Could It Be You? |✓

(26) Revelation

Swooping her into his arms, Matt carries Emma into the shelter. It has been a good fifteen minutes since he and Mae Lin disappeared to get some first aid. Joshua had tended to her in the interim, and quietly returns Matt the responsibility as soon as he returned. Emma feels somewhat like a liability. Matt lets her down carefully onto another seat and squats down before her with a bag of ice, holding it against her ankle.

"Is it better?" Matt asks, and glances up anxiously.

Emma lets her foot rest in his grip, noticing the sweat trickle along the contours of his face, down to his chin. She looks at him gratefully, and nods.

"Yes, thank you." she says.

He gives a relieved smile. Slowly, Emma let's her gaze roam behind him and upward, as if she's scared of being called out for doing something like this - for giving some other man attention.

As her gaze meets Joshua's, it is almost as if she's shy about it. All she really intends to do is to show him she's grateful for his help too. Her lips lift slightly with a twitch, and he catches it. He reciprocates her gesture with his own sort of enigmatic grin, and they both decide to leave it as that.

* * *

Emma's ankle heals somewhat slowly. More than a week, she could walk as per normal, even though exerting anything more still results in the sharp pain that reverberates through her entire being.

The day of work ends and most colleagues - including Tess, as usual - leave for their respective plans.

Since gaining knowledge about Tess' relationship with Ethan, Emma hasn't been able to talk to her like before. Something just bothers her. It's almost as if a part of her cannot simply accept this fact. Ethan ... and Tess? But Tess is not his type at all. She's too loud and too spritely for him. He's always liked the INTJ type, but Tess is the opposite, an energetic, extroverted spirit who acts on her feelings.

The more she lingers on the thought, the more it bothers her. How? is Ethan treating Tess as a fling? Is it the same the other way round? But the idea that they could be banging ... honestly, honestly makes her uncomfortable.  Why is she so nosy anyway?

She ought to focus on her own life and what she has for herself.

Emma loiters around her desk as she waits for Matt.  She takes a quick glance at his room, where he's still busy making a call. He's been at it for the past hour or so. In fact, he's been more busy lately, and they hadn't spent much time together since the tennis trip. She has got to blame her injury as well - it limits her mobility after all.

She has arranged a little gather-together with Alice tonight, who insists on being formally introduced to Matt. She hasn't had a meal with her sister in a while, and she's rather looking forward to the meal. She only hopes Matt would not bail last minute, seeing how caught up he is with work and how he had pre-empted her yesterday...

She heads to the washroom, deciding to do some touching up for her look instead of wasting time away. She shuffles through the various items in her make-up pouch and fishes out a her shadow palette.

Her cellphone flickers on as a new message is delivered to her inbox, interrupting her thoughts. She gives it a brief glance. She has received a text from Joshua with three simple words.

How's the ankle?

She smiles at the little show of concern. She hasn't realised it, but she and Joshua have been steadily gaining back some form of a friendship. Lately, it has led to her wonder if she has been too harsh on him; maybe she has focused so much on the negatives of their ill-fated relationship that she has blinded herself and distanced herself from an actually good-quality friendship.