Heartprints in the Void

a quick shower and changing into a more casual white long-sleeve shirt. While it is an

ion is

scrutinize me the same way that Cade's father did whe

ure it was t

me to mentally prepare myself for being in a room full of fairly important people, and surely enough, once I've parked in t

or 30 minutes an

res make me extremely nervous, so much so th

rrassing,

me make me jolt, my head snapping to the side t

She says as she flicks her wrist

ly don't ha

y wouldn't have gotten out of the car for another half hour if she hadn't. With the cute baby

ng, Cade's the most serious out of all of them." She pauses for a moment, thinking to herself before rambling, "And honestly,

he would've mad

.

he works so hard that David's

of the place is neat, giving off an "old English pub" vibe. Between the barrels, brick

rom across the room. He's sitting alone on one o

"Here," he stands from the stool as he pulls t

take the stool he'd been sitting

He asks as he leans his

look? Yeah, that's Mateo: late 20's, average heig

g to get through the HR on-boarding stuff. I st

ou'll get through it. Once you're done with that, you'll be good for

e kid

on my face. "But this is a great company. Take it from me, the last

e thi

I sip on the glass of water that the bartender sets down for me. More and more of the enginee

diminishes. Luckily, by the time that Cade walks into the room in the same suit th

ome! C

he other end of the bar where she greets the two men in fairly ni

no, no

s me to introduce myself as they o

d male in the gray suit introduces

ed half as well as Jabari offers me a warm smile, f

ple, like me. Ev

Elys. Juni

do, but the fear that this will quickly turn into me stand

from, Miss Elys?" J

response, I add, "I-I graduated about a year ago from the University of Flor

y in unison, one equally

ician, huh?

uldn't call

" Jabari suddenly says

. It's h

e day I die, I way too often think about, "There's infinitely many real numbers between 0 and 1, and no matter how close you get to 0 or to 1, there is

s head back as he points at me and tu

s awkw

dable as he nods at Jabari and takes an awfully generous sip of his drink. The a

'm just

d Gary to offer them another handshake before excusing myself. I've almost forgotten about Krin

Okay! I'm so glad you came. Have a

room with the other engineers in our team. He returns the gesture, and I make my wa

. The dim street lights of the parking cast shadows across the asphalt, and I can't shake the uneasiness from th

hind the steering wheel, the pas

e to find Cade lowering himself next to me and swiftly shutting the door. My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach

to meet my own. His voice is low, an annoyance lingering in his tone

s, and my voice hardly sounds like my o

ith me," he warns me. "I'm

ell a

nted to say to him, and all I can mutter is, "I didn

ther's company, even if you didn't know that I've been working here for the past 3 years.

. "I don't want anything from you, Cade..." I try to hide the quaver in my voice, t

, shaking his head in irritation. It's as though no ma

dvice: be careful." His voice lowers as he threatens, "Because if you so much as breathe the w

an say. He pushes the door open and steps out of my c

try to process what just happened. The Cade I knew would've never spoken to me like that-venomous and with so

uckles bleach. Regardless of what happened between us or what happened to him to make him whoever he is

s echo in my mind, a painful reminder

..? What happ