Marine Snow's

Ep. 6: Worst Morning

I woke up exactly one minute before my 7 o'clock alarm went off. After making my bed, I went to the window and pulled out the curtain. I let the sunlight on my body for a few minutes. It's a fun activity. Warm and peaceful. Especially since Dominic is not here.

“Ouch!”

The corner of my left lip hurts. More precisely, it's ripped. The cause was last night. Luckily, yesterday I immediately treated and compressed it. If not, this morning I will choose not to work. A reputation as an unfriendly JPU is enough for me. I don't want to add ‘and like fight’ behind it.

Curl my hair with fingers before realizing that I have to take a shower and wash my hair. Slowly, my feet stepped into the bathroom and finished all my needs in there. Fifteen minutes later, I came out wearing a bathrobe that I immediately replaced with a white shirt, a coat and blue dongker pants, and a sea blue tie.

“Good,” murmured me while gripping myself in the mirror.

There are 30 minutes left before leaving for the Tennessee Supreme Court. I'd better use it for breakfast and hear the morning news. Walking into the kitchen feels heavy. Especially when I remember that place where Dominic almost beat me last night.

“Your family is my family too, Aiden! Why can't you understand?!”

Dominic's voice echoed in every corner of the kitchen as if asking me to remember the whole scene from yesterday night. The news of Victoria Black's death, my frozen body, Dominic who immediately ran into his room and took all the necessary items, also an invitation that I refused.

It was that call that triggered a hard blow right on my left cheek.

“How can you remain indifferent to Victoria until the end of her life?! You're his brother, Aiden! Come home with me now, or follow me tomorrow! This is your last chance to apologize and meet him! Don't make your regrets worse by not going home to Memphis!”

Dominic says it with the same dead red face as two years ago. I remember the answer I gave was still no. Then, he left with his black backpack, leaving behind his Mazda key so I could use it to go to that place if my decision changed. And that's not gonna happen.

Dragging me back to hell won't be easy.

Unknowingly, I was already in the kitchen, precisely in front of the toaster and some pieces of bread. Immediately I put two slices of bread into the toaster, pressed the button, and waited three minutes. I try not to think about anything while I wait. But it was very difficult for me to do. I am a true thinker.

Dominic's words, Victoria's death, and my ego fought so hard that my head was dizzy.

“Ck! What am I supposed to do?”

The sound of the toaster sign has done its job is heard along with the ringing of my phone. After lifting the toast off the toaster and putting it on the plate, I picked up the phone I put on the dinner table. Natalie Carter's. The name was printed on the screen and I immediately received the call. There must have been some sort of sudden business that resulted in Natalie calling me this early.

“Is there something going on in the office?” ask me directly on the topic.

There was only one sentence I shouted in my heart. Stupid bastard! I'm not going to let go this time.

“Natalie, I'm in. Tear off the leave for me. We'll meet in half an hour.”

Immediately I disconnected our phone, then went to get the toast and peanut butter in the refrigerator. After returning to the dinner table, I put together two breakfast alloys that I liked and ate them voraciously. I think I still have 5 minutes before I go downstairs.

“It's time,” I said as I got up to clean up the rest of my breakfast. My briefcase is ready on the couch in the living room. I'll get it later.

The key of Mazda lying on the nightstand where the morning paper on the left side of the television flat I just glanced at it with my tail as I picked up the briefcase. There was absolutely no desire to take even use it. This time Dominic should be taught a little lesson. Thisismylife. He can't help. At least, being a good friend will never pay off.

Out of my apartment room, I took a quick step towards the elevator. I push the button down, and then wait. The elevator was on the 8th floor and was on its way down. Usually, half a minute is needed to get down from the first floor to the other. That means I have to wait for about another minute and a half, at the latest, two minutes.

“Good morning, Mr. Johnson,”, said Office Boy Mark White shortly after the elevator clanked and opened.

He was an innocent young man with a somewhat messy appearance. Her hair was almost never combed, the top two buttons of her uniform were always open, and there was a tattoo on her arm. Mark's parents left him when he was 15 to go to Kansas. He does not want to seek or return on them ─sama like me-and intends to be independent as a form of his anger towards them.

I stepped in. When my hand stretched out to press the Ground floor button, someone had pressed it first. From her tattooed lion hand, I can guess. “Good morning, Mark. And thank you for pressing the button.”

Mark shook his hand. “Do not hesitate, Mr. Johnson. You and Mr. Miller have been very kind to me. How could I possibly ignore a prosecutor who once invited me to dinner?”

Just the big smile I gave to Mark. If only he knew, it wasn't me who invited him ─but Dominic - I bet Mark White would have put me on his blacklist. His reason? Because I did not tell the truth and instead quietly enjoyed the praise he gave.

“See you soon, Mark,” I said as the elevator door for the Ground floor opened. Mark replied with exaggerated vigor before following my steps out of the elevator.

We split up there, in front of the elevator. Mark headed towards the back of the building while occasionally greeting his professional friend. Meanwhile, I headed to the front door and hoped there would be a taxi driving back and forth along the way. And yes, a taxi just dropped off its passengers. My hands waved right then and ran quickly to get into the taxi.

“Tennessee Supreme Court, Seventh Aven─”

The door beside me opened. I haven't had a chance to make a loud protest, a masked man came inside. The thing that happened after that was that my body was locked and a handkerchief covered my nose. A sense of tightness approached me shortly after the movement to escape the lockdown was futile. My head that felt really dizzy made me forget about the way to think calmly and rationally, as well as see.

Blackouts.