Irresistible Love

I jerked up from my sleep and sat on the couch, rubbing my face using my hands. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead as I shuddered. Her voice, still fresh in my mind, never allowed me to sleep.

All I ever wanted was to sleep, once and for all. Three months, eight days, and five hours had passed since she was gone. She betrayed me. All those promises of forever were just lies. Just plain lies.

She had promised me that she would always stay with me, forever, but she had broken her own promise and left me.

I inhaled deeply as I got up from my office couch and walked toward the glass window.

The clock read half-past five in the morning. I looked back at my table to find it messy and a stack of important papers gathered in files.

A sigh escaped my mouth as I shoved my hands into my pant pockets and stared at the trees that seemed black against the sky. The sun was about to rise, and the birds had already started flying, probably searching for their food.

Traffic was less and only a few early morning joggers were visible from my office building.

I had been working late at night, wanting to finish all the work that had remained pending for the last three months.

As I turned around to return to the table, I felt the world rotate before my eyes as I stumbled on my own feet, feeling dizzy. All of a sudden, I felt my head hurt, as if somebody was hammering on it.

All of this was happening to me because of my lack of sleep. How could I sleep? How could I sleep when she’d betrayed me?

Despite her betrayal, she lingered in my mind every time I closed my eyes. She was just everywhere. She was with me, even though she wasn’t near me.

I still remembered when the cops had brought her body out of the water. I felt like killing myself. Why had I let her go?

She had broken my heart and my soul into pieces.

My hands had trembled when the cops had told me to remove the shroud from her face. It had been ruined by the accident. I hadn’t been able to find the courage to look at her when the cops had declared her dead.

Her father had screamed and fought with them, yelling that his daughter couldn’t have left him. Her mother was on the ground, senseless, with the medical team assisting her.

Her friend, Kiara, and her brother, Jace, cried their eyes out, while I just stood there with my back facing her body. She was indeed wearing my shirt and my pants. It was undoubtedly her.

Four people had died that day. The truck driver whose truck hit my Juliette’s car, the taxi driver, a lady in a black car, and my Juli—

I still couldn’t believe that she’d left me. I thought that we were finally together to start our new life. I refused to believe that the body they’d found was Juliette’s.

Although the woman was wearing my clothes and her hair and height matched Juliette’s physique, I refused to believe it was her.

But then I didn’t have the courage to face her death, which is why I shut myself out from the world. When the pain didn’t fade, I started drinking alcohol to the limit where I would tumble down and sleep in the same spot.

It was only because of Max, Kristian, and Willi that I stood here, before the world, once again. A facade masked every emotion and feeling.

That facade had crumbled when she’d entered my life, but now, she had also taken the happiness and joy with her.

“Why did you leave me?” I mumbled as I crouched down on the floor, holding my throbbing head.

I had taken sleeping pills to sleep but they hadn’t worked. She had invaded my dreams, causing me to forcibly wake up at odd times.

The pills now seemed to be getting to me, as I felt dizzy and nauseous suddenly. Crawling back to the couch, I got hold of the water jug from the coffee table and splashed the water on my face.

Taking a deep breath, I leaned against the couch and closed my eyes for a few minutes before falling asleep in the same position.

“Excuse me? Sir?”

A sigh left my mouth as I felt something cold against my cheek.

“Sir?”

Fighting the pull of sleep, I tried to open my eyes. Two black orbs looked down at me worriedly. A woman with raven black hair and a pale complexion patted my cheek softly.

“Are you all right? Should I call a doc?” she asked, and I furrowed my eyebrows when I realized that her hand was still on my cheek.

I took it and removed it before letting go of it. As I shifted and tried to get up, my feet wobbled and I tumbled down.

However, a pair of hands swooped in and took hold of my arm to stop my fall. The same woman was trying to help me stand.

Suddenly, I felt enraged at being touched by a woman other than my Juliette. I shoved her hands away and glared at her.

“I am fine,” I gritted out, and she smiled, raising her hands in a show of surrender.

“Why were you sleeping there? I mean are you all right—”

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” I asked as I took in her appearance.

She was wearing a purple blouse with a cream-colored pencil skirt that matched her beige-colored heels. Her dress was formal, and I saw files and a tab on the table, which I assumed to be hers.

“Oh, I am Cristina Dimir. I am your personal assistant,” she said, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

“I mean I was Mr. Kristian’s assistant, but now that you are joining back, I have been appointed by Ms. Cosmina as your new PA,” she said, which made me look down at my feet.

Indeed, Kristian had played a big role in the company in my absence. He had taken care of our businesses when I had been feeling lost and unmoored, trying to find myself.

“Then, where have you been these last ten days?” I asked, as I didn’t remember seeing her around since being back.

“Oh, I was on a holiday,” she said, smiling. Her dimples reminded me of Juliette. My eyes remained fixed on them until she cleared her throat, which brought me out of my musings.

“Get me a cup of black coffee and Mr. Pachia’s file,” I said as I stood up, feeling dizzy. I held my head, groaning.

“Sir, are you al—” Before she could reach out and touch me, I held a finger up at her, stopping her from coming nearer.

“Do what I have asked you to do,” I ordered her in a strict, commanding tone.

She blinked several times before she nodded, bobbing her head up and down. She turned around and picked up her files and tab and walked out of the room but not before glancing my way.

I sighed as I picked up my blazer from the couch and put it on, buttoning it up as I walked to the table. I looked at the clock, which read a quarter past nine in the morning.

From the time, I concluded that employees must have already reached the office and that it was high time I got back to my work, especially before Juliette invaded my mind again.

Raking a hand through my hair, I tried to concentrate but failed miserably, as the more I tried to forget her, the more she pervaded my mind.

She was my life, my soul, my everything. I could still feel her presence beside me. She was my breath.

I took out my phone and opened the gallery where I clicked on her picture. The picture of her that I had taken forcibly when our entire family had gone out on a picnic.

I remembered joking with her that I was taking the picture as a memento, as she had ordered me to make happy memories with the family and have a good time.

And, for me, being with her was the happiest thing that had ever happened to me.

I had pulled her to my side and clicked a photo of us. She had looked at me while I’d stared at the phone camera. If I had known that this would be the only picture with her, then I would’ve never…

“Your coffee, sir.” My train of thought was interrupted by none other than Ms. Dimir. She placed the cup of coffee down on my table and put Mr. Pachia’s file before me with a smile plastered on her face, which irked me.

“Any other work, sir?” she asked, and I shook my head.

She nodded and turned around to leave but stopped when I called for her.

“Ms. Dimir!”

She stopped and turned around, smiling at me. “Yes, sir?” she asked as she pulled the tab close to her chest.

“Next time, when you come in, don’t forget to knock,” I said nonchalantly and pointed my finger toward the door, asking her to leave.

She looked back at the door and then at me. Her smile faded as she nodded absentmindedly and walked out of my room.

“Everyone seems so happy, Juliette.” I looked back at Juliette’s picture on my phone as I talked to her.

“Except me,” I completed as I felt my eyes stinging. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

I kissed her picture and put the phone aside as I wiped my face using a handkerchief. I lifted the hot cup of coffee to my lips, but I couldn’t drink it. My appetite was long lost.

Nothing seemed to extinguish the fire of my burning soul; nothing soothed my pain of being left alone to deal with the world.

“Please come back to me, my Juliette.” Tears continued streaming down my face as I thought about her, again and again, cursing myself for letting her go alone that day.