FALLEN (NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON)

47.

I leave Edith's office with a big weight lifted off my shoulders and a pure sense of happiness. She loved my story!! It's such a relief. I thought she would despise me forever. I admit she maybe doesn't like me more with the scene that I have just caused in her office, but I feel confident about everything I said. It's like I was seeing her for the first time and it got me to understand Marcel better. I am happy to have had that talk. It ruffled some feathers, but I think she respects me now. It was something that had to be done.

I head for the bathroom, noticing that the receptionist isn't at her desk. I think I'm better to head downstairs to use another loo, because with her pregnancy and all, I don't want to rush her in any way. Plus, it gives me the perfect excuse to go see Soph.

I take the elevator to the main floor and head directly to Sophie's desk. It doesn't take more than a smirk her way for her to understand that I have something to share with her. She follows me to the bathroom and she closes the door. I tell her all about my meeting with Edith and how it relates to the conversation we had at dinner last night. I talk to her about that too and finally admit Edith's love for my book. I get all excited and so does she. She is a great support.

After a few minutes of chatting, she feels the pressure to go back to work and lets me finally go pee, but she stops me right before leaving. She looks at my chest and down my cleavage. I do the same.

"What happened to your chest?" Sophie asks me with a worried yet curious grin on her face. I look down and notice the redness of where Ratchett had used the fork on me and all of his electric tools. I really should have covered that up. It reminds me the big ecchi I have on each cheek of my bum. I need to react, quick!

"Allergic reaction to my solar cream." I purse my lips to the side as I look down at the redness on my chest.

I freaked out yesterday when I got out of the shower with Marcel and I looked down on my body. It was covered with these little red dots following the pattern of Ratchett's fork on me. Marcel quickly calmed me down and made me realise it was nothing going to the clinic for. He also made me turn around and look at my bum in the mirror. I had, and still have, two big and purple ecchis on my bum. I felt proud to have a proof of how fantastic that night was, right until Kate showed up...

Once she is reassured, I tell Sophie about what had just happened upstairs with Ms. Wright. With the big intention of celebrating that, she leaves me alone in the restroom to let me use the loo. I do my business and head back upstairs to tell Marcel the great news. I find him talking to the receptionist. He sees me when I get out of the lift and follows me in silence to his office with a stack of papers in hands.

Unfortunately, the air is still chilly between us. It has been like that since this morning. We've barely talked to each other. He's been very distant. I've informed him about the Ronnie and Steeve thing, but other than that and briefly answering each other's questions about my story, we haven't talked at all. Not about us anyway or what happened last night.

I love him, but I feel emotionally cold for some reason. I don't know if it's to protect myself from the next roadblock in our relationship or if it might still just be the Kate issue. Even though I told him I didn't want to have to talk about what happened that night in the dungeon, it still weighs on me. Not what happened itself, but Kate. It's so out of my control his relationship with her that it makes me freak out. He tells me he loves me, that he chooses me, but the second I try to expose the manipulations she does to him he gets defensive and protects her. He made it pretty clear that they have a long history and he couldn't throw that away. He values it still a lot. That hurts me. It hurts me a lot actually. I feel like I can't compare. He has known me for months compared to the decade he's been obsessed with her.