CHAPTER II

                                    

                                          
Amalia would often dream about that one night that changed the course of her life immensely. Although she hadn't meticulously curated her life plans, she had ticked off most of her aspirations like a winning Bingo card. By 21, Amalia was on track to finishing her degree in Digital Illustration and Marketing. By 23, she finished her internship with Beta Illustrations and joined the company on a permanent basis. By 25, she purchased her own home with who she thought was the one. The one who she would pay money for to forget. After that fateful night, she knew she couldn't stay there any longer. Now, at 27, she lived alone in a sizeable rental apartment on the outskirts of London, hoping she could get a new life aspirations bingo card.
Amalia started to stir in her sleep, reliving the same dread from two years ago in a dream. This was put to an end as her phone resounded the ringtone everyone loved to hate. She reached over to the empty side of her bed, squinting as her eyes started to focus. 
"9... 9.30 AM..." 
Amalia sleepily said. She turned to her side, hoping to get a couple more minutes to sleep, not registering she had overslept. 
"SHIT!" 
Amalia shouted and shot out off her bed nearly falling out face first. 			
"I'm going to be late. I'm never late." She rushed, getting in the shower before the water began to warm. Amalia seethed, breathing through her teeth at how cold the water is but she had no choice, she'd rather sacrifice a little bit of warmth for time. She jumps out of the shower with breakneck speed, immediately popping her hair up in a towel and left a trail of droplets on her bathroom tiles and carpet. She quickly evaluated her room, forgetting she had dumped her entire wardrobe on the floor last night. Amalia hated the fact that her room looked like a pig sty, but this time it actually worked in her favour. "I never knew my date night outfits could work for a business meeting." 
Amalia spoke to herself. 
Again, she hurriedly went back to the bathroom and fixed herself up. 
"This bushy brow and 'tache is getting tackled later." She whimpered as she rushed doing her makeup and hair.
Within twenty minutes, she staggered out of her house, laptop, illustrations and work bag in tow. She jumped in her car and drove to the train station. She never drives, she always cycled. But could she really risk being the environmentally friendly angel she usually was today? She didn't think so. Three minutes later, she gets to the station car park. Amalia rushed to collect her things, deciding to drop her illustrations one-by-one on the cold and wet concrete. 
"Perfect!" 
Amalia theatrically sighed. She hurriedly struggled to pick her belongings up, when suddenly a gentleman cycling past stopped to help her. He gets off his bike, gently picking up Amalia's slightly soggy drawings from the ground.
"Here." He said softly. 
Amalia looked up and saw a face she liked seeing. 
"Damien! Oh my God." She finally breathed. "Did you have the same idea as me?! You know we're both going to be late for this meeting!" 
Damien raised an eyebrow. 
"What are you talking about?" 
"Damien, we have a meeting? With Black Dog Softwares? If we get on the next train coming in two minutes we can make it just in time." Damien smiles softly as he opened Amalia's boot.
"Amalia... it's Sunday. The meeting is tomorrow."
"What do you mean it's Sun-" 
Amalia gasped and squatted down in embarrassment. She looked at her phone and her face turned a deep shade of red. She couldn't help but bury her face in her hands.
"How about we get some breakfast?" Damien cocked his head and took Amalia's things off her hands, placing it back in the boot of her car. She nodded yes and placed herself back into her drivers seat. 	
"Meet me at the Breakfast Garden along Wardour St. My treat." Damien shut the door and cycled off. 
Amalia, while finally able to catch her breath, rested her head on her window before repeatedly banging her head on it after making a fool out of herself in front of her boss, who she happened to have the hots for.
Amalia contemplated for a couple minutes whether to turn his offer down for breakfast as she needed at least 3-5 business days to get over what she just did. She tried to shoot her boss a text that she can't make it, but before she could send her message, he got there right before she did.
"I got us a table and ordered us some coffee. Iced black americano with 3 pumps of sugar free vanilla, right? It'll be ready soon so get over here." 
"How did he even know that was my coffee order?" Amalia was left speechless. She knew she had to go, there was no choice. 
Amalia worked closely with her boss, Damien Miller, since she started working at Beta. He had been a supervisor by the time Amalia started off as an intern. Damien grafted his way up the ladder, getting the position as Head of Illustrations and Marketing in the three and a half years Amalia had been there. Amalia often reminded herself to not stare at him too much whenever he's around. But sometimes she couldn't help it. There's literal eye candy walking around the office for free. Her little crush on Damien however, had always stemmed from a place of admiration. He was polite, fair, patient, and outright not an asshole. Not to mention his actual talent as an illustrator.  Unlike the previous jughead that ran the department. The team had dropped like flies in only six months of him coming in until Damien intervened. It also didn't help that he's a stunningly dashing single man in his mid 30's. He stood tall with broad shoulders, silky brown hair that didn't hinder his looks even when it was unkempt, and bright green eyes that complemented the freckles that were splattered across his face. Amalia wondered how such a gorgeous man would be like in bed. 
"This is no time to objectify your boss, Lia. Time to go and embarrass yourself even more." Amalia muttered under her breath. Amalia broke out of her daydream, driving out of the car park.
Amalia finally mustered up enough courage to meet her boss after nearly breaking down from embarrassment. She slowly braked near the entrance of the cafe, signalling to turn right. As soon as the traffic died down on the other side of the road, Amalia turned into the cafe car park, not noticing a cyclist had made their way onto the pavement just next to the entrance of the car park. Amalia mistakenly stepped on the accelerator instead of braking, and heard a loud bang from outside, all the while swerving into the newly built fences in the cafe car park. The airbags in Amalia's car had deployed when she hit the fences, causing quite a knock to her face. As she regains a little composure, Amalia shakily steps out of her car to look for the cyclist. 
She walked towards the entrance, her nose starting to bleed. As she reached the gate, she looked down and saw the cyclist looking lifeless on the pavement like he had been hit by a 10 wheeler lorry on its way to Calais. Scrambling to figure out what to do first, Amalia immediately ran into the cafe and shouted at the barista behind the till to call 999. Damien saw Amalia run into the cafe, dishevelled and panicking. He dashed over, eyes widening as he looked at Amalia.
"Amalia, your nose is bleeding! What the hell happened?"
"I- I think I just killed someone..." Amalia shakily said as tears fill up her eyes
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Happy Tuesday guys!
I've decided that I will be publishing chapters 1-10 much as soon as I possibly can to get better engagement. Once I have uploaded the first 10 chapters, I will reduce it to 2 chapters a week every Monday and Tuesday.
Have a great rest of the week my lovelies <3