||Three Years Later||
Ryan sighed heavily, probably for the umpteenth times, as he rubbed his temples continuously with both index fingers like he was trying to wade off his nonstop headache with the process. With just a glance at him, anyone could tell he is not just physically tired but emotionally and mentally tired as well.
Three years and months had passed since Ciara left him. He had lived each day of those three years in nothing else but turmoil, searching frantically for her, but all his effort proved abortive, and it seemed like she really did disappear into the thin air-leaving no traces behind.
Not only was he the one searching and being on the lookout for her, his mother was also included but still, the results were just the same. Even his mother's thousand miles eyes had some places left where her eyes couldn't reach -and in one of those places was Ciara's hideout, Ryan supposed.
During these years, he had watched, in distress, as his marriage go down the drain, doing little or nothing to save his marriage. His relationship with Anne was drastically heading to nothing but a ruin, well, he cared less, and his search for Ciara was a waste with a bleak chance of finding her anytime soon.
Anne, on the other, isn't concerned about the marriage off course -well because she never did from the start. All her acts of love were just nothing else but a facade -a total pretense.
Ryan was forced to realize this after years he had spent with her, but he did not regret those years with her because during those years, he found happiness, but not anymore. His happiness, he realized lately, was now with the only one person his heart yearned for; the one who stole his heart with her and disappeared, fleeing into the dark night...
******
"Sir..." Ryan was jolted out of his train of thought all of a sudden, which made him want to trip on himself, even though he was seated. His continuous thoughts made him lose his posture and his used to be great body physique were starting to be classified as once upon a time.
He had lost so much weight and slowly and gradually, he was starting to become a shadow of himself. If only he could turn back the hands of time, he would have had enough time to rectify his mistake when he had the chance to.
"Yes, Miriam...？" He called out slowly and in a lazy tone. "Is anything the matter? Even if it is, aren't you supposed to knock before coming in, did you lose your manners or what?"
The lady before him, whose name turned out to be Miriam and the director for the company's board meeting, stared at him in nothing but utter shock. She couldn't pinpoint the state of her boss' phrase. Did she really not knock before coming in?
"But, sir..." She protested, feeling the need for an explanation. "I would never have come in without a knock. I did knock for a couple of minutes but got no reply from you, I was worried because I thought something had happened to you. I had no choice but to come in, Sir."
Ryan understood he was the one to be blamed since he was at fault, but still, he couldn't help but transfer his unending aggression to her because he felt like that way, he would, at least, be relieved a bit.
He waved her explanation off with his hand. "Why are you here anyway?" He asked instead, knowing it was a silly question on his part. He could see the files with her, and that could only mean one thing.
"Here are the summary and analysis for the next board meeting, Sir." She told him calmly as she dropped the file with her carefully before him. "The staff really request for your audience this time, there are many lapses the company continues to experience, and they would be glad if you honor the gathering with your presence."
True! Ryan couldn't recall the last time he had attended the board meeting, even when he is the one who keeps fixing it. His business, he knows, isn't as it used to before. His business partners weren't as cooperative as they used to, and the proposal he keeps receiving were little compared to the ones he used to have.
No new company is keen to collaborate and make deals with him, well, he has no good capital to fund for the ones he had at hand. How is he supposed to deal with new company partners? He could only rely on the old ones, which were suddenly giving him space.
"Aside to that, is there anything that I'm supposed to know?" He asked, his voice lacking the authority they used to carry beforehand -he lost the strength for such already. "Did a new proposal come in?"
Miriam tried hard to hide the expression on her face, even though it was the one Ryan had been silently expecting. "Sadly, we couldn't get any new proposals, sir." Her voice was filled with remorse, like she was the cause of it. "Not even from the odd business partners."
"This is serious..." He muttered under his breathe, his voice laced with that of self-pity. "What do you suggest, Miriam? I can't possibly think of a good tactic to raise our chance of those proposals that we used to get."
"This is mostly the need for the board meeting, sir. They are many and lots to be discussed, and your presence is as vital as the meeting itself." Miriam told him, almost pleading with him. "With this, the other staff would have the chance to discuss whatever preventive measures they have with them."
Miriam was right! He needs his board members more than ever at that moment, they were his only last hope in raising the fame that his company used to have -even if it won't be much, he needed to be half way what he used to be before ...