[002] married to a sociopath

                                   Everything had started off completely normal.

                                  They had gone to a park to play the infamous game and Roman had made a little boy cry. Typical Roy family shenanigans. But after the festivities were over, they planned to head back via helicopter. Celia begrudgingly joined her husband on the helicopter with Shiv and Logan, more than prepared to head back home and find another way to meet back up with Kendall. But all of Celia's careful planning would have to be put on hold because Logan seemed to be having a stroke and they had to go to the hospital. 

                                  As much as Celia could truly care less about Logan, she had to be there. 

                                 It was pretty much chaotic from that point on, and they all rushed into the hospital, allowing Logan to be taken in and watched over. Although it'd take a while, she learned that Logan had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke from the doctor. It wasn't too clear as to whether or not he'd make it and obviously, all of the siblings were panicking. 

                                Celia knew that she probably should be worrying too. But truth be told, she could care less. She was feeling just a bit hopeful that he would finally croak and die. After all, she still resented him for basically forcing her father's hand and having her marry Roman. And as much as Celia tried to remain focused on everything that was going on and pretend to be sad, it seemed as though only Roman happened to see right behind Celia's bullshit facade.

                                 "Aren't you supposed to be comforting me?" Roman huffs as he sits next to Celia in the waiting room, looking through his phone and scrolling through Twitter. Somehow the news had already leaked via an article by Lawrence Yee and everyone was talking about it. 

                                Like the article stated, it was a literal shit show.

                                 "Is that what I'm supposed to do?" Celia raised a brow.

                                 "Yes! Just try and say something comforting to me," Roman says, sounding almost pleading for a change.

                                 "I'm so sorry for what you're going through. I'll be praying for your dad to get better so don't give up hope. I'm sure he'll pull through and get back to his normal, evil self again," Celia meets his gaze, saying exactly what he wanted to hear but she was completely monotone.

                                  Roman frowns. "You're a sociopath."

                                  "Get over yourself. You and I both know nothing's going to happen. He's probably doing all of this just to get attention," Celia remarked.

                                  Roman just scoffs.

                                  "Besides, if we're lucky, he does pass. I mean, he's lived a lot longer than expected. Perhaps it's his time," she added.

                                 The words hit Roman a little harder than even Celia thought, and he storms away from her. Celia knew that she should probably feel guilty, but she doesn't. She just smiles to herself as she watches him storm off like a little child. But Celia's next task was to try and find Kendall. He had been pulled off to the side and seemingly gone for a while. So Celia gets up, now searching for Kendall to see where he had gone.

                                  It doesn't take long for Celia to find him, seeing as he was going back to join the others. But although he was a little surprised to see Celia so soon, he wasn't too upset by it. 

                                  Celia approaches Kendall with a small smile, folding her arms across her chest. "What happened to you? What were you talking about with Gerri and the others?"

                                  "They want to name me as CEO. I take over in place of Dad while he's... like this. It might be the best idea," Kendall explained. "I was just about to go and tell the others."

                                  Celia softly smiles. "Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?"

                                  "I, uh, I don't know," Kendall looks away from her but Celia has a feeling that he agrees with her. He was just playing modest so he didn't look like an asshole.

                                  "Well, aren't you going to take it?" Celia asked next.

                                  "Y-yeah. I have to. It's my responsibility as the oldest," Kendall answers with a nod.

                                  "Exactly. If anyone deserves the position, it's you," Celia insists.

                                  "Really?" Kendall perks up at that.

                                  "Yes, really. Don't let the others make you feel guilty for it," Celia insists, going as far as resting a hand on Kendall's shoulder to comfort him. It works like a charm.

                                  Kendall chuckles. "I thought you'd be fighting for Roman."

                                  "You and I both know that Roman would make a shitty CEO. I didn't really marry a businessman," Celia admits with a sigh, pulling away from Kendall shortly after that. As much as he wanted her to keep holding onto him, he didn't ask her to. It definitely wouldn't be appropriate.

                                  "Are things good between you and Rome?" Kendall questioned.

                                  "Never been better," Celia lies. Kendall gives her a look and Celia falters ever so slightly. "Maybe it's not the best idea to talk about this right now. I mean, with everything going on..."

                                  "Right. Right," Kendall nods in agreement.

                                 "But...," Celia adds with a small and hopeful smile, "We could go out sometime and talk. I'm sure you're gonna need someone to talk to after all of this."

                                 Kendall nodded once more. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure, I appreciate that."

                                 "No problem," Celia nodded.

                                 "I'm gonna go and talk to the others. Are you sticking around or...?" Kendall trails off.

                                 "Probably not. I'm feeling really tired, and I think I'm going to go back home."

                                 Celia didn't really feel as though she needed to be here. Roman and the others were focusing on Logan and whether or not he'd be able to survive the stroke. And plus, Celia hated hospitals too much. Being here more and more reminded her of when her father had been dying from cancer. Every time Celia saw him, she'd see him wither away little by little until there had been nothing left.

                                 So being back here again was beginning to bring back far too many memories for Celia. And she needed to escape.

                                 "Oh," is all Kendall says.

                                 "But if you could give me your number, that'd be great," Celia's quick to add, pulling out her phone. "I was hoping we could catch up sometime after all of this."

                                  "Uh, sure. Do you want me to get you a ride?" Kendall says as he adds his number into Celia's contacts, wondering why he hadn't done this sooner. But deep down, he knew exactly why and it had a lot to do with Roman.

                                  "That'd be nice, thank you," Celia agreed, gingerly taking her phone from Kendall when he was finished.

                                  In the process, their fingers brushed together and the two look up at each other at the exact same time. Celia softly smiles at him again, brushing some of her hair behind her ear before she put her phone back in her purse. Kendall looks away from Celia and takes a step away from her. 

                                 "Alright, I can arrange for someone to pick you up and -," Kendall began.

                                 Celia takes Kendall by surprise the moment she hugs him, even going as far as kissing him on the cheek. Kendall pats Celia on the back and hugs her back for a brief moment before the two pull apart from each other.

                                 "Thank you for everything, Ken," Celia says, glancing up at him when they pulled away from each other. And yet she lets her hands linger on his shoulders for a moment too long. "I'm wishing you the best of luck. And I hope your dad manages to pull through."

                                   It was the total opposite of what she had told Roman. But if she was going to win Kendall over and continue with her plan, she had to figure out a way to win him over. And even if that meant telling him exactly what she had to hear, then so be it.

                                   "Thank you. Thanks a lot," Kendall says before he pulls her into another hug again. 

                                    This one lasted a little longer than the first one before the two of them had to pull away, Kendall keeping his call and arranging a ride for her so she could leave. By the time Celia got into the car and began heading back to the apartment, that was when Celia sent Roman a mere text that she had already left. And as expected, Roman didn't really send her anything back. Even if he did see it, it wasn't like Roman was going to answer her.

                                 It was already pretty late by the time Celia arrived back home, taking a shower and deciding to go to sleep. She was completely exhausted after everything that had happened. The only good thing that had happened was that she had managed to make a little more progress with Kendall. And Celia hoped to keep things going. She expected Roman to come back an hour or so later.

                                 But he'd end up coming back the next morning, looking absolutely exhausted himself. If Roman thought he'd be able to get a couple minutes alone in the bathroom, he'd quickly be proven wrong. Because Celia approaches him while he was washing off his face, leaning against the doorway and basically blocking off his only escape route.

                                 "Nice to know you were comfy and cozy while I was going through hell," Roman remarked, glaring at Celia through the mirror.

                                 "What happened, hon?" Celia asks, ignoring his words and focusing on getting her own questions answered instead.

                                 "I'm going to be COO. Before Dad had his... you know, he basically promoted me as COO anyway so it doesn't even matter," Roman shakes his head.

                                 "So you'll be working alongside Ken?" Celia questioned.

                                 "Yeah but it - it's not real. It's all temporary. Dad's not dying so by the time he gets better, Ken will be old news anyway," Roman explained.

                                 "Well, for all we know, Logan might change his mind when he gets better," Celia shrugged.

                                 "What's that supposed to mean?" Roman narrowed his eyes.

                                 "Clearly Logan wasn't feeling well when he named you COO. Come on, Rome, making you an actual COO would be the worst decision ever made," Celia shakes her head, a chuckle leaving her lips.

                                 "Like you can do better. What the fuck do you know about business anyway?" Roman spat.

                                 "A lot more than you even do," Celia shot back.

                                 "Right. And that's why your dad basically gave his company away to mine instead of trusting you with it before he died," Roman says, clearly in the mood to push Celia's buttons now. She had been getting at him all day and now it was his turn to fight back.

                                  That was exactly what their relationship had become. It was more about getting under each other's skin and keeping up the illusion of love. If there had actually been love there, it was long gone by now.

                                 "What the fuck are you saying?" Celia frowned. She was giving in to Roman's twisted little game despite knowing that no good could come from it.

                                 "I'm saying the obvious: you would've brought his company to ruins within a couple of days. That's why he married you off to me. You're made to be a housewife, not a CEO," Roman replies, delivering the final blow.

                                 Celia glares over at him. Just like that, Roman had won. "Fuck you."

                                 "Fuck you too," Roman says before he approaches Celia, causing her to back away. He takes the opportunity to slam the door in her face and Celia's left alone.

                                  "Fuck you!" Celia shouts again, slamming her fists against the bathroom door.

                                   Blinking away her tears, Celia storms back into the bedroom and even slams the door just to create more noise and even attempt to have the last word. She sits down on the bed and holds her head in her hands, beginning to cry at the thought of her dad. She missed him so much, wishing that he were here. If he was, Celia wouldn't be trapped in this mess. While a part of her even resented her dad for dying and leaving her completely alone, a large part of her missed him.

                                    And deep down, Celia knew that Roman was right. Her dad didn't see her as worthy enough to run his company. It's why he married her off to Roman, thinking she'd be safer that way. And while she was, she definitely felt a lot more miserable than ever before. But Celia was going to prove her dad and Roman wrong. She was smart and she was clever and she was going to find a way out of her prison.

                                   One way or another.

( 💵💄👗)

word count: 2174
notes: sorry for the really long wait for this update but i hope you all enjoyed this one! roman and celia are truly a disaster (but it's only going to get worse from here)