Ten Years Later
Emily's POV
"I never knew your office space would be this…" Mrs O'Connor said as she walked it, looking around with her mouth half open.
It'd been a shock, to both of us, when a few weeks ago, she called in to book an appointment.
I managed her companies before, but through a third party.
"Yeah, well, goodwill." I smiled and answered non-committal.
"It's been what? Over ten years, and you look as young as ever. I'd appreciate beauty tips." She smirked, and put a foot on my desk.
She still wore trendy heels, even though her hair had begun to turn gray. I guess it's just too hard for her to admit.
"This is not the place for small talk, Mrs Daisy. You booked an appointment, and you have an hour of my time before my secretary walks in through that door to see me to a nearby event." I said, putting her in her place.
"There are no places for anything. Besides, I'm not one to follow rules." She smiled.
Like her smile couldn't be more annoying, her red lipstick, which had smudged a little on her bottom lip made her look even more evil.
She's annoying, as ever, but for as long as I've tried, I couldn't bring myself to hate her.
Not after how everything had played out very the past decade.
Life's a game, win some, lose some.
I had a fast car, a consultancy, and a rich clientele. A house where I could watch the sunset from the roof, wine bottles waiting for me to open, it's heavenly, really. A lonely heaven.
"I hear you are thinking of expanding your business across international waters." I started, tolling Daisy back to what we were supposed to be discussing.
It's her third business in two years, the two others fell through unaccountably.
"Yes!" She smiled, and put her foot down.. "A skincare brand." She added.
"So I read." I said absent-mindedly, perusing the documents before me.
Like the other two, her plans lacked all the vital information.
The only business she was still handling well till date is her husband's oil distribution company. Every other thing had been a colossal failure.
"Don't you miss him?" She asked, I kept reading the papers before me, ignoring her existence, "Sometimes? Lonely nights? Cold nights? Drunk nights?" She kept on listing. I wished I could make the time move faster.
"No." I swallowed hard.
"I'm a woman. I know you don't mean that." She laughed a deep and throaty one.
"We are hardly the same breed of women." I made sure my smile didn't reach the corner of my eyes.
"Well, yeah." She agreed. Daisy took out a cigarette and lit it.
I tried to act like she didn't exist, and like the tobacco smell wasn't real.
"He still calls me, you know?" She offered.
"I can't remember asking, and I do not think that had anything to do with why we are here." I cut her off.
But the thing about Daisy? She just didn't know when to give up.
"Says he thinks he's stupid sometimes." She continued
"I promise, I do not need these details." I said, exhausted.
She was messing with my mind.
I'd read over half the file containing her business plan, but I wasn't assimilating, at all. I couldn't even remember the name of the brand.
I hated going down memory lane.
The past is best left behind. But that's something Daisy would never know.
"I hear they are considering throwing their marriage open." She said,
Guilty, but I can't deny that it didn't trigger something in me.
"Sometimes, I wished the other brother took the throne instead." She added.
"Dathan is best where he is. He had a troubled life." I said, fighting the gnawing pain in my heart.
After that night, ten years ago, his life changed.
They both did recover. They both left the hospital with their legs, standing strong. And all was fine, well, peaceful. Till one morning…
"Poor guy." She offered.
"I dare say he's better than any of us sitting here." I shot at her.
"Oh, honey. I know that. I have a seat in hell, and my dying wish is gonna be to have a red silky maxi gown on. I want it to flow as I walk past you all to take my seat." She said, laughing maniacally.
Daisy wasn't good with thinking, it's no surprise she couldn't handle a business for more than six months.
"Would you like me to make modifications to this?" I asked, finally done with the material before me. "Normally, I would suggest changes and how to implement them. But I think it's best, I just implement those changes on your behalf,for reasons known to both of us." I made sure that sank in, and a roll of her eyes was confirmation. "My secretary will get back to you as soon as this is ready." I said, seamlessly switching back to my corporate voice.
"You're so sweet." She blushed. For a minute, she looked so innocent and almost made me smile. "Your husband's company needs you." She just had to do that.
"I do not recognise whom you speak of, and I'd appreciate it if you closed the door behind you." I replied to her.
"Just stop the gimmick." She packed her bags and stood up.
"Well, it's hardly a gimmick if you were rejected publicly just two years after a contract marriage." I said.
"Both of you looked so good together." She derailed.
"You're one of the reasons things turned out the way they did." I accused her, not letting her take the words out of my mouth.
"You seem a little too eager for a conversation you tried to avoid only minutes ago." She smirked, and ran her tongues over her top lips.
It would have been seductive to someone who liked her, someone unfortunate, someone like him…
"Have a nice day, Daisy O'Connor." I said, mentally tuning out of whatever that conversation was.
"Have a nice day, Emily Damon." She smiled.
"I'm working on a name change. Friends and clients will be notified through the newsletters, and an email from the company." I replied.
"We all know no courts here would sign that." She laughed. "Good luck though." with that she was gone.
Damn! She was a real piece of work!
Sometimes, I don't blame her husband for dying early, she must've been a lot to handle.