Anger

Roland's fury was overflowing. His face was bright red, like boiling hot lava was bubbling up inside of him, and his face was scrunched up, contorted in an ugly expression.

'She's lied to me for years? Hidden her true self from me for years?'

A sense of betrayal surfaced within Roland and brought a more intense wrath with it.

Crash!

He swept his arm across his desk, sending his computer monitor and stacks of documents flying.

The commotion wasn't contained by the glass panels separating Roland's office from the rest of the floor, so Barov rushed in as soon as he heard the noise.

"What the hell is going on?"

Roland ignored his question and walked over to the coat stand in the corner before shrugging on his jacket.

"Sir, you've been under a lot of pressure recently, are you going home to rest now?"

"No, I need to visit Veronica first."

"Can that not wait until tomorrow? Whatever you've discovered can't be that important."

"Veronica is Nightingale," spat Roland through gritted teeth.

"What? No, that can't be right."

"Skip forward a few hours and you'll be where I am now," grumbled Roland as he left Barov alone in his office.

Barov quickly turned around, but Roland was already disappearing around the corner. All Barov caught was Roland's sorry figure, illuminated by a sad moonlight.

…

In the company lobby, to top off Roland's day, Anna was lying in wait. It was nearing midnight—she should have gone home—but there she was.

As soon as she saw his twisted expression, Anna instinctively knew that Roland had discovered evidence that Veronica was Nightingale.

"The person who hacked the company and framed me, you know it was Veronica, right?" queried Anna with a light smile on her face.

"Yeah." A cold, succinct reply, it was all Roland could respond with while maintaining his calm exterior.

"So, you believe me now, right?"

"Yeah."

"Great, I was worried we'd never speak again or something. Especially since our friendship was progressing."

Roland shot her a disgruntled look but knew it was better to not say anything, so he just walked away, heading toward the exit.

Anna, confused, watched Roland walking away. If this had been a month earlier, the timid Anna would have let him leave without saying anything, but Anna had been though a lot recently, and she was a different person now.

"What's with you, Roland? Don't walk away from me!"

Roland stopped in his tracks, his shoulders shivering.

"I was right; you yelled at me in front of everyone for nothing. Our relationship, which was blossoming into something beautiful, was ruined because of that. Now that you know the truth about Veronica, things can pick up where we left off. I'm not happy with how things have been this past week; I want more from you!"

Incredulity covered Roland's face as he turned to face her. The rage that he'd suppressed surpassed his limits, and it all poured out at Anna.

"What the f*ck is wrong with you?! Why do you think I would like you? Because you've broken one relationship, you think that fixes another?"