088 - Red string: What the–!!!

It was the start of the evening, with the setting sun having left already, leaving the sky dim, and the ground starting to be dotted with the usual tapestry of artificial lights. But not many had the time to lament the murkiness the harsh man-made light obscured the appearance of the sky with. Not when home was waiting after a hard day, not when only the fleeting comfort of a warm meal was on the minds to calm the ripples of tiredness, not when life had become such that stopping to look at the star-studded emptiness above have become more of a luxury than a leisure.

It was amidst a crowd carrying that invisible but growing weight of life that Sharon left the supermarket, walking behind the bane she would rather not name, one seemingly aimed at her very existence. She looked at his certainly-not-handsome back, and held back the desire to be more expressive with the stuffy feeling in her chest.

She had tried, God knew she had tried, but her zen-like state had failed to accompany her for long during the stroll among the aisles of the supermarket.

Alex Lenner… Humph! Just not gritting her teeth and looking at his back with a readiness to devour him was a show of the great restraints she was showing. It was a show of how well her mother had inculcated civilized manners into her.

But she was taking back all the awe that had been born in her heart just half an hour or so ago. She could now say with all the certainty she was capable of that he was just a petty man, narrow-minded and self-centered, and without any trace of the purported softness he had deep inside.

That only lent more credence to the piece of wisdom all women should hold strong onto. Men were not to be trusted. She should not have listened to Lance, that easy-going man just as much a playboy as the other bird of the same feather now getting into the Bentley in front of her. And above all, she should not have trusted that a Lenner was anything good. She never should have!

She exhaled her frustrations away as he unlocked the trunk of the car, and she emptied the trolley inside. She closed it with slightly more force than necessary, then went to regain her seat at the front after sending back the cart, giving the door the same forceful treatment as the hood of the trunk, her face with an expression seemingly stuck between impassiveness and sullenness.

"Humph!"

The corner of Alex's lips twitched upward. He started the car and resumed their trip, this time, for the destination the blonde had been expecting before being turned into a carrier, one whose rent was raised just to be included in the groceries being bought.

The short last leg of the trip was spent in that dichotomous atmosphere with mirth on one side and stifled indignation on the other. As if feeding off each other, the two sides dominating one half of the space inside the car grew until they blended together in something subtle.

Before the end result could settle into more than a mirage in the water however, the car slowed down, then turned to enter the parking lot beyond the raised barricade.

The parking lot was worthy of the cost to have a place in the high-class apartment building. It was spacious, carrying none of the gloom expected of an underground floor, and had a comfortable and efficient layout. The Bentley slid over to a line of cars among which were the cars Alex drove before, including the deep yellow jeep he went home in two days ago and the dark beast he competed with in a race a month ago.

As Alex glided into one of the open spaces in the line of cars, Sharon's gaze lingered on the other empty parking space in the line, the image of a totalled red supercar flitting past her mind.

"Here."

Sharon turned to see Alex holding out the key of the car toward her. Surprised, she looked at him without taking it, so he explained:

"As I told you before, you represent me now, so I can't have you going around in taxis, much less public transportations. Take this. You will be using this car as of now. Consider it a benefit for the post."

Sharon looked at the key held out toward her, then at Alex. Her gaze grew complex.

Him being nasty toward her, she could understand. From how they had met to how they had come to cohabitate together, she had been the one forcing herself in his life, even though she had her reasons. But sometimes he was not that way. Sometimes, he treated her like he would any other person in her place.

The complexity in her blue eyes grew while retreating deeper, as she took the key.

"I understand. Thank you."

Alex nodded, and instructed while leaving the car:

"Remember to bring the groceries with you when coming up."

Sharon froze, her hand that took the key still in the air as the light words floated in the car. She clenched her fist over the object, and turned to look at her employer going to the elevator not far away.

Like everyone else, he was multifaceted, complicated… but still petty and narrow-minded!

Sharon's face hardened at the end of her thought, snuffing the dash of softness and understanding that almost surfaced inside her. Stuck between the gratitude and the frustration battling in her heart, she harrumphed and got out of the car with her bag.

She took what she could from the trunk, and went to take the same elevator Alex just took. She paused, finally noticing the room card still connected to the key. The thoughtful gesture melted a bit of her grievances. She passed the card over the scanner, and pressed on the last floor.

The door above was open when she arrived, and another bit of her grievances melted again. She went inside to put the bags down, both the groceries bag and her handbag, before going back to the underground parking lot to pick up a few more bags again.

The trip was silent and slightly boring, especially when she was repeating it again. Fortunately, she didn't have to take the stairs like the first time she had come one month ago.

Placing the bags down on the counter in the kitchen, she left for the last trip, for the last bags. It was then that she had the time to admire the sleek car that just became her work vehicle.

A Bentley Flying Spur. There was a reason why luxury cars were charming. They were designed to hook eyes, and hearts.

Sharon passed her hand over the smooth surface of the car, and went to sit inside, this time, with a different mentality, a different state of mind. She sat on the driver seat, and held the wheel to get a feel of what she would be experiencing everyday from now, before looking around.

Once she got her fill of the sensations, she made to step out of the car, only to pause at the sight of the manilla folder peeking out from the pocket of the driver side door. Thinking that Alex might have forgotten it, she took it out to take it upstairs with the last bags of groceries in the trunk, before freezing as something caught her eyes. She returned to facing the wheel of the car, and opened the folder, as her heart beat with a mix of curiosity and apprehension in the background.

Her movement revealed the first page of the file inside the folder, and suddenly, the air congealed. Her eyes went wide with shock, her shaking pupils crying out only one loud, unspoken question:

"What the–!!!"