Juvenal

Chapter 10

"Daphne..."

Mabel stood in front of her colleagues table and gently rapped it to get her attention. Daphne looked up from the document she was reading and raised her eyebrows at her.

"Yes, Mabe." She smiled and Mabel gave her a flicker of a smile.

"Daphne, I have marked some clauses which I think should be corrected. Could you please double check that for me?" she asked.

Daphne took the file to her hand and flipped its pages. She took her lips inside her mouth and nodded, turning towards Mabel.

"Sure Mabe, I'll check it again." Mabel gave her a tight lipped smile and nodded.

"Mabe –"

She stopped, as she heard Alice's voice.

"Yes Alice," Mabel turned back towards her and saw that she was standing next to Daphne's cubicle. Her hands were knotted in front of her, placed over the partition, and she was leaning over them, looking closely at Mabel.

"Mabe, are you okay?" she asked.

Mabel raised her eyebrows. She wondered how Alice knew that she was not feeling okay. She chuckled lightly and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, looking down.

"Yes Alice, I am okay." she mumbled, giving her a smile without meeting her eyes. She looked back at Alice and saw her sharing a knowing glance with Daphne.

As she had been employed in the publishing house for some time now and having known both Daphne and Alice since her first day at work, the frequent knowing glances which passes between the two of them is not something new to her. It made her feel as though the two friends were sharing a common brain and that they communicated in telepathy whenever someone else was around them.

"Are you really sure that you are feeling okay, Mabe?" Daphne asked, leaning her head on her shoulder.

Mabel smiled. She was grateful to have found two good friends who were as kind to her as Sally. Even though they were work colleagues, the friendship between the three of them was something that Mabel cherished. Having been an only child in the family, Mabel was always open but careful to choose new friends and even among the handful of friends she has, she is personally grateful to have them around her, as she knew that they cared for her as they would their own little sister.

"If there's anything that is wrong and which we could help with, just let us know Mabe." Alice said in a kind voice and Daphne nodded.

"Yeah, we are friends after all, aren't we?" she said, and Mabel chuckled.

"Sure, sure, I promise to do that." She gave both of them a thumbs up and smiled once more before going to her table.

Mabel sat down on her chair and rolled closer to the table. She placed her elbows on her table and removed her glasses. Mabel sank her head to her hands and sighed heavily. She wondered what was wrong with her. She knew that she was smiling too much to hide her real feelings. Even though she was a cheerful character before, now, she did not even meet anyone's eyes. She busied herself with her work and was used to having a fake smile on her face to hide her real self from anyone around her. She thought that as long as she smiled, everyone would think that she was alright. She knew that she was far from feeling alright.

Even at her home, she had distanced herself from her parents. Her father, who is usually a very silent person and who changed himself to be talkative with his daughter, did not mind the silence she was giving him. Yes, she still talked to him. She had her meals with her father and even shared her daily workplace gossip with him as well. But yet, there was a slight invisible barrier which she had cast around her to protect herself from letting her heart be broken by trying to get too close to help her dad, only to be met with rejection.