Chapter 4. Trying to Stay Strong

The wedding was super luxurious, and Aleah was quite surprised to see how the decorations created there were truly amazing. Without much thought, Aleah stepped into the ballroom and went straight to the aisle. The plan was that she was going to greet her best friend who became the queen today and she would complain a little, but then at that very moment stopped her steps.

“Luke?” She said which immediately attracted the attention of the bride and groom to turn towards her.

At that moment, Aleah smiled bitterly. Her chest hurt a lot, and her head was throbbing, but she was reluctant to cry. Meanwhile, Wendy and Lucas looked very surprised to find Aleah’s sudden presence.

“Aleah, what are you doing here?” Wendy hissed in displeasure, then glanced sharply at Lucas. “Did you invite her without me knowing, honey?!” She accused Lucas. So that second Lucas also denied it.

“Not at all. I don’t know why she—”

“Honey?!” Aleah snapped without thinking as she laughed out loud. She clapped her hands, then looked at Wendy and Lucas in turn. “That’s great, you guys calling each other honey in front of me. Shameless,” she sneered.

***

“Good morning, Ms. Manager!” someone greeted cheerfully.

Aleah, who had just come out of the pantry carrying a cup of hot coffee, only glanced briefly to find one of her co-workers when a member of the division was walking toward her. However, instead of answering the greeting, Aleah chose to ignore it by pretending not to see her colleague.

Aleah was not happy with her colleague’s greeting. His greeting bothered her, especially when she remembered how all the office employees, even her boss, made her look so stupid for coming to Wendy’s wedding without knowing anything.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Aleah said, then rushed into her room, leaving the door slamming loudly behind her, without even caring about her colleagues who might feel hurt because of her attitude.

Aleah’s heart hurt much more.

***

“The launch of our newest car product is scheduled for next month, sir. This is a brief overview of the promotion designed by the marketing team,” said Aleah flatly and then handed a roll of paper to Xavier, her boss.

Xavier was stunned for a moment, feeling disturbed by Aleah’s cold attitude, but then he grabbed the roll of paper, opened it briefly to examine the contents of the promotional image, and then put it on his desk.

“The promotion is good and innovative. Make sure our products are launched before competitors’ products,” he said, immediately getting a nod from Aleah.

“Okay, sir.” Again, Aleah answered with a completely expressionless face.

And Xavier wasn’t a stone statue who wasn’t bothered by Aleah’s cold demeanor. Seeing how Aleah was openly hostile to him made him uncomfortable.

“Are you trying to antagonize me, Miss Skyler? Is this because of trouble on the wedding day—”

“Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Xavier… but this is still at the office. I don’t want to discuss personal matters if it’s not the right place,” Aleah said, increasingly cold. She even used such formal language as if she had just met Xavier a few minutes ago.

Though usually not like this. Aleah and Xavier had known each other for a long time. Since Aleah was still in college, and Xavier had just married his wife. They usually always get along like brothers.

Aleah was too hurt by Xavier and everyone in this office who contributed to keeping the facts about Wendy’s marriage from her.

“I know you’re mad at me and your co-workers because of the other day, right? Even now you’re cold to me, it’s obvious that you’re mad at us all. If you asked me not to talk about it because it’s professional work, wouldn’t that be fine? Applies to you. You have to be professional when in the office, even if you are angry with me and everyone in this office,” Xavier said sharply.

Hearing that, Aleah smiled crookedly for a few moments, and then she laughed out loud and stared at her boss with an expressionless face.

“My husband-to-be is married to my own best friend, and you, as the closest person as well as other colleagues, are hiding this fact from me. I am the only human who is not invited to this office only I am like a dazed person because I don’t know anything. Do you know what the most annoying thing was when I came to Wendy’s wedding? The most annoying thing was that you all looked so happy about the wedding. You didn’t even feel guilty for hiding all that from me. You traitors!” Aleah said, explaining all of her heart, then looked at Xavier’s face with hurt eyes.

“For God’s sake… Xavier, you knew me before we turned into boss and employee. You are the closest person to me. I even consider you as my family, but why don’t you even think about my feelings? Do you have any idea how broken I was that day? My marriage is only a few days away.” Another week, but it has to run aground because suddenly, my husband-to-be is marrying my best friend, and you guys are celebrating! You are happy over my misery!”

“Sorry about that, Aleah. I was stupid for not thinking about how you felt… I regret it, I do.”

“You ask me if I’m angry with you and the others? No, I’m not angry, but I hate it!” Aleah snapped with a face now streaked with tears.

“I’m sorry, Aleah… please don’t cry like this.” Xavier tried to reach Aleah to calm her down, but Aleah avoided it and made hand gestures to stop Xavier from coming closer to her.

“You said I should be professional, right?” Aleah continued, smiling bitterly, accompanied by small sobs that escaped her trembling lips. “Take a good look at me. Am I still less than professional? I still come to work, I can still meet you now and talk to you as if I have never experienced anything terrible, even though I have been betrayed by you and my colleagues. For me, who feels so devastated, to be able to return to work and meet you all with an attitude as if nothing had happened… that is already an extraordinary thing. If only I weren’t aware enough that I still have a future to achieve, I could miss work today because I committed suicide!”