Cold. Loneliness. Heartbreak. These were Norman's best friends. Well, there was Leonard occasionally. But when they had one of their fall outs which was at least once a week, that was all he was left with.

His eyes flickered open as he looked around his room. He checked the time and it was barely 3:00 am. It was not surprising that his lights were all turned on at this time. He was terribly scared of the dark.

Norman sat up on his bed with his head in his hands. How on earth could he get rid of these nightmares that wouldn't ever let him sleep? He was long years away from all that, he was a grown man, he had a great company, he had everything. Everything in this godforsaken cold, lonely house.

Humans were shitty people, that was pretty much why he had none around him. Also, he and all animals he could think of shared a mutual hatred. He had a goldfish anyway hanging somewhere in his sitting room. "Damn," He said, he'd forgotten to feed it in at least 2 weeks. Just one more dead fish to the long list. Norman was convinced all their ghosts were haunting him and bringing back memories he didn't want in the form of nightmares.

His mind wandered back to what had unexpectedly happened last week. He knew well that he wasn't supposed to think of it or go back there but that was what being up at 3 am did to you. Made you think about things and people you weren't supposed to.

Throwing that memory to the back of his mind was all he could afford right now. Her sad eyes, her struggles, he saw it all.

"Fuck! I hate you!" He yelled pulling his pillow to his face and holding it there for as long as it'll take him not to care.

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"Leo," Norman said walking into the lavishly furnished office his friend owned. It took a second to look into the mirror as he passed by it. He didn't like what he saw. He never did, wondering for the umpteenth time why a full-grown man would need a mirror in his office.

Countless people had told him that the only thing fairly appreciable about him was his eyes. Obviously the countless people living in his head because no one outrightly just called someone ugly.

Norman knew he was ugly and felt like that was the reason almost no one wanted to associate with him, not even his brother but he wasn't going to think about Mac right now.

"Mr Patterson, what do you want?" Leonard had a stern look on his face and his eyes never wavered from his phone, his hands busy hitting on his keypad.

"I didn't know you were back from your honeymoon already," Norman said with a wry smile as he took the seat opposite him whether he was invited or not. "What does it feel like to be... Married?" The word was almost scary to say.

Leonard rolled his eyes.

It wasn't surprising that this wasn't exactly a topic he was anxious to talk about. So far so good, married life had been hell. That was probably the reason he was already back to work after their barely three days long honeymoon.

"You wanted me gone long enough so you can take over the company?" Leonard asked dropping his phone almost as if he was angry.

Leonard did know that wasn't the case and would never be. Norman was like the brother he never had and they were as close as can be even though they had mostly different opinions on things. But he was just upset.

He got married to Sara much against his wish three days ago simply because she was knocked up due to one drunk careless night, the biggest mistake of his life and all of it was Norman's fault.

If only Norman had not tried to pick him up from his heartbroken state or hook him up with some girl that was obsessed with him or force him to do the right thing which is marry her, his life would've been okay. He would have been single and waiting for the love of his life the one that had left him heartbroken countless times.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Well... Married life is terrible!" No one knew how much he couldn't stand Sara or the fact that he was going to be a father soon no matter how unprepared he was for it.

Leonard looked up and saw that his friend was smiling. Why wouldn't he? This was all his fault. "Something funny?"

"Your face." Norman didn't hesitate. His face was indeed very twisted but one could still appreciate his ravishing look.

Leonard had always been the one among the two that attracted all the attention and all the girls. At some point in high school, Norman made some money off desperate girls who wanted to be with him and he'd force him to talk to them. No one knew it but Norman was well aware of all the tricks to get whatever he wanted from his best friend.

They first met in junior school, both were sad, lonely and angry with the world. Norman because he'd been thrown in a boarding school by his brother who'd shown him only cruelty and Leonard because his parents were getting divorced and didn't want him around. Norman was being bullied and Leonard had stood up for him even though he knew he wasn't strong enough to take on the bully. But he just couldn't stand it when someone was being treated badly.

Norman dealt with the bullies eventually. He didn't let things slide.

They confided in each other and became fast friends. Leonard couldn't believe someone could've gone through so much in life and there he was thinking he'd known hell just because his parents were getting divorced. Norman was amazed someone as cool as Leonard wanted to be friends with him and he made it his life's obligation to maintain that friendship no matter what.

Leonard's father had died few years after they got out of college and he inherited the furniture company which he now ran with his part crazy best friend after selling over half of his shares to him.

Till today, Norman still somehow felt that Leonard's friendship was a favour.

"If you didn't force me to get married to Sarah, I'd still have my life to live by now?"

"You call that a life? One you're constantly beating yourself up over a girl that doesn't and will never want you?" Norman said unsympathetically.

"Now you know I'm going to be unhappy for the rest of my life, thank you." This was fast turning to another one of their arguments. He knew it was stupid to blame Norman for his own mistakes but right now, he had to be angry at someone.

"At least I'm not the one that got a girl pregnant."

"I wonder if you're capable of doing that, Virgin Norman." Leonard spat out the words and regretted it immediately.

"I should've known coming here was a big mistake," He said as he got up and walked out shutting the door behind him angrily scaring Leonard's poor secretary that had accidentally dozed off.

*************************

*Virgin Norman. How great for him to remind me.* Norman was pissed as he walked into a coffee shop and took a seat at an extreme corner where he would be as unobserved as he obviously wanted to be given his dark glasses and face cap.

He was indeed convinced that he was the only thirty year old virgin in the world and that would go on for the rest of his life. Norman and women just didn't go. He was too unattractive, he never knew what to say and the list of his excuses went on and on.

Was it time for all that to change? Was it time for him to prove to Leonard that he could get a girl too? He could easily pay any girl to prove Leonard and the world wrong about him. He wasn't an incel, he just had better things to do with his life.

Or, did he?

His eyes travelled to the waitress at the table beside his. Her long black hair cascading down her shoulder, her slender figure, her flawless dark skin, obvious from the knee-length  short-sleeve dress she was wearing.

*Stop it, Norman.*

But he knew that was not possible. He wouldn't be here if he could. He just couldn't take his eyes off her.

*Beatris* He read her name off her badge, but he didn't need to. He knew her name, he knew everything there was to know about her. The only thing he didn't know was why she made his heart beat so fast, why he was smiling just at the mere sight of her and why he couldn't stay away after coincidentally running into her in front of this café the previous week.

"Do you want anything, sir?" She snapped him out of his thoughts and he felt as though there was a drum set in his chest. He couldn't concentrate or think, he couldn't hear what she was saying.

*Why is she so close? Why is she staring at me? Why does she look so attractive? Is she wearing make-up? *

"N-no," He said.

She rolled her eyes. "If you won't order anything, sir, you can't sit here then," she said with a frown.

*Is she angry?* He was disappointed with himself for making her angry, that was not part of the plan. "I was just leaving." Norman stood up awkwardly and hurried away quickly out of the restaurant.