Fated To Love You Forever

TWO DAYS LATER

As Damien clicked ‘send’ on his computer, he exhaled in relief, thankful that he had finally completed the document he was working on and sent it to the partner on time.

Luckily, he didn’t have a pounding headache anymore, but that didn’t count because he had missed a full day of work. Sighing, he looked back to his computer to look at the rest of the things he had on his schedule for today, and he was almost done but that was not satisfactory.

Damien did not want to go home. He had already missed one day this week due to the hangover which he shouldn’t have had but did anyway, and he was still finding it very difficult to forgive himself for making that mistake again.

So as atonement for that, he decided to stay at the office and work as long and hard as he needed to. It would also act as a kind of reminder for him to stop getting drunk and missing work, because he never felt comfortable doing so.

Looking through everything else, he realized that he had completely forgotten to tell his secretary that he needed her to sort through some old files. He needed to clarify something from previous documents, and he would have to wait for her till she finished so he was faced with more time to stay at work.

As he picked up the phone to ring her, he hesitated and then put it back. He decided he would do the sorting himself instead. It usually wasn’t the type of work he did but if he went home now, there would be nothing to do than sit around and be lazy and he would rather not have that at the moment.

Standing up, he moved to the other side of his desk, popping the bottom drawer open and took out the first pile of files. Underneath the files were piles of books which Damien also needed to sort out.

He suddenly had second thoughts of arranging the office himself and was tempted to call his secretary after all, but he held himself back and got to work.

He needed this distraction too.

He was some minutes into his work when he suddenly paused, holding up a book that seemed to have distracted him. He smiled a little when he remembered that this was his first journal, he took everywhere when he had journey into the business word. It was part of the first things he had brought with him when he had moved into this office some years ago.

The journal had been so vital to him, and he used to write down the names of clients turned business partners so he wouldn’t forget. The journal had some of his visions and goals which he had accomplished today, and he couldn’t be more proud and nostalgic as he stared at it.

He was about to toss the journal back to an open box, when it suddenly slipped out of his hands, falling to the floor, with a photo card peeking out of it pages.

Curiously, Damien picked it up, and then he froze when he saw it was a picture of him and Madison.

Of course it just had to be an image of the two of them, and he wasn’t surprised to see it there. Back then, even with the heartache she’d caused him, and the painful way he left London, he still took her pictures with him everywhere. Their pictures rather, as it was some sort of lucky charm for him.

That also explained why he had photos of just her in his office, and he gritted his teeth remembering the one he had burnt some days ago.

Now staring at a smiling Madison in the picture again, he didn’t know why anger suddenly began to pump through him.

He hissed, squeezing the photo with the intent of tossing it into the trash, but then he paused as something got triggered in his head… A memory. Not being quite sure what it was, Damien slowly unfolded the picture and continued to stare at it, until it hit him.

The night at the office some days ago. He and Alvarez had spoken about the letters, about Madison too, and he had realized that it was Katherine who intercepted the letters.

He also remembered angrily storming off to Katherine’s house, and throwing the accusation in the open and then realizing that he had been right about her keeping the letters because she had shamelessly admitted it, even telling him that the lettered were no more as she’d burnt them. He didn’t remember much of what happened next but he knew they must have had a fight, and as he tried so hard to recall what happened after that, he was struck with a painful migraine.

The effect of the fucking drinks he’d taken.

Falling back into his chair, and rubbing his forehead as the memory of driving off and getting so drunk came to mind, Damien began to curse under his breath.

He hated getting drunk, and worse than that, he hated hangovers, but he had come to realize now that it was his own way of coping, and dealing with his bullshits even though it was an unhealthy one.

He also remembered that he had asked Alvarez for Madison’s number, and just to make sure he was right about this thought, he scrolled through his messages, and sure enough the text he had sent to Alvarez stared back at him, and the digits Alvarez had sent back as well.

The history on his call log also confirmed that he had called her.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

He shut his eyes in agitation, wondering what had happened that night.

What had he said to her? Had he made a fool of himself, or had they ended up fighting yet again? The call had lasted for over ten minutes, so they must have talked for long. As much as he tried to, he could not remember a thing he and Madison had discussed that night, and even as he tried to piece it all together nothing made sense.

He couldn’t remember what he had said or how she had responded, and it made him ache bitterly.

Sighing deeply, he relaxed into his chair and tried to think. His plans of flying to London came to mind, and it made him sit up instantly.

He still needed to get answers, and now more than ever they were crucial, if not he would never be able to move on. No matter how hard it was, he knew it would make a significant difference when he actually knew the full story, and his curiosity was gnawing heavily at him.

Turning back to his desk, Damien quickly dialed his secretary, asking her to come in immediately.

While he awaited her arrival, he continued to sort through the files. He was almost done with the first drawer and so far he was making significant progress.

A few minutes after he had cleared out the bottom drawer, a knock sounded on his door and Nina, his secretary walked in.

“Good day, sir. You called for me?”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Damien shut the bottom drawer, dusting his hands off as he faced her. He took a deep breath, confident that he was making the right decision, and then he said much to her surprise, “I need you to book me another flight to London as soon as possible.”

…….

Madison inspected the potato she had picked up from the crate, checking to see if it was in good condition.

The lady in charge of the vegetables section smiled at her, as she said, “They are fresh from the farm. You’ve got nothing to worry about, I assure you. It’s all organic, just like you wanted.”

Madison nodded, “Yeah, they look nice.”

Smiling, she picked up three big ones and dropped them into the small shopping basket she had picked up.

She had decided to go shopping today. Normally she would have waited till the weekend, but she had been so stressed out and she wanted to have a small treat. She deserved it too. It was also time to try out the potato porridge recipe she had gotten from a friend at the bakery, and knowing how good her cooking skills was Madison felt quite confident about the meal she was going to prepare tonight.

She walked past the rows of vegetables, coming to a stop when she saw some fresh carrots that caught her eyes. Inspecting them carefully, she began to take as many as she would need. She took another look at the list in her hand, and all there was left after the carrots were onions and green bell peppers. As she moved to pick up one last carrot, she felt her phone vibrate in her purse.

Pulling her hand away, she quickly brought out the cell to see that it was an unknown number calling, and suddenly she tensed up.

She was already looking around at the market to check if she was being watched again, but the environment was so busy now that it wouldn’t even matter and if the stalker was hiding behind some racks she wouldn’t even know.

She looked back at her phone. She really didn’t want to pick up, and she had decided to even stop picking calls from unknown numbers since the conversation always bade out badly and with ominous signs too. She remembered Damien’s call from a few days ago and she breathed shakily. She definitely didn’t want a repeat of that.

Madison shook her head. No, she wouldn’t pick the call. As she unzipped her purse and quickly stuffed her phone back in, her thumb mistakenly swiped right on the call, and Madison’s eyes widened in shock with her heart beating rapidly.

She checked if there was any way to save herself from that mistake, but it was too late, it had already answered and slowly bringing the phone to her ear, she spoke into the receiver, “Hello?”

The phone nearly dropped from her hand when she heard the familiar voice of her estranged father call out her name, and for a moment, Madison felt like someone had put a hold on her neck.

She couldn’t breathe even if she tried, and after a few moments of taking deep breaths, she brought the phone out of her ear and looked back at the screen.

She didn’t recognize the number from anywhere, and worse still she was still confused about her father calling her.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to him, not to talk more of him calling her phone and this was not the number her mother had sent to her, which she’d saved.

Another piece of the puzzle… Why was he calling her with a strange number?

Mentally reminding herself to breathe, she cleared her throat, trying to sound as normal as possible, “Dad, h-hi. How are you doing? It’s nice hearing from y-”

“Save it!” She heard her father’s gruff voice snap from the other end, and it made her nearly jump in fright, but she steadied herself at the last second.

“I do not need your greetings. I called you for a reason and I’d like to get the answer to it.”

Madison felt her ears redden but she didn’t say a word. She couldn’t even counter him, no matter how much she wanted to.

“Now look here, I don’t know what the hell is going on with you and that good-for-nothing boy called Damien, nor do I even care. I’ve been seeing your pictures together, and unsurprisingly, you’re still as shameless as you were eleven years ago.” He spat as he began talking, and Madison’s hand shook as she clutched her phone.

Her heart was already clenching from the pain he was causing, with his words stinging her deep, especially since they hadn’t spoken in years.

Not once did he call all these while, and now when he finally did call, this was all he had to say to her. She remembered that these accusations were the same ones Mason had thrown at her, back when he’d visited and she blinked back the tears burning at the back of her eye.

“Dad… if you would just listen to me. I could explain wh-”

“Quiet! I don’t care what you have to say. Besides I am already used to you being a disappointment, so I didn’t even expect anything less.”

Tears stung the back of Madison’s eyes and she tried her hardest to swallow them back, not wanting to make a sound but there was a lump in her throat and it was stuck albeit painfully.

“I have also heard about some men asking about the Connors all over town, and I know it in my gut that you must have reunited with that fool to try and bring me down.”

Madison’s jaw dropped in shock when his words assimilated.

Why did everyone think that she was working with Damien or back together with him? This was what Mason had said, even warned her about it and now her father too? No she had to clarify stuffs quickly.

“Dad, I don’t know what you’re talki-”

“But know this, Madison…” He spat out her name in disgust cutting through her speech before she could even finish, “Before you even get a chance to destroy me or this family, or even try to soil our name, I will destroy you before you try. I might not have the powers I had before, and I’m clearly indisposed but I have my way and I’m sure you know I am not bluffing.”

Her hand tightened around her phone, her whole body shaking and reverberating at his words. The more she tried to ask question or clear him on things that he was getting wrong, the more he continued to cut her off not letting her say a thing and eventually she just could not take it anymore.

“Stop!” She yelled into the phone, not minding her tone as she went on, “Just stop okay? I don’t know what you have heard or what you’ve seen in the papers, but if you actually took the time to read through them you might get the full story. Damien treated me badly, and we are not together like you claim. Do you also want to know why? It’s because he hates me, and he hates us all. He hates me so much now that my presence irritates him.”

Tears had begun to burn the back of her eyes now and even though her throat was sore and parched, and she was even in public attracting stares she didn’t stop at all, “And you know what, dad? You also want to know why he’s this way, It’s all your fault. You did it all back then, you tore us apart and I won’t take it lightly if you think you can manipulate me the way you did when you threw me out in the streets without a care whatsoever. You’re the reason why all of this happened, and as much as I pray it haunts you, I hope you find peace too. My heart is pure, whether you choose to believe it or not, and I am not plotting anything against you. I don’t even have the strength too, so I don’t know where these accusations are coming from but none of it is true.”

Her chest heaved as tears pooled in her eyes, but she didn’t stop until she was finished. She was so tired of being blamed for everything.

“How dare you!” She heard her father roar from the other end of the line when she finally took a pit stop, “How dare you speak to me like that? You have become such an insolent young woman and I don’t…”

Tears streamed down her face as she pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call.

She tried to control her tears when she noted that people were still staring at her, but the liquid wouldn’t stop streaming down her face at all. Her hands shaking, she picked up the rest of the vegetables she needed, and paying the lady in charge of the vegetables section quickly, she turned away when her vegetables had been packed into a plastic bag and handed to her.

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she quickly walked out of the store market, her chest heavy.

The call reminded her of the time when Mason had come to her house to warn her, and fresh bread tears pooled in her eyes once more.

To think she had decided to treat herself to a good meal and just relax, but still all her plans and her day had been ruined effectively yet again.

Madison wondered if it was a crime to have one day free of drama. First it was the call with Damien, contemplating to call Alvarez and now her father.

Trying not to think of either of those men, Madison flagged down a taxi, her chest heavy as she sat listlessly as the car sped on. She just couldn’t wait to get home. She would curl into a ball, and force sleep into her eyes.