Chapter 3: I care a lot.
Williams Black sat deep in his leather chair, back straight, eyes locked on the mountain of paperwork in front of him like it personally offended him. The ticking of the minimalist clock on his office wall was the only sound that dared to exist in the room.
His hand moved across the paper at an almost inhuman speed—signature after signature—his pen gliding like a blade. His jaw was tight with focus, and the crease between his brows looked carved in stone. It was like he was in a trance, hypnotized by the numbers and power moves printed in black ink.
Not even the vibrating phone on his glass desk could break his rhythm. He didn't glance up. Didn't pause. Didn't breathe wrong.
To everyone else, it was just paperwork.
To Williams Black, it was war. A quiet, calculated war that he had been trained to win since the day he was born into the empire known as Black Enterprise.
He didn't even notice Jose's presence—completely consumed by the storm in front of him.
"Don't you think you need a break?" Jose asked as he sat across from his older brother, arms crossed with concern and silent irritation.
"I'll take a break when I'm done," Williams replied without looking up, his tone sharp, automatic—like he'd said it a hundred times before.
Jose let out a breath. "You're always like this when you're stressed. And this? This only makes it worse. You and I both know it. And JP would definitely lose it if he saw you like this."
Still, Williams didn't respond. The only sound was the relentless scratch of pen against paper.
Jose leaned forward, the worry in his voice deepening. "You don't have to burn yourself out to prove something. The company's already yours, Will. You don't need to fight ghosts to keep it."
Silence.
That was the problem with Williams. He didn't crack, he didn't break—he just kept going, like he didn't know how to stop.
Jose clenched his jaw. He wanted to shake him. Hell, he wanted to punch him. But he didn't. He just sat there, watching the man he admired most spiral quietly under the weight of perfection.
"It's not about the company, Jose." He said and finally put down his pen and looked at his brother.
"I just...have a lot on my mind"
"Will, what is it? Wait.... it's about---" he didn't know why his brother wouldn't let go.
"Yeah. So if you'll let me continue" he said and picked up his pen again.
"You haven't been so worked up about it for a long time. What happened now?" He asked concerned. He hated this version of his big brother.
"Nothing happened. Just kinda remembered" he looked at his brother who looked concerned. "Don't worry too much. Everything will be okay now stop being such a worrywart and get out" Jose smirked.
"Just say you want me to leave you alone"
"Leave me alone"
"What kind of a big brother are you?"
"Sigh.... don't you have a place to be?" Of course he had a place to be and he's here with his beloved brother.
"Yeah. A blind date" he said as he stood up slowly.
"Goodluck. You're gonna need it" he teased at the end.
He also meant what he said because Jose's last date was a total disaster. Turned out the date had a boyfriend and the boyfriend went on a date with another girl at the same place and they caught each other.
"Sure I do. Don't stress too much and rest well tonight, okay?" He said in a serious tone.
"Alright. Bye " Jose nodded and walked out of the office trusting his brother to not go hard on himself. He was still worried but Williams knows when to stop so things couldn't get worse.
Willams worked for another hour before calling it a night.
His brother was right. He shouldn't stress to much about stuff like that but he couldn't help himself.
He needed a distraction.
----
Daisy lay flat on her bed staring at the ceiling thinking about her life. She got home about sixty four minutes ago and after a quick dinner and shower she just laid there letting random thoughts come in. Both past and present and the future.
That's how it had always been for her. When she worried about something, all her worries would come and she'd just he lost in the ocean of thoughts.
She wondered how Izzy's date was going. Did the guy show up? What are they talking about now? She sighed. What a life.
She thought of things that had happened that day and remembered her encounter with Matthew. She just smiled remembering how nice he was to her but little Ms Hubble knew that no guy should be nice to her. She regrets the outcome all the time.
She got up, went to the kitchen for snacks and came back to watch a movie, maybe it could help her sleep.
She trying to pick what to watch but it was hard to find the one she really really wanted so she picked a sad romance movie that was said to have made so many people cry. Well, unlike many people, Daisy hardly cried when watching a sad movie.
Sometime ago, many people said Titanic movie was so sad that they cried a lot watching it. Daisy wanted to try it and see if she'd cry so much but she ended up laughing during some scenes instead.
"Oh Jesus. Make me cry please" she pleaded because deep down she needed a reason to cry but didn't know why. It was something that happens to her a lot. She always felt like crying and letting things out because she didn't open up to anyone. Most times, Izzy would try to make her talk about what was bugging her and Daisy would just say "don't worry I'll be fine".
Izzy always tried to make her talk but she didn't always say anything so she just stopped putting her under pressure and just let Daisy say what's on her mind. And she tried her best to help. Daisy was grateful for that.