Confidentiality

Chapter 1

Stella

Waking up has always been a hard thing for me but having a job that I enjoy makes up for the inconvenience of having to wake at five in the morning. I, Stella Bambii, am a cognitive/cognitive-behavioral licensed therapist. That means I help clients find new ways to behave by changing their thought process or patterns. I also use behavioral and psychotherapeutic techniques to help my clients address their psychological problems. Its not an easy job but I love talking to people and helping anyway or anyhow I can. Its been like this my whole life. Family and friends have always been able to confide in me and expect me to somehow fix their problems. In the end there's always a solution.

My eyes are crusted, and my breath is starting to repulse even me. So, I drag myself out of bed and make way to the bathroom to start readying for work.

I live in the infamous and big New York City. Cars are already flying by my apartment complex and the sun is on the horizon. Its winter here, which is my favorite time of the year. The heating in the complex is working but it is not the greatest but, I'm glad that my fingers and toes are still attached. Yawning and stretching my arms, my feet meet the bare floor of my bathroom, and I wished that I had slippers. I look into my mirror to meet my pale skinned face. I have dark green eyes and my rats nest of raven black hair reached just past my shoulders. I turn and drag my hand down my face while turning the shower on to the hottest it'll go. I brush my hair out and undress from my black silk nightgown and underwear. I just stand under the water trying to wake myself up even more before washing my hair and body. It takes me about twenty minutes to shower and dress.

Although it is cold outside, I love wearing my knee-length skirts. I have a variety of colors of them, but I just put my plain black one on along with a white blouse and my black blazer. I wear my hair down almost everyday so after I blow dry it, I put some leave-in conditioner in it and call it good. I slide my black flats on and search for my purse. Making sure that my wallet and phone are in it and grabbing my documents I brought home from work as homework I'm off for work.

Since my job isn't far from my apartment complex I walk. I know that is frowned upon, and maybe Ill learn my lesson one of these days, but Im scared to drive in this big city. It is better to just walk than drive and pay for any type of damage that I would end up doing to my poor car.

Upon reaching the main doors of the lobby my friend Chris walks up next to me and opens the door for me before I could get to the handle.

Whats cooking, good lookin? He says with a smile. I smirk and enter the building.

It is way too early for your unwanted flirting habits. I would stop while youre ahead. I greet Bella, our secretary, with a small wave and a smile and continue to the elevator, pushing the button to open the doors. Chris shakes his head and smiles back at me when we enter the elevator together.

You know Im only joking. I see you as a sister, sister. He lies. This man has been in the friend zone ever since I met him. He has a girlfriend, so he says, but he treats her like a dog. To which is none of my business, so I try and ignore his jabs at getting with me. I wonder when hell realize it will never happen. However, he is sort of the only person who will talk to me here, so I just have casual conversations with him. I dont talk about anything personal, just work.

His office is on the same floor as mine, so we make small talk on the way. When I reach my door, I unlock it and enter, telling Chris that I would see him around. To which he would smile and wave, walking down the hall the rest of the way to his office.

I close my door behind me and lock it to clean up a bit before my first client comes in. The place isnt that messy, just a few things out of place here and there from last week. I always wait until Mondays to clean my office. I organize my desk, which is covered in notes and papers by the end of the week. I sweep with my little vacuum and wipe everything down with alcohol wipes. I then make sure that my Febreze automatic sprayer is still working and full. I also take a lint roller to my chairs and couch, which are all a matching deep velvet purple.