Yet another conference meeting had come to a successful end, thanks to Abigail and her team. Mr Hansic beamed at his star employee as she packed away her notes while the others filed out of the room in low, happy chatter. “You did it again, Abigail. You wowed yet another team of investors with your presentation,” Seymour praised as he stood by the door, blocking her way out. “I’m only doing my job, sir,” she said simply as she lifted her head to meet his proud gaze. “I love my job.” “I can tell. Believe me, Abigail, you will be just what this team needs for a long time.” Her eyes widened as a smile broke out on her lips. Though she was used to Seymour’s appreciative speeches towards her, this had been the first time since he made a bold statement of keeping her with him after she finished school. So that meant he would promote her to a full-time position sometime in the future. “Do you mean it?” she asked as she moved closer to him. Seymour watched her carefully, hoping that she would’ve come closer, but knew she wouldn’t. “Of course. Why I’d be stupid if I let you go. You have been here for a shorter period of time than most of my employees, yet you continue to help our growth every day.” He chuckled lightly as he continued. “You can return to your office. Lunch is on me.” With a wink, he turned on his heels and left also. Abigail couldn’t remember the last time she smiled this much. To know that her hard work and sleepless nights preparing reports wouldn’t be in vain was exhilarating. She felt like she was floating on the clouds. For the first time since her acceptance into the master’s program, Abigail felt as if she was finally achieving what she left home to do. She remembered vividly when she left Denver on the day of her mother’s funeral. She had boarded the bus and drove all the way to the airport, where she caught a flight across states to New York. Countless times she questioned her decision and thought about returning home to stay with her aunt and find a new life there. She was fresh out of college with her newly attained undergraduate degree by then. Finding a job wouldn’t have been hard for her. But no. Abigail wanted a fresh start somewhere new, and that was what she aimed for. She remembered how hard the first few weeks were for her, going from Inn to Bed and Breakfast while going apartment and job shopping. Meanwhile, she applied to different universities for the master’s program and tried her best to make new friends. Her first achievement was finding the apartment after visiting a salon to get a haircut, where her new and longest friendship was born with Najay. Najay had no problem sharing her home since she needed help with the rent, and a little company seemed like a good idea. Thus, finding a home was the first most important thing to starting her new life, and Abigail was elated when she did. At that time, she met many people, and the trauma of what she witnessed at home wasn’t her nightmare anymore. Sadly, her moment of peace didn’t last long. When she thought she found love in a short relationship, it only caused her depression, therapy sessions and a keen fear of a man’s touch. Mental agony almost got the best of her, but Abigail tried to remain strong after deciding to be different from her mother and break the cycle. Then, she knew she needed to find a job. That wasn’t an issue for her since she had plenty of offers when she applied. But with her condition, most of the time, she flunked an interview by ‘purposely’ scorning her male employers, though that wasn’t her intention at all. Little did they know that she simply could not help it. Luckily, eventually, she managed to pass the assessment stage for a BPO, where she worked for a month with the company before she got accepted into Queens College to pursue her master’s degree. Sadly, her employer refused to give her more time off for school. So, Abigail had to live on her savings and acquire a loan for school until she could find a job again. After more job hunting that could go hand in hand with her school schedule, She worked at a diner in the evenings for another few months until one of her professors referred her to the manager at SHI Enterprises, who was a dear friend of his. Abigail was extremely grateful for the job and vowed to make the most of the opportunity. Over the months, things had been a rollercoaster ride for her, and if it wasn’t for Najay, most times, she would’ve given up when life got a bit too hard. But now, it felt wonderful to know that all her hard work finally paid off. It was nice to feel proud of herself for a change. With her smile still in place, Abigail ventured to her office with a pep in her step, desperately wanting to call Najay and tell her the good news. However, when she arrived, she was left surprised when Najay was standing in her office, and the look on her face told Abigail that this couldn’t be anything good. She cursed her inability to remain happy for more than a minute, as life always found a way to ruin things for her. All possible scenarios surfaced as she locked her door and faced her friend. Did the landlord throw them out? Did Najay lose her job? Has someone died? Abigail wanted to know, yet she didn’t. “Najay? What’s wrong? Why are you here?” Abigail asked as her body trembled. Najay gulped as she met her friend’s worried gaze, unsure how to bring this information across. “It’s… It’s about Nicholas,” she said, and the colour drained from Abigail’s face at what might come next. She knew that anything that involved his name couldn’t be good. In fact, it was the worst thing to even think about. She could already feel her tears brewing as her knees grew weak. She gripped the edge of her desk so she wouldn’t fall over, and she felt like she was having an asthma attack for the first time in years. Yet, she asked the one question she dreaded the most. “What about him?” Najay hesitated. She knew what this would do to her friend, and she feared for Abigail’s health. But she knew that this was the best way for her to find out. At least now, she can prepare and protect herself. So, even though she didn’t like it, she looked Abigail in her eyes and told her the news that she knew would break her to her core. “He got out of prison.” In a moment when it felt like the world had stopped spinning, as if the only sound in the universe was the thump of one’s heartbeat. In an instant, every cell in your body stopped working, and your sense of smell, sight and hearing had disappeared. In a second of utmost devastation that deemed the universe non-existent, the only thought that came to mind was the sliver of hope that this much was true. Because when something as horrifying and heart-shattering as this had happened, the only way to escape would be no existence at all. Abigail’s ears rang, and her throat constricted. The very image of the room spun as her eyes got blurry, and the distant sound of Najay’s voice calling out to her seemed too far away for her to hear. Abigail gripped the desk for support as she tried to catch her breath. She hadn’t heard the full story of what happened, yet it had this effect on her. “Abigail? Abigail, can you hear me?” Najay’s voice became more distinct, but Abigail’s head was still spinning. It was then that she realised what was really happening. She was having a panic attack. Najay got worried. She had gotten used to Abigail’s reactions to certain things, and she was usually the one to help her through them. But this seemed like the worst thus far, and she almost considered calling an ambulance. Abigail was gasping for air as her legs failed her. She plummeted to the ground, and luckily, Najay was fast enough to catch her head before it hit the edge of the desk. Abigail gripped Najay’s shirt and brought Najay’s ear to her lips as her chest tightened more and more. “Pa-panic a-a-attack,” she managed to say through her gasps. Najay’s worried expression lightened in realisation as she leaned Abigail upright against the back of her desk. She crossed her legs beneath her and focused on Abigail, holding her hand tightly in reassurance. “Okay, Abi, just breathe. In… Out….” Najay demonstrated as she urged Abigail to follow her, and slowly, Abigail mimicked the exercises as she tried to focus her breathing. Najay continued mumbling sweet nothings while urging Abigail to continue until finally, she seemed fine. Abigail’s forehead was threaded with sweat, and her eyes were wide and alert. The only thing Najay thought necessary at that moment was to hug Abigail. And that she did. Without another word, Najay pulled Abigail to her chest and nuzzled her head in her neck. Najay could feel the warm liquid of Abigail’s tears soaking her blouse, but she didn’t mind one bit. More than anyone else, she knew what Abigail was going through and how this little bit of news could have affected her. Nicholas was the reason Abigail plummeted into depression all those months ago. He was the cause of session after session of therapy and back to back nights of sleepless nights. And most of all, he was the reason why she feared a man’s touch—so much to the point where she offended them daily. Despite all the thoughts going on in her head, Abigail only had one question lingering. “How?” she asked, and Najay almost missed the question due to how quiet Abigail spoke. “What do you mean?” Najay asked as she rubbed small circles in her back. “How—how did he get out so quickly? He was already unfairly tried. How did he manage to get out?” Abigail’s lips trembled with each word. Her day had completely been ruined. Najay sighed as she shuffled to a new position where she rested Abigail’s head on her shoulder as they sat with their backs against the desk. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “I… I was at work when I saw him standing outside, smirking at me.” Najay shivered at the vivid memory of a little bit over an hour ago. That bastard dared to seek her out because he knew wherever she was, Abigail would be too. Luckily for them both, Nicholas didn’t know where Abigail worked, but sadly, he knew where she lived. “I confronted him outside with my curling iron, ready to burn the smile from his lips. But then he told me that he dared to go to our apartment looking for you, and when he realised no one was home, he found me instead.” “Why was he looking for me?” Abigail asked with a shiver. Deep down, she knew why. She remembered the last thing he said to her when the police were pulling him away on the day of his trial. He told her that she was the first person he would search for when he got out, and he wouldn’t rest until he got her back. He swore that he loved her, and he would do anything to get her back. Abigail acknowledged that he was crazy and obsessive. He didn’t come into her life by chance, but in the short time that he had been with her, he didn’t only get clingy, but overly possessive as well. If she could go back in time, Abigail knew she would erase the very day of when they met from existence. But she knew she couldn’t, and thus she had to move on. Somehow. “You know why,” Najay mumbled almost inaudibly. “But I will not let him near you. We will find a way to get him back behind bars and—” “How?” Abigail asked, cutting her off. “You and I both know why he got out. He’s filthy rich, and I know his father had been working non-stop to get him out. How will you and I get him back in prison?” Abigail shook her head in defeat as she wiped the snot from her nose. “I have to leave.” “What?” Najay’s eyes were wide as she snapped her head towards her broken friend. Abigail heard the hurt and shock in Najay’s voice, but she stood firm. “I have to, Najay.” “And he will not stop until he finds you,” Najay pointed out. “You know that. If you leave, I won’t be able to help you. And what will you do? Leave school when you are so close to ending? Leave work? And what about Theodore? He doesn’t seem like the man who would consider your sudden movement as normal.” “He will if I ask him to leave it,” Abigail lied. Even after knowing Theodore for such a short time, she knew Theodore’s persistence would deem it almost impossible to leave quietly. But Theodore was the least of her worries. For all she knew, Nicholas could be downstairs right now talking to the receptionist and asking for her. “Look, you don’t need to leave,” Najay said firmly, though her voice was pleading. “We will check you into a hotel today, and you’ll stay there until we figure something out, okay?” Abigail shook her head stubbornly. “We can’t afford—” “Could you afford to reap up your entire life and move to a new city?” Najay’s voice was almost sharp, but Abigail acknowledged that she had a point. With a sigh, Najay lowered her voice and knotted her fingers in Abigail’s. “We will make this work, Abi. He won’t win. If we have to, then we’ll find a new apartment, but for now, it isn’t safe for you to come home. Especially since our apartment complex has little to no security, and that dark staircase is not safe. You come home late most nights, and we don’t have a lot of friends. So until we figure out what to do, you’re staying at a hotel.” The room felt like it was closing in, but Abigail didn’t protest anymore. Najay was right. Nicholas knew where they lived, and he’d be there every night waiting for her. Of course, eventually, he will see that Abigail isn’t home and will seek her out. But until then, this was the best alternative. She was only grateful that she was making extra cash with this new contract with Theodore. She had initially planned to save the money, but for now, her safety came first. “Oh no.” Abigail’s eyes widened as she remembered something. “I was supposed to be with Theodore tonight, and he was going to pick me up.” “That’s okay. We can leave now and get you settled into a hotel. You can just give him the address,” Najay said as she helped Abigail to her feet again. But yet again, she was shaking her head stubbornly. “I can’t. What would I tell him when he arrives at the hotel?” “The truth,” Najay said in a pointed tone. “What else would you say? That you suddenly have the urge to squander money at a hotel?” Abigail’s lips quivered as the pressure of it all ate her whole once again. Najay sighed before carefully pulling Abigail to her chest again. “Look, from what you have told me, Theodore seems like an understanding, kind man. He cares for you already. Why else do you think he offered to take you to his sister’s wedding to his evidently rich family, only for you to have a break?” “I… I know he is kind,” Abigail admitted, “but how will I tell him about Nicholas? I haven’t even told my own aunt.” Najay pondered for a while. It pained her that Abigail was so conflicted. Sometimes she blamed herself. From the moment Najay met Nicholas, she knew there was something wrong about him, but she didn’t do all she could to stop him. By then, Abigail had disclosed quite a bit of her past life in Denver and why she moved to New York. From then, Najay became protective of her, and deep down, she knew that something was off about Nicholas. The way he met Abigail, to the very first time he asked her out, was all too. . . scripted. It didn’t flow naturally like a real relationship. The way Nickolas did things seemed as if he was working from a schedule, and sadly, Abigail didn’t realise until it was too late. Since then, Najay swore that she wouldn’t let anything like that happen to Abigail again. She was far too fragile and broken to be faced with something like that again. Najay knew that only one more incident would yield her best friend gone. Abigail would be gone forever, both mentally and emotionally. “We’ll figure it out together,” Najay finally said, blinking away her own tears. “If you’d like, I can talk to Theodore. I won’t tell him if you don’t want me to, but I can tell him that you are not comfortable disclosing why you’ll be staying at a hotel for a while.” “It’s okay.” Abigail sighed. The last thing she wanted was to get Theodore even more curious about her. Perhaps she would simply cancel the arrangement or take a cab to his place instead. The less he knew, the better. “Are you sure?” “Yes.” Abigail nodded. “For now, we will have to figure out how to get to the hotel without being followed. For all we know, Nicholas could be waiting at our apartment as we speak. But the smile that suddenly broke out on Najay’s face confused Abigail. “What?” she demanded, wanting to know what made her smile this much. Was this all a joke? “I already packed you a suitcase,” Najay confessed, causing Abigail’s mouth to fall in shock. She was always seven steps ahead. “It is actually downstairs in a cab I chartered. Don’t worry. I wasn’t followed.” Abigail couldn’t help but smile too at this. “You had it all figured out, didn’t you? You didn’t just come here to tell me what happened. You came to take me to that hotel, willingly or not.” She wasn’t complaining. In fact, she was utterly grateful for a friend like Najay. The fact that she was thinking a few steps ahead while being careful was heartwarming. Abigail hadn’t had a lot of people in her life after her father’s passing, but Najay had been filling the gap in her life for the past two years. Abigail had no idea what she would do without her. Grabbing both of their stuff from the desk, Najay looped her free hand in Abigail’s with a small smile of encouragement. “Ready?” she asked with raised eyebrows. Abigail wanted to say no, but what good would that be to any of them? “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she admitted with a sigh. “Don’t worry,” Najay said as they walked to the exit. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.” “What would I do without you?” Abigail asked in a teasing voice. Najay quickly pecked Abigail’s temple with a chuckle of her own. “You’d live, Abigail. You’d live.”