The Love and The Lie

Chapter 5

Jeanine's POV

She hasn't been telling me something. Karen always seems troubled by something. She sometimes gets my attention, only to pause and repeat something casual, like an "I love you". When I question her, she doesn't respond. It upsets me.

I pull her away from me in our long embrace. I can still see concern in her pale blue eyes. I always see worry on her face... And fear. I sigh. What could possibly scare her in a world like this? Perhaps she has unsolved family matters? Yet that doesn't answer the question of why she wouldn't tell me anything.

"Is something wrong?" Karen says. I want to say yes, and confront her, but decide not to.

I nod. "I have a lot of work to catch up on, and so do you," I say getting her off my legs. She suddenly looks as if reality hit her. I grab a small pile of papers and hand it to her with a smile. She smiles gorgeously back.

"Of course, Jeanine," Karen says respectfully. She reaches for the papers and leaves once getting them, and a kiss. I sigh, and lean back into my chair. What would she want to hide from me? What would anyone want to hide from me?

Karen's POV

I head to the office across the hallway from Jeanine's. Inside, a single black desk sits with a blue leather chair in the back and two blue ones in the front. I settle into the leather chair and glance at my work area. Other than a few filled folders on my far left, and a photo of Jeanine and I in a lab mixing chemicals, my desk in spotless.

I pick up the silver frame and stare into the picture, remembering the day. Jeanine and I were working on trying out a new combination of elements for a serum mixture, when the glass in my hand suddenly exploded. Jeanine was right next to me and looked confused as she stared at my gloves which were red with blood. I was an initiate at the time, and she was obviously teaching our class. I thought that I would be kicked out that day. Jeanine came to me though and admitted her feelings for me. When the cuts on my hands healed and I was able to return to the laboratory, I made an "amazing find" privately with my faction leader and Jeanine took a photo of us together.

I suddenly remember the worksheets that Jeanine gave me and place the photo frame back in its position. Grabbing a blue ink pen from my pencil holder, I begin the analysis of test 17 on Subject 974.

Jeanine's POV

Everyone thinks that experiments are the only thing that you do in science, but what they don't know, is that there is a lot of paperwork and thinking that goes with it as well. When you also play a political role in your world, that pile of paperwork and thinking adds up. That's why I have Karen as my assistant. She even majored in science, so I give her the honor of writing the scientific conclusion and conducting our studies. Of course I review her work. I need to know exactly what's going on, when it's going on, why it's happening, and everything about it, so that Erudite can record it.

I grab a file from my drawer on the recent Factionless riots and boycotts this past month. I write into the page for solutions " Station Dauntless in Factionless populated areas". My report will be sent to the council made up of mediocre Abnegation members. I sigh and switch to a new file on the initiates this year. I calculate the scores of all thirty initiates and find that five will be Factionless if they don't fix their grade. After that I make lesson plans for those initiates, and later manage the number of Amity goods that every Erudite will receive in the coming season.

I sigh and look up tiredly at the blue clock on my wall when I'm finished with the last file. Not only do I have to maintain my faction, but I have to also cover what goes on in the city. It's 5:47 when Karen comes through the door with the entire packet on Subject 974, complete. Once handing it to me, she sits down in the white chair that she sat in before, and waits for me. Our work day ends at 6:00, and so I decide not to give anything new to her.

In a few minutes, I start cleaning up the papers on my desk, and Karen and I walk out of my office.

As we walk home, the question bothers me again. What could she possibly want to hide from me?