Viktor Krupp, a young lad who had turned 27 just a week ago, strode through the city of Vienna, Austria. He was looking furious but he somewhat looked gloomy as well. His brown eyes were glimmering with sadness as if he was betrayed. There were tear drops in the inner corner of his eyes. It was a cold night and it was past midnight at that but he didn’t seem to care. He had gone out on a walk to clear his mind from all the things that had been happening.

The freezing air was blowing. Viktor was only wearing an off white knitwear turtle neck with his brown pants and a camel brown over coat but these layers weren’t enough to save him from the cold wind that blew. He was feeling cold but he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Usually Vienna was on the drier and warmer side but that night everything was different. The tip of his nose and his ears were cold and red but he didn’t seem to care much. He was lost in his thoughts.

Haaaah-“, Viktor let out a long sigh and then began to mumble, “How could he even do this without even consulting me? How could he not even think of me for a moment? He only cared about his friend and what his friend wanted.” Viktor sounded furious. He rustled his hand through his hair as if he was about to curse. Then he took a deep breath to calm himself down.

He was all bothered and angry because his father had chosen his daughter in law all by himself. He had not asked Viktor what he wanted and had made arrangements for their engagement ceremony. Engagement ceremony with the girl he had never ever seen before. He still had not come to know her name. It was all so sudden that his brain didn’t understand anything that was happening. The only thing he knew about the girl was that she was the daughter of his father’s friend.

“What is the emergency?! Why do they want me to get engaged and married to her?” Viktor was confused. He could not think of a single reason. “Is she disabled or something? Is that why they want me to get married to her and dad couldn’t refuse because it was his friend’s daughter?”, Viktor was forming all kinds of theories in his mind but he couldn’t grasp the real reason.

His head started to hurt. The walk in fresh air was of no help to clear his mind. He passed by a convenience store. He thought of getting himself some drinks to clear his mind but then he thought about his job in the morning. It was a working day and not a weekend. The only option he had left was to sleep on his problems.

When Viktor thought of his plan to sleep, the corners of his mouth arched and he gave a gloomy smile and said to himself, “Yeah, I should just sleep. That is probably the only thing I am good at.” Just as he was about to turn away from the convenience store door, a lady came out the store banging the door in Viktor’s face. The lady froze as she realised that someone fell down on their back because of her.

“Oww!”, groaned Viktor with pain. It probably wasn’t even that painful but since his body was cold and freezing, he felt the pain fifty times more. While still on ground, he rubbed his hand over his face where the lady had slammed the door.

“Watch where you are going lady-“, just as he looked up he saw one of the most mesmerising women on earth. The type of women you see once in your life and they just disappear. The type of women you see when you are the worst dressed in a gracery store, school or airport. It made Viktor speechless.

“I-i am so sorry! I didn’t see you! I’ve been so out of it since morning.” The lady apologised to the man who fell down.

The young lady was wearing a beautiful black dress. She had a shawl covering her shoulders and a purse in her hand. A beautiful pearl necklace and matching pearl earrings. Her nails and hair were all done as if she was the daughter of some rich man. Everything she was wearing looked nothing less than five thousand euros.

Viktor stood up while staring at the guilty yet beautiful face of that lady. The lady bowed down to him and asked him again for his forgiveness. Viktor could have forgiven her and moved on but there was something about the lady. Something captivating. Maybe it was the cold wind that night or maybe it was because he was in a bad mood or maybe it was the beauty of the lady that he did not want to let her go easily like that. Maybe he wanted to talk to her and thus acting like a petty teenager he chose to be unforgiving.

“You could’ve broken my nose, you know.” Viktor said in a little furious tone.

“Well it didn’t break, did it?” The lady mumbled as she was looking down.

“What did you say?” Viktor didn’t really understand what she had mumbled about but he knew it wasn’t something nice.

“I said I am really sorry! I really did not mean to.” The lady looked guilty and annoyed at the same time yet she smiled at Viktor and said, “please forgive me and let’s forget what happened here.”

The glossy lips and the smile altogether made Viktor’s heart skip a beat. Is this what they called Love at first sight.

The lady saw that the man’s eyes were directed at her lips. She was a little creeped out as being alone in the middle of night could attract creeps. But maybe because he was handsome and had a calm and peaceful aura, she wasn’t really scared. But she decided not to judge that someone is nice because of their handsome face. He could be an actual creep for all she knew. She decided to cut down their talking time and rush from there.

“You know what, here take my card and if you see any injuries on your body once you get home then text me, I will try my best to compensate you for any hospital bills you get because of the injuries.”

She handed over her card to Viktor. She then bowed down again and said that she was sorry again. She sat down in her car and all of a sudden she was gone.

-Natalia Vladimir-

That is what it said on the card. That was the name of the lady, Natalia. It was a card with only a phone number and an email address. There was no company, no designation on the card which made it odd. The surname sounded like Viktor had heard it before but he did not pay much mind to it.

Viktor was still mesmerised by her beauty and the whole situation felt like a dream. And just like that the story of his Love at First Sight ended before it even began. He knew he had no chance and even if he did, his father had already selected a potential partner for her. Just thinking about that made his blood boil. Viktor folded the card and threw it in the pocket of his coat.

“What happened to the rule of not dating or getting married before we get financially stable?” Viktor mumbled with anger again and then he headed straight for his apartment.

...----------------...

There were cans on beer on the floor and right next to them lay a beautiful woman with her thick brunette hair that had blonde streaks in them. She was sleeping on the floor and was in such deep sleep that she was drooling.

*knock knock*

Someone knocked loudly on the young lady’s door. She made a slight movement as if she heard the knocking. The door was knocked at again and this time it was louder with her name being called out.

“Natalia! You are getting late for your university class! Get up!”

Hearing the word university, she suddenly opened her eyes and hearing the word late, she got so terrified as if she had seen a ghost. The knocking continued with the man calling her name again.

“I’m up! I’m up!” She rose from the floor and rushed to the bathroom. She had a slight headache with a stomachache but she ignored it. She washed her face, brushed her teeth and came back to her room. She picked up her phone and saw the time. It was 8:05. Her class today was at 8:30 and it took almost 40 minutes to get to her university department.

Being horrified looking at the time she screamed, “Somebody should have woken me up earlier! I told you I had a morning class.” She hurried her things in her bag and changed out of her pyjamas. Looking at her wrist watch she panicked even more. She threw her hair in a messy bun and dashed to her car.

“You are already late, it’s better to sit down and eat breakfast than rushing to the class when you already know you wont make it there in time.” A man in his late fifties was standing in the door frame that lead to the garage. It was her father, Mr.Vladimir. He was a tall man with slight beard and a moustache. But he was weirdly thin and looked somewhat sick by face. Yet he was quite charming.

“Dad you should have woken me up if you were at home!” Natalia said to her father in a complaining tone.

“You told me not to talk to you yesterday. I am shocked how quickly you forget things,” the man said with a gloomy voice. His eyes looked like as if he was hurt by what his daughter had said to him and as a father it was hurtful to hear your own child say they would rather not talk with them.

Natalia was embarrassed but at the same time she was still angry at her dad and still stood by what she said to him during the heated discussion last night except for the fact that she would rather not talk with him. She knew she hurt him. Her love for him was far more than that one could imagine so seeing her father hurt by her words, she felt her eyes burn and tears form in her eyes.

Her voice started shaking, “I-I am really sorry. I really did not mean to say that. It just came out in the spur of the moment. I was angry because of what you said and I gave you my reasoning but you were not ready to lis…”. Just as she was about to finish her sentence, she felt a lump in her throat and all of a sudden, the tears started to roll down her cheeks.

Her father was standing in the frame of the door looking at her. He did not look guilty for what he had said to her last night but he did seem sad about seeing his daughter cry. He came down the stairs into the garage and then came closer to her and gave his daughter a big hug.

Natalia, while crying, tried to resist the hug as she had not forgiven him for the last night’s discussion but she then just gave in. She cried out her eyes while her father patted her back.

“I know what I said might have hurt you. It definitely did. I know I shouldn’t be making such a huge decision in your life but I want to see you happy. I want to be sure that you will be with a man who takes care of you, worries for you, is loyal to you, loves you more than I did after I die.” Vladimir’s voice was soothing and low but the things he said were gloomier than his eyes.

Hearing the word die come out of his mouth, Natalia pushed away from the hug. With all the tears in her eyes she again started crying, “Why would you say that you are going to die? Didn’t you say that you will be with me forever. And no man can love me more than you, dad. Not a single man, not a single woman. Even I cant love myself as much as you love me.”

“That is somewhat true but I am sure that…” just as he was saying it, he decided to stop talking otherwise his daughter would cry even more.

He wiped the tears off her face and then brought her back inside home. Natalia’s vision was blurred from all the tears but she followed her dad back into home. It was already past her class time so she just decided to give up one class.

As she sat down in the chair, her stomach started to hurt. She was slightly hungover from the last night’s booze. She had forgotten all about it because of the panic for her class and the talk with her father. As soon as she had calmed down, she felt like throwing up. She ran to her bathroom. Gladly she didn’t really puke. It was just a nauseous feeling.

She came down the dining hall where her father was sitting and waiting for her. She was served with honey in warm water to help her with the hungover. After that they had a light breakfast. Mr.Vladimir was deep in his thoughts. He buried his head in the newspaper he had in his hand. Natalia was texting her friends telling them that she wouldn’t be coming to university today.

Mr. Vladimir stared at Natalia from the side of his newspaper. He then inquired, “is that James you’re talking to?”

Hearing this Natalia turned her head towards him and said: “No, I was telling my friends that I wouldn’t be coming. Do you want me to talk to James?”

Her father narrowed his eyes and said, “no.”

“I thought so. You already told me to break up with him last night and get married to some weirdo out of nowhere. No way you would want me to talk to James.” Natalia said all this nonchalantly but then she realised what she had said. She did not look sorry.

Her father stared at her hoping that she would follow his advice, “So? Are you going to break up?” He was anticipating a positive response.

Natalia looked at him and then shook her head suggesting that she would not break up with him. It was disappointing for her father but he could not force her further. He did not want another heated argument between them like last night. So he picked up the newspaper again and started to read it.

...----------------...

“Ok sir, I will call you back as soon as I get the tax report from them.” Viktor said in a professional manner while holding the receiver in his right hand.

‘Phew, working is hard,’ he thought to himself. ‘Glad I joined the company though. New exposure everyday is better than staying at home while my parents talk about my marriage out of nowhere.’

Viktor was lost in his thought. All of a sudden someone called his name. “Mr. Krupp! Come to my room for a second.” Viktor rushed to the room and there was a man standing next to the office table.

It was the Company’s Director’s son, James Atlas. Him calling Viktor to his room was always a bad news. Viktor was older than James yet he was still an intern whereas James, at an age of 24, had inherited the company. It was generational wealth.

“Are you stealing from this company, Mr. Krupp?” James asked Viktor straightforwardly. Viktor was taken aback by such remarks.

“Pardon?” Viktor looked surprised.

“I asked if you were stealing from our company by not showing us the correct tax return reports.” James asked in a harsher way.

“No, I am not sir! I always give the correct report.” Viktor said trying to calm himself down.

“Then who is stealing from us? I asked everyone else and everyone had a valid reason and a strong alibi, whereas you Mr. Krupp, have no proof to show that you haven’t been stealing from our company. You have no strong alibi. You are just an intern yet you are the last to leave the office? Why is it so? Care to enlighten me?” James asked him leaving Viktor speechless.

“I feel like you have been snooping around our office in the hopes of finding some useful documents to send to the rival company.” At this point, James was shouting at Viktor for everyone in the office to hear.

“Sir, i may not have evidence to prove my innocence but you have no right to accuse me of something that I didn’t do. What proof do you have to say all this?” Viktor finally said to James.

James looked at Viktor whose face looked like it was boiling with anger. James did not like Viktor. He had no reason. He just thought of him as some sort of enemy that he should crush before he became stronger.

Hearing Viktor’s reply James said, “well do not worry sir, we are already looking into the evidence and once we find it, you are going to be taken to the court. But if you resign right now, we may look over it and not report the lawyers and it wont go on your cv as well.”

Viktor suppressed is pride. He had done nothing wrong but there wasn’t a single way to prove himself. He didn’t really know what to do and what had happened. He jut got scared of what James had said about him. He sucked in the curse words and headed out of James office. Everyone there stared at him as they had heard what James said. He felt suffocated and ran to the office rooftop to take a quick breather.

Just as he went out to the rooftop, he felt at peace. He thought he was alone when he let out a few curse words for James and lit a cigarette, “Who the fuck does he think he is? He thinks that generational wealth gave him the right to treat people like shit?! He is the worst. Wish I could slap that ugly grin on his face. He is younger than me and still has no respect for me.”

Just as Viktor continued and puffed the smoke, he felt presence of someone close to him. He turned around and saw a woman sitting on the bench near him. How could he have not noticed her. He felt like a fool. Shee probably heard everything he had said.