CASTLE IN THE AIR

CHAPTER THREE

I scrolled through Google on my phone, in search for another vacancy. It was six o'clock in the evening, and the night had already started settling down on the trenches of London, setting behind the buildings of the city.

Paul had been gone since our banter, and he was nowhere to be found. I was worried; didn't he know that it was dangerous during the evening time where we lived? There were gangs, and other sinister things that came out when the darkness settled in, I didn't want Paul encountering any of them.

I huffed out, a feeling of boredom overtaking me, well enough to give me a headache. I was bored with the way things were going. I wasn't able to get a job for months now. We were totally running out of money, because neither of us were working. I didn't want to bother Paul and ask him to start working. He had been very depressed after he had lost the contract with Al Ahabadin. I could tell that it genuinely traumatized him.

But where was I to find a job from? All the other companies that I had applied to had rejected me, because of my father's history. It was as if they labelled me as the bad egg, who would only do what her father did when she started working. I huffed again in frustration.

Suddenly, a new vacancy caught my attention; it was from a pharmaceutical company named Anderson & Dale. Huh?

That company had to be the biggest in that area. It was a multi billion company, and the fact that they were hiring was a golden opportunity for me. That meant that the pay would be good. Deciding to apply for it, I clicked on the link which led me to their main website. They were looking for a Personal assistant.

Instantly I started typing an application for be the position. Maybe I would have some luck on this one.

Just then, the front door bursted open and Paul staggered in. I couldn't tell if he was drunk or high, but whatever it was, it was way worse than he had left. Seeing him like this suddenly made me feel very tired.

"Paul... Where have you been?" I asked, my voice exhausted.

Why did he have to do this all the time? It was like an endless cycle.

"Somewhere." He giggled out like a child, which was rather weird and disturbing considering he had quite a deep voice.

I resisted the urge to cringe, not wanting to upset him in any way.

"I know that much. If you could kindly be specific, I would appreciate it."

"You know, sometimes I hate the way you question me. As if I were a child." He suddenly said, totally ignoring my question.

Confusion clouded me.

"I don't understand. Is it a crime for me to ask you where you have been?"

"All you do is nag at me from morning till night, question everything that I do like I am your child. Is it because you came from a rich family, and I didn't?" He continued, the fact that he was in his head quite clear by now.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the energy to let him step on my toes this night. I didn't want to fight, but he had some audacity spitting out what he had just said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked, c*****g a single eyebrow up, and trying to reign the annoyance that I felt on the inside.

What on Earth was his problem?

"It has everything to do with the situation, Aisha, everything. You frustrate me so much, are you aware of that?"

"How on Earth do I frustrate you?" I could no longer hide my annoyance.

What on Earth was actually wrong with this creature?

"You nag all the goddamn time, you make me feel so small."

"When did I nag at you Paul? Why don't you give me an example?" I finally raised my tone to match his.

I was goddamn tired of his s**t.

"You nag at me all the goddamn time. You feel superior to me, don't you?"

"Superior for what? Why are you so delusional?"

"Oh now I'm delusional?..." He chuckled dangerously. "... Okay."

"All you do is go to the goddamn bar, get higher than a kite, get more drunk than a sailman, and swindle all the little money we have on your stupid betting. Then you say I am the one who gives you headache? That's quite rich of you, I might say."

He looked at me in shock. I had never retaliated whenever he got on my nerves, so I could understand his point of view. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know that I had just unlocked another level to his silly behavior.

"You dare yell at me?" Paul said slowly, his tone quiet and laced with danger.

An unexplainable fear gripped me. All of a sudden my beloved fiance was gone, and replaced with a man who had the zeal to kill clearly reflecting in his eyes.

He walked towards me in slow, menacing, and steady steps, making me back away by instinct.

"... You dare call my money making means stupid?..."

My back hit the wall, and the fact that I had been cornered refreshed the primal and irrational fear that surged through my veins. The real question was, why was I so scared? It wasn't like he was going to kill me or something, he loved me for goodness sake!

Yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't relax my tensed body. But then again; Paul had violent tendencies. Though he had never acted upon it, maybe that was the cause of my fear.

His hand suddenly latched onto my neck, and applied pressure. My fear had come to pass; he was chocking me.

"Now, you're going to see who really is stupid, bitch."

With that, he slapped the living daylights out of me.