Six
'I wish there were a way to show you my love is real.'
-The Moffatts-
My face is still the same; it looks pale with panda eyes becoming more visible while my body... it feels like for the past few days, I haven't had the urge to eat as long as the nightmares keep coming. Plus, the incident the day before yesterday, where that crazy man who likes to push his will and doesn't know privacy kissed me!
Yes! Kiss me! You must be surprised, right? Especially me? A brief kiss due to his curiosity about my cold attitude resulted in this lack of self-awareness. Ketty told me a lot after the big boss carried me to the employee health room. Between pity and wanting to laugh, Ketty mocked me at how a girl could faint after being kissed by a handsome man, Mr. Johnson.
"I think I'm allergic to him," I said carelessly.
"You know how pale he looked when you were unconscious, as if a dementor had kissed him, Elizabeth," Ketty whispered, bringing her red lipstick-smeared lips to my left ear. "And... there were more rumors between you and him. They said that you were seducing him."
"Fuck! How could I do something that damn thing!" I said firmly.
It's useless to deny rumors already spreading like a deadly virus. When I left the infirmary, hundreds of eyes immediately focused on me like spotlights. Even though I didn't make any sarcasm, I could read from the looks on their faces that they were accusing me of seducing Mr Jhonson--the man who rules Jhonson Corp, who is the target of many women.
If you want to swallow Johnson whole, do it. Why must you glare at me?
I shook my head, shaking off the image of seeing Doctor Margaretha. Unexpectedly, she went to New York and rented a hotel for the two of us to talk. She is a very good woman.
My eyes caught Emilia watching a television broadcast while holding potato chips. Our gazes met momentarily, but not a single word came out of her mouth. It's been almost... maybe a week since we haven't spoken to each other. The atmosphere in the apartment became hot like hell and quiet like a cemetery. Even though usually Emilia would say whatever was in her head.
"Emilia?" I called. "How long will we be like this?"
She shrugged her shoulders without looking at me. This hurts because we have known each other as roommates for a long time. Emilia has never been this angry with me. OK, maybe I should admit I was wrong, but isn't privacy necessary?
"I... can't tell you that right now, Emilia," I said again, "please understand."
She roughly put the bowl of chips on the table, turned off Oprah, and then moved on, "What do you think of me? If you think I'm a foreigner, I'm out of here, Elizabeth! It's better if we don't know each other if you-- "
"I'm scared, Emilia!" I exclaimed anxiously. "You don't understand!"
"Then tell me!" her voice was getting higher; her blue eyes were fiery as if they were preparing to burn everything here. "I trust in you, but you don't! You don't know how worried I was seeing you screaming like crazy every night, Elizabeth!"
I approached her, but she moved away, looking fed up with me.
"There will be a time when I will tell you, Em, not now... there will be a time... I'm sorry," I said softly, then left with teary eyes. My heart hurts from our fight. There is no intention to hide it. It's just that I'm afraid she will stay away from me after finding out that her friend, who acts innocent and anti-social, is a despicable woman whose body is no longer pure.
Forgive me.