Road to the CEO's heart

“Alex?” My voice comes as a whisper, cracking as a single tear rolls down my cheek simultaneously. A crashing sound soon follows as I stand still. Petrified. “What are you doing here?, I told you I was busy, but you just had to be stubborn.” He spat as he gave me a dead stare immediately he turned to face me, a deep frown etched on his face as he wiggled into his shirt nonchalantly. “Ugh! And look at what you’ve done!Do you know how expensive it will be to get that cleaned?”. Pure irritation spreads on his face as he eyes the floor and shoots me an even colder stare. I pay no attention to the mushy feeling between my toe nails nor the fact that the cake I had come in with now decorated the dull carpet beneath my feet. All I hear are his harsh words ringing in my ears, each syllable crushing my heart. The sight I saw a few seconds ago is still fresh in my mind. “Is that really all you have to say?” My lips quivered as I began to feel light headed still in disbelief at the hurtful words rolling off his tongue. “Oh get a grip of yourself, how pathetic can you be? You waltz in here without notice and cry when you see what you didn't bargain for?, you can't possibly blame that on me”. My sadness begins to morph into rage. “In what world do I have to notify my boyfriend that I am coming to visit?”. I snap at him, I won't let him blame me for this, not again. “In the world where I tell you that I'm busy!”. He proclaims as he marches towards me with sturdy steps, eyes boring holes into my head, still sporting the intimidating stare. I gulp under the weight of his intense eye contact, my anger dissipating as fear sets in. Could've never predicted that I would go through four different emotions in the space of three minutes. After a few seconds he breaks into an almost psychotic smile, the one that reaches his eyes but is clear as day that it isn't genuine. “You know it's unhealthy right?” He places his index finger under my chin, lifting my face. “ This is your obsession with me”. I have been dating a narcissist. The realization threw me into a frenzy, all the time I spent loving him was nothing, it meant nothing. My next train of thought is interrupted by the door swinging open, a fear stricken female slowly makes her way into the room, clutching her little belongings as she hesitates to walk past me. I hadn't realized she had ran into the bathroom when I came in, now there she stood with pleading eyes itching ever so slightly, attempting to leave. But Alex grabs her by the arm “Rei, you don't have to go, I'll get her out of here soon and we can…” She yanks her arm away without warning, cutting his speech short. Her hollow eyes alternated between me, the floor and the door behind me. I turn my head sideways, looking at the barren wall beside me like it was the most interesting thing in the room. She got the hint and quickly dashed by me, whispering a shaky ‘sorry’ which I almost missed, making it through the door and banging it loudly. A few seconds go by before I turn back to face Alex, who now looked like he could rain hell on me. “I can't believe you really tried to stop her”. My eyes gloss over “please tell me what's going on”. The quiver in my voice amplifies as I struggle to not break down. Alex breaks into a fit of laughter, eyes crinkling, hand on his stomach, bending over like he was about to burst from amusement. “Are you dumb or are you just looking for an excuse to hear my voice?, his tone sarcastic and harsh, “alright let me spell it out for you, you are nothing to me so pick your jaw off the floor and leave”. Just like that the flood gates burst open, I could hear my heart c***k as those words escaped his lips, the tears flowed quickly and steadily. With my head hung, I turned to leave, not having the strength to try and reason with him, maybe he’ll come to his senses by tomorrow, drop a text, explain that he was drunk, tired, angry, that he didn't mean it and beg me to take him back, like he had done in the past. With that thread of hope I carefully make my way to the door, my legs fighting to carry my numb body safely. “Jess”. My tired eyes lit up as I spun to his direction, hearing his silky voice say my name felt like a ray of sunshine beaming down on me, revitalizing. “I’ll send the bill for the carpet cleaning”. He walks away, into his bedroom. I feel my world shatter, my sliver of hope now a grey gloomy cloud hovering over me, a violent storm brewing within. With heavy steps I run out the door, slamming it behind me as I walk into the now dark street, everybody already in their home after a long day of work. As I step my foot on the concrete pavement, I feel a drop on my forehead, and another, and another, soon it's pouring, like the weather knew how I felt and wanted to join me in my depression. With the little strength I had I made my way home, taking slow steps, I was already drenched so I wasn't in a rush. Head hung low I walked like a zombie, arms wrapped around my body in an attempt to give myself some warmth in the midst of the cold windy night. My mind is filled with multiple whirling thoughts, the most prominent, Alex and all we've shared in the past two years. I find myself overanalyzing every word, every gesture, every intimate moment. Maybe I pushed him away, demanded too much, expressed too much. In a split second I find myself falling backward, my behind landing on the hard concrete causing a sharp pain to shoot through my body. A painful moan escapes my lips as the pain settles in my lower back, I look around in a confused daze, trying to figure out why I was currently on the ground, but my train of thoughts is interrupted. “Will you get up and move?”.