Chapter 12- penthouse

Andrew's POV:

Inside my penthouse, I opened a beer bottle and sat down on my couch. I turned the TV on and switched it to sports. I was staring blankly at the TV, my focus being diverted back to what happened in the parking lot. I was not restless because I doubted that what William said was even close to the truth, I was furious at his audacity. How dared he? How could he even have the guts to face me like that? I stood up, went to my bedroom, and looked for some sort of distraction. I stared at the gray and white wallpaper covering all the walls, averted my gaze to the seating area of my room; pitch-black sofa set, a brown coffee table in the front bearing magazines, my laptop, and a few other files. I looked at the other end of the room, at the large window. One of the three walls in my room consisted of a window. I pulled back the heavy velvet curtains to look at the view outside. I could see tiny sparkles of light, that's the best thing about living in a penthouse, the world is

always beneath you.

I moved forward and opened the sliding door to go over to the balcony. On one side, there were green plants in red pots. And on the other side was a small round wooden table and two chairs across each other. I sat down at one of the chairs and looked at the cigarette and lighter resting on the table. I picked the cigarette and lit it, brought it to my mouth and I took a long drag. Then after savoring the smoke inside my lungs, I vent it out.

After a few more drags, I extinguished the cigarette and

threw cigarette butt in one of the plant pots. I thought that TV would serve as some sort of distraction, but when that did not prove right, I thought that cigarettes would release the tension in my mind, but I seemed to be wrong again. It was one of those times when I couldn't do anything to stop the flashbacks from sweeping into my mind. So I closed my eyes and welcomed the suffering.

For three days after the funeral, I stayed at my own home with hannah and other staff members. On the fourth day, we received the lawyer's call about my parent's

Will. He informed us that according to the will, my legal guardians appointed by my parents were my maternal aunt and uncle. I could not grasp its meaning until they packed my things and brought me to their house. They told me that from now on it was my home. I tried to tell them that it was my uncle's home, not mine, but no one listened to me.

My uncle and aunty were good people. We have been visiting each other ever since I was a child. I loved them but I still wanted my parents, my home and Hanna back.

They tried to soothe me, they even went far enough for my comfort and hired Hanna to look after me. They facilitated with everything they could.

Everything felt so disturbing at first, but then with the passage of time, I started accepting the reality of my life. That's how God has made a human being, no matter what turn of events takes place in one's life or how horrible or unexpected things seem, but a human mind always adjusts with the situation. I think it is another blessing of God; adjustments and compromises, in order to adapt to new circumstances make one's life

a little less miserable.

That was the time when my uncle and aunt; Mr. and Mrs. Alan roberts were nothing but good.

That was the time when William was my elder brother. And now? Now I saw all of them as nothing but betrayers. That goodness in them was all bluff, the show they pulled off for some higher purposes. Now, I had nothing but loathing, anger, and revulsion for those ugly people.

I jerked back into reality, went into the living area, grabbed my car keys from the coffee table, and went out of the penthouse. I didn't drive that often, for that I had a driver. But, right now I needed to go on a long drive to evolve some solid plan. Alan was a successful businessman who was recognized by everyone in the business world. He started off with the trading company, later on, he tried his luck on other businesses such as chemicals and he succeeded in that too. He did not stop just there, he went as far as to set up businesses such as establishing multi-national industrial sector and he was lucky in that too. But deep down, we all knew that luck was the only factor

to his success, and everyone did know and believe that Alan had his fair share of ugliness, vileness, and wickedness to reach there but no one had ever been able to dig the dirt on Alan . Whoever dared to stand up against him was brutally crushed, both privately and publicly. And soon, no one dared to even take a chance against him. No one except me.

All this time, when he had been making his name by doing anything odious he needed to, I was the one to silently prepare for waging a war against him. I had tried and tried since ten years but

still, I was not that well equipped to go against him. I had no shame in admitting that, because it did not matter whether I was able to or not, what mattered was my constant struggle to crush him.

But now, I did not seem to have much time. I was growing myself, financially and authoritatively because I knew that I would have no chance against him without these two. Now, when I was satisfied with my development, I needed to move on. I did not have any plan at the moment. I was not prepared for the war, but now he had made an appearance with the clear intentions of going on the

war against me. Now, I could not turn my back. I had to look forward, devise a plan, and take action on it.

The next day, I went into my office, still having Alan on my mind. But soon, Alan was nowhere in sight, but instead, there was only Aurora engraved in my mind because just as I hung my coat on the rack, I spotted the blue bag in the dust bin of my cabin. The mixture of regret, anger and shock was swirling in my body. I shouted for Mary, who entered my office a

minute later. I barked, "Who the hell is responsible for the cleanliness of my cabin? Are you people blind? Can't you see the garbage in the bin?"

She looked dreadful, as usual. It was becoming more and more difficult to tolerate the looks she gave like she had no idea WTF I was talking about. Was she even qualified enough to be my secretary? Who hired you, Mary?

I ran my hands through my hair and said, exasperatedly, "Please, Mary dear. Bring someone in from the cleaning staff and for future, please make sure to take care of the hygiene of my cabin," I pointed towards the door to indicate her to move.

She jerked and suddenly came back to her senses, made an O with her mouth, and ran outside while mumbling, "Sure sir. I'm sorry."

At least she was good with business-related matters. The biggest point was that she was as uninterested in me as I was in her, unlike few previous young secretaries. That was the reason why I was not firing her. I took a deep breath and then went out of the cabin. I was so soo stupid. What the hell was I thinking? Bringing her an ice pack like a caring partner I was? I slapped myself in my mind.

I reached the reception desk, for what, I didn't know. But I couldn't just let her win or let her imagine that I was taking care of her. I asked an employee where she went and she informed me that Aurora had just gone to the copy room, to photocopy some documents. I made my way towards the Copy Room.

Copy room was a small area at one corner in the office; there were three photocopy machines lined

up against one wall, a stationary cabinet against the other, one small table in the middle of the room full of blank paper stacks. This room should be called Paper Room because apparently, every inch was covered in the paper and I'm not even joking.

There, I spotted her instantly beside the first copy machine, wiggling the buttons of the machine, all the while humming to herself. Without any other thought, I went to her, grabbed her by the elbow and pushed her against the copy machine. She gasped at the abrupt movement, widened her eyes in shock and rested her hand on my chest in some defensive act. In the sudden change of events, neither of us seemed to notice that her hands were on me. I rested both of my hands on either side of the copy machine and trapped her between myself and the machine.

My head was low at first, I made sure that anger was written clearly all over my face before lifting it and looking at her. She felt different this close; I could see the tiny golden specs in her hazel eyes, she had a tiny little cut on the one side of the forehead, tiny soft baby hair around her hairline, none of these things were I able to notice in the casino but I was still struck by her prettiness. Up this close, I felt my breath got stuck in my throat and my brows dripping into a frown.

But I soon recovered myself and remembered what I came here for and what I needed to do.

In a low but lethal voice, I said, "Didn't I tell you Ms. Whatever to not enter into my office ever again?"

I finished my sentence and waited for her answer.