FALLEN (NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON)

39.

I get out of the elevator on the main floor. I head directly to the front office to talk to Sophie.  She doesn't recognise me, but yet she weirdly does after a moment.

"Sophie? It's me, Grace.  Would you follow me to the restroom, quickly?"  I lean over the desk and tell her.

I don't even wait and look to see if she follows me.  I need my friend.  I have enough of these games.  I want the truth.  And I need to get out of my disguise for that.

I get into the restroom and look at myself in the mirror.  I realise that I don't know much about Marcel.  He knows all about my life with Steeve, our ups and downs.  He knows about my brothers, my family.  He knows all of my very dear friends and I barely know a thing about him.  It was my concern yesterday.

I take off my sunglasses and my wig.  I put them all on the counter.  I untie my hair and let them free on my shoulders.  I take off the cardigan to throw the cellophane around my chest in the bin.  I button up my shirt and let my curves show.  I take off Marcel's shoes and roll the bottom of the pants he lended me to make the outfit more feminine.

Sophie gets in the restroom with a disturbed grin.  She looks for me for two seconds and then sets her eyes on me by the counter.

"What is happening?  Why were you dressed as a man?"  She rushes her questions as she seems worried about me and I am so emotionally conflicted that tears rush into my eyes.

"I always wanted to pretend to be one for a day...  And Marcel embraced that.  He introduced me to his mother as a man.  He doesn't care what anyone thinks of him..."  I smile despite of my tears and wipe them quickly as I look away.

"Then what's the problem?  Why are you crying?"  She steps closer and rubs her hand on my back as she looks at me through the mirror in front of us.  Her tone is so supportive, it takes a lot of efforts to straighten my thoughts to really get to the bottom of why I suddenly feel shattered like that.

"What can you tell me about an old employee named Kate?"  I ask her with an imploring voice that sounds more desperate than I would have wanted.

"She worked here way before I got here.  She was Andrew's associate for a few years. She was an Editor here.  I don't know her that much, but I know her name isn't always welcome around here.  I don't know what happened, but I don't think Edith likes her very well.  I know Marcel became her associate for some time.  I think one woman was jealous of the other or something and everything turned bad...  At least that's what I heard from Paul.  Which isn't the most reliable source in the world.  Why?"  She says and I am stunned at how I didn't even know that Marcel's father was named Andrew.  It troubles me that such a simple information was unknown to me.

"Nothing.  Her name was brought up in a conversation we had with Edith upstairs.  I was just wondering..."

"Grace, as much as I love you, I know how a terrible liar you are.  Tell me everything."  She coos me sweetly and I adore her support.  I sit on the counter and she joins me as I tell her about everything I have realised minutes ago.

I tell her about Marcel and Kate's liaison and how blindly in love he was with her.  I keep to myself all the BDSM details that would be too long to explain.  I just want her to know what she thinks about this whole situation and how should I see things.  I feel too overwhelmed to think rationally about all of this information.

"What do you think about it?"

"Honestly Grace, I don't know...  She's a part of his past, however fucking weird this relationship is.  You shouldn't worry about that."

"But you don't understand...  He still sees her.  He was supposed to meet her this morning, but he decided to bail on her last minute because of me.  He would have met with her if I hadn't told him that I love him last night..."