Seraphina's POV
Mrs. Lawson had finished showing me around my office, showing me where to start and who to attend to, and I finally settled down into my seat, ready to start working.
The desk was neat, but the files? Not so much.
The former secretary's work looked a little…messy. The pages weren't arranged properly, some of the folders were missing their labels, and the digital records on the computer weren't matching with the physical ones in my hands. One would think she was fired instead of her simply leaving the office..
Still, I didn't complain. I rolled up my sleeves and got to work, carefully bringing out the files and arranging them in order so I could go through them easily when I wanted to.
Once that was done, I moved on to compiling and recording the company's bank expenses.
I sighed softly as I looked at the monitor. There was so much to correct.
I hadn't done this specific job before, but I had some knowledge, enough from my school projects I did and a few office related activities, enough to know my way around the basics.
It was a hassle.
It was overwhelming.
It was exhausting.
And I loved it.
Just as I was buried deep in my work, still arranging the office records with all my focus, I caught two hurried movements from the corner of my eye.
Two familiar figures passed by me, not too far from where my desk was and they were heading toward the direction Roman had gone to earlier.
At first, I thought I was just imagining things.
But as they walked closer, it suddenly hit me.
They looked messy. Their movements, disoriented. Like their day had taken a sharp, dark turn.
They looked like Morgan's parents.
And they were.
Curiously, I picked up my phone and dialed Morgan's number.
After a few beeps, she answered the call, but her voice wasn't its usual excited tone. It was now low and sounding tired.
"Morgan? What is it? Something wrong?" I asked, already sensing the feeling of her silence.
There was a pause on the other end, long enough to keep me in an unwanted suspense.
Then she finally spoke. "Mom and Dad lost a major business deal....and a very important investor."
My heart went cold almost instantly.
She didn't say who it was.
But the fact that I had just seen both of her parents walk into Roman's office, looking disoriented and desperate…..the pieces all place themselves together.
Roman was their investor.
"It'll all be fine, Morgan," I said gently, trying to ease the worry in her voice.
"How can you say that?" she snapped almost immediately back at me. "They just lost someone who's kept the company running for years!"
"Trust me," I repeated my words softly. "It is fine."
I heard a light sniff from the other end and then a silent, "okay."
And then I ended the call.
I stood up slowly, carefully arranging the files on my desk so I could return to them later and continue my work.
My plan?
Roman had a hand in this and if my thoughts are right, he's their investor and probably did that after finding out what they had done to me. If Roman is truly the investor, I would maybe plead on their behalf.
My thoughts were still spiraling from the conversation with Morgan, but nothing prepared me for what happened next.
I raised my eyes from the computer and there they were.
Morgan's parents.
Standing in my office.
I was stunned, my heart skipped an entire beat.
Even more stunned when they began to speak.
Not with anger.
Not with pride.
But with soft, pleading voices.
Apologizing.
Asking for forgiveness.
Their actions stunned me.
These were the same parents who had thrown me out of their house when I had nowhere else to go.
The same people who turned their backs on me the moment they thought my situation would stain their family and company name.
I remembered standing outside their house, suitcase on the hard dirt, with my heart torn, while they shut the door, yelling at Morgan for helping me.
I had wanted to feel pity for them. Earlier, I thought I might even be the one to beg Roman on their behalf.
But now....after seeing them standing there, in front of my office, begging for forgiveness
All of the memories came flooding back into my mind.
The silence.
The rejection.
The door closing shut in my face.
I just stood there, completely frozen, my fists balled at my sides and my anger rising slowly in my chest as I watched them beg me.
But then, just as the anger rose in my chest… pity followed almost immediately.
These were the parents of my best friend.
Morgan's parents.
No matter what they did to me and no matter how heartless they had been, how cold they acted towards me, I still pitied them.
That business had been their entire lifeline. Morgan once told me her parents had built it from scratch when she was just five. It had carried their whole household, paid every of their bills, supported their lifestyle.
If it went bankrupt, every other thing would collapse with it.
And as much as I wanted her parents to taste a bit of the pain they put me through that night…..I didn't want Morgan to suffer.
Not because of them.
She had still offered to help me when no one else did.
This would be my way of repaying her, a tiny part of what I owed her.
A forceful smile found its way onto my lips as I took a deep breath and walked around the table, and stood in front of them.
"Please don't….." I said gently.
I bent slightly, reaching my hand out to hold them up. "Please don't. It's all in the past."
"Please, Seraphina, forgive us," her mother still insisted on begging, her voice trembling.
I looked at her and smiled, even softer this time. "Please, ma….. it's all in the past, really. Everything that happened… It led to something good. And I know you only did what you thought was best to protect Morgan. It's alright."
They paused, completely stunned, staring at me as if they couldn't believe I was forgiving them, after all they did to me.
And honestly...I wouldn't have done so.
But their daughter made me.
Morgan's kindness still lived in my heart, louder than any other negative feelings did.
I wasn't angry anymore.
I just felt pity.