Forsaken and Broken

BOTHERED

The day was going well for Alec, considering the fact that he insulted the CEO of the company. No one around him was talking about it, not even the female non-engineer staff members on the floor, who according to Alec feed on gossips and not actual food and water. 

The plans he had about the new manufacturing unit was also accepted without any fuss or big changes. Mrs. Singh, the senior engineer and HOD, was also impressed by him and offered him to join her family for dinner. He declined the offer politely, lying about having some other plans. 

After that he went to the manufacturing site, at a distance of about two hours from the company. Even though he was an engineer, his work was mostly theoretical and business related which required his  presence inside the company building and not at the manufacturing site, but he loved to visit the site and couldn't help but jump at every single opportunity he got to visit there.

Everything at the site was fine and all the orders for that week's delivery were ready and the ones for next week were just a little behind from the scheduled time, nothing new there. He was so engrossed in the work—which was basically him checking the batches and redoing the calculations—that he didn't even realise how long he had spent there. So, by the time he got back, the sun was already near the horizon. 

Forgetting about the events that took place, hours ago he entered the building and was greeted by the same receptionist from the morning. Sofie looked at him alertly and when their eyes met she forced a smile at him. Just that one little forced smile was more than enough to bring back all the memories of what happened at the same place hours ago. 

“Good evening Mr. Salvatore,” she spoke awkwardly and continued the same way, “Uhm. . . Mr. Lightwood told me to inform you that he wants to see you as soon as you come back.” 

“Oh! Okay, thank you sofie, see you soon.” He said before making his way towards the elevator. 

The elevator was wide opened when he reached, some people walked out, whispering to each other when they saw Alec. He didn't know most of them, but one of them was an accountant. Alec remembered seeing him lots of times when he went to meet Stacy on the 16th floor. The blond smiled at him like they did whenever they passed each other, Alec returned the smile with own while stepping inside the lift. The doors closed as he pressed the 28th floor. The whole ride his mind was consumed by what Jasper had to say. People joined him on his ride, saw him, whispered to each other and left chuckling among themselves. 

Finally after what seemed like forever, Alec walked out of the lift, in the corridor of the 28th floor. Most of the rooms in here were conference halls, boardrooms or the C Suite cabins. As he started walking towards his destination, his heart sank at the sight that met his eyes. Just outside one of the conference halls, Stacy stood by the huge glass double door. Her eyes scanned the faces inside. Her back was to Alec, but he could sense the desperation by the way she was tapping her heels on the marbled floor. 

Alec groaned, and ignoring the girl in sleek blue dress he made his way towards the right side of the hallway, opposite to where she was standing. He passed through a series of rooms, two rooms on both sides of the hallway, all having the same wooden-glass door. Straight ahead there was a huge door, made of glass and wood but different from others, and engraved on a polished name plate in bold letters were the words CEO. 

Alec came closer and stopped abruptly when he saw Katrina yelling at a very young looking girl for some reason. She looked at him from behind her desk and greeted him.

“He has been waiting for you, since noon.” She informed Alec, before continuing her work, that was explaining the girl something in a file. 

Alec sighed, wishing the door to be transparent and not one sided mirror, so that he could see in what mood Jasper was before entering. 

In the morning he finally snapped, something he didn't know he was even capable of, but that happened and probably for the first time. Even though it wasn't entirely his fault, still he felt guilty of what he did and to not feel the guilt he focused on the other strong emotion— fear.

Taking a deep breath, knowing that Jasper must have already seen him from inside, he knocked on the door two times before entering. 

Jasper was sitting on his plush black chair, looking at him, his fingers hovering above the keyboard. His table was a mess like always, filled with lots of files and loose sheets, also a computer placed right in front of him. The last dreamy rays of sun, peeking through the floor to ceiling glass window behind him, made him look even more sharp and breathtaking. 

“Sit down Alex,” Jasper muttered, pushing the desktop to the side while Alec placed himself on the chair, opposite to Jasper. “Where were you the whole day Alex?” 

“I-I was in the Manufacturing house, for weekly updates on the production.” Alec answered, for some reason he felt like apologising, but stopped himself.

“For the whole day?” 

“I wasn't there the whole day.” Alec defended, looking at his eyes. “I left around 10, after attending the meeting about the cosmetics.”

“It's not about the meeting Alex, I was worried. First you fought with me this morning, then took off to the manufacturing site for this long. I tried calling, but you didn't pick a single call.” Jasper said with so much concern that for a second Alec thought that he cared about him.

“My phone was silent.” Alec mumbled, answering Jasper. When Jasper didn't say anything he continued harsher than he intended to, “You know why I snapped in the morning and you could have asked someone if you were that much worried about my whereabouts.” 

“I did and that's how I found that you were there, but Aisha told me that it will take you about 3 to 4 hours and not more than seven hours. Running from the problem isn't a solution.” Jasper said leaning back at the chair, staring at his husband.

“There was not much work for me in the company today. I like being there and I wanted to spend time there.” He said, ignoring what Jasper said at the last. He wasn't running from Jasper and what happened that morning, he just wanted to spend some time there, that's it. As Jasper was about to open his mouth to say something he continued, “And what's the big deal anyway, I am not a child.” 

“Then stop behaving like a rebellious teen. Specifically when you weren't a rebel at your teenage.” Jasper screamed standing up from his seat. Massaging his temples he said, “Can't you see that I am actually worried here Alex?” 

“Are you?” Alec said, standing up himself. “Because I can't even see a bit of that anywhere in your eyes. Stop lying and tell me the truth, that you're bothered about what I did today morning.” 

“I am not bothered by that show you put on.” Jasper shook his head, not believing the thought process of Alec. “If anything people are going to talk s**t about you on your face now, because of that, not me, because for them their job is more important than mocking their boss.” 

Alec just looked at the floor, his eyes lined up with tears and stomach aching due to hunger. He wanted to scream until he couldn't or sleep forever, he hated being weak like that. “Did you do that to make me bother?” Jasper asked.

“I did that because you destroyed my friendship with her, John's 3 years of relationship, and my hea. . . .” Alec trailed off, not wanting to say that, out loud. 

“You can't blame everything on me Alec.” Jasper huffed.

“Yes I can, because it was just you, not Stacy or Gwen or Sandra or any of the other girls. It's what you are Jasper.” Alec snapped, finally tears pouring out of his eyes. “You really think I don't know about anything. I know about every single time you cheated on my sister with other girls during highschool. About why Mrs. Grey's husband divorced her, yes intelligent, I know how your parents covered everything.” Alec yelled, “Maybe what Liz did was right. I'm happy that it's me and not her who married you. She deserves someone who can love her, and not a w***e like you.”

 “I love her.” Jasper mumbled, his own eyes filled with tears. “I never cheated on her after highschool, after I actually fell in love with her.”

“You're only saying this because I wasn't in the same University. And after highschool I distanced myself from you and your perfect relationship with my sister.” He yelled again, it was really relieving to scream out all the emotions.

“Exactly Alex, you distanced yourself from me, so what gave you the right to scream or put allegations on me.” Jasper screamed, walking towards him.

Alec was about to throw some more insults when his empty stomach growled, stealing all the adrenaline and heat he had. He felt blood rushing to his cheeks as his stomach kept on growling.

“When did you last eat?” Jasper asked, his sharp voice replaced with concern. When Alec didn't answer he pulled his face up using his left hand. “Alex?”

“Morning,” 

“Are you serious Alex, god. What about your after lunch medicines?” Jasper asked, shaking his head knowing the answer already.

“I forgot them in here.” Alec mumbled, pulling his face away from Jasper's grasp. 

“Let's go, it's 6:30 already. We will eat whatever you want.” Jasper said and went to pick his suit jacket from the chair.

“You don't have to—” 

“I want to.” Jasper cut Alec in the middle as he came in front of him, wearing the jacket. “Now, let's go.” 

“I don't understand it Jasper.” Alec said, still standing at the same spot. Jasper raised his brows in confusion, so Alec spoke, “One moment you were screaming at me, and now here you act like you really care about me. Sometimes you act like I don't even exist, but sometimes I became your centre of care. Why?” 

“I don't act Alex, I really do care about you.” Jasper mumbled smiling and wiped the tears rolling down Alec's face.

“Why?” 

“ 'We don't really need any reason to care about someone.'  Weren't you the one who used to say that?” Jasper clasped his hands with Alec's and pulled him towards the door of his cabin. 

“But—”

“No buts right now. We can talk about whatever you want once we reach a restaurant, cafe or wherever you want to go.” Jasper said, still holding his hands, even though Alec wasn't resisting anymore.

They made it out of the room, where his secretary stood up when she saw them. Her eyes locked on their connected hand for a few seconds, but she didn't say a word, instead pulled a huge smile on her face and greeted them both in her cherry voice. 

“I am leaving now. You can take off too, after reviewing the last document I sent you. I need it first thing tomorrow, alright.” Jasper said, looking at her confused face.

She regained her smile and nodded her head in response, still lost. Mr. Salvatore was the kind of person who liked being in the company more than his own house, it wasn't a secret to anyone. Even Sofie had seen him spending the whole night in the office if required. So, for someone like him, leaving even a minute before the time was a miracle, let alone one and a half hours.

“Well then, good night Sofie.” Jasper said, walking down the hallway.

“Goodnight Mr. Lightwood, and Mr. Salvatore.” She replied.

“Good night!” Alec screamed as he was being dragged by Jasper