Mine

He hated standing between the two aisles, he felt lost in all the rows of stacked products, he knew he had to arrange the new set of products but he just felt bored with all the work, everything looked same to him, he just felt like throwing it all away!

He kept wondering why he even worked at all, but was instantly reminded of the one thing that kept him from quitting, unlike others he didn't work for the desire of money, that was something he didn't have to bother about, his parents had left him more than enough to live a comfortable life.

As she walked in with the same elegant style that had captivated him from the first day he walked into the store, he was reminded of his reason to work, the manager of the store, Emma, made him fall head over heels for her, but he felt too shy to propose to her, what if she rejected him?

There was another problem too, the new hire, Eugene seemed to be smitten by her too, and had managed to impress her with his skills, he was quick to learn things unlike him, who struggled to remember where something was.

The way she said his name always made his heart flutter, he liked the way how she stressed on the 'e' in Daniel, he wished he could record it and play it whenever he felt lonely but he resisted the urge because he didn't want to look creepy.

"Daniel, you forgot to arrange that row! You are forgetting things lately."

She hadn't called him forgetful before, this remark of her's threw him off guard, he didn't know what to reply, he just nodded, although he felt like an idiot for doing so.

"You know Eugene plans to propose to Emma?", Patrick said one day while they were stacking the shelf.

"Really?", he said with disbelief, the word 'propose' had shaken him to the core, in his nervousness he dropped a can, he tried to calm his nerves by focusing on the can rolling over to the other shelf.

"I don't know, I heard from Angela, you can ask her", Patrick said while bending down to pick up the can.

He had a sleepless night, with every hour he hated Eugene more and more, he could feel his chance slipping away and he cursed himself for not being courageous enough.

He had become really shy and felt no one understood him since his parents died when he was 15, he was filled with resentment whenever he saw his peers with their parents, he couldn't let go of the resentment even after ten years, he felt he craved for something that he didn't even understand.

Emma had come to his life like a miracle, even though they hardly talked, he felt a sense of warmth and positivity whenever she was around, it was like the whole store lit up and it was all magical!

He fought through his nervousness and mustered up enough courage to ask Angela, he later wished he hadn't asked, she only worsened his fears, he came to know that even Emma liked Eugene but she felt it was better if Eugene proposed to her.

He had started hating the word 'propose' more and more, he felt like slashing it out of the dictionary, even though he realised the irony of his emotions, he himself had wanted to propose to her.

But he found a way to justify his love over Eugene's, he felt his love was pure and honest, but Eugene only liked Emma because she was pretty, to Eugene her soul did not matter!

His thoughts were confirmed the next day when Paul told him that there was a rumor that Eugene liked Emma only because she was the manager and he was only playing with her feelings.

When he saw Emma chatting with Eugene, he felt a burning sense of rage which he found hard to resist but when he saw Emma laugh, his rage was smoothened somewhat, but it returned the next moment as he realised she had never laughed with him that way.

When he came home his rage turned into sadness, what was lacking in him that was there in Eugene?, he couldn't get that thought out of his mind the whole day, it bothered him to such an extent that he couldn't eat his lunch or dinner, he was so depressed that he lay in bed the whole day.

The next day he had to take a sick leave because he was down with fever, he found it difficult to stand, he knew his emotional turmoil was the cause of his fever but at the same time he could do nothing about it.

He could only think about Emma, the way she smiled, the way she talked, how elegantly she walked, everything about her was perfect, she was as perfect as his mom, no one could love her more than him, he just knew that!

As he thought, an idea began to crop in his mind, he was never into drugs but he knew a few classmates who were caught with drugs once, he felt scared at first but when he thought about Emma, all his fears vanished.

Eugene had started to become drowsy, he slept during work hours, lacked focus and had started taking leaves.

When Emma got angry with Eugene because she found him sleeping during work hours, a sense of delight ran through Daniel, he was happy that Emma had started to see Eugene for who he was and his mask had started to drop!

When the police came to question Emma, he felt a sense of unease, Eugene had been found dead from drug overdose, and he didn't want Emma to be the suspect, he didn't do this to trouble her, that was the last thing he would do to her!

To his relief, the police believed that Eugene had become addicted to drugs recently because he couldn't handle the stress of his father's death, and he had accidently overdosed on it, it was a good idea to slowly give it to him mixed in his water bottle, than to give a large dose all of a sudden.

When he saw Emma sad, he felt a bit of remorse for his actions, he came to know later from Patrick that Eugene wasn't in love with Emma at all, it was all just a rumor and neither was Emma interested in him.

That information came like a shock to him, he tried his best to hide his emotions, but he felt the words playing again and again in his mind, he regretted his actions initially, he had killed an innocent guy over a misunderstanding but then a certain sense of happiness began to comfort him.

He had found a way to deal with people who cut his chances with Emma or even threatened his position by coming too near to her, he knew no one could love Emma as much as him because his love was purer than anyone else.