Forbidden Love

~ 42

I was the first person in the office early the next morning. The diffused grey light of a darkening sky pushed light just far enough into the corners of the building to see my way to my desk without turning anything on. I sat down slowly, quietly thrilled at the novelty of being alone, absorbing the quiet, the empty spaces, watching the birds through the eastern facing windows in the garden outside, oblivious to me. It started to rain politely- comforting rain. My shoulders relaxed and my mind quietened and I sunk deeper into my chair until I was sure that it was the only thing I should be doing with the rest of the day.

“Are you just going to lie there all day? You’ve seriously been lying in the exact same spot for over two hours, and believe me; you look like a freak. And just so you know, you’re getting seriously red and tanned at the same time, which is weird. You do remember that we have a meeting and we need to leave, right?” Yuree asked me, uncertainly, as if she was unsure if she needed to take me out or not.

I sighed and buried my face in my hands. There was a tenseness to my muscles that made me more like a mannequin on the soft chair than a woman of flesh and bone. I wanted so much to melt onto the soft foam, wrapped in eider-down, and drifted into the world of dreams. Yet my brain was a violent whirl of stupidity, trying to organize the chaos in my life. “Can you just cancel the meeting and.. let me suffer?”

“Oh God, another cancel meeting? You're going to hell for this,” Yuree walked towards my desk and I heard she put her files down on the table frustratingly.

“I am already in hell,” I muttered under my breath.

“Okay, come on. What's wrong, Cam?”

“Nothing, I'm just tired.”

“What did you do last night?”

I looked up and rested my back on the chair, Yuree crossed her arms over her chest as she studied my face. “You stayed up all night, didn't you?”

“I don't know.”

“Camila, that's not healthy. Can you please take care of yourself a little better? I know things are… tough, but you can't let them control you.”

I might already have, I sighed as I thought. “Okay, okay. Fine. I'll try harder.”

“Is there something else that happened, though?”

“No,” I shook my head and parted my gaze away from her. “Of course not.”

“Yeah?” Yuree was about to say something but stopped when she saw something. And it was then that I realized I had pulled up my sleeve. She must had seen it. Instantly, I pulled my sleeves down. “Camila, what is that?”

“What is what?” I opened the computer and typed in the keyword.

“That,” She pointed her finger. “On your wrist. What happened?”

I couldn't get the chance to do anything when she grabbed my wrist and pulled my sleeve up. She gasped. “What the hell happened?!”

“It's just an accident,” I cursed myself in my head. “I was- I hurt myself while bathing Rhea the other night, it's not a big deal.”

“You're so bad at lying, oh my god.”

My phone rang in my pocket. I took the chance to let the subject dropped and pulled out my phone. A text from Alex. I sucked in a deep breath and opened it.

Alex :
Hey
Can we meet?

“-and you have the nerve to lie to me, your best friend for- Camila! Are you even listening?!” Yuree looked so frustrated that I had to laugh.