Suffocating

Enfold; V

The ticking clock kept glancing at each side, shifting its focus, worry in its soulless eyes.

It seemed to be as worried as Roxanne was.

"It's Price, actually," said Roxanne as Robert, after sighing a sigh that sounded like a groan, muttered, "For the last time, dude, it's Price. Price, dammit!"

Roxanne stared at Robert, a weird kind of heat decorating her cheeks.

Robert stared back, one eyebrow cocked, the left side of his lips plucked upward.

Roxanne looked at Grover only because she couldn't look at him any longer. Grover looked back and forth between the two, a nervous glint in his eyes before he coughed, pulling his shirt collar. "My apologies."

Robert, sitting in the chair employees normally sat, his legs spread widely, his arms arched back to rest on the headrest of the furniture like how a jock would sit in a classroom, didn't look at all like the pictures and videos Roxanne saw.

In those means of media, Roxanne saw a groomed babydoll, with not a strand out of place. Perfect, smooth skin, no creases in his clothing, always looking polite and controlled and full of wise words.

Reality proved - time and time again - that what we saw on media were never the truth, the entire truth.

Robert didn't look perfect.

His hair was longer, and no longer combed. She found it almost odd seeing him with wavy strands of hair, especially with how a few of those strands fell to the sides of his face, almost like a pony. His hair color looked less golden and shiny and more grey and sandy. Dots trailed down to his jaw, ending near the chin - courtesy of shaving. He wasn't wearing a tuxedo suit or any kind of formal suit, rather a grey shirt and loose army trousers, and it was honestly what threw her off most.

Robert didn't look perfect.

He looked human. Quite an attractive human, but a human nonetheless.

He chuckled, pushing his chair back so his sides faced them. He looked back and forth between Roxanne and Grover, wearing a crooked, amused grin Roxanne had never seen him wear in the many interviews she'd seen. "Eh. It's alright." His broad shoulders pulled up as he shrugged. "Happens all the time."

That clicked Roxanne's mind, and the nauseous feeling of worry slithered around her stomach, coiling and squeezing her organs tight.

Grover was her boss. He always had been. Roxanne smiled with the means of courtesy, but she locked eyes with Grover, hoping he could see how fucking scared she was. "Umm, Sir... I didn't realize Robert Price has his own news station."

Grover's eyebrows knitted up, and his lips, alongside his shoulders, weighed down.

He looked away.

He couldn't bear to look at Roxanne.

What?

"He doesn't."

Double what?

Robert smiled the kind of smile that reminded Roxanne of herself - only, it unnerved her seeing that smile on his pale face. He hunched down, placing his linked hands between his legs, facing Roxanne with eyes that challenged, begged for amusement.

"Yeah. 'Wow News' belongs to me."