Bill led a modest and mundane life. He ate, slept, and worked. His job had become a proxy for living, and with no social life to speak of, he dedicated himself to his work. As a result, he was quite successful and rose to the ranks of middle management in a relatively compressed timeframe for someone his age.
Still, with his professional life going so well, Bill knew something was missing and it was his own fault. He created an impenetrable bulwark to ensure that his obligation to his job would not be sidetracked by anything, including a romantic entanglement.
But then Bill met Marcia and his priorities changed dramatically. He became obsessed with her, to the point where he was shirking his job responsibilities and missing critical deadlines. But Bill no longer cared about his job. All he cared about was Marcia.
“Darling,” Bill wrote in a text message to Marcia, “meet me at City Hall at 4:00,” and he was thrilled when she agreed. He arrived early and watched the big clock countdown toward 4:00. When she arrived, he hugged her and asked her to marry him.
“Sorry, Bill, but I’m breaking up with you,” Marcia said. “You’re smothering me.”
(200 words)
Written for Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner and for the Tale Weaver prompt from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie (darling). Photo credit: Pixnio.com. Also for these daily prompts: Daily Addictions (bill), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (mundane), Ragtag Daily Prompt (proxy), Your Daily Word Prompt (compress), Nova’s Daily Random Word (bulwark), The Daily Spur (obligation), and Word of the Day Challenge (countdown).