Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 26246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
So it’s fine. It’s okay. There’s no reason to cry.
Kyara turned away from the window before the woman could look up, and she walked out through the revolving door without putting her coat on. Right now, all she cared about was getting as far away from this place as possible.
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.
The words became the new thing she found herself chanting mentally over and over, and she fell asleep and woke up with those same words in mind.
Don’t cry. Please. Just don’t.
The next morning, Lyrius didn’t look at her at all, and it was just so, so strange. Why did this matter more to her than the fact that Cyrus had cheated on her? And that they had broken up just like that after three years of dating?
She greeted her boss like she usually did, gave him his coffee also like she usually did—
“Just leave the files on my desk, Ms. Dunn.”
But he was the one who had changed. He was the one who was no longer like how he used to be, and she just didn’t understand why this hurt so, so much.
Kyara went back to her own desk and sat down and opened her laptop and started typing, and her fingers moved by themselves because her brain wasn’t really in her body anymore, her brain was still somewhere in the lobby restaurant last night with her face pressed against the glass it hadn’t actually been pressed against.
By ten, she had tried one more time.
She had walked up to his door with absolutely nothing in her hands, no folder, no coffee, no excuse, just her, and she had opened her mouth and said—
“Mr. Havington, I—”
I’m sorry.
I lied.
We don’t—
I never—
Stop.
“—I had a question about the Henderson file, but it can wait.”
Lyrius’s pen didn’t stop moving and Kyara had to bite her lip very hard as she turned around.
Keep it together, Kyara! You asked for this. So keep it together!
And she really did believe she was doing well, and she had everything under control...until she was having lunch with Lara when the other woman suddenly asked, “What happened?”
Kyara burst into tears. “I’m s-so sorry...”
“Oh, hon, what’s wrong?”
Kyara was about to say it was nothing out of habit...when she realized something mind-boggling.
I don’t have to pretend.
I don’t have to lie.
I can just be honest.
And so she...talked.
She told Lara about secretly dating someone at work for three years and how she had found out about being cheated on, which then led to a...misunderstanding between her and their boss.
“I see.”
“Y-You don’t look surprised,” Kyara ventured uncertainly.
“We’ve shared the same office for three years,” Lara said complacently, “and I’m very good at finding things out.”
Kyara’s eyes widened. Oh no. Does that mean—
“But I’m also good at keeping secrets and not making things uncomfortable.”
Why did it feel like Lara was telling her without telling her that she knew about Mr. Havington—
“May I just ask, though—” Lara looked at her soberly. “If you were to rate your misunderstanding from one to ten—”
“Eleven,” she said miserably.
“Oh.”
“Is that a bad ‘oh’ or a—”
“It’s not.”
She started to sigh in relief.
“It’s worse.”
“Lara!”
“I’m sorry, hon. You know I can’t lie.”
“But surely it’s not that bad—”
“I’ll do my best to talk to him about this given the chance...but in all the years I’ve worked for Mr. Havington, I’ve never seen him give anyone a second chance.”
Chapter 8
CYRUS.
Her ex-boyfriend was the first thing she saw when she stepped out of the elevator. One look at him, and her blood went cold. She knew right away that he had been waiting for her to clock out, intending to cause trouble.
When Cyrus took a step toward her, Kyara took a step back without meaning to, and her shoulder blade hit the wall of the elevator bank behind her.
Don’t let him know you’re scared!
She forced herself to stand still even though her heart was already hammering against her chest. There was just something so worryingly off about him—
“Why are you avoiding my calls?”
“—”
“Don’t even think of lying to me.” Cyrus’s voice dropped to the low careful pitch he used when he was actually angry, the one she had only ever heard him use on waitstaff. “I’ve been calling you since yesterday. I’ve been texting you since yesterday. And not one reply. Not one.”
Kyara couldn’t understand where he was getting the audacity to act like she was the one who wronged him when, in truth, he was—
“Tell me the truth,” Cyrus snarled. “You have someone else, don’t you?”
She could only stare at him, still unable to believe how he had the gall to...to make it seem like she was the one at fault, and that—
“I knew it!”
Why was he sneering at her like that, and what was he saying he knew—
“You really think I wouldn’t know when you’re taking that long to answer?” Cyrus’s face had turned into something...small. She had never seen it turn that way before, but then...he had also never looked at her so viciously before. “You’ve been cheating on me, haven’t you?”