Once In A Lifetime

Chapter Two

A few days have passed by at the office and every time I try to avoid Tyler, he's always there. We haven't conversed much, but I can't avoid replying to him when he asks how my day is going, or what I'm doing after work. As the days go by, I feel more and more tense around him.

'What am I doing?' I thought to myself as I spun myself around in my black leather chair. I gripped the arms of the chair hard trying not to talk myself into asking Tyler to go out with me. I took a deep breath in through my nose and exhaled through my mouth while I tried to relax all the muscles in my body. Then suddenly, the phone on my desk started to ring as I jumped up in my seat, frightened by the ringing phone.

After the fourth ring, I picked up the phone. "This is Chloe speaking, how can I help you?" I asked the person on the other line as I awaited a response.

"Hi Chloe, I just called because I would like to speak with you in my office." I knew this was Tyler as he spoke because of his raspy voice.

"I'll be there in a few minutes." I responded then hung up the phone without waiting for a reply.

The room was so quiet that I could hear my heart beating fast. I took another deep breath and let it out before getting out of my comfortable, black leather chair. I could see dust particles floating in the air that looked like fairy dust as the sunlight shone through the very large floor to ceiling window behind my desk. There was an old, monumental pine bookshelf on the wall to the right of my desk along with an abundance of dust that coated all the shelves as well as the books. It seemed as if the books haven't been touched in over ten years.

'It's probably time to clean up my office.' I thought to myself.

I peered to the left side of my office. I noticed that the dark grey paint on the wall had chipped off where the client chairs were located. Above the chairs, there was a very large black and white canvas of the Eiffel Tower in Paris which took up most of the surface area on my wall.

'I've never been, but I would love to go one day.' I concluded.

I scuffled over the old, grey shaggy area rug — the one thing I disliked the most about this office. I made my way to the door which was frosted glass with an aged oak frame.

'Well, here I go.' I sighed as I twisted the handle and pulled the door open.

***

"Well Ms. Price, I just called you into my office to let you know that the ideas that you talked about in yesterday's meeting were fantastic — I would like to know more." His voice was deep and he seemed to be interested in my interpretation.

He said this as I sat down in one of the uncomfortable blue fabric chairs in front of his desk. His Mac monitor was enormous and his face was hiding behind it. His office is very similar to mine, dark grey paint and the horrible shag area rug. Except his office was much cleaner than mine. His desk is well organized. There was a large desk calendar with pictures of different breeds of dogs as well as two jars full of pens and pencils, all separated by colour. I spotted a single manila folder that is put to the side, on the tab I read 'Chloe Price'.

"Thank you Mr. Ordell." I retorted with a slight grin on my lips.

"I would like to know more about your research." He stated with confidence as he raised both of his eyebrows.

"Well, there is still a lot of potential for this firm," I replied as I crossed my right leg over my left. "The tourism industry is still growing and we need to recruit more young professionals with experience. We can give our new recruits more of an opportunity and help them start their own successful business. With our help, we can make it happen." I finished, almost out of breath.

"Well it is definitely worth a try, I will have to discuss this with Caroline. It's definitely taken into consideration though." He said as he took a notepad from one of the drawers in his desk and started to write on it with a red pen.

"Perhaps we can discuss this over coffee tomorrow morning?" He questioned as he moved his computer monitor to the side to face me. His irises looked green with the fluorescent lighting in the office.

"Of course, I could do that." I tried not to stutter.

"Tomorrow morning at 9:00 am, does that work?" He questioned. "There's a quaint little café about one block north from here, it's called Express Café, we will meet there." He added.

I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to go for coffee on a Saturday morning with Mr. Ordell to concisely go over my work.

"9:00 am tomorrow morning it is." I agreed as I got up from the uncomfortable chair and walked towards his office door that looks similar to mine. Without another word, I left his office thinking about what we will further discuss over coffee.

***

I still find it hard to be able to love and trust someone. Was I making a mistake by taking interest in Mr. Ordell? What if he's like all the other men I've dated? I don't want to be left broken and bruised. I don't want to make the same mistakes I did in my teenage years. Maybe this will be different, I have that feeling in my gut again.

***

"You're a fucking bitch!" He spat out, yelling.

I felt the palm of his hand on my face, along with a stinging sensation afterwards. I had to stay strong, but I just couldn't do this anymore. I let the tears roll down my cheeks as I closed my eyes. His yelling was drowned out by me trying to find my happy place, I was trying to concentrate hard on finding what made me happy.

"Are you even listening to me Chloe?" I heard him shout at me, he was pacing back and forth, index and middle finger rubbing his temples.

I closed my eyes for a split second and I felt his presence just inches from my body. I felt his knuckles against the same cheek that he had slapped just minutes ago. A pang of pain rang through my entire body. I could feel the bruise forming on my cheek right below my eye.

I let out more tears, I didn't fight back. I knew what he would do to me if I ever fought back. I felt weak, powerless, torn and broken.

I didn't want to feel like this anymore.

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry." He said sounding worried as he embraced me in a hug. I didn't hug him back, tears still rolling down my face. He pulled away and kissed me on my forehead, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I didn't say a word, I just sat there. I was hurting and I didn't know what to do, I was scared. I have no one to talk to.

I was again left brokenhearted...

***

I snapped out of my thoughts, my heart was racing fast, my breathing was heavy.

I had to let the past go and look forward to what the future has to bring me.

I have to accept what happened to me, which frightens me a lot. I don't like to think about it.

I have to learn to love again. I can't just give up love because of something that happened in my past. Not all men are that way and I hope I don't make a mistake by falling for Mr. Ordell.

Now is time for me to change.

_______________________________________________________________________

A/N:

Well I hope you guys liked this chapter, we finally find out more about Chloe and her dark past. There is still a lot more to come.

What do you guys think?

VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE please!!!!!

LOVE YOU GUYS,

Averyxo