Tragically Yours

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I've been hanging out in the parking lot outside my building office for at least half an hour now. Ethan did say take my time, so I'm going to take my goddamn time before going in the office. It's still my vacation, and plus, these bagels won't eat themselves. The inside of my car may have smelled like garlic bread, but I don't care, these bagels taste marvelous. Halfway through finishing my bag of bagels, it dawned on me that I haven't bought some drinks. Dammit. Now I got to head inside the office to get some cup of water. It's safe to say that I'm not good at planning ahead.

With a heavy sigh, I got out of my car with the remaining bags of bagels. Placing the bags of bagels on top of my car, I make sure to lock my car door before heading away from it. Once I heard the click from my car, I grab the bags of bagels and ready myself for what's to come. Any sane person would go to the office during their vacation days, right? To be fair, I wasn't planning on visiting the office, but Ethan needs my help to his hypothetical accident—also my boss wants some bagels.

Wait a minute, would they allow me to enter the building without any ID? I knew I've forgotten something, I was just too dumb to know what that thing was. Well, too late now, I'm already here. Might as well not act like someone who isn't authorized to get to the office floor. Using some common sense here, the people would have recognized me by now, so there's a chance that I can get in without my ID. Luckily, this entire office building doesn't operate on identification scan.

Once I've pushed through the glass door, the people around the first floor all turned their heads to face me. This is weird. Some smiled at me while others looks like they're fighting to smile as if they're hiding something. Not the oddest day I ever had, but sure I can deal with smiling and non-smiling people that seems to be targeting to me. I walk my way to the reception desk and greet Mellisa who looks very busy talking to someone on the phone. I couldn't hear what she's saying, since she lowered her voice right after I got close enough to the reception desk. "Afternoon, Mel. I was just going to bring these bagels to Ethan and Favian." I raise the hand that's holding the bagels with a smile on my face.

She holds up a hand to signal me to wait until she ends the call on the phone. Still, I can't tell what was Mellisa and the other person on the other side of the phone were talking about. She kept her voice at a low volume, as if she's having a secret conversation that she doesn't want me to know. First was the random people smiling at me and greeting me "good afternoon" and now it's Mellisa hiding something from me. Here I thought I've built a foundation of friendship between us, but here she is, hiding secrets from me. Whenever I was craving for some gossip in the office, I head straight to Mellisa to ask her for the latest gossip. Now, she seems to be hiding something from me, and I can't help but to think it has something to do with me.

After trying to eavesdrop from her conversation on the phone, she finally smiles at me and places the phone down. Oh no, my brain is starting to panic because I know that smile on her face. A smile that told me she had a great time gossiping with someone. Now, I really am sure that she was talking about me on the other side of that phone conversation. "Afternoon, Vy! What can I do for you?" Even in her tone screams, "Ha, I've been gossiping about you, and you can't do anything about it" or that was just my overthinking brain doing such a good job at creative interpretation.

I raise my hand again that's been holding the bagels, "I just want to bring this to Ethan and Favian."

She pursed her lips like she's fighting back to talk something juicy to me. The words she's about to say next had made me both anxious and surprised. "I was just in a phone call with Mr. Favian, he said he's quite busy." Oh, she's such a great liar. There's no way Favian is this busy in the late afternoon.

"It's fine, I'll just give this to Ethan and tell him to give the other bag to Favian once he's not busy." I'm feeling a bit stubborn since I've suspected that they've been talking about me on the phone.