Anne Newman was an editor. Unfortunately, she ended up working in a place that she might have liked if she was working in the section that she wanted to. No, Anne was not working in horror, not in sci-fi and definitely not in drama. She was working in the romance section, editing dozens of love stories that she didn’t believe in.
“You can go home now, Anne. It’s Christmas tomorrow, you don’t have to work.” Chief Editor Henry Beacon told her softly, aware that she hated her job even before she came to him.
“I hate Christmas.” She grumbled, not taking once her eyes off the screen.
Henry sighed loudly and leaned back against his chair. He puckered his lips childishly and looked at his desk: it was so much paperwork to be done that he needed a hand or two. His eyes traveled to her desk, which was immaculate.
“She hates romance so much but she does her work really well.” Henry mumbled before yawning, “Well, whatever.”
Anne could hear her boss clearly since their desks were not that far apart. He had no idea why she hated Christmas and romance and she was not going to stop everything and speak her heart out to him like in a soap drama.
However, Anne did have a very good friend that knew already and have been there when she got the bad news. That was the main reason why when her phone rang she already knew what the message contained.
The club is calling for us. Let’s meet soon, said the message. Anne smiled softly and placed her phone in her pocket before getting up and turning to Henry.
“I’ll go now. I’m getting tired mentally.” She announced, not even waiting for her boss to answer.
Walking down in search for a cab, Anne witnessed so much love all around that she felt like vomiting. It was only making her remember why she hated celebrating the holiday that meant so much for her before.
After the interview at the new company and after the CEO gave her his welcoming speech, Anne started to think of what her family was going to say; for real. Of course, her father wasn’t going to congratulate her and hug her since she was literally betraying him by going to work at another publishing company but her mother will probably be happy that she got a job, and quite suspicious since she knew about Anne’s issues.
“So, what are you going to tell him, then?”
Her best friend, Caleb asked her after she finished her interview and met him in their usual spot.
“I’m still thinking about that, actually,” She answered innocently, sipping from her milkshake, “When are you moving out of my apartment?”
“Not soon,” He admitted, both of them nodding and humming like they used to when they were still in school.
Anne and Caleb have been friends ever since she bluntly insulted him in front of the girl he liked, making him look like a pitiful human being because his expectations were too high from someone who couldn’t spell correctly. Writing was Anne’s passion back then and she had dreams of becoming an author until those dreams shattered.
“So, how was the interview?” Caleb asked, leaning back in his seat and literally posing, the girls around them ogling their eyes at him. If only they knew how he truly was they wouldn’t care of his looks anymore.
“Suspicious yet they did question my mental situation at some point,”
“That’s because you do have some problems up there. Romance is the genre for all those people who dream of a perfect love story and you destroy their hopes by being so frigid.”
She scoffed, “I’m not frigid! I’m realistic.”
“Is that what your current boyfriend thinks? By the way, how is he, um- what was his name?” He was teasing her because they both knew Caleb hated his guts.
“Adam and we are fine. I’m going to meet him tonight and celebrate my new job. We usually go to a fancy restaurant on Christmas but I think he has something more planned for this year.”
“You’ve been going out for three years. Don’t you think he should pop the question soon?” He asked leaning in and playing with his ring, “Don’t you want to get married, Miss Newman?”
Anne narrowed her eyes at him and puckered her lips, throwing her sugar at his face.
“Marriage is stupid. I don’t need papers to make me feel better about my relationship or make it more official than it is. What about you?” She leaned back and raised an eyebrow, anticipating his answer.
Caleb rolled his eyes and emptied the sugar in his coffee; it was his anyway.
“I am single and very happy, thank you very much. You bother your pretty mind with your life.”
She chuckled and folded her arms in front of her chest.
“I will.”
As soon as Anne got home, she took a shower and curled her hair while still in a bathrobe. She was excited for that night and Caleb's little talk about marriage was making her feel really anxious.
While doing her makeup, she stopped and stared at her image in the mirror.
"No high expectations, Anne. It's only a date among many others. Nothing out of ordinary will happen." She told herself before she sighed and continued where she left off.
It was ten minutes before the date and she had to meet him in the lobby. Caleb didn't come back for the whole day so she could only think he wanted to give her some privacy. With one swirl in the middle of the living room and one last look at her outfit, she smiled and checked her phone.
No new messages and no new calls. She checked the time again and realized there were five minutes left. Anne sat on the edge of her red L shaped couch and stared ahead patiently.
She was getting really bored and didn't even budge from her spot. Anne checked again and realized only two minutes passed; her phone buzzed at some point and startled her.
Unfortunately the message she got was from her new job. Her boss sent her a welcoming message in his team and told her at what hour she had to come at work the next week.
"What publishing company starts the day at lunch?" She wondered, reading the message for the second time, "And he used such colloquial language."
The next buzz came ten minutes after the message and it was from her boyfriend. He arrived and asked her to stay home and wait for him to get up. Anne smiled happily and checked her makeup and hair before she heard the doorbell ring and opened the door.
Unlike her joyful expression, he looked very stiff. As soon as she saw his frown, Anne let go of the doorknob and signed for him to enter; only, he didn’t.
"Is there something wrong?" She asked trying to sound like she wasn’t uncomfortable.
The man sighed and rubbed his hands together before he grabbed one of hers and squeezed it. Anne's eyes widened and suddenly, she froze. What if Caleb was right and Adam was planning on asking her to marry him on Christmas? Of course she couldn't say no but the whole scenario became so much more realistic in her head when he grabbed her hand.
"Let's break up,"
It took her a moment to register that what he said had nothing to do with marriage.
"Wh-What?!" She didn't intend to scream but she wasn't exactly in charge of her reactions at the moment.
"We have been dating for three years and sincerely, I can't understand why. We act like teenagers but we are already in our mid twenties. I want to marry, Anne."
"I never said anything about marriage."
"Exactly. You never talk about anything regarding our future. I know you only live in the present and you are greedy for a successful career. I am not in your future and you know it. Besides, it feels like we are in a platonic relationship. I invest feelings but you don't," He explained his reasons as simply as he could but her face was blank.
"You're breaking up with me because I don't invest feelings in our relationship?" She asked, using his words, "What are you, a child? Falling in love and having a relationship are two different things!" She hissed, her grip on the door tightening.
Adam's eyes widened at the news.
"So you don't even love me, is that right?"
Anne's eyes widened in shock mostly because she did say that and meant it. She licked her lips and looked down, finding it impossible to look into his eyes.
"Why are you suddenly doing this?" She asked, lowering her voice so her neighbors wouldn't get a show in the corridor.
"I found someone else. Someone who actually gets involved into my life and asks me how I am and if I eat," He mumbled, rubbing his head in frustration.
Looking at her, she was a pretty woman and she was genuinely smart and had great skills but her feelings were solely based on her needs and desires. She was selfish and wouldn't even visit his parents for dinner or holidays.
"I'm sorry Anne." He finished. Adam leaned for a hug or something like that but she closed the door in his face, "I should have expected that," He muttered before walking down the corridor to the elevator.
By the time she shrugged that memory away, her heart was beating really fast and disappointment was filling her body. Anne sighed heavily, stopping at the entrance of a bright illuminated park. The colorful lights made her smile, forcing her to remember some of the happy times she spent with Adam. It was just so sad that he couldn’t see that she was very bad at expressing her emotions and instead of understanding her until the end, he gave up. That thought, now that she was in the park surrounded by couples and families, made her feel even bitterer.
“Ah~ I really hate the holidays.” She mumbled, spinning around and walking out as fast as possible. Anne needed a drink more than ever.
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