Her Substitute Groom

“I’m sorry, Sir… It was a mistake,” The video editor, a young slim lady quickly apologized to Connor as a different image from the presentation they were having that day at the office, popped up.

It was on a Monday morning, and Connor’s company was doing a presentation for the new product he was about to release, but the video editor who was in charge of the presentation seemed to have messed things up.

“What is the meaning of this?” Connor lost it, so he slammed his hands on the table and rose to his feet.

“What is the meaning of this nonsense?” He yelled at the lady, not minding his business partners around. This was something he could’ve handled carefully and calmly, but fuck it! He had a lot on his mind already and had no patience left in him to do this carefully.

“I’m sorry, Sir… I didn’t mean to…”

“Were you blind or something? You were fucking paid for this, so what happened?” He thundered at the lady again, and she panicked.

“Sir, you need to calm down, please. I will find a way around this,” Khan tried to calm him down.

“Stay out of this!” He snapped at Khan, then turned to the lady.

“I guess you don’t like your job anymore. Get the hell out of here, and as you are leaving, I don’t want to ever see you anywhere around my company, ever again,” He stated, and the lady’s jaw dropped to the ground.

“I’m really sorry, Sir… I just…”

“One more word from you, and I will make sure you never get a job anywhere else, ever again,” He threatened her, and she bowed quickly. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she packed up her computer and shamefully left the meeting hall while the other employees and business partners of Connor stared at him unbelievably.

“What are you all looking at?” He yelled at the other employees, and they quickly turned their faces away, none could utter a word unless he or she wanted to be fired.

“Mr. Connor… I think this is a little mistake that could be rectified. In my opinion, you didn’t have to be like that to the young lady. I guess she has worked her ass off for this day,” One of his business partners, a man in his late forties, suggested, and he scoffed.

“Do you have a problem with what happened, Mr. Gilbert?” Connor leaned over the table, his eyes piercing into the man’s, and he asked.

“This is my company, and whatever happens here, the rules and regulations are made by me. I see no reason why you should meddle in our business,” Connor stated rudely.

“Connor… What are you doing? You are going to mess things up,” Khan whispered to him.

“If you have a problem with that, you can use the door and never come to my company, ever again,” He stated then straightened his back and picked up his phone from the table.

“This meeting has come to an end. I will inform you all when I’m convenient to host the meeting again. You are all dismissed,” And with that, Connor left the meeting hall.

“I’m so sorry about what happened, please. I’m going to talk to my boss and make sure he calls and apologizes to you. He is not in his right state of mind,” Khan apologized to Mr. Gilbert and finally left to go meet Connor.

The smell of cigarettes welcomed him as soon as he barged into Connor’s office.

“You are smoking in your office when you made the rules that no smoking around here? Have you lost it, Connor?” Khan snapped at him angrily.

“What do you want, Khan?” Connor asked as he puffed smoke from his mouth. He was seated behind his desk and reclining on the chair as he stared at nothing.

“What I want is for you to come back to your senses. What you did back there was not fair…”

“Do you have a problem with that? If you do, then you can turn in your resignation letter and leave my company. I don’t fucking need you here, so just leave me the hell alone,” He said calmly as he dropped the cigarette butt on the ashtray and resumed work on his computer.

“What has come over you, Connor? You are slowly losing your mind and you are not even doing anything about it?”

“Close the door on your way out. I have work to do,” He said calmly without sparing Khan a glance.

“You are unbelievable,” Khan muttered and finally stepped out of his office, and he breathed out as he reclined on the chair again.

‘How did a monster like you get to keep me by your side for so long?’ he breathed out again and closed his eyes as those words replayed in his head. He has been trying to get them off, but it hasn’t been working out for him.

“Don’t think about it,” He waved the thought off, and just when he was about to resume work, his phone beeped and a text from Chase popped on the screen.

‘Are you free? I’m waiting for you outside. Let’s have lunch together’ he read through the message.

‘I still have work to do. Let’s have dinner together when I get back home’ he replied to Chase and tossed his phone on the table, but his text came in again and he hesitantly picked up the phone for the second time.

‘I have something to discuss with you. It’s about Janice’ He rose to his feet at the mention of Janice, and without wasting another second, he grabbed his car keys from the desk and dashed out of the office.

“Where are you going?” Khan asked him as he stepped out of the office.

“I need to attend to something. I might not come back to the office. I’ll call you later,” He said hurriedly and dashed out of the office.

Stepping out of the company, he saw Chase leaning against his car outside the gate. He hurried over to him.

“I knew you would come at the mention of Janice. You don’t even care about your brother anymore but…”

“What is it about Janice you want to tell me, please?” He cut Chase off.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“I’ll tell you later. Let’s go to the restaurant first,” Chase said as he pulled the car door open and hopped inside. Connor hesitated before he went to hop on the other side…