Chapter 4
Old Ties, New Feelings
The next morning came too quickly.
I barely slept and when I did, it was his voice echoing in my head. I'm glad we met again, those words were sounding like something I have to learn and never forget, and wrapped around my chest and I couldn't let go of it. I was still in my dreams then, when my door rang, Won't you go to work, my mom said, seeming worried as if I was not feeling well, not knowing I was dreaming of something which is never meant to be. I stood up and rushed to the bathroom.
At the office, everything looks the same, same walls, same coffee smell, but something in me has changed. I was restless, nervous, and a little too aware of myself. I couldn't stand what was about to happen, lost in thought, pondering what would come next.
And then he walked in.
Junior
The man I shouldn't want.
He was just some random guy who makes my heart race like I'm in a competition going for an athletics cup .... Silly me..
He was family. Well…. Almost. My uncle's close friend's son. The man who used to drive me to school, the man who used to drive us to church, the one who always called me ''little Sarah'' when I wore my hair in braids.
Now here he was, years older, confident and dangerously charming.
Morning, Sarah… he said with a soft and sweet voice, I couldn't even look up at him because I didn't want to fall for it again. I wanted to start the day without his presence, but he won't let me be.
I responded in the morning, forcing my tone to sound casual, pretending the air around us wasn't charged with something unspoken. My head was still down avoiding this handsome look to weaken my day.
You didn't sleep either.. then you? He teased gently. I pretended not to be interested in what he was saying, trying to keep my guard up.
You are imagining things, Junior. I said looking elsewhere.
He smiled.. that same older man smile that always makes me feel like a child and a woman at the same time.
Then my phone buzzed.
I had Junior is part of your new project.
He's practically family, Sarah respects him and makes him feel at home.. said my uncle.
The word of a reminder is sharp and cool. He was older and he had known me since I was a girl. I wasn't supposed to look at him this way. And he shouldn't be looking at me that way either.
But when our eyes met again, there it was the thing we both were trying hard to ignore.
He leaned slightly closer. ''You have grown'' he murmured, his voice dropping lower.
I swallowed ''you shouldn't say things like that''. I whispered back. His smile faded just a little, I know he said…
He both froze, caught between the past and the present, between what's right and what's already happening.
I turn back to my desk, I pick up my laptop, but every click, even breathing, feels so loud.
Something dangerous has begun, and neither of us is ready to stop it. He stood there for some time and I didn't even notice he was gone....