CHAPTER SEVEN...
Belle sighed as she stared at the photocopier with something akin to hatred. She had been stuck here for the past thirty minutes trying to photocopy the documents necessary for her presentation but it was to no avail. The stupid photocopier was jammed. She glared at it once more and gave it a kick for good measure, ignoring the sharp pain that tingled round her ankle up to her shin.
This was not working. Pretending that everything was okay. It had been a week since that fateful talk with...she did not even want to think about his name. Yet she could not stop thinking about him. About the way it ended. Was this what her life was destined to be now? Taking out her anger on intangible things instead of smashing that arrogant piece of shit's head against a hard brick wall?
Belle sighed and glared at the photocopier once more. Oh well, since she could not vent on the person who needed venting she was going to vent on the poor photocopier. Which was jammed anyway. She raised her foot to kick the photocopier then remembered her slightly aching ankle. Instead she used her pen to poke it then smiled satisfactorily to herself.
'Ha!' She said then turned round to walk back to her office. Then she spied Mark staring at her in confusion before he quickly pasted a falsely concerned look on his smarmy face.
'Are you alright, Annabelle? I couldn't help but notice how angry you are...were with the photocopying machine. Don't tell me you're nervous about this silly old presentation you're about to have?'
'No Mark, I'm perfectly alright. Thanks for your needless concern.' She bit out sweetly and marched away from him.
Sly, irritating man. He could not wait to see her fall so that he could swoop in and take her job. Well it was not going to happen. Aleks might have succeeded in stealing her social and emotional life but he was NOT going to ruin her work life. No sirree.
*
Aleksander, on the other hand, was not hiding his true feelings from anybody. He moped about in the mansion and bit the heads off of anyone who spoke to him. The only people that were spared from his vitriol were his family, and that was not even by much.
The past few days had been spent in his room as he went over what had happened at Belle's flat. He groaned once more as he thought of how hurtfully he had acted. Belle had not deserved even one tenth of all that he had said to her. He remembered the look on her face as he had left her flat and covered his own face with his hands. Even if he was able to call off the inevitable wedding there was no way that Belle was going to take him back after all the spiteful comments he had made.
'Oh dear Lord, why am I this way?' He asked himself quietly.
He shook his head and looked out of the window. He could see people gathering ready for the fortnightly celebrations. Every fortnight, all the vampires came together to celebrate life, or rather undeadness. He really did not want to go as he did not think there was anything to celebrate but he knew that his father would chew his head off if he kept on moping in his room.
He went to his mirror and stared at himself dully. Even in his misery, he still looked stunning. He studied himself passively. On the outside he looked like he had everything that a vampire could wish for. A well known and wealthy family, good looks, friends, popularity, and now, a wedding; with another pure bred no less. And yet inside he felt like he had nothing. In fact, he knew that he had nothing. For without Belle, he was indeed nothing.
He sighed once more to himself and started to drag a comb through his hair. Then he hurled the comb so hard unto the floor that it bounced twice before landing in a bent shape.
Who or why was he preening himself for? Did it matter? Did anything on this earth matter anymore?
He snarled at his reflection in self-hatred then walked out of the room slamming the door behind him.
It was best he got this farce of a celebration out of the way as quickly as he could then come back to his room to nurse his emotional wounds.
*
Belle wiped the faint sheen of perspiration off her forehead as her presentation came to an end. She smiled as everyone sat at the table clapped. It had been a success. Not as successful as she normally was; oh no, this had been a struggle. One that she hoped she successfully hid. But all in all, her point had been put across to the board of partners. She smiled once more as her immediate boss, Pritchard nodded his approval at her. That was a save then. She gathered her materials and nodded as people gave her pleasing remarks and she made her way out of the meeting room. Phew, that was a relief.
She made her way quickly to her office and sank down on her chair releasing a large gust of breath. She had stammered a few times but had, luckily pulled herself back together.
Thank God she had because the way the economic climate was, she was positive that no one's job was safe at the moment regardless of how good or wonderful they had been in the past few years and this included herself.
She swiveled her chair round to stare out of the window then gave a start as someone knocked on her door. She whirled round as Pritchard popped his head in then smiled at her. She smiled back and waved for him to come in.
