The Talk
1390 Words
Francine
I was feeling like s**t. Dying twice in the same day would do that to anyone. At least his plaid was giving me some kind of comfort. His living room was huge, he had one sofa and two armchairs. There was a glass coffee table a little further and several feet away, there was a TV stand. Without the TV and he was leaning against it, arms crossed. I looked up and tried focusing my eyes everywhere except on him.
He was going to demand answers. Answers I didn't have.
"Now let's talk."
Here we go.
"I don't know what you want to talk about. Actually, you should be the one explaining here", I attacked.
Yeah, I went for the saying, the best defence is to attack first.
"By the way, why were you at my house that early in the morning? Wasn't you going to come in the evening just to witness the wedding with our own two eyes?" I added, averting my eyes.
Yes Girl! I was killing it. In my... let's say last life, he had come at the last minute just before the ceremony began and was gone way before Oscar and me. So it was like reading his mind. I was proud of myself. What didn't I think of it sooner? Of course, I was going to be some kind of prophet for the next three years.
I glanced to see the mesmerizing expression he should be spooring now. He was looking straight at me without even batting an eye.
"Are you done?"
"... what?"
"Did you really think that would work on me?" he said coldly.
I started sweating again. Yes, I was just thinking about that.
“Francine. Is that even your name?”
“Of course!” I lifted my head, offended. “My name is Francine Dubois.”
“Well, let’s say I believe you, even though you cannot prove it.”
What was he talking about? He was the one who called me Dubois first. Now I am confused.
“Were you going to see your lover?” he asked.
“My… what?”
“Why didn’t you want anyone to find us together? What are you planning?”
“I don’t understand.” I really didn’t.
“Really! So, the fact that your fiancé is Oscar Dubois and rich when you don’t have a cent is what, a coincidence?”
“Yes!”
“ok? How long have you been going out? A week, two?”
“A month!!” I shouted.
“Love at first sight, I see. Or should I say…” he looked me up and down “ on the first night? You must be really good.”
I was confused at first. Then I understood.
“You are a pig!” I jumped on my feet.
He didn’t even bat an eye. He just continues to look at me like he knew all about my life. I wanted to kick him but really, I didn’t have the guts. And my hip was still killing me.
“Listen, I can’t talk about this now. Until the medicine works, I can’t think.” I said, sitting down on the couch again.
“It won’t work unless you start talking”
“Right, because nowadays things work your way.”
“Pretty much”
Arrogant bastard. Whatever, soon the pain would vanish and I would fall asleep just like in the car. But it needed to happen soon.
“Are you sure nothing is broken?” I spoke. It felt like the pain was just increasing, not decreasing.
“You didn’t take a pain killer, but a d**g neutralizer”
“What?” I was suffocating “you are trying to kill me. You liar! You said you gave me my medicine.”
I was suffering that much because of him and he was still keeping me in pain to interrogate me? What kind of bullshit was that?
He started walking and sat on the glass coffee table in front of me.
“The nurse told me to give it to you if your sleep was restless. Then you should just take an Advil. Your sleep was restless.”
“What about the Advil?” I asked hopefully.
“That one you will have to deserve it. So, start talking” he said, resting his elbows on his knees.
This guy was the devil.
“I wasn’t running…”
“Try again” he interrupted me.
“I wasn't,” I cried. “I am just not ready to marry.”
“So, you want me to believe that after forcing Oscar to marry you because you were pregnant, you decided, what, that you weren’t ready anymore?”
“Pregnant?”
What the hell was a pregnancy doing here?
“By the way, I already know you were lying about that one too. You really should start telling the truth because you are a terrible liar.”
I was overwhelmed. Nothing he was saying made sense. This was worse than in my past life. Yes, at that moment I should be having an allergic reaction, but at least Oscar loved me then.
“I told you, I am not susceptible to crocodile tears” he said coldly.
I realized I was crying. Was it the pain or the confusion? Did it matter?
“You will regret this” I whispered.
“I don’t think so.”
I felt something snap in my head. Maybe it was being pissed by his tone or feeling pitiful of myself. I couldn’t tell. But I wanted to show him that I knew something he didn't.
“Your stocks are going to fall tomorrow. And you won’t be able to recover for a very long time”
He chuckled. I raised my head.
“You are going to lose all the equipment you have in your branch located on the east coast. You know, the secret one.”
He sobered and grabbed my shoulders. I cried out and he immediately released me.
“Who told you?” his tone, only, was slicing me in pieces.
“… I just know”
Yeah, I just happened to hear Oscar talk about it in my past. Less than five people knew that branch was part of the T enterprises. It was both a factory and a warehouse. Their valuable and most important components were manufactured there. But it wasn’t just that. At this time, in the past, they had just signed a big contract and at the factory were stored all the product they were going to transfer by tomorrow. But they never could and lost the contract. Oscar was happy then because he could argue that his brother wasn’t good enough and that was actually the beginning of Lawson’s fall.
Now I really didn’t want to help that monster but… I wanted to get out of his air as fast as possible.
“You just knowing isn’t good enough as an answer. If you don’t tell me every scheme in that head of yours, I can promise that you are going to have a painful night.”
“I have nothing to tell you and you should be making arrangements to salvage your product.”
“Against what?”
“The flood” God I couldn’t have this dense discussion with that uncooperative man on that secret subject.
“Please give me an Advil”. I wasn’t beyond pleading.
“ Explain yourself first.”
" I can take it by myself", couldn't I?
"even if you knew where I put them, you couldn't walk there"
"Fine. The tornado will cause flooding in the warehouse."
"which one?"
"How many are they? The one they have been talking about for two days."
"That one will hit the west coast with almost no damage. At least tell me a believable lie." he said, looking at me like I was simple-minded.
"No. They are wrong. It is going to hit the east coast and cause damage. A lot." I assured him.
In the past, it did. And because no one was aware, it was a disaster. But I would have forgotten all about it if it hadn't been for the dream.
He stared at me for a long minute, then stood and took out his phone.
- Writer
