Imperfect Desires

While Dylan and Xiu were having the time of their life (sarcasm intended!) Darren was going through a mental breakdown (and we're not talking metaphorically here.) Now the question is, what happened?

And for that, we'd have to rewind a little...

When it was time to leave the office, Darren went up to his secretary, "Paige, can you reschedule the meeting with the dealers for tomorrow instead of the weekend?"

His secretary, Paige Turner who had been smiling on her own while her eyes were glued to her cellphone screen looked up at her boss and said, "Why? That meeting was arranged for a long time for this weekend."

Darren gave her a mysterious look as he said, "I have an even more important meeting over this weekend."

Paige had a skeptical expression on her face, "Important meeting?" Her fingers glided over the keyboard and she looked at his itinerary before adding, "You have only one meeting over the weekend and that's with our dealers."

Darren leaned against her desk, "Well, you don't know about this meeting."

Paige stood up from her seat and came to stand beside him with crossed arms, "I have been with you since you started this company. How come I'm not aware of this meeting?"

"Because it's a personal meeting," replied Darren with a blithe bearing. When he noticed Paige narrowing her eyes at him, he sighed, "I'm meeting my future in-laws. Happy?"

Paige almost jumped at her place when she heard Darren's reply, "Oh my gosh! That's such good news." She hurriedly went to her seat as she said, "I'm gonna send a mail right now to our partners. This meeting can wait, my boss has better things to do."

"Wow! Aren't you too excited?" asked Darren seeing her enthusiasm.

"Well, what can I say... I'm sick of seeing you brooding all alone," replied Paige straightforwardly without even caring that she was talking to her boss. But since they really started from the bottom together, they were really close enough to tease each other at every chance they got.

"Ouch! That's a bit harsh," Darren pretended to be hurt by her words but she only rolled her eyes at his reaction. Darren stayed leaning on her desk while he texted Xiu to let her know that he'd be picking her up soon. 

Just as Paige was done sending the mail, she collected her stuff and said, "Seeing you smile like this feels good for some reason."

"I always smile," retorted Darren without even missing a beat.

Paige gave him a bleak look as she said, "You smile but it's rare to see you happy." Darren furrowed his brows at her while she continued, "Boss, you smile for others. Trust me, I can tell the difference." She shrugged her shoulders as she took her handbag and stood up, "When I first started working for you, you looked like a lovesick person. But later it changed to a heartbroken one. So, I assumed that your last love didn't do so well."

Darren thought to himself about how connected his last love to his present love was. It was a miracle that even he had a hard time believing in. How could he not? His love rose from the dead to write his love story all over again. If that wasn't a miracle than he didn't know what else was.

Noticing that he didn't receive Xiu's reply, he frowned and texted her again. 

"Boss, you coming?" he lifted his eyes when he heard Paige's voice and saw her as she held the elevator door for him.

Darren nodded and joined her. Darren saw Paige touching her make-up right beside him and said, "Going somewhere?"

"Hmmm..." she hummed in reply and went on, "I'm going to the bar tonight."

"To a bar? In the middle of the week? Don't you usually go on weekends?" asked Darren, not just for the sake of small talk but also because he was genuinely interested in knowing.

"I'm going to the bar for the same reason why people go to the gym," replied Paige with a smirk.

Darren feigned ignorance as he answered, "To workout?"

Paige gave him a sideways glance, "Boss, you're not that innocent that you don't even know that most people go to gyms and bars only to hit on people or check them out."

Darren shook his head at her and with a blissful bearing said, "Well, how would I know? I'm out of that single's pool. Now, I only check my girlfriend out."

"Why do I feel like you're shoving your love down my throat?" she looked at Darren strangely before adding, "I never knew you could be petty enough to show off your love like this."

"I can't help it," mumbled Darren as he smiled on his own thinking about Xiu and Paige only thought how whipped he was. But she was genuinely happy seeing him acting his age for once. For goodness sake, he was in his late twenties barely and acted like an old grandpa sometimes. She was really sick of that. "If you're going to hit on someone, do you already have a target?"

Paige smiled devilishly as she nodded and rummaged out her phone from her handbag and while she showed the video playing on the screen to him, she said, "My friend is the bartender there. He sent me this a while ago. Someone charming caught my eye."

Darren looked at the video which was taken from a distance. The bar was dark with dim lights but he was surprised to see that the crowd was big even on a weekday. But later he understood that it was because of the live band playing at that bar. However, what caught his attention was the band playing a beautiful symphony as they sang...

♪The world was on fire and no one could save me but you

It's strange what desire will make foolish people do

I'd never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you

And I'd never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

No, I don't want to fall in love (this girl is only gonna break your heart)

No, I don't want to fall in love (this girl is only gonna break your heart)

With you (this girl is only gonna break your heart)

With you (this girl is only gonna break your heart)♪ (Song: Wicked Games Singer: Chris Isaak)

Until this point, Darren didn't find anything odd but suddenly, when the main vocalist sang the lyric, 'No, I don't want to fall in love...' he saw a girl running up on the stage and just as the main vocalist sang, 'With you' she took the mic from one of the vocalists and said in a sing-song voice, "But I already fell in love."

When the back vocal sang, 'this girl is gonna break your heart,' the girl made a gesture of making a cross over her heart and said, "No, I won't. Never!"

The main vocalist was distracted by her sudden interruption but so was Darren as he said, "Who is this idiot? She's really drunk."

Later, when the main vocalist whispered the last lyric, 'Nobody loves no one.' Darren saw the girl pushing her long hair back and Darren's eyes widened when the dim lights hit her gorgeous face and she said, "Don't lie. My baby loves me."

Seeing Darren's dumbfounded look, Paige shook her hand before his eyes and asked, "What's up boss?"

Darren turned his eyes slowly in a daze and said, "I just realized... That's my idiot."