Deadly Sins

Part 8

A few months have passed since the trip to Tokyo. Nothing suspicious had happened, which is why I almost forgot about it. Sometimes at night I would wake up, feeling a lot of pain in my whole body, but I couldn't say why. I went to a doctor, but he couldn't find anything either. He asked if it maybe had to do something with my period and I convinced myself it had. It happened only once a month, so I believed it.

My weeks got busier when I got transferred to another group at work. As if that wasn't enough bad news, father treated me worse than he ever did, I hadn't really talked to Harry, as I hardly saw him anymore and my new group leader hated me. I don't know why, because I didn't do him any harm. I never saw him before. But I noticed, that he was related to my father's new secretary, Lucia Allison. They share the same family name and I saw them talk in the lunch break. He might be her father, but that's only a guess. Liv got finally her long awaited promotion and had to move to Spain for her new position. Of course I was happy for her, but I missed her a lot. Having no one to talk to changes you. I often forgot how to talk in correct sentences, or got too excited when I was able to talk to someone, so I talked too fast and stumbled across the words flowing out of my mouth. Bernard, our butler, would talk too me on some evenings, but he was busy most of the days and I wouldn't be home until late in the evening anyway. Once I got home, I was too tired to talk and often went straight to bed. I lost count of how many times I skipped dinner, being to exhausted to eat. Bernard often expressed his concern by baking cookies or small cakes for me, and of course for Harry and Dad, and placing them on the table or in my room, perfectly knowing I can't resist them.

It was autumn by now, almost winter and the days got short. I was going home from an exhausting day at work, when I noticed someone following me. The figure was thin, a little bigger than me and it hurried to catch up with me. I panicked, but once the person got into the light of a lamp post I stopped worrying. It was dad's secretary, Lucia. She ran the last few meters to me, holding her dark brown beanie, so it wouldn't fall of. "Hey Jennifer", she greeted me with a big friendly smile "I'm supposed to meet your father and I thought we could go together." I could see her breath in the air, as it was a cold evening. 

"Sure" I replied, following her movements, as she closed her bright trench coat "Why are you meeting him at such a late hour? Wasn't he at work today?" 

She was still struggling to button her jacket, because of her thick gloves and because her sweater underneath was almost so thick, her coat could hardly close. "Ah... No he wasn't. I am bringing him some documents he has to sign before tomorrow and" she let out a desperate sign, as she really couldn't close her coat "And I couldn't find Harry." 

"I could help you with the coat if you want.", I offered her, but she shaked her head, saying it was alright as we would ride the bus anyway, hopefully there would be heaters. "Harry wasn't there either?", I then asked, confused "But he couldn't be home either, his car wasn't there this morning. But now that I think about it, why don't you give me the documents? It must be a large detour for you, or do you live nearby?" 

"Oh, Harry was indeed at work, but I couldn't catch him." she said, stopping at our bus stop "I'm not living in this suburb, but I have to explain some things about the documents, but thank you for offering your help." She smiled at me.

"Oh okay.", I said taking out my money out of my pocket. We got into the bus, as soon at it arrived and took our seats. 

"May I ask why you're not driving yourself?", she asked me, pushing her flashing red hair to one side, so it wouldn't be stuck between her and the back of the seat. 

"Oh, well I could drive myself, but it's better for the environment to take the bus. Harry used to take me with him, but we have different working hours now.", I replied, smiling in amusement, when I saw her unfolding her scarf and laying it on her, like a blanket. "Are you that cold or do you want to sleep?"