The Writer's Romance 78 No Greetings

She rolls in her bed to look at her guitar, it's been years since she last used it. But now it has come to use, she used to play it whenever she felt lonely and empty. Now, she's going to play it to get the person who made her forgot about those emotions.

She can feel the heaviness and dryness of her eyes. She gets up and rubs them, "Gooooooooooosh," she yawned.

She stands up and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her messy hair, ivory skin, flabby arms, chubby cheeks and eye bags, everything that used to make her feel ugly now looks cute and pretty since Clark came into her life.

She went to the bathroom and took a shower, coming out with wet skin and hair, she saw her calendar.

There's a mark on the date today, "What?" She squinted her eyes to see her small hand writing, a funny thing that Clark, according to Bea, likes.

"It's his birthday?" She covered her mouth in shock, "Clark?"

She immediately wore a blouse and a black pencil skirt and ran downstairs, "Mom! Where's Bea?"

She saw her mother brewing coffee at the kitchen while her dad reads a newspaper.

"Hm? She went home with Dan last night, hun. Why? And…" Her mom looks at her in disgust, "What happened to your face? Your eye bags are so dark."

Sheen didn't paid attention to what her mom said and bites her lips, "Mom, it's Clark's birthday." She informed them in nervousness.

"Oh? Then we should celebrate together! Have you talked to him?" Her mom asks.

"No," Sheen shakes her head. "Not yet. We have a plan, Bea and I have decided that we will pay a prank on him. But I think the plan will change because it's his birthday," Sheen said while staring at the sink while thinking of ways to apologize to him and celebrate his birthday.

Her Dad looks at her, "What is your plan? Maybe I can help?"

Sheen stared at her dad for some time and her eyes went bright, "What if we push the prank, and honestly you're part of it Dad. But at the end, if he… accepts my apology, we'll surprise him with a simple birthday party."

Her parents look at each other, "Well… Why not, I'll help my baby," her dad said with a smile, "Just to make you happy, I'll do anything. You helped us a lot."

Sheen went to her parents and smiled, "Thank you, Mom and Dad. I won't meet Clark if you guys didn't let me be friends with him before."

They all stayed in the warm embrace until the telephone rang in the kitchen, Sheen went to pick it up and Bea's welcoming voice almost made her go deaf, "Gurrrl, it's Boss' birthday! I forgot!" Bea screamed.

Sheen laughs, she can feel Bea's panic and surprise, "Yeah, I almost forgot. I just saw it in my calendar."

"Dan told me about the party that they planned yesterday that's why I found out. Anyways, we should stick to the plan, the only difference is that you'll have to surprise him in his birthday party and that's where you'll apologize and kiss each other, okay?"

"Well… okay," Sheen giggled, "So, we'll meet each other later. And you're the one who's going to let my dad in, okay?"

"Yep, see you! And dress nicely!" Bea didn't even wait for Sheen's respond and cut the call off.

"So, you guys are staying until Bea's wedding, right?" Sheen asks and turns around to her parents who are sipping their coffees peacefully.

"Yes," Her mom answered, "So what's the plan?"

Sheen sat down and took a plate to eat breakfast and drink her coffee while telling them the plan.

Cj, on the other hand, grumpily stomps his feet while walking around.

Clark's been used to it since last night, the moment they entered their room, Cj stared at him sharply and began stomping his feet with a bitter face.

"I want Mommy's breakfast," Cj declared with his arms crossed while standing in front of the dining table.

Clark ordered cooked food from a restaurant for breakfast but Cj won't budge and keeps on insisting to have Sheen's cooking.

"No." Clark said and began eating. "If you don't want to eat, that is alright. Just don't have your teachers calling me to say that you fainted because of hunger."

"Hmpf!" Cj pouted and sat down, the least thing he wants is to make himself look like a fool. His teachers knows too well that his Dad is providing him everything and he can never go hungry.

Clark didn't even had good night as well, he spent his time replaying the moment he saw Sheen's ring on the cactus pot.

The pain, hatred, anger, loneliness… everything that he felt is still inside him.

He knows Sheen loves her ring so much but seeing it placed on a pot made his heart break.

He can't help but grip the spoon too tight that the food spilled around.

Cj just stared at his dad in surprise and in worry, even though he is angry with his Dad, since he is a kid, he knows he will never understand what his Dad is feeling right now.

"Dad?" Cj whispered, "Are you okay?"

Clark sighed and stands up and cleaned the food around his plate, "Yes, hurry up, and get ready. We'll leave after 30 minutes." He took his plate and placed it in the dishwasher.

"Are you not going to get hungry? You only had like 2 spoonful of bite. Are we going to leave with Mommy?" Cj asks which irritated Clark.

"No, all the answer to your questions is No so hurry up and finish your food," Clark said in a cold voice and left.

Cj was left alone, chewing on his food, 'It's your birthday and you're grumpy,' he thought as he start to chew faster.

"I'll be going," Sheen bids her goodbye to her parents, "Oh, don't forget about the plan, bye!" she said before closing the door.

She took the other way around to avoid b.u.mping into Clark if ever they leave early.

Her heart started pounding as she rides the elevator at the other side of the building, opposite to the elevator they usually use.

"Bea, I'm going to walk, where are you?" Sheen asks on the phone.

"I'm going now with Dan. I'll call you when we're at the building. Everyone's secretly working on Boss' birthday so try to talk with some of the employee to know what the plan is." Bea said.

"Yeah, alright." Sheen said and turned the call off.

Sheen walks towards the exit of the condominium but she suddenly saw Clark and Cj walking out of the elevator, she suddenly felt her adrenaline rush and quickly runs fast outside and hides her face while walking.

She saw them going towards the parking lot and noticed that Cj's not that happy.

Sheen stops and frowns, "Have they eaten breakfast?" she wonders.

After watching the two go the parking lot, she went on her way to the company.

It's been a long time since she walked her way to the company since Clark always makes her go with them.

She missed feeling the air while walking around, surrounded by busy people.

She suddenly stops by a thrift shop, "I should buy a gift," she whispers and went inside.

Even though it's a thrift shop, everyone in the city has bought something in that shop.

It's full of new cheap things that are really great for its price.

"Knowing Clark…." Sheen whispers while going around checking some items.

"He's not materialistic and would prefer taking vacation, hmm," She stops and grabs a pair of gloves which has a print that says: "Too hot for winter, Too cool for summer."

Sheen laughs and imagines Clark wearing them while taking a cool post, his hands are intertwined while resting on his lap with the gloves on.

She chuckles and looks around, finding where the cas.h.i.+er is.

"Please put it in a nice bag, I'll give it as a gift," Sheen smiled at the cas.h.i.+er who then nods and took a baby blue stripped paper bag.

After paying for the gloves, she put it in her bag since it's small enough to fit in her hand bag and it's a shame if he saw the gift before even apologizing to him.

She went on her way and luckily, she saw Bea and Dan walking towards the building, "Hey!" Sheen shouted and walks fast to catch them.

"Hey," Dan turns around and smiled at her.

"Oh, there you are!" Bea said and looks at Sheen who breathes heavily from the crossing through two roads.

"Well, have to talk to Uncle?" Bea asks as they went inside.

"Yes, he said just tell him when and they'll arrive as soon as they can," Sheen answered.

Dan just watches as the two ladies in front of him talk while his mind is busy with the thing that he just learned last night.

He didn't tell Bea since it is really a very critical information that even the people involved doesn't know about it, unless Wyn knows.

"So, you will do the simple duties of an a.s.sistant but you'll act as if you don't even have any relations.h.i.+p with Boss. And if he ever do something that can ruin the plan, you have to back-out. Run. And act as if you still hate him," Bea reminds Sheen as they enter the elevator.

"Yeah…" Sheen nods with a sad tone. She doesn't want to do that painful thing but, she just wants to do things differently.

"What? That's the prank?" Dan looks at them weirdly, "That's so lame! He might even get angrier!"

Bea stared at him with a blank face, "Shut up. It's a prank. At the end, Sheen will kiss him to and make up with him."

Sheen just smiled at Dan awkwardly.

"Sheen, if he gets angry and the birthday surprise of the company won't proceed because of it, remember that you have to treat us pizza for a whole week," Dan said annoyed.

"It's not her plan. It was mine. So shut up," Bea said as the elevator stops by their floor.

"Good luck," Dan teased Sheen as they leaves her alone in the elevator.

"Yeah," Sheen whispered.

"Go gurl! Get yo man!" Bea laughs as the elevator closes.

Sheen takes in a deep breath to relax her worried heart.

She already agreed to what Bea planned, there's no more backing down.

The elevator stopped to their floor.

She saw Clark's office's door open and Mr. Rogers is talking with him.

Sheen decided to go to her office first and prepare the files Clark asked her to do yesterday.

"Yes, Sir. I have asked Dan to look into Mr. Lee," Mr. Rogers said while standing near the door but footsteps caught his attention and tried to peek into who's in the hallway and saw Sheen.

He cleared his throat and looks at Clark, "Mr. White, May I ask, what happened between you and Miss Sheen?"

Clark froze from putting his things on his table, Mr. Rogers noticed that he doesn't want to talk about it and so decided to walk towards the door.

"I'll be going then, Sir. Happy birthday." Mr. Rogers said before closing the door.

Clark suddenly stared at the door, confused, "Birthday?"

He sits down and rests his chin on his hand while thinking about what Mr. Rogers said and it later hit him that it is his birthday when he glances by the calendar on his desk.

"It's my birthday and only Mr. Rogers greeted me," Clark laughs, "What's new?" He said and buried his face in his hands as he remember Sheen's face last night.

The terror and sadness, her face always shows what she feels.

Clark sighs, "Well, I thought I can fix this but I guess I have to let my anger subside."

A few minutes after, Clark heard a knock on the door.

Knowing that it may be Dan or other employees, he just shouted: "Yes."

The door went open wide as he stares at his laptop screen, "Sir," a familiar voice said.

He looks at the person who's standing in front of him, holding a lot of papers and files in her hands.

Sheen tries to keep a straight face to avoid crying in front of Clark.

She misses him so bad, she wants to ran and hug him tight but not now.

She even took off her ring again to pretend that she still has grudges on him.

Clark is too shock to respond immediately, Sheen never knocks on the door.

She just let her beautiful self inside with a smile on her face whenever she has to do something or give files to Clark, but now, she knocks with a blank face.

A face that normal a.s.sistants have.

He looks at her finger, and it still broke his heart to see that she still doesn't wear their ring.

"I have prepared the files you asked me to. The rest that you just sent to me this morning are still being processed." Sheen said and put the papers on top of Clark's desk. "If you don't need anything, Mr. White, I'll be going."

Clark looks at the papers she gave him with a bitter expression, "Aren't you forgetting anything?" he asks.

Sheen stopped for a second, 'Happy birthday,' she thought but she just shakes her head, "No, Sir. I have given you everything that you need."

Clark watches her leave, closing the door, he wants to embrace her tight and tell her that he loves her and that he's afraid she'll leave.

But, if she wants things to be this way, he'll respect it.

He knows he hurt her the other night and he deserves this treatment.

Even though he knows she hated to be shouted at and to be told things that he said, he still did to make her feel what he feels.

Anger, pain, disappointment.

"I guess no one else will greet me then," Clark chuckles and continued doing his work.