madelein | ✔

twenty-six

Duke stared at nowhere letting everything sink in. He just announced his engagement and the date of the wedding in front of the person he thought he would do it with. He cursed at himself, grabbing whatever what was near him and throwing it across the room. It was a file of papers.

Both of his hands flew into his hair and almost clawed his scalp off. Thoughts whirling about his head, mostly concerned with Sian who was just beside Zero when he said those words.

He wanted to hurt her, too. Just a tint of how much she had hurt him. He wanted to feel that, at least, she would still cry for him. He groaned and realized... he can't. No matter how many stones Sian will throw at him, he would accept all the blows until she is satisfied.

Yet, this may be the biggest blow that she had thrown at him.

"What am I doing..." he asked himself. Usually, he would know the answers on what his next step should be, but as of now, his mind was blank and numb. His hair tousled against his fingers, his nerves dread from every blow. It was as if he's a puppet and fate was the one holding him up, controlling him.

He doesn't want everything to end like this. Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he dialed a certain number. They set up a rendezvous as Duke's mind slowly started to clear up. He breathed when he ended the call. What was his plan all of a sudden? He wasn't sure but his objective was straight: this isn't his ending.

Duke was about to open the door, when it automatically did. He creased his eyebrows while gritting his teeth. He already knew who was behind the door and the spectacle didn't amaze him any further. "Chelsea," there was hatred in the last syllable of his voice.

The woman's smile didn't fade and strutted inside his office. He looked down on the carpeted floor of his office, slightly annoyed with the entrance of the vixen. He closed the door and stood in place, not following the woman.

The visitor went straight in, approaching the lounges in his room. The papers rustled under her shoes, begging to be picked up. Instead, she just looked down and gazed at the two-by-two picture printed on the top right corner of the page, twisted his feet and proceeded on her way.

"Where were you going?" Chelsea asked, sitting on one of the leather sofas in the middle of his office. The crisp sound of the material echoed across the room as it continued while she crosses her legs. "I hope it's not with my friend again."

He almost spat at her but decided to gulp it down. He fixed his coat and shook all of his emotion off. Definitely, he tried multiple times to meet up with Sian but all of his attempts were taken down by the one and only. She was threatened, he could feel it and she should be now.

"I wasn't," Duke rolled his eyes, "I was going out for some fresh air. The atmosphere in my office became," he eyed Chelsea from her head down to her toe with all of his hate, "toxic."

The visitor just chuckled. "Just don't meet up with Sian... then there would be no trouble."

His eyes squinted at her. "Even if I didn't meet her, there would still be trouble," then cocked one of his eyebrows with her.

To be honest, Duke was fuming. He was in a rush and this girl suddenly showed up without any knowledge of her objectives visiting him all of a sudden. He still has to drive for a few minutes before arriving to the place. Knowing his friend, he was impatient.

With clenched jaw, he asked, "What brought you here? Say it now or I'm going to leave you here." His fingers tightened at the hem of his suit seeing how she just grinned like the Cheshire cat. 

"I thought I might ask about the arrangements," she stared at him, blinking her eyes, "I already picked a dress for Saturday."

He sighed and ran one of his fingers along his hair. The words of his father and mother rushed into his head like lightning hearing about the sudden marriage. Both of his parents were surprised with such news. They didn't even know who the bride will be. It was all too fast for them.