Chapter 18
The water was cold against my face but it felt refreshing. I stared at the person in the mirror. She was pale as a ghost, but thankfully, some color is making its way back to her cheeks.
What just happened, Eunice? What were those noises? Those visions I saw?
I let out a deep sigh and hung my head. I don't even know the answers to my own questions. It's frustrating.
I looked at my watch. It's been 30 minutes. I have work. I need to go now. I need to be okay, even just for now.
Think of happy thoughts, Eunice. Beautiful memories only.
I looked up once again at my own reflection and smiled. I fixed my hair one last time and headed out of the comfort room.
"Eunice!" My soul almost jumped out of my body as a man's voice ringed through my ears.
"You scared me!" I said as I placed my hand over my chest, feeling my fast heart beat.
"Sorry." he said, "Are you okay now?" He asked. I nodded my head.
"Are you sure?" He asked while studying me carefully. I can see the worry in his big, doe eyes. I smiled at him.
"Hey, don't worry. I'm really fine." I answered him but he just looked at me with the same worry in his eyes.
"Chase, I have to go now. I still have work to do." I said as I patted his shoulders. He just nodded at me. He seems to be in a daze.
I waved at him and headed to the elevator. I pressed the button and got in.
I can still remember clearly how angry he was earlier when the incident happened. Even I could not explain what happened to me.
I was so deep in my thoughts that the elevator bell startled me. I snapped out of my thoughts and stepped out of the elevator.
The whole day has been a breeze and I'm about to get off work now. The production team had a meeting with the team from BlueStonefor the upcoming projects and other shows to shoot. Some teasers were played to be checked and were edited on the spot as well.
I fixed my things and approached my senior colleague to say goodbye.
"Miss Kierra, I'll go now." I said then I bowed to her.
"Oh okay. Thank you for coming in today, Eunice. I'll see you tomorrow." She said and waved at me. I smiled and headed for the door. Before I could even get out she called me.
"Eunice, wait!" I looked at her. Then she went to me and handed me a plastic bag. I peeked inside. Inside was the food I bought earlier at the convenience store.
"You should eat. I think you forgot to eat your lunch today." She said while smiling and winked at me.
"Thank you so much. I've been so occupied that I forgot about these." I smiled back at her and went on my way.
Oh right. I forgot to give these to Chase. I guess we were both pre-occupied by what happened earlier. I reached for the phone in my pocket and dialled his number.
"Hello?" I asked when he picked up.
"Why?" He answered.
"Are you busy?" I asked while walking towards the elevator.
"Why?" He asked again. Is that all he knows what to say? 'Why?' I rolled my eyes.
"Well, I forgot to give you your food. Do you still want them? Or should I just keep them?" I asked as I pressed the down button in the elevator.
It took him a while to answer and there was just silence on the other line.
"Mr. Chase? Are you still there? You know I can just keep them an-" He cut me off.
"I want them. Meet me in the lounge on the seventh floor." He said.
"Okay." I answered then ended the call.
I went directly to the lounge room and I found him sitting there.
"Hey." I greeted him and he looked up at me. He seemed to be so deep in his thoughts that I don't think he noticed me come in. His eyes were blank.
I handed him his food.
"Here. Don't worry, I won't charge you." Then I smiled at him and turned around to go out of the room.
"Wait." He said. I immediately stopped then turned around to look at him as I raised my eyebrows, asking him why.
"Aren't you gonna eat?" He asked.
"Huh?"
"Looks like you didn't eat yours too." He said while pointing at the plastic bag in my hand. I scratched my head.
"Oh yeah. I was so busy earlier that I forgot about this. I even forgot about yours too." I said while giving an awkward laugh.
"Then let's eat." He said then he started to open his ramen and filled it with hot water from the dispenser.
Since I'm hungry anyway, I decided to stay and eat.
I placed my things on the couch and opened my ramen too. I followed him to the water dispenser and filled my cup with hot water.
We both sat down and started to eat.
I don't know if we're just really hungry that we decided not to talk and just focus on our food, or there is just this awkward silence between us, like we don't know what to say.
From time to time I would look at him while eating my ramen but I would quickly avoid his eyes when he turns to look at me.
I slurped down my ramen. While doing so, I took a peek at him once again. My eyes moved to my right and slowly looked at him. To my surprise he was also looking at me while eating. My eyes narrowed a little and observed the eyes of the man sitting next to me.
Now, we were staring at each other like this was a staring contest.
Then we burst out laughing. I don't why, but it just appeared funny to me and I guess it was the same for him too. Finally, the awkward silence is gone.
"You look weird when you do that." He said as he reached out for his sandwich and opened it.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Glaring at people. Don't do that. You're like a weirdo." He said while trying to imitate what I did earlier.
"I wasn't glaring! I was staring." I said in defence.
"Nope. That was definitely a glare. I mean, who does that? Who would narrow their eyes and look at someone for so long and then make their eyes big enough to pop out like they're some psycho-stalker."
I am speechless so I just rolled my eyes at him. I do such things to make 'staring' a little less awkward.
I continued eating my food when he spoke again.
"Uhmmm... about earlier, are you sure you're okay?" I stopped eating to look at him. Here we go again.
"Yeah, I'm totally fine. Don't worry about it." I said as if brushing off what happened earlier. It was a bad memory for me too so I'd rather not reminisce about it.
"Is this... the first time it happened?" He asked once again. By this time, I had already finished my ramen and sandwich so I'm just finishing my drink. I played with the straw while contemplating his question.
"Yes." I answered. We both fell silent. Now that I think about it, I never had any troubles when I crossed the street at the university or even around the city.
Like a curious cat, Chase spoke again.
"But this isn't the first time you've been here right? " He asked.
I don't want to take all these seriously. It's just probably a glitch in my brain cells or I just remembered the accident somehow. But I don't want to be rude so I just answered his question.
"No. Last time, I came here with Jace to apply, then I came back for the final interview."
"Both times, did you use the front entrance of the building?"
I looked at him eagerly now as if studying him.
"Why are you asking a lot of questions?" I asked him. He was quite taken aback by what I said so I smiled at him. "For the sake of feeding that curiosity of yours, I'll answer your question." I said as I stood up to throw the food trash in the trash can.
"I used the front entrance when I was with Jace and the side entrance when I came back for the final interview. In case you're wondering why, applicants for the final interview were asked to use the side entrance."
There, I hope it answered all the questions in his mind.
He nodded as he stared blankly ahead.
I went ahead and fixed my things which he didn't seem to notice since he was still deep in his thoughts. He's like playing detective to find out what happened to me.
I patted his shoulder which seemed to have snapped him back to earth. He looked at me with his blank, puppy eyes.
"I'm going home now...and really, don't sweat about it. It's probably just my mind glitching or something." I said as I smiled at him, but I don't think that calmed his mind or even reassured him just a little bit that I'm okay.
I waved goodbye at him and walked out the door.
I got out of the elevator on the first floor. Then, I scanned my ID to record my time out. Before I could step foot outside, I realized that it was raining.
People outside are running trying to cover their heads with anything that they can use or find. I stared at them for a while. Then the scene of earlier's incident appeared before my eyes. Goosebumps were all over my body and I just can't seem to take my eyes off that scene, as if i was in a trance.
I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Hey. You okay?"
It was Jace. I took a deep breath and smiled at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I told him. "Didn't know you were here."
"I texted you earlier that I'm coming here but you didn't reply." He said.
That's the only time I remembered that I haven't checked my phone all day ever since I got here this afternoon.
"I'm sorry. I was just busy." I said in response.
I took out my phone from my bag and saw a lot of missed calls and texts. Mostly they were from Anna and Jeanny asking me what time I'll go home. Turns out, Jeanny came to the restaurant to help as well.
I followed Jinyoung out as I read the last unread message.
From: demanding chase
Hey. Have a safe trip home. Take care and thanks for the meal. See you at the rooftop on Thursday.
I placed the phone back in my bag and held Jace’s sleeves tightly as we stepped foot on the street. He stopped and looked at me.
"Scared?"
"Kind of."
Then we crossed the street with my heart beating faster and faster every second.