The air in the office was heavy. Mary handed him the folder, her hands trembling slightly. Kieran didn't look up. But she already knew something was wrong.
"Can't you do anything right?!" Kieran screamed, throwing a files around the office. Mary was shocked.
"You have just one job!" "Get out!" He screamed at his Personal assistant as he flung a book at her "and don't come back!".
Kieran Smith, the founder and CEO of Barronvale corp. , a usually calm and collected man, had an outburst today.
"This is why I work alone," he muttered, voice thick with venom. "I keep giving people chances…and they just prove me right."
"Can't she do anything right?! This is my fifth personal assistant! They know nothing!". He always ended up with terrible assistants. He was done with assistants for now. He swore Mary would be his last female assistant.
"Ness, I'm going home. I'm done for today" he said, dragging his feet out of the office.
Ness quietly nodded, she didn't dare speak.
On Kieran's drive home, he listens to music to calm him down, at least music can't go wrong. It usually takes 30 minutes to get back home so he better start early. He usually goes home later, but he just wanted to be in her arms.
He got home, stressed and exhausted but notices men shoes that don't belong to him in his home. He smiled "maybe she decided to gift me, our wedding IS close"
He walked into his house smiling and excited to talk to his woman about his terrible day, until he hears noise coming from their room…like someone was looking for something. He didn't knock. He quietly went to pick his gun as he walked back... "someone might have broken in", he thought. He turned off the lights hurriedly as he proceeds to shoot whoever was on his soon to be matrimonial bed.
Door ajar, sees silhouettes, sees her smile at someone else. He froze. Her voice. Her laughter. It wasn't meant for him anymore.
He didn't shout. He didn't breathe. He just stared as the man kissed her shoulder. His fiancée. His bed.
He doesn't remember pulling the trigger until it's done, he sits down in the corner of the room. "How did this happen? I didn't even get to question her" He thought. It was too late now. He had to find a way to dispose of their bodies.
It was a very cold evening for Kieran.
Kieran's house is not far from the woods, he throws their bodies in his car and takes off. He surprisingly didn't panic, as he thought of where to dispose of their bodies. He doesn't want to risk getting caught.
He gets deep into the woods and he sets them on fire. Nobody would come anyway, his house was in the middle of nowhere.
After cremation, he drove back home quietly and cleaned up his house. "She said she loved me," he cried and muttered to himself as he scrubbed blood off the tiles. But he'd heard that before — from his aunt, as she crawled into his bed when he was ten.
Kieran was beyond tired. He lost a contract, an engagement party and his fiancee. He washed up and went to bed.
Nightmares followed, The image of her lifeless body and her eyes, open in shock, was glued to his mind. "I wonder what age thought in her last moments. Maybe she felt guilt" he whispered. Tomorrow had to be a better day. He'll start by trying to get that contract. He proceeded to fall asleep bed without sheets.
Kieran resumes work like nothing had happened. Days passed. Then weeks. No police. No questions. No one even asked about her "fiancé". But Kieran knew better — silence didn't mean safety.
"Morning boss" Jimmy said, Kieran looked at him and walked by like he heard nothing. Jimmy, the best lawyer in his company, was used to quiet nods, but not being completely ignored.
Kieran walked into his office and locks the door shut. The workers only get to see him when he calls them, or when he leaves for home and he started going home late because of piles of work or so they thought. He didn't want to be alone in that house. The house he built with the one woman he trusted.
Kieran puts his house for sale. He needed a fresh start as he searched for apartments close by.
"Smile, laugh, and compliment.
That's how you sell a house.
That's how you bury your guilt.
Smile, laugh, and compliment.
That's how you survive
a world that chews you up and spits you out" he muttered after every meetup.
Every buyer that came to check the place wondered why he was selling it. It was in perfect condition and the price was not ridiculous. Due to Kieran's charming smile, eyes and height, a lady eventually bought it.
He handed the house keys to the smiling woman.
Her nails reminded him of Aunt Mira. Bright pink. Sharp. The same ones that tore open his childhood.
"Thank you," she said. "You're very kind."
He smiled back. It was muscle memory. Not feeling.
"Works like a charm" he said as he walked into his car.
He had packed all his things into his new apartment but on his way there he realised women have done nothing but hurt him.
"Will I ever find happiness?" He cried.
His mother abandoned him with him with his sick father who died shortly after. His aunties all wanted him for his body. He was raped severally by them and had no one to tell.
"You love me, right Auntie Sandy" 12 year old Kieran said.
"I love you very much, but don't tell anyone, okay?" she told him. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he remembers.
While he was in college, he thought he'd get along more with girls but all his female friends were fake. Using him for his looks and brains. He realised he had no true friends.
His first job was run by a woman and all she wanted to do dominate him and have her way with him. He was sick and tired of women.
"Now what I need," he muttered to himself, "is someone who doesn't break."