Yours, Forever

Chapter 52

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.