10. Small Talk
1821 Words
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The brain kept its word. It did not think of the majestic p***s.
All it thought of was Alan Conall, in all his CEO glory, because his shirt sleeves rolled up and two of his top buttons undone, his tie loosened and his otherwise perfectly gelled hair sporting a few stray strands. And how yummy he looked as he leaned over towards her, his eyes darkening as his eyes swept over her plump lips, his long slender fingers moving forth to trace those lips.
Daphne horned violently. She was stuck in the morning traffic as always and for the first time, she became the horning idiots that she usually chastised.
"You are not allowed to do that sort of thing to yourself, you know?" She mumbled to herself. "I mean, we are supposed to be on the same team. What are you even trying to do?"
Daphne spent her entire drive chastising her own brain and by the time she reached the company basement, she realized that the situation had reduced her to a self-blabbering nutcase.
She was putting her car keys in her bag when her phone rang.
"It better not be Chloe calling to laugh at me after hearing from Nick!" She mumbled to herself as she fished her phone out from her pant pocket and even as she said it, she knew that was highly unlikely because the crackhead clown did not wake up until it was lunchtime.
And she was right. It was not Chloe.
But she desperately wished that she was wrong because it was her older brother, Dylan.
"What up, oldest?" She asked as she made her way to the elevator.
"I am in New York."
Fuck!
"Thanks." His voice was as sarcastic as ever.
"f**k, did I say that out loud?" Daphne did a quick three-sixty to make sure that she was not going to meet any of her colleagues and certain other people.
"Yes, you did."
Daphne clucked her tongue.
She had two elder brothers, Dylan and Darren. As anyone could see, their parents were fixated on the letter D. Dylan was the oldest and Darren was the middle child. Both of them were part of the Prescott legal firm.
Darren had put up a fight. He wanted to be an architect. He had to give in to the familial pressure but he did architecture in his spare time and designed the houses for a lot of his dear ones.
Dylan, on the other hand, was a dead animal. He had no soul nor emotion. He was more or less a robot. A robot who followed every single command of their parents to the T, no questions asked, no objections made. He was also a wild animal in court. He was the kind who would chew up his opponent and spit them out. Ruthless. Inhumane.
"Listen, Dyl... This is not a good time so..."
"I know I am not your favorite brother but Dad wants me to talk to you and Mom made me promise her that I would. And I don't want to go back on my promise."
Daphne chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about this. Truth was, she did miss her brother. No matter how he had turned out, he was still the same Dyl with whom she and Darren had grown up. It was true that he only ever approached the two of them as their parents' advocate anymore and the two of them did not know what was happening in his life.
But still... he was her brother.
"Where are you staying?" She asked, getting into the elevator. "Paramount?"
"No... There was a double booking. I have to find some other place." He said.
"Okay." She said, looking up when she reached her floor. "Tell me if you are having any problems, I can ask someone from the company to get you a place."
"Thanks." He said after a pause and then added as if he had tried not to say it. "You still won't invite me to your place, huh?"
Simon turned on his chair, grabbing his milkshake as soon as he saw her. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he saw that she was on the phone.
"Dyl, you are allergic to dogs. And every corner of my apartment is infested with the hair and dander and drool of a golden retriever. I will have to get it professionally vacuumed and cleaned and drop my pup at a petsitter before I can invite you home."
She was almost offended that he would think that. But then again, they weren't close and he wouldn't know how she would think, and she had not given him an explanation for not inviting him to her place.
"If you want a place to stay, I will call Nicole or Chloe, unless you are allergic to cats and children as well."
"That's not what I meant." He started.
"Of course, it isn't." Daphne huffed. "I am at work right now. I will call you during lunch or after I clock out, bye." She did not wait to hear his reply and ended the call.
She wasn't exactly mad at him or anything. She just went for the opening when she saw it. There was no other way she could escape whatever her family was planning for her.
"Boyfriend?" Simon asked, turning to his laptop. Daphne saw an opening there and grabbed the milkshake he had tried to save from her.
"Brother." She slurped on the drill. She looked at the cup to see if the order was written anywhere. "You should write down your Starbucks orders to me. They are always on point."
"I could get you an extra one every day." He shrugged like it was no big deal but sitting beside Daphne, Sarah picked up on it, raising a brow as she willed the man to look over at her. Alas, his eyes remained glued to the screen.
"Thanks. I will pay you the first week of every month." Daphne placed the cup down and started to set up her laptop.
"Cool."
And thus, with that one call from her brother, Daphne was reminded of the real problems in her life. And with the real problems in her life suddenly taking the front seat, she suddenly did not have time for problems that her mind was creating out of boredom.
That was until it was lunchtime.
"Do you always come here?"
Daphne was chatting furiously with her other brother when Alan Conall placed a sandwich and a drink next to her cheeseburger and milkshake and sat down next to her, on the same side of the picnic table as her.
"Hello?" She scowled at him. "All the place in the world and you still want to sit next to me?"
"Well, where else should I sit when it is you who I want to talk to." He shrugged, making himself comfortable and unwrapping his sandwich.
"I am busy." She said and then turned ever so slightly so that he could not peek at the profanities she was typing in reply to a joke her brother had cracked at her expense.
"Boyfriend?" He asked.
"Brother." For the second time that day, Daphne corrected.
"So you don't have a boyfriend?"
Daphne took in a breath of exasperation. Except for Simon, all the men she had had a more than a minute conversation with were offending.
She dropped the phone onto the top of her back and stared up at him, folding her legs in front of her so that she was now seated Indian style. "I am sorry, what?"
He shrugged. "I asked you a pretty basic question. No need to get so worked up about it." He held his hands up in surrender. "Relax."
"Why would you think that I have a boyfriend..." She dropped her voice a notch. "When I just slept with you ten days ago?"
"You could have gotten yourself a boyfriend in those ten days?" He shrugged again though the look on his face said that it was complete bullshit. He had already known that she did not have a boyfriend.
"Well, I did not manage to find myself a boyfriend in the last ten days but what is it to you?" She asked.
"Are you always this worked up?" He asked, sitting back on the bench and leisurely taking a sip out of his drink.
"Yes." The statement by him had her calming down, forcing herself to calm down. Because she knew that this was not her. She was the most unbothered person in the world who riled people up, gaslit people. She did not get riled up.
This was not like her and she did not like showing her face to total strangers when she was not at her best.
"Okay, I feel a sudden change in mood there." He noted.
"There's twenty minutes left of lunch and oh look, I have not touched mine." She rolled her eyes and picked up her burger. "If you will excuse me..."
"Why do you don't have a boyfriend?" He did not back away.
But this time, Daphne decided to stand by her motto in life and not let her personal transient feelings get in the way.
"Haven't found a good one since the last one." She shrugged, looking around at the squirrels running around.
"When did your last relationship end?" He asked.
"Three years ago." She turned to him. "My turn, when did your last relationship end?"
"Three months ago."
Daphne nodded.
"And a month ago, she married my brother."
Daphne almost dropped her burger but Alan caught it with his free hand, grinning at her as he handed it back to her.
"Wow... That sucks!" Daphne couldn't help the dry chuckle that escaped her lips.
"What about you? Any boyfriend-stealing siblings?"
"Nah. Two brothers. One's a machine and the other is blissfully married in the head to his childhood sweetheart."
"Married in the head?" Alan prodded.
"She's a doctor and she is super busy all the time." A smile appeared on Daphne's face as soon as she thought about Brooke Livingston, Dr. Brooke Livingston, the sweetest human on the planet. "She is convinced that my brother will leave her in the end because she is a surgical resident and she wouldn't have time for him and stuff, so she refuses to get married to him."
"Seriously?" Alan laughed. "You sure that's not the only reason-" Daphne gave him a flat look. "-I mean, if it is, I think that's kind of sweet."
"It is cute." Daphne nodded.
"What else is cute?"
Daphne narrowed her eyes at the way he was staring at her. It was the same way she stared at Milan and Maya.
"Nothing else is cute." She murmured and turned away from him.
Why the hell was he acting fishy?
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- Writer
