Chapter 45 He Needs You
“Are you okay Hera?” Mariam asked for the umpteenth time when she noticed that Hera had been washing a particular dish for more than ten minutes now. This had never happened before and so when she saw her doing so, it took her by complete surprise.
Hera nodded in response to her question.
“I don’t think you are” Mariam argued visibly. Come to think of it, when she had come to take her grocery shopping earlier, she wasn’t looking as excited as she always was. And when she came out of Bryce’s office, she looked sad and her facial features were more hard to read thto earlier.
Did something happen in the office that she wasn’t aware of? And why is Hera keeping it away from her in the first place? Why isn’t she saying anything about it? She’s not good at pretending to be fine when clearly she wasn’t.
“Hera!” Mariam tapped her shoulders lightly causing her to flinch. The bowl slipped off her hands and came crashing to the ground breaking into a million pieces.
Hera crouched down to pick up and accidentally cut her finger causing it to bleed.
“Don’t do that! Just look, you’ve cut yourself!” Mariam shrieked in a high pitched voice and pulled her away from the broken glass “What were you even thinking? That stuff is dangerous Hera.” She cried out to the little woman whose eyes now burned with tears.
“Are you-” Mariam stopped talking when she noticed how teary her eyes had become. Heavens!
Without saying anything, she pulled her to herself in an embrace and just let her stay there while she sobbed in a small voice.
Did something perhaps happen at the convent that she wasn’t letting on? Or did it have something to do with her boss?
“What happened Hera?” Mariam asked softly as she rubbed her back in circular motion and waited anxiously for her to respond.
Hera on the other hand doesn’t exactly know what’s wrong with her or how to say it. She doesn’t understand what’s going on with her ever since she walked in on him in that office but all she knows is that she’s hurt and the pain is something that she had never experienced before. Something that she wasn’t used to at all. It was something that she couldn’t describe.
It’s a lot different from the pain you get when you’re scolded at or when you loose something. This particular one had gotten to her to the extent that she feels as if she’s not herself anymore.
“Are you alright now?” Mariam asked when her sniffs and hiccups had died down a bit.
Hera nodded once and slowly pulled herself away from the older woman’s hold.
“For a second there, you got me frightened Hera” Mariam voiced out in fear “I know that maybe you don’t feel okay talking about it now but I just want you to know that I’m here for you if you need me alright.”
“Thank you ma’am.” She smiled through her tears. “I really appreciate that”
“I think that you should get some rest at this point. I’ll clean up the kitchen when I’m done.”
“But-”This is property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
“No buts!” She shunned her “Apply some antiseptic on your cut and have some rest. I’ll let you know if I need you.” She assured her but Hera knew that she wouldn’t call her. She’d rather do everything on her own than send for her.
“Okay.” She whispered In a small voice and exited the kitchen.
When she arrived at her apartment, she went straight to her room and gently laid down on her bed and folded herself to sleep.
Hera didn’t know how long she laid there but when she finally woke up, it was already late at night.
With a loud huff, she stood up and went into the bathroom to shower. When she got outside, she dressed up into her nightie and decided to check on Mariam before having dinner.
Outside her apartment, she heaved a sigh of relief when she didn’t see Bryce’s car parked outside. He wasn’t back yet and she was a bit grateful for that because she wasn’t ready to face him after what she had seen at his office. She’d rather stay away from him for the time being and put herself back together.
Hopefully, she makes it through this job to go back to college and get her life back on track. The sooner, the better.
When she got back to her apartment later, she heated up her food and ate silently. She was about to discard her plates when her phone rang out. She picked it to see an unknown number on the screen.
Swiping the receive button, she placed it to her ear.
“Hello…” She trailed off, waiting patiently for the person at the other end to speak up.
“Hera, it’s Ben!” He announced and she gasped knowingly.
“Oh hi Ben” She answered gleefully, her heavy spirit suddenly lifting up.
“Sorry if I called at the wrong time, I figured you’d be done with work now so I decided to call.”
She smiled at his thoughtfulness “I appreciate that Ben. Thank you.”
“How was work?”
Hera bit her lips nervously. Work hasn’t exactly been the same like the previous days considering the fact that she and Bryce were longer in talking terms now.
“Work was fine. I was about to retire for bed before you called.” She lets the words roll out of her mouth smoothly.
“Oh sorry about that” He paused “Will you be free tomorrow?”
“Well… I don’t think so.”
“How about a lunch date or maybe a dinner date? Whatever works for you would be great.” He suggested.
“I don’t know Ben but I’ll most definitely think about it.” She assured him.
“That works fine too. I guess I’ll let you go to bed now.”
“Thank-” She was saying when she heard a loud bang at the door.
At first her heart skipped a beat at the possibility of Bryce knocking on her door. She didn’t even hear his car drive in and she wasn’t ready to face him yet.
Turning off her phone, she placed it next to her on the couch. Should she answer or should she pretend as though she didn’t hear it?
“Hera?” The voice boomed and she recognized it as Max. Why would Max be here at her apartment by the time of the night?
Standing up, she hurriedly rushed towards the door and opened it.
“Max?” She called out in disbelief “What are you doing here?”
“No time for that. You have to come with me right now.” He stated sharply.
“But-”
“It’s Bryce!” He blurted out suddenly “I think that he needs you Hera and fast!” He added when she didn’t say anything more.