Chapter 89 - 88
"Sir?" Erika gave Tristan a questioning look, confused as to why he was asking where she got the suit jacket from.
"I said, where did you get that?" Tristan repeated his question without changing his facial expression.
"I uh... I got this from an employee from the Finance Department. I had a minor accident earlier, and he lended me his jacket," she answered.
'The minor accident she's referring to... Is it where she got herself all drenched in coffee?' Tristan thought as he looked at her from head to toe.
'But she said she got it from an employee from the Finance Department. If that's the case, then I must be mistaken. There's no way Justin woild be working here,' Tristan thought, feeling dejected from his conclusion.
The little hope he had in his hesrt vanished along with his happiness. He felt like the world was telling him that it's nowhere near possible for Justin to be there when he's the boss of the company.
"You may go back to your desk now," Tristan said and looked at the papers on his desk again to continue working.
"May I know why you asked me that question, sir?"
'This woman... She's starting to get on my nerves. Why is she so nosy?' Tristan thought, his short-temperedness resurfacing once again.
Since Justin disappeared, there has been a drastic change in his attitude. He became colder and stricter to those around him. He also became anti-social and short-tempered.
"No," he replied briefly as he flipped the page of the document.
Erika quietly left the office, embarrassed that Tristan didn't tell her why he asked.
There was a thought that invaded her head, but she brushed it off. She thought that maybe Tristan was interested in her, and that's why he asked her where she got a man's suit jacket.
It was a common misinterpretation of those who became Tristan's secretary.
Little things that didn't particularly have any meaning behind them were misunderstood, and those kinds of misunderstandings only became the reasons why they get fired from work.
He took a few sips from his coffee as he worked on the documents that were in front of him.
An alarm from his phone rang and as soon as he saw the time, he immediately fixed his tie and wore his suit jacket. He grabbed his bag and headed out of his office.
"Get home safely, sir," Erika said as she stood up and bowed her head to the man who walked passed her.
He headed inside the elevator and when he got off, he heades to the parking lot right away to get to his car and drive to his destination.
While it was true that Tristan always arrives at work 30 minutes early and gets off work at 5 p.m. sharp, there is a day where he makes an exemption. During Fridays, he still arrives during his usual time, but he gets off work at 4 p.m. to head to some place.
He stopped the car's engine and got off his car.
He looked at the cafe that was in front of him as pressed a button to lock his car.
Strangely, the man who became cold to the world had a melancholic expression on his face. From the past years living without his omega, he became someone who barely feels any type of emotion. But when it comes to something that involves his lost love, he turns back into the man that he was before-vulnerable to the waves of emotions that only arises for Justin.
The bell that was hung on the door rang as he opened it. He headed to the usual table where he sits every Friday at 5 p.m.
He sits there all alone, waiting for someone who will never come.
Five years. He has been doing that every Friday for five whole years.
There's a part of him that hopes that maybe if he does that, maybe a day would come where Justin comes back to the place where they were supposed to meet before-Friday on the month of January at exactly 5 p.m. in the afternoon.
Althought there's that reason already, there was also a part of him that does that because he wants to feel how Justin felt as he waited for him to come.
"The usual, sir?" a cafe staff walked towards him. "Yes please, thank you," Tristan replied with a smile.
There, he could be the same Tristan as he was five years ago. The cafe makes him feel like Justin is there with him even though deep inside, he knew that it was a place where he should feel the most hurt.
As he sat there and waited for his order to arrive, a man walked towards him.
He was petite and about 5'4 feet tall. He had pale skin, black hair, blue eyes, tall and narrow nose, and pink lips.
Tristan's eyes jotted up to him as he walked closer and closer to his table.
"Justin...?" he whispered to himself as he watched the man walk up to him.
"You're here again," the man smiled at him as he stopped in front of his table.
Reality slapped him in the face when he heard the man's voice and smelled his scent. He smelled of overly sprayed cheap perfume, and his voice was nowhere the same as Justin's.
'It's not him,' he thought to himself, disappointed. 'I've been mistaking people for him quite a lot lately. Why is this happening, argh...' he thought.
He ignored the man and fished for his phone that was inside his pocket. He just scrolled through some articles that was on his screen, not wanting to begin a conversation with the man that was standing in front of him.
"Hmm... Cold treatment, huh? I like that," the man giggled and pulled the chair. The moment he attempted to sit there, Tristan's newly formed attitude surfaced.
"Don't you know it's rude to suddenly sit on someone else's table without asking for permission first?" His downturned green eyes that used to look so warm turned sharp as he looked at him.
"D... Do I have to do that? You were staring at me like crazy earlier. I took that as a go signal," the man said as he clenched his jaw, feeling offended that Tristan made him feel so unwelcomed.
'There are over 7 billion people in this planet. There's no doubt that people who resemble him in some ways exist,' he thought.
"Some stinky perfume was stinging my nose. Of course, I'd look at the direction where it came from," Tristan said as he looked at his phone once again. "Please leave before I say worse things to you," he continued.
'But no matter how much they resemble him-may it be because of their looks, the way they bring themselves, or their attitude, it still won't mean that they're him. There's only one Justin in the world. There's only one omega who made me so whipped,' he thought as he felt his heart ache.
"Ugh, how rude!" The man stood up and left the cafe, flushed red and fuming mad from the humiliation.
Meanwhile, back at the company was Justin who was fixing his things in his bag, getting ready to leave.
"By the way, who's this company's demon?" Justin asked Hannah as he looked at her.
"Ah, that..." she looked away, hesitating whether she'd tell him or not. "Hey, we don't talk about that here. That's a taboo, you know? Talking shit behind his back could get us fired if people heard us," Carl said as he shook his head.
"Yeah, Carl is right. I'll tell you later when we get off from work," Hannah smiled at Justin.
"Oh, there's no need to tell me if it's that bad. I'm just curious. That's all," Justin said as he smiled back at her.
In the end, he never found out who the demon is.
"Hey, you done yet?" Carl said as he watched Justin close his bag's zipper
"I just finished. Shall we go now?" He said as he looked at the two of them.
Hannah and Carl both nodded and they proceeded to the elevator with the other employees who work under finance.
They were all heading to a pub near the company building. It's only a walking distance from there, so they all decided to go together with the other employees.
As they were walking out of the building, they all chatted about random things that may or may not be related to work.
Justin liked how everyone in their department get along so well inside or ouside of the company. During working hours, one might think that they barely know each other because they don't talk much, but ouside working hours, you could really see their closeness to each other.
It's not a great thing to chat at work, so Justin knew that they were all serious about their jobs and that they are all responsible.
"So hey, I told you I'd tell you who that demon is, right?" Hannah said as she hung her bag over her shoulder properly. "Yeah? Are you gonna tell me? Won't it get you in trouble?" Justin asked as he looked around to see if there were others that are standing close to them.
"Nah, it's fine. We're off from work already anyway. Plus, everybody knows who he is already aside from new hirees like you," Hannah said as she waved her hand.
"Of couse, saying his name will be fine. It's not like he's some kind of demon who'd spawn the moment you say his name," Carl said and chuckled. "I just told you that talking about him might get us in trouble, because we'll be explaining to you in detail about his attitude and what he has done and is still doing inside the company," he continued.
"So? Who is he?" Justin asked, getting more and more curious because of what the two just said.
"Oh, his name is Tristan Lee," Hannah said.
"Tristan... Lee?"