She is my Sin - A Marjumn Story

6: The aftermath

Empty.

The office, that only held Marjorie as Autumn hadn't turned up, reflected exactly how Marjorie was feeling after that lacklustre weekend with Dave. A date she'd been looking forward to for that whole week ruined her weekend as, by the night, she had her fears confirmed.

Giving her body to yet another man without truly understanding her own wants and needs.

She was used to it.

All men wanted to so who was she to deny them that? It was her obligation as a woman. Just as her mother had taught her.

Replaying the night in her head, she keeps questioning one thing about the unsatisfactory moment. Why was she only thinking about Autumn?

They had just argued so surely she was just worrying about her friend, but the thoughts felt different compared to her usual worrying.

They were different.

Very different.

Autumn was never usually late to work, in fact, she was typically the one berating Marjorie for being late after a rough night out or a missed alarm. So Marjorie knew that Autumn entering a whole hour late was completely intentional, she wanted to miss her. Interacting with her was the most painful thing Autumn could think about doing right now, especially as her love had just gone on a date with a mediocre man and she knew that was all she was going to hear about, it was unavoidable.

Inevitably, Charlotte wanders into the office again, obviously curious about the weekend’s event. Autumn wished she'd come later just to miss this seemingly unavoidable interaction.

Wishing she was a fly on the wall that actually knew how to escape through the window quickly changed as Autumn became increasingly aware of Marjorie’s very uncommon behaviour. As Charlotte was, as usual, interrogating Marjorie about the weekend, Marjorie seemed completely disinterested in the conversation, even seeming sad and Charlotte's comedic dig into what may have occurred after the dinner, in the bedroom. This behaviour was so untypical of a character like Marjorie, she usually loved playing into the gossip. What had happened that made her so nonchalant?

What had happened that made her so sad?

An overprotective wave passed over Autumn as she remembered her original suspicions of Dave Richardson, she'd said herself that she didn't have to worry about Dave asking Marjorie out because he flirted with a lot of different women. He only wanted one thing. One thing.

One thing that Autumn would never take from Marjorie if she knew she didn't want it taken from her.

One thing that Marjorie struggled to say no to.

One thing that Autumn knew was taken advantage of, not just from Marjorie but from all women.

Marjorie, a statistic.

Charlotte, a ray of sunshine that was far less naive than Autumn's Marjorie, clocked into Marjorie’s behaviour as well, watching her friend of 10 years dissociated when asked about anything to do with the events that may have taken place after their very boring dinner.

“So…. It all went well then? No problems? Nothing much to report back on?”

“No.”

No?

That's all?

Dave was now in the two women's bad books, a revelation that Autumn and Charlotte made after making eye contact with each other. In silent agreement, Charlotte nodded and left the office to go back to work. Left Autumn to talk to Marjorie.

Left Autumn alone with a woman she didn't know anymore.

Left her alone with a stranger.

“Marjo-”