Love in Between

Ava had fun last night.

She decided to let loose after a long week of nonstop work. Her girlfriends from the office successfully convinced her that she needed to unwind. She was stressed and even her makeup couldn't hide the eye bags under her eyes.

She went for a complete spa treatment with her girls; they got massages, manicures and pedicures. After that, they went to the chiropractor to get their bones cracked. Then they got some new dresses and went to the club, where they danced the night away.

Ringggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!

Ava grunted as she reached out her hand to the side of her bed, blindly searching for the alarm clock.

"Ugh! Stupid Ava!" She cussed herself out wordlessly before saying, "Siri, turn off the alarm!"

"Okay!" The alarm went off and Ava sat up, mentally cursing herself for having a little bit too much fun.

Her legs were tingling from all the drunk dancing she did all night long. She shouldn't have stayed for that long. But the problem was more of the drinking than the time spent at the club. She didn't even know how she got home.

In the spur of the moment, she went all out, downing shots on shots on shots.

That was a terrible idea.

Her head was throbbing. It felt so heavy on her body that she wanted to just throw it off.

She grumbled as she got off the bed, zombie-walking into the bathroom where she got ready at a painstakingly slow pace.

She was still kind of drunk from the previous night which ended about three hours ago, and she had a hangover at the same time.

She finally got ready, knowing very well that she was running late, but she was the CEO, she could afford a little late coming.

She dressed up in a plain black dress, stopping just above her knees, and hugging her figure rightly. She did her makeup lazily; anyone could tell she didn't put much effort into it, unlike regular days.

She wasn't stable enough to wear heels, and her legs were still hurting, so she opted for flats instead. She couldn't be bothered with how her hair looked today, so she just brushed through the curls, unlike her regular straight hair look.

She gathered everything she would be needing and locked her room.

She was already tired and the day had barely begun. She took the elevator down to the ground floor where she was met with the security guy, Gary.

Gary was a buff guy with a mullet, still living in the 90's, but he was really friendly to everyone in the building, so they didn't mind his ancient ways.

"Good morning, ma'am Ava, trust you had a good night." He winked at her. "I know you sure did from the way you walked in the building. Luckily, I was the only one here and I helped you get to your apartment. No need to thank me by the way." He winked again.

Ava wasn't in the mood to chitchat, but what the hell happened last night that she had to be lucky he was the only one there?

"Um... Gary, what do you mean by 'luckily'?" She cocked her head and raised a brow.

"You don't remember, ma'am?" He laughed heartily. "You got jiggy with it last night! I'm positive you had a crunk from how knocked out you came into the building early this morning."

"Really?" Ava asked, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Ma'am, you were so disoriented that you had your underwear in your hand, and you were waving it in the air like a spice girl, while singing out loud and asking me to shiver your timbers, at 4 in the morning." Gary couldn't control his laughter as he remembered the scene vividly.

At this point, Ava wished the ground underneath her would open up and swallow her. She visibly squirmed where she stood.

"But it's aiight, ma'am, that wasn't a bother. I was just glad I could help you out by taking you upstairs and tucking you into your bed safely." Gary told her with a sweet smile on his face.

"Um... Thank you, Gary. I'm late for work." She immediately rushed out of the building, not even waiting for an answer from Gary.

She got to her car, the Audi RSQ8 her mother had saved monthly in her savings account for before she died. She was beyond embarrassed.

"Ugh! Stupid Ava! What the hell?! Why did you drink so much?" Ava chastised herself.

She started the car. As much as she wanted to just take a taxi she couldn't afford to waste any more time so she drove as fast as she could.

"Oh my goodness!! What the hell is this day?" She complained as she pulled over, obeying the warning of the police vehicle behind her. She impatiently waited for the officer to come around to her side of the vehicle.

"Good morning, ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?" The policeman went straight to the point, which she was grateful for.

"Why?" She reluctantly asked, almost rolling her eyes to express her disinterest in whatever he had to say.

"You were going over the speed limit."

"I'm sorry, officer, I'm late for work and I can't afford to waste another minute." She explained to him, hoping he would let her off with a warning.

"Well, you're gonna be wasting a whole lot of minutes if you hit somebody. And that's not the only one. I ran your records and apparently, you have many speeding tickets, unpaid by the way-"

"I know, officer, and I promise I will pay them as soon as I get back from work today, you have my word."

"Your word doesn't cut it for me. Would you rather go to jail, miss?" The policeman asked.

It was definitely not her day.

"Officer, look, I-"

"Ma'am! Do not argue with me! You must pay your outstanding fines this morning or your license would be suspended. You have too many, I wonder how your vehicle hasn't been impounded."

"Alright, fine! I'll pay it right now, online." She picked her purse from the passenger seat and brought out her phone.

"No. You have many traffic tickets, so you have to pay in person at the traffic court." The policeman deadpanned.

"What?! Officer, I'm sure I can pay online. Or are you just trying to waste my time or something?"

"Ma'am, you could be facing jail time, and I'm sure you'd rather drive over to traffic court this morning than go to jail, isn't that right?"

"Ughh!!" She revved the engine and turned to the direction of traffic court.

She should've just taken the taxi.

Ava finally got to her workplace, after a long unnecessary speech about traffic safety at the traffic court.

She was pissed, to say the least.

She was having a bad day, and it wasn't even 12pm yet.

For the first time in a long time, she ignored the greetings of everyone at the entrance of The Quinns Co and just headed straight for the elevator. She wasn't in the mood for any interactions whatsoever.

"Hold the elevator!" She heard a voice call out from afar.

Bruce was ecstatic.

He had initially come for a job interview at The Quinns Co very early in the morning, but he was told the hiring manager wasn't on seat.

Fortunately for him, he met with the Vice President, Mason Quinn.

"Exceptional! This is wonderful, Bruce." Mason had told him with a happy smile as he pursued his resumé.

"Thank you." He gave Mason a curt smile.

"Well, as impressive as your resumé is, I'm still going to have to ask you some questions because an executive assistant is a pretty big role in this company."

"I understand." Bruce retained his curt smile, not faltering once.

"It says here that you've had five years of experience as an executive assistant, is that correct?"

"That is correct."

"So how do you handle a demanding supervisor?"

"Well-"

He got the job.

Mason was so impressed that he gave him the job on the spot.

He was excited, but also hungry. He left his house so early in the morning to make a good impression that he forgot to eat.

Since the CEO wasn't around yet for him to meet him or her and begin working, he decided to go get something to eat. He didn't take any time there though, so they wouldn't change their minds.

"Hey!! Please hold the elevator!!" He called out, seeing a young lady getting into the elevator alone.

The building had many floors and he didn't want to have to wait for almost twenty minutes for the elevator to come back down.

Bruce was taken aback when he saw the lady press the button hurriedly.

Ava didn't want to. She didn't even want to ride in the elevator with anyone else, so she quickly clicked the button for the top floor and smiled internally as the elevator doors began to close.

Upon seeing this, Bruce ran faster. Unfortunately for her and fortunately for him, he put his hand through the tiny crack left between the elevator doors, causing it to slide back open.

Ava rolled her eyes as Bruce walked in smugly. He wasn't even panting from the run he just had.

"Wow! Just wow!" He turned to her with a scorn on his face.

Knowing where he was going with the conversation, she immediately told him, "Save it!"

"No! I will not save it! You're a rude person, you know that? Has anyone ever told you that? How hard would it have been for you to just hold the elevator?" Bruce quarreled. Though he tried to maintain it, Ava was quite annoying to him.

Ava was stunned. Did he not know who she was?

"Excuse me?" She exclaimed with a frown.

"Yeah, excuse your terrible manners." Bruce ended the argument, leaving Ava speechless.

The elevator kept going up for what felt like forever and the silence between them was anything but comfortable.

Suddenly, Bruce began to sniff the air. He put his palm over his nose as he turned to Ava with wide eyes.

"Did you just fart?" He asked.

"What?!" Ava pretending not to notice anything.

"Wow! Just wow. So, you not only have terrible manners, but you're also classless. That's quite irritating!" Bruce glared at her with judgmental eyes.

"Hold on! I've been watching you say all of that bullshit about me, but not this time. Are you crazy? Who the hell do you think you are?" Ava spazzed out.

"Who the hell do you think I am? I'm certainly not the one who farted in the elevator. But, with just two people in it, who among us didn't do that?" Bruce asked with a raised brow.

"I did not even fart. Do you have some kind of mental illness or something?" Ava throws her hands in the air from frustration. She wasn't going to lose to some stranger.

"No, but I'm sure as hell you do. Maybe not mental, but you're sick! Especially if your fart smells like that! What did you eat? Rotten eggs mixed with sour pickles and sewage juice or something?" He asked.

"Shut the fuck up! Can you do that for just a second?" Ava has gotten tired of the whole thing.

"Well, you shut your butt up!! Can you do that for one second?" He mimicked her.

"Oh my goodness!! Why do I have the worst luck today?" Ava groaned in frustration.

"You have the worst luck? You think? You're not the one having to inhale gangrene, you skunk."

"Did you just call me a skunk?" Ava turned to him fully with her hands crossed over her chest.

"Your fart sure does give your secret identity away, doesn't it?" Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Now I've watched you talk all that smack about me. What exactly is your problem, dummy? Are you stupid? Did you get hit in the head this morning or something? Is this some kind of prank or joke?" Ava was genuinely confused.

"If this is a prank, your prank stinks!" Bruce concluded, taking his palm off his nose and breathing in fresh fartless air again. "Finally! You would have killed me with that."

"What the hell is even going-" Ava let out another slightly louder fart again and turned her face away in embarrassment.

Not your day, Ava.

"Oh wow!" Bruce laughs dryly. "Go ahead and deny it this time, you classless hooligan." He turned to her, but the smell hit him right in the face. "Oh my goodness!" His face contorts into one of disgust.

"Just... shut up, okay? I've had enough of your nonsense." Ava said.

Fortunately, the elevator door opens and Bruce rushes out, leaving Ava in the midst of her smelly fart.

"It is just not my day, is it?" Ava walks out and straight to her friend and office manager, Roxie.

"Ava! What's going on? You look different?" The redhead pointed out.

"Way to point out the obvious! Like you didn't ruin me last night!" Ava glared angrily at her friend. "Besides, how are you so put together this morning and with heels on?" Ava wondered. "Do you have some kind of restoration potion at home or something?"

"Well, I didn't shoot shots like you and the girls did. Honestly, I didn't even expect you to come to work today." Roxie giggled.

"I can't miss a day of work. There's so much to be done. Like hiring a new executive assistant." Ava leaned on Roxie's desk, positioning her head in her palms.

"A new executive assistant? Oh well, Mason already did that for you! Less stress!" Rolxe said and Ava's face turned red.

"What?!"

"Yup! He's actually been waiting for you." Rolxe understood the tension between them. Mason and Ava are never in good condition. They fight like dogs and cats.

"Again, what?!" Ava felt there were more and so wanted Rolxe to continue.

"I know, right? I initially told him to go home and return tomorrow because you wouldn't be coming in to work today, thank goodness he didn't listen to me." Roxie's eyes twinkled. "Also, he's such an eye candy, you'd thank Mason for making the decision for you." Roxie bit her lip.

"What?!"

Ava hurried to her office, only to see Mason already waiting.

"What are you doing in my office?" Ava frowned.

" Boss lady, I only came here to show you the new ex..." Ava interrupted.

" But why..." Ava stopped as someone familiar stepped in.

"You?" Ava screamed in shock.

"You?" Bruce looked more surprised than Ava.

"What the hell?!" Ava suddenly looked furious.

The pair faced each other, their faces red with anger as everyone around them watched them recall the details of when they first met.

"You mannerless creature." Bruce cursed use nose. He was so annoyed to see Ava again.

The company is big and yet, he was called into the office by the crazy lady he met earlier at the elevator.

"What is he doing here?" Ava too is so shocked.

Someone she never wished to meet again.

"Um.. somebody explain what's going on?" Roxie broke the silence, as she looked from Ava to Bruce to Mason.

"I don't know and I don't care." Mason answered and began to walk out of Ava's office.

"No! You, come back here right now! You are going nowhere." Ava called him back.

In as much as he didn't want to answer her, she was his boss regardless. He turned around and walked back to the trio, staring Ava dead in the eye.

"What is this?" Ava asked him, pointing at Bruce.

"This? What do you mean 'this'?" Bruce glared at her.

"Well, 'this'–" Mason gestured to Bruce, "is your new executive assistant. Did you not hear the explanation Roxie gave you or have you suddenly gone deaf?" He made a mockery of her.

"Mason, you may be my cousin but I will not hesitate to fire you if you ever think you can speak to me in such a manner, especially in front of this–" she turns to give Bruce a vile look, "–this thing!" She was obviously upsetting Bruce.

"You may be the CEO of this company, but kindly refrain from calling me names, because I will not hesitate to call you out online and make sure this company doesn't exist anymore." Bruce threatened. He wanted Ava to know he's got what it takes too.

"It might actually be in your best interest to not say anything right now. And do not interfere in their family drama." Roxie advised Bruce.

"You said, you wanted a new executive assistant after Durant got fired for attempted embezzlement and I got you a new executive assistant, what the hell is your complaint this time?" Mason frowned. He was already getting fed up with Ava.

This was his reason why women should not be given power. Because Ava is currently taking the whole thing too far.

"You cannot hire an assistant for me in my absence or without informing me about it first." Ava countered.

"Well, if you did your job properly as CEO and came to work early today, I wouldn't have had to hire somebody in your absence, now would I, huh?" Mason asked and rolled his eyes. He hated the unnecessary argument.

"Don't you have a phone? Or did technology pass you by? What stopped you from calling me, Mason?" Ava asked.

"And what makes you think I care enough to do that? Maybe you should take your job more seriously, and if you can't do it properly, quit and let someone else do it for you." He was actually referring to himself. Only if Ava would agree to step down for him.

"There's a reason why I was voted in as the CEO of this company and not you, Mason. If I were you, I'd watch my mouth, because it would really suck for you to go from Vice President to Account Officer, now wouldn't it?" Ava retorted. With the silence, Ava knew she won Mason.

Mason walked out in anger.

He hated Ava.

He had a burning, passionate hatred for her. And he hated his father even more, because he was the only reason the stupid Ava could even talk to him like that.

"Hi Mason." A voice from behind him.

He ignored the sultry call of the office slut and got into the elevator. He didn't care where he was headed to, but he knew he had to get out of there. He was too angry to be in the workspace.

He got in his car and drove to the gun store. Just five blocks away.

Mason usually goes to the gun store whenever he is angry, to take out his anger at the shooting range. He would imagine the target was whoever made him angry and with every shot he took, he would slowly get relieved of his anger.

Mason would never shoot anyone in real life though. He didn't have that mind or zeal to do that real.

It was just his way of relaxing and it worked very well for him. He would rather do that than take his anger out on anybody.

He got in, greeted the receptionist and paid for the regular. He was handed the loaded gun as he got to the shooting range and the target was brought up.

He fired the first shot angrily, landing it right in the center of the target's head. Headshot kill point.

"Why did you have to be such a terrible person?" He asked as fired the second shot.

Mason's father had founded The Quinns Co alongside Ava's mother. The two were siblings who decided to start the business and manage it together. His father put in his all in the company, thriving alongside Ava's mother to make it the best.

But life happens.

Eventually, Mason's father got introduced to alcohol after his wife's death. He started drinking and abusing drugs. That was enough grounds to exonerate him from the company as a co-founder.

Even though the board of directors agreed to exonerate him, his sister-Ava's mother, fought for him to be left in the company; with a promise that he would change, this was all a phase for him to deal with his loss.

But he didn't.

Instead, he got worse.

He began using drugs in the office and his office became a storage space for drugs. It got too much and the board decided to get rid of him for good, in fear that he might attract the police department into the company but Ava's mother still insisted on letting him stay.

She got him professional help, booked therapy for him and did everything she could do to assist him, but nothing worked.

At one point, it seemed like he was getting better, but the board carried out intensive research on his files in the company, and it was discovered that he had been embezzling the company's money.

Ava's mother had gone to confront him about it, but unfortunately, he ran away with a lot of cash, leaving her to fix his mess.

She knew where he was, but he was wanted by the police for embezzlement, and in a bid to protect her brother, she kept the secret and ran the company all by herself.

When she heard that her brother passed away from drug abuse, she was heartbroken. She wished she could turn back time; she didn't know what she would've done differently, but she wished she could. She wished it didn't end that way for her brother.

Mason was still a young boy when all of this happened and he didn't understand any of it back then.

All he knew was that Ava's mother was the villain in his father's story.

Ava's mother died after many years and handed the company down to her only inheritor, Ava. Because of this, Mason despised Ava, even though she had employed him as the Vice President of the company.

He was supposed to be the CEO, not Ava.

And he would stop at nothing to get what he wants. Except killing anyone.