The A-hole Next Door (completed)

THIRTY TWO

Avan shook his head. "I'm sorry, Lauren. I can't approve your leave. Your training for higher position will start next week, remember?"

"But I'll be back the next day, Sir." Lauren frowned. "I'm just asking for a Monday leave."

"You know the rule. Leave of absences should be filed a month before."

"But you gave it to Luigi months ago even if he didn't file for it! Why are you being so unfair?" She snapped, her temper slipping out from her grip.

Avan sighed impatiently. "It's a different situation, Lauren. We're in a critical month, because we're all preparing for the magazine's special issues. Besides, you can't miss your training, and you need to follow the rules since you'll be an editor soon."

"Rules my ass!" she groaned. "You're not even following those stupid rules! I'm just asking for a Monday leave for Christ's sake!"

"Watch your tone, Lauren!" Avan echoed, his eyes hard.

Lauren wasn't even bothered by her boss' warning. "Fine. You know what? You don't have to approve my leave anymore. Because I'm resigning." She said, then dashed out from Avan's office. She went to her desk, angrily shutting down her computer and fixing her things.

"Lauren!" Avan's voice echoed in the whole office. "Don't you dare leave the premises!"

The rest of the cartoonists went silent, their intrigued eyes wandering from Lauren to Avan. Their boss was standing in the middle of the office, while Lauren was already poised to leave her desk.

Luigi stood up, about to usher his friend back to her desk but Lauren spoke.

"You can't stop me, Mr. Jogia. I quit." She muttered, then walked out of the office quickly. She headed to the lift, then straight to her car to go home.

"Such a jerk." She mumbled under her breath while hitting the road. She had never been that angry to Avan. All she wanted was a one-day leave so she could stay in Paris, where Zayn and his band would be on Sunday. They could be together for two days since the band would have a day-off on Monday. They've been away from each other for more than three weeks and it was already killing her.

Lauren knew that she sounded like a clingy and immature girlfriend, but three weeks was already unbearable for her. They couldn't talk much as well, because it was either Zayn was dead tired from performing or in the middle of conquering the stage. She thought, since it wasn't easy for him to adjust his schedule, she should be the one to do it. But her boss was being hard on her because of her upcoming promotion, and she was pissed. She wasn't really interested with the position anyway.

Lauren reached her apartment. She sadly stared at the door next to hers. Before Zayn headed to the tour, he left his apartment to join his band mates on their new place. Zayn wasn't happy about it, but it was the wisest thing to do.

She tiredly sat on the couch, then grabbed the huge teddy bear near her which Zayn sent yesterday as a gift. She hugged it tight, and she suddenly found herself crying without knowing the real reason why. Her temper, disappointment, loneliness and confusion pushed her to the edge.

Her phone vibrated from her jeans' pocket. She immediately wiped her tears when she saw Zayn's name on her screen.

"Afternoon, jaan. How's my girl?" Zayn asked right away, and Lauren just wanted to be in his arms and weep. She was missing his presence, because he  wasn't just a boyfriend for her now, but a best friend as well. She knew that he would listen to her, would stroke her back as she cries and would try to cheer her up with a joke or even ice cream.

But for now, she got no other choice but to be contented with his voice.

"Are you alright, babe?" Zayn asked worriedly.