Heavy tension settled in.

Wait—hold on, Annie is Anita?!

"What are you doing here, Nate?" I heard her ask. I pretended to go inside to give them a little space. It seems like it was needed. But I was really hiding behind the door just in case. "You are not going to invite me in?" He said. "Not surprising. You have never been straight on the moral compass."

"Cut the crap Nate." She snarls. "Does your darling wife and daughter know you are here?" Annie said with a scoff. "I highly doubt that. Disappear and go back home to your wife."

"It is your birthday soon. I just came to give you a present—"

"I don’t need it. Now get out." She snaps.

"Annie—"

"I said get out! Disappear! Die, whatever works for you, I don’t care!" She sounded mad and hurt. Who is this guy? Seems like they were once involved romantically from the way they are speaking. Annie never vaguely told me about a Nate. I thought we had covered all the topics of ’Guys we have been with.’

The guy exhales. "You are still mad. You need to learn to let it go."

"I have done that. But then here you are on my doorstep. I am not the one overstepping this time, am I?"

"You will never understand—"

"Oh, humor me. There is nothing to understand! You threw me away for my sister. That is a clear fact that I do not have to put on medication glasses to see."

What?! My eyes bulged out, my mouth open in shock. She has a sister that he left her for? I thought she was an only child.

"Like I said, I just came to give you this."

"A present? You did not have to darling. You have already given me a present that I would remember for a lifetime. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

I don’t want to see your face here again. Or I would not mind having to call your wife and tell her that her sweet, capable husband is at a place he shouldn’t be." She slams the door in his face after. I silently trail after her as she marches to her room. I have a lot of questions but kept quiet after reading the obvious vibe from her that she must be too pissed to answer questions.

But then she stopped and breezes past me back to the door. She opens it. The guy was still there. "I hope everytime you are with her, fucking her, you see and remember me in every position trying to please you."

She slams the door shut even harder after saying that. She sits on the couch huffing. Clearly in a state of irritation and annoyance. The kind that I have never seen her in before. Tears start coming out of her eyes. She tried to stop them by blinking severally and wiping them off. She couldn’t keep them in. She burst into crying at once. The type of crying that isn’t pretty. It gets your face snot and blotchy. Your eyes warm and red-rimmed. The type that your breath shortens without you realizing it. "Annie."

I squeeze myself down beside her to hold and comfort her. She let herself fall apart in my arms, collapsing into me. "Shh. Whatever it is, it’s okay." I patted her head. This has always been the other way around. It was very unlikely that I would do this for Annie. She must have been deeply hurt by whoever that is.

She stops crying after a while and stands up to her feet and heading towards her room. "Annie, who was that? And your name is Anita?"

"Not now please."

"Whatever it is, I need to know. By the looks of it, this is not something you should keep in."

"I will explain later. But now I just want to be alone." She said. I watch as she closes the door to her room. The next two days after, I declared my off days over. With Annie stuck to herself, I was bored and had no one to interact with. I have only spent three days out of the one week I had taken off. I will complete it some other time when Annie is back to herself. I blow dry my hair after stepping out of the shower and then wore my Friday work outfit. A royal blue sleeve blouse and a navy blue cardigan over it. Black pants and a pair of black flats. I packed my hair into a ponytail and let some fall over my face. I grab my handbag and come out of my room. A stick note was placed on the door of the refrigerator. "There is a bowl of pasta in the fridge. Reheat it and have it before you go to work." It read. "When did she prepare this? I thought she now confines herself in her room and is too emotionally down to come out." I mutter to myself. I knock on the door of her room.

"Still don’t feel like speaking?"

"Nope." She replied lazily from inside.

"Okay."

I reheated the pasta. It was delicious surprisingly. More delicious than usual. I thought she is heartbroken? I ate and ate until it was just a little left on the bowl. I should leave that for her. How about I eat it all so she’ll get angry and speak to me? I grin at the smart idea.

"Gweneth. What are you doing here? I thought you were on leave." Raymond says as he clocks in and meets me in the office.

"Well, I got fed up of home." I sit on my chair and habitually arrange my desk. There was pretty much nothing to arrange since I already organized my stuff before going on leave. And it doesn’t seems like anybody came and touched it.

"Home. You were at home all through?"

I look at him, drawing my brows together. "You are making it sound like it’s a medieval thing to do."

"No, am not trying to make it sound like that. But it is weird to spend your leave at home." He says. "Why weird?"

"You are supposed to spend it with family or with someone you love."

He is kinda right. "My family is far away. And someone as for someone I love. . . There is no longer."