Second Ave Offices: The Time In Between (WLW)

Chapter Three

Kanda Boon-Nam stared straight ahead at the front door of her small townhome, tapping her fingers along the dining room table where she sat and her foot against her recently installed hardwood flooring. She couldn't tear her eyes from the nob, daring herself to get up and go to it and feeling her throat run dryer than the great Nevada deserts she'd toured with her last girlfriend, the precise source of her current trepidation.

Kanda truly desired nothing more than getting to know this new woman in her life, this amazingly talented psychologist Fiona Kokkinos, yet the harsh sting of her previous relationship was still darkly looming over her. She craved letting it go. She yearned for an intimate connection completely differing from it, the likes of which she'd never known and that would ultimately surpass her reasoning for finally traveling west. However, Kanda was also terrified down to her core, still split apart and only worsening as her anxiety rose.

Coming to America had always been a dream of hers since she was only around seven and making it happen had felt like drifting among the stars. Originally, that is. When reality hit her, she was torn apart, left scattered and needing mending. She was still trying to gather herself all while feeling as though she was flailing for security.

During the spring semester of her final year of college, Kanda struck up a relationship with a woman traveling Thailand for a vacation from work. She was a lawyer, successful and from the west coast of the US. At first, they'd only begun talking as a chance for Kanda to practice her English, but that soon changed the more time they spent together. Soon enough, they were pushing the boundaries of their friendship, blurring the lines between it and love.

Kanda thought she was in love. She presumed she was loved back, especially after hearing it said to her so many times during Maya's speech that convinced her to follow her home to the states. She'd been wrong. In fact, she'd been a damn fool and should have listened to her father, but she wanted to be loved so much that no matter the argument, she was going. Not long after arriving in Seattle, she'd been served an eye opener in her own bed. In the apartment she shared with her girlfriend.

Maya had cheated on her. Apparently it was the first time, brought about by too many hours apart at their very different jobs and too much alcohol that horrifying night. She'd vowed it would never happen again, yet Kanda couldn't get past it. It was less that she couldn't forgive her and more that she couldn't trust her. If she couldn't trust her, how could she be in a relationship with her? After calling her father for advice, she searched for a job, finding one within the same building wherein Maya worked and took it as a sign. Kanda remained in contact with her, checking in and also letting her know things were going well, despite their ending, but their relationship would never be the same. Not with Maya still drinking so heavily and seemingly falling apart more and more each and every time she saw her.

In the months since, Kanda had found a community and friends within her coworkers, living the life in the states that she always desired. Still, it wasn't enough. Kanda wanted more, yet her reticence in taking the plunge beyond setting up some free time with Fiona just wouldn't leave. At the end of the day, she wasn't sure she could even get into another romantic entanglement when her life was finally making sense again and trusting someone with her heart, truly letting someone in, was so petrifying. Which was one of the reasons she had offered the option of Fiona, Chloe and herself having dinner each Saturday at the end of her art lessons with her niece, among others, but also something she wanted to overcome if it meant having more of her lively reactions strewn across her features.

Fiona Kokkinos was entrancing. She was small, standing a good head and shoulders shorter than Kanda and relatively thin, but ample where it mattered most. In fact, Kanda hadn't been able to tear the image of her walking past her and out of the office building the day prior from her mind the remainder of the evening, even recalling her delicately timid smile the moment her alarm woke her that morning. She was smitten and there really wasn't any avoiding it, so if she could get this art instructor position and have those weekly dinners, perhaps her mind would clear and she could wholeheartedly move forward. Now, she sat waiting for Fiona's arrival just outside of her townhome, just past the doors she stared at so intensely, and was aiming to convince her she was the perfect instructor for her niece.