Page 58 of Cloud Storm

I have never believed in fate, life is what we make of it. That’s why I have always fought for what I want. When I was a child, I was the best student. I went to the university with a full scholarship and from there I started at the bank, making a career, working my way up, starting from the bottom and climbing up the ladder to the very top.

Step by step.

Earning the position that many thought was impossible, breaking even my own schemes, reaching goals they said I couldn’t possibly attain at my age.

But for me, there was no such thing as impossible.

She tried to convince me that she was not worthy of anything good, I decided to prove otherwise. Her life would be full of wonders, I would take care of that.

But what happens when you look at another woman who is the antithesis of that image?

Your world turns upside down, of course.

What happened to me? I met the woman who was the complete opposite when she came into the bank to apply for a loan.

And I was pissed off. Very pissed off.

From the very first moment I saw her, my body reacted to her, to her presence, to her damn perfume. To her big gray eyes, that seemed to see everything, making me transparent, permeable, susceptible.

I have never felt this way before, so vulnerable, so needy. It’s a terrifying experience, it’s worse than riding a roller-coaster, it’s a jump into the unknown.

Only I wasn’t willing to give in to it.

So I reacted, in the worst way, I must add. Something boiled inside me, something that at that moment I could only equate to rage.

And yes, I was angry as well as frustrated.

Because of all the women in the world, she was the one who called to me on a primitive, basic level.

How did I respond?

Elementary, my dear Watson.

Badly. I behaved like a scumbag, a version of myself that I had not seen before and that disgusted me. I called her a liar, accused her of making a fraudulent application.

Seeing her defend herself, stand up for herself, fascinated me, and something inside of me wanted to congratulate her courage, even as my ego was forcing her out of my office at the bank.

She was so feminine, so whole, so convinced of her worth.

She unsettled me so much that it was a relief to know that I would never cross paths with her again, that I would return to my plans to construct a perfect life for myself.

But fucking fate meant our paths were destined to cross again.

I’d been renting apartments here and there for a long time, until an old family friend told me that he had a very well located house for sale and sent me a few photos.

I knew straight away this would be my home, the perfect place to set down some roots.

And guess who I met on the day I moved in. Yes, her, the quirky one, the perfect imperfect woman. The one who broke my schemes and tempted me to step out of the line.

See why I prefer not to believe in fate?

And fate was challenging me to duel.

She was there, so different and at the same time just the same. So different, so radiant, simply unmistakable.

Ethereal.

Unreachable, yet, at the same time there she was in front of me, and my gut instinct was that I had to have her.

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