#10MIN10DAYS Challenge – Day 1 : One Man’s Trash

I signed up for the #10MIN10DAYS challenge hosted by a very talented writer and friend, Tammy. You can check our the original challenge and her writing blogs here.

Each day she will give us a prompt and we have to set the timer and create something with that prompt within 10 minutes. I decided to try my hand at free flow writing or flash fiction using the daily prompts, to practise my writing. As for my accountability, I will try and post each day’s output on my blog. I would love to hear feedback from you, if you choose to read it 🙂

One man’s trash can be another man’s cash. Or should I say another woman’s?

We met in the elevator one afternoon. She was trying hard to hide her tears, but only a woman notices these things. “Are you alright?”, I asked.

“Yes, sorry, I didn’t want to create a scene.”, she spoke softly, between small sobs.

Its easy for a woman to talk to another, especially when she has gone through something almost every woman experiences one way or the other. Over a cup of hot chocolate that I insisted I paid for, she told me her story. They’d met at work, and she smiled when I rolled my eyes, not speaking out what I meant to say – another office romance?, oh please!

Yes, they met at work, and she was the smartest accountant in her team. She was single and always volunteered to help others in the team out. She worked overtime, for free. If you had a family, you could bank on her to take up your workload, so you could be with your wife and kids. And she wouldn’t ask for anything. He had noticed this, and her brilliant mind. He had praised her every time she helped him out. He said he had family – an ailing mother he needed to take care of. She did a lot of work for him. But in the end, he was the one who was promoted. She never suspected, how. They became closer. Until one day, she received a rude call from another woman.

“What an asshole.”, I muttered.

She had waited an entire month in the solitary darkness of her apartment, feeling used and rejected like a tissue paper, until she found the courage to walk to his door demanding an apology. Only, that didn’t go as expected. He had slammed the door on her face saying he had guests and family over and he couldn’t do this now.

“Im glad we met. Because that guy works for me and I was on my way to his house for a dinner party he was hosting for the bosses. Also, I think I’d like to take you out for more than coffee next time,” I said, with a wink, that I hoped would convey to her, what I wanted to say.