Etched

Chapter 18

Ecstasy. This is what you feel in a moment, a moment where you unknowingly find utmost happiness and you remain in the daze of it, not wanting to let anything slip in the phase of the satisfaction and live it to the most.

I don't know what I would label my sudden emotion as? I have this odd feeling in the pit of my stomach where it's clogging with contentment and a strange bubbling of emotional excitement. There is wild fluttering of fackuting butterflies and my mind seems to be in the whirlwind of sensations.

I've been seated on my new office's chair for more than fifteen minutes now trying to calm my flustered self, attempting to have any minimal way to cause distraction to my mind and keep it from delving deep in reminiscing in the moment that I'd experienced a few minutes back.

Groaning, I clench my eyes shut and fist my blouse over my heart in a tight grasp, hoping that it would somehow normalize the racing of the beats and the insane heaving of my chest, which is desperately in search of air to cause proper respiration, to stabilize the intake of air that gets knocked out in his presence.

I stood up pacing the cubicle and trying not to wobble as my legs were threatening they would. They'd been this way ever since that moment, it appears as though they stood rigid then just at the mercy of his presence and gave up as soon as he marched out, they were liquefied to a point that I had to drag the chair with my free hand towards where I stood to get myself seated after his departure.

Huffing I sit back down but the silly smile that had been masked on my face ever since, remains pasted promising not to leave any time soon. The smile takes me back to his smooth, alluring laugh. I rest my head at the head rest, closing my eyes when his face glows at the curtain of my lids.

My eyes popped wide open and I jerked my head forward. What is wrong with me? Ever since the incident I couldn't bring myself to stop thinking about him. Its absurd how that little event had me insane and I couldn't help myself to stop thinking about it.

The crinkles by his eyes when he smiled and the mesmerizing way how his eyes looked so carefree, free from their defensive barriers that they've grown acquainted to. They were alit and sparking. The glittering hazel in the green was so prominent outshining  the dazzling jade.

I was totally slumped forward and he was grabbing me by my waist while we both laughed without any care in the world. It was before we were disturbed and disturbance wasn't just a disturbance, it was a disaster.

Ken stood at the gate with his eyes and mouth wide, almost the size of golf balls. His arms were outstretched strangely to the sides and the palms were facing forward. He was stood as if he was demonstrating an anatomical position of the body, as shown in medical schools.

Gabriel suddenly jumped apart from me like he was burnt, and that hurt. That really did. Any glimpse of the previous humor sobered up and he was stoic as he had always been. He looked back and forth between Ken, I and suddenly to himself, and finally the now isolated fast food package that remained lying on the table. His face was rigid as though he as contemplating and bringing himself to wrap his head around the fact that for once he gave up his defenses and he was not sure of his actions.

From the looks of what his eyes portrayed he was definitely overthinking things and just for this once I didn't want him to regret laughing and bringing contentment to himself. I wanted him to know that its okay and only a part of human nature to do so, but I couldn't bring myself to say a word and saw just him torturing himself with his self questionnaire that his eyes gave away.

He didn't once look me in the eyes and has avoided any sort of emotional slip-up. He looked shocked and remained in the daze before Ken attempted to say something. Both our eyes darted towards him.