myself, even though it was still pretty early for anyone to be at work.

I couldn't even wait for Evelyn, I texted her to just come to the office without me.

It was so obvious that he didn't come yesterday, it was exactly how it was when I cleaned it yesterday, I got even more worried.

I started cleaning, really slowly. I started by dusting off his table that had dust on it, just like it was on Mondays when I clean it after not cleaning it the whole weekend.

I cleaned it thoroughly, but was really careful to not tamper with the things he put there. I walked to stand before his chair so I could clean the corner very well when I inhaled deeply.

Even though he wasn't here, his cologne filtered into my nostrils as soon as I got to his chair.

The musky, masculine cologne that I has only ever perceived on him was stronger even more as I moved closer to the chair.

I found myself closing my eyes subconsciously but was startled back to reality. My back hit the wall painfully with his fast I jumped up. The movement seemed too fast and sharp.

Sh*t! I cussed out profanities at myself at being caught while I looked really creepy.

I looked up to see Vincent looking at me straight in the eyes, one of his brows was raised up as a confused look came up on his face.

“What are you doing?" His husky voice asked me.
The only thing I could do was gasp, not because of his voice or the question but his appearance.

He was bandaged up and his hand was put in a cast. His face looks pale and colourless, his eyes were hollow and his face was sunken in.

“Wh-what happened?” I asked when I came back to reality.
"If you're done with doing what you came here for, you can leave, I'd like to take over my seat." He replied, blatantly ignoring my question.

I moved away from his chair, taking the napkin I was using to dust along with me. He stood there on the spot till I was completely away from the desk before he walked over to sit down.

When he sat down, he brought out his laptop then some documents, I still stood there, waiting for him to say something but he was so good at pretending like I wasn't there.

I watched how he struggled with weaseling through the table with only one hand. How was he going to even work with only one hand?

“Are you going to stand there and keep watching or get back to your work?” He asked without looking up from what he was doing.

"What happened to your face and hand?" I asked out loud.
“None of your business." He said so plainly as though he has rehearsed that line in his head countless times or it just came naturally.

There was a long silence between us again, he was typing away on his laptop, a little bit too slow for someone who types really fast on a normal day.

I went back to cleaning normally, doing everything quietly with many questions on my mind.

When I was done, I wanted to get out like he wants me to, but I couldn't. I wouldn't be able to even take up to five steps before curiosity killed me.

“I’m deeply sorry about last two nights, I didn't mean to call you a liar, I was in denial that someone would be so interested in me to send cryptic messages about me.” I said.

He eventually lifted up his head, a stone expression on his face.

“Okay. Can you leave now?"

It was as though my heart was being pierced with a dagger. Why was I feeling like a high school teenager who just got her heart broken by her long time crush?

“Not until you tell me how you got all those bandages.” I said with defiance in my voice.

He looked up once more, looking at me like I just grew three more heads. He looked down again like I didn't just say anything and started typing away again.

He didn't look up when the chair opposite him scaped again and I sat down on it. Neither did he look up after I had sat down.

He seemed to have forgotten who he was dealing with. I started drumming my fingers on his table in such a way that even he would be distracted.

When he didn't still look up, I increased the tempo and he let out a hiss angrily, eventually looking up.

“Can you just stop?!”
"No.” I drawled, still hitting that table with my hand, acting as though I was trying to find the perfect one for a song.

"Michelle." He called my name, sounding pissed and I looked up eventually.

“Oh, you're talking to me now?” I chuckled.
"You're distracting. What exactly do you want?” He asked, almost growling.

His angry demeanor at this didn't do anything to me, I only chuckled playfully and swung my legs up and down.

“How did you get those bandages?” I asked.
"It was a car accident?” He answered.

I had guessed that earlier, hearing it now only confirmed my thought.

"How did it happen?” I asked with a shocked expression on my face.