Between Duty and Desire

Chapter 4

Okay, now the fun part :)

***

The next morning I woke up with a feeling of anticipation. The only problem was, I wasn't quite sure what for.
The meeting was today, so I would see Kamala again.
But I couldn't be looking forward to seeing her - or could I?
I put the thought out of my head for the time being and started getting ready.
I was one of the first to enter the room where the meeting was to take place later. As I was unpacking my things, the door swung open and Bee came in.
I immediately beamed at him, the memories of yesterday still as beautiful as the evening before. He returned my expression and came towards me. "Well, how are we feeling today? Were you able to sleep a little?" he asked encouragingly. Sighing, I dropped into my chair. "A little, yes. But not enough." I closed my eyes, Bee laughed. "Looks like you still have to get used to the nightlife here. But we'll get that too."
A few minutes later, the doors opened again and Kamala entered.
Her presence changed something in the room. For me, anyway.
I suddenly felt lighter, the tiredness from before slowly disappeared.
Strange.
"I'm very sorry if I'm late, I hope you all didn't have to wait too long," she said in an apologetic tone as she walked to her place at the end of the long table.
Now it was my turn.
"Not at all, Madam President." I turned to the others with a smile.
"Thank you all for coming. We will discuss the coming week one last time today, and go into everything. Is it okay if I start with our schedule?"
There was a murmur of agreement. "Thank you very much. So..."
After I had finished my part, I handed over to the security representative.
While he babbled on about shifts, risks and dangers, I let my gaze wander around the room. My gaze finally landed on - who else could it be - Kamala.
She was sitting directly to my left. The sun fell on her face, her eyes radiated their usual warmth. She listened attentively to the conversations, nodding now and then. There was no denying it - she just looked incredibly pretty, no matter when.
Lost in thought, I dropped my pen. I quickly bent down to pick it up.
When I looked under the table, I saw that it had rolled quite far under it. I groaned to myself and knelt down to reach under the table.
Just as I was submerged, Kamala stretched out her leg right next to me, so that her skirt rode up a little and revealed her thighs.
I froze in my tracks.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't take my eyes off the large dark blue, almost violet bruise.
Why was there such a wound, such a bruise... between her legs?
Horrible images flashed before my inner eye. That couldn't be. That shouldn't be.
I was startled when a voice suddenly sounded from above.
"Ms. Blake? Is everything OK down there?"
I quickly sat up again and hit my head on the table. "Um, yes, everything's fine. I dropped my pen."
Embarrassed, I lowered my gaze.
Fortunately, the others continued their conversations immediately.
For the rest of the time, I couldn't concentrate at all.
The same questions kept going around in my head. What had happened? Why did she have that bruise? Was it an accident? Or something worse?
Half an hour later, when the last lecture was finally over and everyone started packing up, I felt a light touch on my shoulder.
I turned my head and my heart skipped a beat as I looked into Kamala's smiling face.
She leaned down to me. "Selene, would you mind coming to my office as soon as possible? I would like to discuss something with you," she whispered in my ear.
I looked at her, startled. She smiled again, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"There's no need to worry... I hope."
I frowned at the cryptic answer.
But I nodded. "Of course, Madam President. I'll be there as soon as I can."
She nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave.
I too made my way to my office, still confused by what I had seen.
I wasn't going to ask her about it, that was her business. But I couldn't help worrying.

***
Heyyyy!
I was planning on making this chapter longer and include the conversation with Kamala, but since all Kamala-fanfic-authors somehow collectively decided not to update their story's in the last few days, I wanted to give my (few) readers something small to read. Yeah so that's it.
Love,
O.