3 3: Loosing someone doesn't mean the end of the world. It only opens another chapter of your life.

For 2 months, Alyssa didn't show up in any of Fourse's branches. Not even in the main branch where her office and workroom was.

She also didn't return home - she opted for her and Kathleen's two-storey apartment. It was more private when compared to their house which had house helps. It wasn't as if she didn't treat them as family. Her treating them as family was exactly the reason why she didn't want to go home - it was better to burden one person (Kathleen) than to burden their whole household.

She wasn't answering any calls, not even her Mom's.

She was only talking to Kathleen, but even so, she always felt so distant. So detached.

Alyssa just woke up. It took her a great amount of effort to lift half of her body off of the comforts of her bed. She looked around her bedroom. Half of her queen-sized bed was almost covered with used tissues. She had cried herself to sleep - again.

She sighed, brushing the snot clad tissues off of her bed. She decided to go back to sleep when a knock came from outside of her door.

Kathleen's head popped out. She gave Alyssa a sweet smile before looking around her room with disapproval.

"I'm going to the boutique now. You have anything you want?"

Alyssa gave her a small smile as she shook her head. When she noticed that Kathleen wanted to say more, she held her palm up - stopping her.

"Lee, I'll clean my room when I want to. Okay? Such a neat freak." Alyssa tried to smile, but it came out half-hearted. Kathleen sighed before closing the door behind her.

She was determined to clean her best friend's room later that night - a clean room could probably be the first step to moving on, right? She shook her head at the thought and continued to walk towards her car.

Every now and then, the the main branch's employees would look out of the boutique's glass window to see if their 2 week missing boss would show up.

Because of the fact that Alyssa was always at the main branch, the employees who were assigned there were the closest to her. So, they were all invited to the wedding.

They were shocked to get an email from Kathleen the night before the wedding, saying that it would be cancelled. They thought it was a prank or something, but after a while, Kathleen called them one by one, confirming the cancellation.

A few days later, they found out from employees of the branch Hayden was managing that Yna and him had a thing for months now. When they asked why they didn't tell anyone about it, they said they didn't know that Hayden and Alyssa were going to get married. They even thought that Alyssa and him broke up!

The bastard Hayden didn't even tell the employees under him that he was going to get married!

The worst part was, Yna and him were thick-skinned enough to keep on coming to work.

When the boutique's doors opened, all their heads turned towards its direction - revealing Kathleen. She was already used to their employees who - she knew, were waiting for Alyssa.

"Not today guys." She sadly said before walking towards the stairs to the 2nd floor where her office and Alyssa's mini work room was.

When they started to earn money, they decided to get rid of the workroom and buy a building for only the seamstresses and tailors, but Alyssa always wanted to work in the presence of close friends so they decided to build a mini one in the main branch where she could at most draw, sew and conceptualize her designs.

While passing by the mini workroom, Kathleen sighed - longing for the once beaming woman who was always by the drawing board.

"I feel so bad for the boss." Jennie - one of the main branch's new employees muttered.

"You've been her for 4 months but you still call Alyssa boss." Their manager - Bryce chuckled as he looked at the blushing woman. "Alyssa doesn't want to be called 'boss' when it's just us."

"That's exactly the reason why I feel so bad for her to the point where I want to skin that woman alive! How could she do it to someone like Alyssa? Yna's a devil I tell you!" Jennie was a college dropout but she was very proficient in math.

When Fourse was hiring, she immediately went to apply for a job. She started as a saleslady but after mentally calculating a customer's purchase when their machine had problems, Alyssa suggested she be a cashier instead.

Alyssa didn't even look at the fact that she was only a 3 week old employee. She said she valued quality above all else and her employees knew that so no one would make things hard for her, so Jennie happily accepted the offer.

"I want to chop Hayden's balls off! Why let go of Alyssa? She's already such a prize!" Rose - an older employee, did a chopping motion with her hands which made Bryce take a step back while covering his crotch.

"Remind me to never cross you Rose." The woman smiled sheepishly at their manager's antics. "I was also looking forward to the wedding. I actually thought I could have a member on the married team."

"It's all that leech's fault!" Jennie once again muttered as she slammed her hand on the table.

Just then, Yna entered the shop wearing her usual bright smile. If this was 2 months ago, they would've actually complemented the woman's smile, but after her stunt with their boss' ex-fiance, they could only think of nasty words to describe - not the smile, but the woman wearing the smile.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Bryce muttered, just enough for Jennie and Rose to hear. They both laughed as Bryce fixed his suit. He then gave Yna a side glance before excusing himself from the conversation.

Devon slammed the pencil he was using on the table - startling everyone in the studio.

It has been 2 months since he last saw his sister. 2 months since her wedding was cancelled. And 2 months since they found out that the bastard - Hayden, has been cheating on her.

For those 2 months, he couldn't function properly. His guilt was eating him alive. If he was just a tad more particular about the man in his sister's life, then all of this wouldn't have happened.

"Can you guys leave us for a while?" Tyson asked not looking at the engineer beside him. His eyes were glued to the stressing man in front of him.

Once everyone else was out, he dragged a chair towards Devon and sat himself down. For a good 5 minutes, he was just sitting there - staring at the man.

"Spit it out." Devon heaved a sigh before looking straight into his friend's eyes.

"How is she?" Tyson and Astrid were included in the guest list for Alyssa's supposed wedding. Imagine how shocked they were when they found out that some guy was thick-skinned enough to do something like that to someone like Alyssa. The woman was practically an angel without wings.

"To be honest? I don't know. She's not answering any of our calls. She refuses to return home. She doesn't go to any of the branches. In short, she's dead set on locking everyone out."

"What do you expect?" Devon looked questioningly at his friend. "Dude, it just shows how much your sister loved the bastard."

"If I could just kill the man, I've done it a long time ago." Devon's eyes showed fury. Something that Tyson was well acquainted with. Astrid's brothers weren't easy to deal with as well.

"Have I met the guy?" Tyson had no retention of meeting the man himself. He just heard of him from Devon and Gideon's stories.

"You have, actually." Devon nodded which made Tyson cock his head to the side. "It was brief and you were already wearing a mask - ready to leave our house after our meeting. Though I think Astrid met him a couple of times in the boutique."

"Oh! I remember him now. That girly-looking man. Astrid always said she had an unsettling feeling about Astrid's fiancé but I didn't take her words too seriously. You know, girls just do that - overthink things."

"What did she say?" Devon became curious. Almost every woman who was close to their family and who had the chance to meet Hayden said the same thing - he was curious to know if Astrid also had the same thoughts.

"She said whenever he spoke to or about Alyssa, his eyes never sparkled like your sister's did when she spoke of him. Whatever that means." He shrugged. Why did girls come up with the weirdest things to say about everything?

"Huh, so the women close to us knew something was up while Gideon and I - her brothers who were supposed to be guarding her, didn't even notice anything." He shook his head, remembering all the things his mom and their older house helps told him and Gideon.

They all said the same thing. Hayden's eyes never sparkled like the way Alyssa's did when he talked about her, he was smiling - but that was it.

They reminded them to be on their guard - but they didn't take those reminders to heart. Now, their sister was suffering. Just because of their indifference to those reminders.

The room was silent for a while before Devon's phone rang. He looked at Tyson as if saying he has to take the call which the latter only nodded his head to.

"Mom, what is it?"

[Did you know that the bastard and his slut are still working at Fourse?]

"What? What happened? I thought it was already taken care of?"

[Your sister happened. Kathleen told me she stopped her.]

"What was Aly thinking?"

[Who knows? I want you to drive to the East branch and fire him yourself! I'm leaving for the main branch to deal with that slut in a few minutes.]

"Mom. I think we've meddled enough. Let's just let Aly be. We should just trust her."

[Do you hear yourself Devon? How could I let my daughter be?]

"Mom, if we meddle in this again, Aly may not want to come back home ever again. Let's just trust her okay?"

There was a pause on the other line. Emily wanted to teach the slut a lesson, but she knew her son was right.

"Mom?"

[Fine.]

~

[I'm so sorry Aly. It completely slipped my mind.]

"It's fine Lee."

[Just sign the package for me okay?]

"I got it. Can you bring me ice cream when you get home?"

[I'd bring you pizza with that. Love you! Got to run, bye.]

Kathleen was already at Fourse's main branch. She had a meeting with managers from their different branches early in the morning so she completely forgot about the new diffuser she bought online that would be delivered that day.

She had to bother Alyssa - who was already 2 months and 2 weeks into being MIA in their business.

She was still moving on. No one could ask her to hurry and return to work because moving on - especially after a 10 year relationship that almost led to marriage, was a rather difficult feat.

At about 2 in the afternoon, the doorbell rang. Because she - like any other day after she found out that her fiancé was cheating on her, was in low spirits, she didn't bother to fix herself.

She was wearing her kiiroitori onesie, her hair was a mess under the onesie's cap, and she hasn't washed her face yet. In short, she was the perfect example of a woman in a mess.

She went to open the door, expecting their usual delivery man - a guy who was the same age as her and Kathleen who was always way too 'friendly' with them. It would've been no big deal if the mam actually brought them the right packages but no, he always messed their deliveries up, making them wait for another 2 days before they could actually receive it.

"Hi, I have a package for Miss Kathleen Lewis?" An unfamiliar man was standing at their doorstep with a package in hand.

He was a few inches taller than Alyssa, with an attractive face, a head full of brown and messy hair, and a lean built. To say the man was covered in tattoos would be just her exaggerating. She could only see the tattoos that were exposed on his neck, his forearms and his hands.

"You're not the usual guy who delivers to us." She stated matter-of-factly with raised eyebrows.

This peaked the man's interest. The woman in front of him was one of the few who didn't gush over him.

He has to be honest, the woman - even in a laugh worthy onesie like the one she had on, still radiated beauty. He could tell that her hair was a mess under her onesie's hood, the evidence of her only waking up a few minutes ago could be clearly seen on her face and she wasn't even wearing a smile but he couldn't deny that the woman was gorgeous.

"You mean David? The management decided to switch our routes because he was purposely giving you the wrong packages - sorry about that." He handed her a small clipboard and a pen, asking her to sign the piece of paper - proof that it was delivered.

"Oh." Was her only reply before taking the pen and signing her name. She then got the box from the man and said her thanks.

"What a weird woman." The man muttered as he shook his head and turned his heel to leave.

As soon as the man closed the door to his delivery truck, his phone rang.

He took it out of his pocket to see that it was none other than David - the freak who was happy and satisfied with just seeing someone from the house he just deliverd a package to.

What a messed up freak. He thought as he answered the call.

[Have you delivered Kathleen's package?]

"I didn't know you were close enough to be using first names?"

[Quit it Taylor. Have you or have you not?]

"Chill your tits man, I just did."

[Isn't she pretty? Her body's to die for!]

"Um, I think she's pretty but I don't think her body's to die for. She was wearing a hideous onesie when I got there." He put the call on speaker as he started the truck, leaving for his next delivery.

[Kathleen never wears onesies. It must've been her roommate.]

"Not interested Dave. Got to go."

[Gio! Hey-]

Gio ended the call and focused on the road ahead of him. He still had a few more packages to deliver and he didn't want David's distraction.

He was only new to the job when their supervisor told him to take David's delivery route. This made the latter furious so he has been doing everything in his power to make him loose the job.

He sighed. How has he sunk this low? He was a young master, but because of a stepmother, he left home, got his accounts freezed and now he had to live off of the few bucks he earned from his delivering job.

Alyssa on the other hand was staring at the box that was on top of the kitchen island.

A million thoughts were running in her mind, but the one thing she was most concerned about was meeting someone as attractive as the delivery man wearing her onesies.

She looked at her mirror - only to frown. Gone was her cheery and bright self. It was replaced with a gloomy, sulking mess with red, puffy, and dull eyes, and a tear stained face.

How long was she going to torture herself when in fact, she wasn't the one deserving of the torture.

How long was she going to hide when she was never meant to be the one subjected to hiding in the first place?

Her eyes shined with her new found goal.

She'd make Hayden regret cheating on her. But that was it. She wasn't martyr enough to accept the man after he cheated.

She wasn't stupid.

She got up and walked towards her closet.

Let's start with a few exercises shall we? She thought to herself as she chose a black and gray workout outfit.

~

"Leaving already?" Bryce asked Kathleen who just got down from the 2nd floor.

She had all her things with her and some sketches that some of their designers asked her to bring to Alyssa.

"Yeah. I need to go grocery shopping."

"I bet the Young Miss of the Lewis family never went out to shop for groceries before." When Bryce found out that she was from such a background, his attitude towards her didn't change - but he did enjoy teasing her about it.

"I prefer it this way." She stuck out her tongue at the man before saying goodbye to her other employees.

At the corner of her eye, she could see Yna who was just sitting there - unable to do work. How could she? Her boss wasn't around.

Because Alyssa was one of the owners and at the same time, Fourse's main designer, she had a lot on her plate. Kathleen tried to take as much of the business related things into her care but there were still things that Alyssa had to approve of as the co-owner. So, she needed a secretary.

At first it was Mackenzie, but when Hayden joined the boutique and was transferred to the East branch, Alyssa decided to have Mackenzie supervise the shop and help Hayden out with it.

Then Yna came into the picture. For the past 2 years that she's been working for Alyssa, she was always clumsy and sometimes unproductive. Kathleen had to double check everything that she made just to make sure nothing was wrong.

She wanted to fire the woman for Alyssa's and the company's sake but the former never allowed her, saying Yna would eventually learn.

Learn her ass!

What the woman learned was how to seduce her fiancé!

"Boss!" Someone called before she could open the boutique's door.

She turned around to see Bobby - one of their staff, running towards her with a kiiroitori stuffed toy and a bouquet of daisies.

"The guys and I wanted to give this to Alyssa." He handed Kathleen the gifts his co-workers and him prepared. "Can you please tell her we miss her so much?"

Kathleen smiled. It was good to know how much their employees loved Alyssa.

"I will. Thanks for this."

When she arrived at their apartment, she directly went to Alyssa's room with a box of pizza, her ice cream and the gifts their employees sent her in hand.

She was surprised to see no one in the room. Alyssa would usually be sleeping whenever she got home from work.

"Oh? You're back?"

She turned around only to see a sweating Alyssa, removing her earbud out.

"I went for a jog." She explained when she noticed her best friend's questioning look.

"A jog?"

"Yup, a jog." She went ahead and entered her room. Placing the earbud down on her desk, she walked towards a drawer to get a clean towel to wipe the sweat off of her body. "Your package is in your room. Oh, the delivery boy was new."

"A new delivery boy?"

"Uh-huh, he said their supervisor switched their delivery route because the previous one was purposely sending us the wrong packages." She explained, taking off her shoes.

Kathleen was just standing there. Unable to believe her eyes.

Her best friend actually went on a jog!

She was talking to her with more than just 10 words!

She's finally snapped out of it!

"I'll take a shower. Wait for me downstairs." Before Alyssa could close the bathroom door, she paused and without looking back - said, "He's cute by the way. The new delivery man."

Kathleen was still standing there. Dumbfounded.

When everything sank in, she jumped in glee. Her best friend said someone was cute aside from Hayden!

She then went to their living room, placing the thing she brought to Alyssa's room down on the coffee table. She took two spoons from the kitchen and opened the pizza for their hungry little stomachs.

Kathleen did feel bad about letting Alyssa receive her package for her, but now that she saw how something as simple as receiving a package affected her best friend, she was actually glad she forgot about the package.