A Collateral Damage
1543 Words
“Sir, Ms. Emily Fort is at the waiting lounge. She said that she wants to talk to you. Will I let her in?” his secretary asked.
Ms. Faye was aware that Emily Fort was the woman her boss was doting over for the past month. He told his secretary not to accept any visitors today for he was not in the mood to talk to anybody. But Emily was an exception.
He knew this would happen. He knew Emily would visit him in his office. He was expecting her, actually.
“Let her in.” He pretended to be reading the papers on his table when she entered. That’s why when he looked up to see her, he was shocked by what he saw.
She looked thinner and her eyes seemed to have already lost their usual sparkle. She also looked pale.
What have I done to you? he thought as he felt a painful tug in his heart.
She was just staring at him with...longing in her eyes. He tried his very best to look bored and emotionless.
“Take your seat.” He motioned her to sit on the chair in front of him. He leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms on his chest. “So, what brings you here?”
Emily just stared at him and didn’t say anything.
“What? You are wasting my time. If you’re not gonna say anything, you might as well leave. I need to talk to others.”
Tears started to well on her eyes. Damn. “Why?” Emily asked.
He understood what she was asking. He moved his chair closer, crossed his legs and put his arms on the arm rest. “My father, Matthew Smith, was betrayed by your father. They were business partners. My father trusted William Fort so much that he didn’t mind how your father was running their business. It was too late for him when he learned that your father managed to buy all the shares of the other board of directors. William Fort was not content at all. He wanted everything to be his. My father refused to give up his shares. Do you know what your father did? He made sure that those people who were helping my father would suffer, too, and he succeeded.”
Emily was just listening attentively to him. The way she would always do.
“My father was left with nothing. He couldn’t accept his cruel fate in the hands of the person whom he trusted. In the end, he committed suicide, Ms. Emily. ALL BECAUSE OF YOUR FATHER.”
Emily couldn’t say anything. She knew her father was a tricky man when it came to his businesses. “What William wants, William gets" was what she would always hear from her father.
Whether Kai’s story was real or not, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she needed Kai. Their baby needed him.
“But, why me, Kai? I didn’t know anything about this.”
“I had two plans, Ms. Emily. First, I had to get the most important company for William Fort, the Elise Enterprise. I was able to own it using the tactics done by your father to my father. Second, I had to make his daughter fall in love with me. And when I’m done with her, I would return her to William Fort. Yes, that was a personal attack. What more pain was there than to see your precious daughter fooled by the son of the man whom you betrayed?” Emily couldn’t help the tears from falling down her cheeks.
“Stop crying. It won’t change anything.” Kai said with a stern voice.
She tried her best to stop, but she couldn’t. She inhaled deeply and mustered all the strength to ask him, “Did you ever love me?” Kai stared at her with something in his eyes that she couldn’t fathom.
“No, I didn’t.”
Impossible. Surely, he had felt something for her. Those hugs, caresses, kisses and his lovemakings.
“I don’t believe you. I felt it when you kissed me, whe---"
“Everything was part of my plan, Ms. Emily. Now, stop imagining things. You should not believe in fairytales, Ms. Emily. It’s way different from reality. You are the collateral damage of this plan. If everything is clear to you now, you may leave.” He stood and started to walk towards the door.
“What about our baby?” Emily asked without looking at him.
Kai stopped on his track and curled his right hand into a fist.
“Is it a collateral damage, too?” Kai turned to look at her and said, “Yes. Do whatever you want with it. I don’t care.” He felt like there was an acid in his mouth as he blurted out those words.
Emily stood and walked towards him. She stopped in front of him and stared at his face. She looked so exhausted...and fragile. He wanted to hug her but he stopped himself. She looked straight into his eyes. “Kai, I love you. Even if you don’t feel the same way.”
Kai tried his very best not to look elsewhere. He had to remain cold and emotionless.
“You made me feel loved even though you're saying that it was not real. I thought I would never be genuinely happy, but you gave me happiness. But now, you’ve given me so much pain and I hate myself because I still want to be with you. I was even prepared to beg...for myself and for our child.”
Her tears started flowing. She couldn't help it. Kai was just staring blankly as her, as if her words did not matter at all.
“Stop this drama, Ms. Emily. I don’t have time for this. You may leave.” Emily looked hurt.
He had to say it. He had to hurt her so that she would just hate him, and not love him. It would be easier for her to move on.
Emily nodded. She was about to step outside but turned again, “Kai.”
He looked at her.
“You chose the wrong daughter." She smiled sadly and left.
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“Do whatever you want with it. I don’t care.”
She kept hearing those words from Kai. How could he? How could he be so cruel?
She was inside her car, crying for all the pain that she was feeling. Tears had been her companion these days. Everything that had happened was all a lie: courting her, having dinner dates, eating breakfast and dinner together, all those intimate moments. All because of his hatred for her father. He was right. He had never said that he loved her. She just thought or even assumed that he loved her.
Maybe it was her fault. Maybe God was punishing her because she did not obey her father. Maybe God was punishing her because of her mother.
Now, she was left to suffer the consequences of her decisions. She put her hand on her tummy and softly caressed it.
“Hang on there, my baby. Mommy will be OK. Even if your father doesn’t love you, Mommy loves you so much. I’ll protect you no matter what happens.”
She started to drive but all along her mind was somewhere else.
“I don’t love you.”
“You are just the collateral damage.”
“Do whatever you want with it.”
“You’ve brought shame into our family.”
“Get rid of it.”
She could hear all the painful words thrown at her by Kai and her father. Tears started falling down her eyes and even though she wiped them, they continuously flowed.
Her phone was ringing, but she ignored it. When the traffic light turned green, she moved her car forward, and she was about to get her ringing phone, when suddenly she heard a loud crash.
The impact was so strong that she could hear the squealing tires and the sound of shattering glasses all over her. She could feel the wild beating of her heart and the continuous ringing of her phone.
She heard someone calling her name.
“Emily, oh God!” A man’s voice.
Was it Kai? Did he follow me?
Before she could look at him, blackness engulfed her whole being.
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“Emily. Please be strong.”
Someone was calling her. The man’s voice sounded worried. Why was he worried?
She could feel that he was holding her hand. Was it Kai?
She slowly opened her eyes. When she did, she first saw the light on the white ceiling.
“Em! Thank God, you’re awake!”
She saw Albert seated on the chair beside her bed. He looked exhausted. She tried to sit but was stopped by Albert.
“What happened, Al? How’s my baby? Is my baby OK?”
She felt sore all over her body. She also saw bruises on her arms.
“Do you not remember what happened?”
She felt a growing fear in her heart. “What do you mean?”
Albert sighed and held her right hand. “Love, you had a car accident. That son of a b***h was beating the red light. He’s already in jail and once you have already recovered, I’ll accompany you to press charges.” Albert was not looking at her as he narrated what happened.
“Al, you’re not answering me. Is my baby OK? Yes, right?” She was tugging his hand and was trying to catch his eyes.
When he did, she cried hysterically.
“No no no! Oh God please no! Al! Please tell me no!” Albert stood and was trying to calm her.
“Em, please calm down. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. The doctor had to perform an induced abortion. Em, forgive me. I made the decision to choose you over the baby. Forgive me, Em. Please.”
She looked up to the ceiling and continued to cry while she was in Albert’s arms.
God, why do you hurt me so?
- Writer
