The World As We Know It

Chapter 12: Blue Like You

Art credit: looceyloo on Tumblr

Before Yelena even had the chance to step into the office, the start of her morning had been quite eventful. Running out of coffee had been her first mistake; forced to stop at a cafe she came across during her commute— as caffeine was a non-negotiable for a Monday.

Her schedule was usually lenient enough to make little stops like this, if necessary; but Yelena was not expecting to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for the better part of an hour, because of a car accident.

And of course, this caused a ripple effect on the roadways; drivers losing their ability to navigate calmly and rationally, as Yelena would be left with a migraine that no amount of coffee could fix.

Her car pulled into the parking garage, at around eight-thirty— a time where she was considered early, but would still have to deal with the rush of people trying to come into the building.

Already, there was a crowd waiting by the elevator; Yelena managing to squeeze herself inside when the doors had opened— shoulder to shoulder with the plethora of bodies dressed in winter jackets or blazers.

The collective body heat would prove to be too much; even if it was the end of February, and freezing cold outside.

She would have to sit through twenty-four more floors of this; the elevator pulling up to the ground floor, as the doors opened again. Obviously, there was no room for more people to enter; though a lady had forced her way in, regardless— smiling towards Yelena and the crowd, as if that was supposed to make things better.

Yelena huffed as she pulled her briefcase and coffee closer into her body. She hadn't even arrived at the office, and this day was already proving to be something.

As the elevator ticked up the building, the amount of people slowly began to thin with each occasional stop— not hindering Yelena's impatience, as she was one of the first people to fly out of the elevator, when it arrived onto her office floor.

Starting down the main aisle of the floorplan, Yelena was trying to reach for the keys in her buttoned coat pocket, when someone to her right had approached her— not thinking much of it at first, as she was trying to juggle everything she had in her hands.

In her eyes, she didn't see it as anything besides an employee in a rush to get their cubicle; following promptly behind her— albeit, a little too close for her comfort.

That was the first sign that caused Yelena to raise an eyebrow; her attention definitely captured, when the mystery employee began to speak.

"Excuse me?" The unknown woman asked. "Have you seen my husband around?"

It was such a stupid question that Yelena stopped in her tracks and scoffed.

"Like I know who your husband is."

There were hundreds of employees that worked in the office— if not, hundreds more that were stationed workers in their factories— as how was Yelena to remember everyone, if they didn't hold some sort of importance? If it wasn't Blair, Andrew, or Bianca; Yelena really didn't time.

Yelena turned around, about to shoo her away; when she found something quite familiar about this woman— as if she's seen her somewhere around this office before— or another place work-related. It was the brown curly hair; but most importantly her eyes— this agonized, doe-eyed look to them— like a hurt puppy you might come across on the streets.

"I'm sorry," The woman apologized; quick to clarify herself. "My husband is John Hessonite, and I haven't seen him in..."

She didn't have to hear the rest. Now that she knew who this was, Yelena was done talking to her; refusing to be thrusted into the marital problems of someone who she wanted to rot in hell.