Mr.arrogant(30)

People all around her cheered happily, and somewhere inside of her, a  black hole formed; a void so great and cold and strong that it sucked  everything in her heart and mind into it slowly, ripping everything in  her apart, and she turned away from Jonathon's green eyes, and blindly  stumbled through the crowd, vanishing into an elevator and taking it to  the top floor where her office was.         

     



 

Her office was like a ghost town. Everything was on, and not a soul was  there, except for her. She rushed to her desk and began grabbing  everything that was hers, shoving it into a box she had been meaning to  take to the recycling area. It took almost no time at all to pack it.

When she was finished, barely able to see for the pools of tears in her  eyes, she stared at her computer for a moment and then opened her email  and printed the message she had gotten from Justin Drake at Jupiter Inc.  She shoved it into the box, turned off her computer, and walked back to  the elevator with tears streaming down her cheeks and a hole where her  heart had once been.





The Final Chapter



Naomi laid in her bed for three days with the phone off. On the third  day, Andrea showed up and let herself in with her spare key. She pulled  Naomi from the bed where she'd been laying and put her into the shower  and then made a hot meal for her.

After two bites, Naomi was done. She sat in her bed in her thick terry  cloth robe, staring listlessly into oblivion as Andrea tried to talk to  her. "I saw the papers. I guess it's official. You were right, she does  seem like a rotten woman. Honey, I am so sorry. That must have totally  taken you by surprise." Andrea said kindly, patting Naomi's hand.

"I don't want to talk about it." Naomi whispered. Andrea handed her a cup of hot tea.

"Here, drink this. You need it. You haven't been taking care of  yourself. Honey, I know you're hurting, but you can't just sit here and  lose your whole life. Not for him. Not for a man who left you for  another woman. He's not worth it. You listen to me. Are you listening to  me?" Andrea reached her hand under Naomi's chin and lifted it so that  Naomi's empty eyes were facing hers.

"You are worth so much more than this. You are an amazing, talented,  incredible woman, and just because he didn't see that, doesn't mean that  you are any less important than you were last week. Now don't you dare  give up on yourself or throw away everything that you and your parents  worked so hard for. Are you hearing me in there? You get your ass out  bed this minute, and you never give that man another thought; not  another moment of your life, because you have given him enough already,  and he doesn't deserve any more than he's already gotten. No. You get up  and you focus on yourself, and you make yourself your own priority  again.

"You did it all of your life until he pulled you off the tracks, and  distracted you. Now you let all of that go; there is no sense holding on  to it. You let it go, you get up, and you change your life starting  right this very second." Andrea ordered her firmly.

Naomi blinked. Some of Andrea's words were filtering through to places  in her brain and heart that had been strongholds before Jonathon had  taken over every one of her senses. The words were touching places that  her parents had always touched, and where their memory lived even in  death.

"How?" she whispered faintly, trying to focus on her friend's eyes and  the meaning behind what she was pulling Naomi out of the black hole  with.

Andrea saw that there was some slight progress, and she grabbed on tight  to it and pulled harder. "You get up and take a step at a time. One  step at a time. You can do that. You have the strength to do that; I  know you do, I've seen you do it. Just like you did when you lost your  parents …  one step at a time, and then before you know it, one step  becomes three steps, and then three steps becomes several feet, and in  no time, those feet become miles, and you never have to look back. You  never have to carry any of this pain and heartache with you. You just  let it go and you look forward and you move on."

"One step?" Naomi asked with a little more volume to her voice.

Andrea nodded. "One step. Get out of bed."

Andrea stood up off of the edge of the bed and reached her hand out to  Naomi, and Naomi took it and sighed and pushed herself up from her nest  of darkness.

"One more step." Andrea said, looking at her intently, "You go to the  living room and get out of here, because I know you've been in here  since you left your office."

Naomi walked silently to the living room and sat on the couch. Andrea followed her and sat near her.         

     



 

"Next step." Andrea said, looking at her seriously. "You need another job."

Naomi nodded, and somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she remembered  the email that she had printed off. "There's an email …  in the box from  my office … " she said quietly, looking around the room. She didn't  remember coming home from the office. She didn't remember where she put  the box.

She didn't remember anything after she walked out of the crowded foyer  with her box in her arms, leaving her job while everyone behind her  toasted the happy couple with champagne and congratulations. There was  nothing but a dark void of time following that moment, and she had no  idea what had happened between then and the moment Andrea walked into  her bedroom.

Andrea was up and walking through the apartment. She called out from the  kitchen. "I found your box." It was quiet for a moment and then she  called out again. "Is it this email from Justin Drake?" she asked  hopefully.

Justin Drake. Justin from Jupiter Inc. who had called her and pleaded  with her to come and work for him. A tiny shaft of light moved slowly  through the darkness in her heart and mind, and the light illuminated  her inside, just a little.

"That's it." She answered, her voice a bit stronger. Andrea reappeared  in the living room and pressed the email into Naomi's hand. Naomi stared  at it and Andrea pushed a cell phone into her other hand.

"Call him. Right now, next step, you call him. You tell him you want a job." Andrea told her firmly.

Naomi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She focused on the  digits in the email and dialed them on the cell, and then lifted the  cell to her ear.

"This is Justin." Came his voice through the phone.

She blinked. She didn't know how she was going to have a conversation  with him. She didn't want to talk about anything to do with Cross Corp.

"Hello?" he asked in the long silence.

"Justin?" she spoke just above a whisper.

"Yes, this is Justin." He answered her.

"Hi. This is Naomi Bradshaw." She said quietly.

She heard him chuckle in happiness as he realized who was on the other  end of the line. "Well! Naomi! What a great surprise! I was pretty sure  that I wasn't going to hear from you. You seemed adamant about staying  where you were. I hope you are calling to tell me that you will come to  work here with us. Is that the good news that you're going to share with  me today?" he asked lightly. She could hear the hopeful grin on his  face.

"Yes, actually. I was calling about coming to work for you." She said  with a little more strength in her voice as her heart began to beat  again slowly; one barely detectable beat at a time.

"Wonderful! When can you come in? I am open tomorrow morning to get you  started and show you the ropes if you are interested. How about that?  Does tomorrow work for you?" he asked anxiously.

The beats in her heart began to move a little faster, and it felt like  life was pumping through her body and soul again. "Yes, tomorrow works  fine. I appreciate that. I'll see you at nine." She told him as she  looked up at Andrea's smiling eyes.

"That's the best news I've gotten all day. I am looking forward to  seeing you then!" he told her with another light laugh. "Thank you,  Naomi! You have a good afternoon."

She nodded her head slightly. "Yes, you do the same." She answered and  then she ended the call and looked at Andrea, blinking in surprise. "I  just got another job." She sighed looked around a little. Her heart  almost stopped as her eyes grew wide with realization.

"Harold! I haven't fed Harold!" panic shot through her and Andrea reached a hand out to her and patted her shoulder.

"He's fine. He still had a little food in his feeder bowl. I filled it  back up for him and he's just fine. Cats are resilient; like people. So,  you got a job and you start in the morning? Is that what I heard you  say?" Andrea looked at her encouragingly.

Naomi nodded and set the phone and the email on the coffee table. "Yeah,  he wants me to start in the morning. I have no idea how I'm going to do  that."         

     



 

Andrea stood up and reached her hand out to her friend. "You're going to  do it one step at a time. Come on. Let's go find an outfit for your  first day at your new job."