Castles In The Air

CHAPTER THREE

I scrolled through the Google on my phone in search of another vacancy. It was six o'clock in the evening, and the night had already started settling down on the trenches of London, sitting behind the buildings of the city. I was all alone in the house which seemed like a graveyard.

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 to encounter any of them. Despite he had been showing an annoying and horrendous attitude, I still cared for him. After all, he was the person I was going to get wedded to. The recent occurrence just changed him and I deeply wished he was able to get hold of himself.

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 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? All the other companies that I had applied to had rejected me, because of my father's history. It was as if they labeled 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 the position. Maybe I would have some luck on this one.

Just then, the front door busted 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. "Not again," I said to myself, sighing.

"Paul... Where have you been?" I asked and rolled my eyes. From my voice, one could tell I was already 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 that 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 in 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. It was already getting too much. I mean, the situation on ground was damn enough to make me frustrated. Now, this, was just like breaking the camel's back.

What on Earth was 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 a 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. But I was fed up with us going back and forth. I thought if I changed towards him, he would be calm. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know that I had just unlocked another level of his silly behavior.

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

I couldn't believe what I just heard and saw. He did not grab any weapon to hurt me but his comeback said it all. 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 reflecting in his eyes. All I could see was a a despondent man who was in the verge of taking a revenge for all the hardships he had been facing.

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. My heart beat switched unexpectedly and became like that of a prey trying to run from the predator 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 eyes shot wide and I swallowed by saliva fast. My fear had come to decree; he was strangling me. Grasping his hand that was as muscular as a wrestler, I aggressively tapped it and whined in excruciating ache. It appeared he was never going to let go.

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

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