Sisters

7.

STEPHANIE

It's been more than three months since that night with Leo, and I haven't heard from him since. I don't know why I even hoped that what happened between us would mean anything to him, yet he is one of the most famous bachelors in the United States.

That newspaper article with Leo and my pictures has finally started to be forgotten, but I believe that it will never completely happen. My superiors offered me various dream offers every day, thinking that I was in a relationship with Leo and hoping for some benefit, while the others simply gave me looks full of hatred and envy. Yet none of them knew the story behind it all and had their own conclusions.

Probably because of that scandal we didn't even hear from each other anymore, because he probably didn't want to be brought into contact with someone like me, and what's wrong with me? I have become nervous and impatient with anyone who tries to ask me a question about him. I always say I am not interested in him, and secretly during the night I search all the news about him, but his pictures from the nightlife with famous models do not bring me peace.

I watched the girls who were in his arms, and as much as it was wrong, I wished I was in their place. I know I'm wrong, but there was something in that night we spent together that made me believe he wasn't like that, and maybe I was just trying to idealize him.

I should have listened to Nicole, but no, I had to go head over heels through the wall as always. I fell in love with his deep green eyes and that warm smile, and now I no longer know how I should function without them. He could be everything to me, and I am to him just one of many.

I became uninterested in my surroundings, and only cared about the patients, but after my shift, I would become cold to everyone. Nicole tried to talk to me a couple of times, but I would shake her off saying I was fine, even though I wasn't really. I didn't want to admit to her how right she was that morning when she told me he was the type of man who would take advantage of me and dismiss me right away.

I am a person who believes in goodness and always sees only the best in people, which is why I am usually hurt in the end. I try to be guided by that "forgive, but don't forget", although somehow I always just forgive. My sister has been trying to convince me otherwise all her life, but I have never listened to her so stubbornly and I would always end up broken because of it.

At the moment, I was trying to sneak into the apartment unnoticed after the extended shift, but evidently I didn't succeed. Nicole simply has to hear every noise.

"Stephanie?" I heard her voice from the living room.

"I've arrived, I'm tired and just want to fall asleep," I said, walking down the hall.

"Dinner is on your table, you have to eat something."

I heard the concern in her voice, since she understood everything, but it still gave me time and space to figure out for myself what I should do next.

"I'm tired, Nicole, we'll talk in the morning," I said, but she stood in front of me, preventing me from passing.

"Of course you're chronically tired after spending nights crying in your room, trying to hide it all from me, and doing double shifts during the day. I've given you enough time, but now I'm tired of looking at you being broken like that," she crossed her arms over her chest and she only did that when she was angry.

"I have nothing to talk about," I didn't want to break in front of her.

"Are you trying to lie to me or yourself?" She asked me coldly.