Chương 33: CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

She was walking towards him, her smile only growing more mischievous. The 'clang, clang' of her heels on the floor snapped him out of his reverie just as she tried to go past him. He grabbed her wrist.

She stared at him, "What?"

"Where are you going?" his voice rasped and he had to swallow.

She looked up at him and then at the door he came out of. "I wasn't aware you had access to this side of the building. Can't a girl be curious about the whereabouts of her boyfriend?" She struggled a bit, and he held her tighter.

"Let's go to your office."

"What…"

"I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Oh," she said and stopped struggling, allowing him to pull her in the direction of her office.

Their movement garnered stares but neither of them seemed to notice. They were each in their own world until Laurent locked her door from inside. Her secretary gaped at them as they passed.

She headed to her desk while he started pacing the room, his rubber-soled shoes not making that much of a sound on the tiled floor. "What were you doing there?"

"I told you. I was curious about your whereabouts." From her tired tone, he could tell that she was telling the truth. She sat on her table. "The past few days have been a series of happenings that I still don't know about. I wanted to at least feel in control of something." she finished in a small voice.

That small, exhausted voice compelled him to move closer to her. He crouched in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Rose."

She hid her face. "You have a funny way of showing it."

She had a point there. He didn't know what he wanted—just that the thought of Rose in pain was messing with his head.

"I should hate you," she whispered, and he focused his attention on her again. Her face was still turned away, but he could hear the wet rasp in her voice.

"You hate me, Rose."

She shook her head, "No, I don't. Not yet."

He remained silent and she continued in a soft whisper.

"There's this part of me that still feels like I shouldn't judge one-sidedly. You haven't told me anything, Laurent." Her voice turned pleading. "Please, tell me something. This is torture." She wiped her tears, "My head is saying something, but my heart is saying another. It's hard as hell." She turned her face back to him and he could see the tears still leaking from her eyes. "Please,"

He shook his head. "I find that difficult to believe, Rose. You don't want to know what I did. It's…" He shook his head again.

Her eyes dulled and she tried to get up. He held her thighs down. "Wait, don't go yet."

"Why not?"

"Please." It was his turn to whisper, and she nodded her head.

He rested his head on her lap, and while she tensed up, she didn't push him away.

When seconds had turned to minutes, she spoke again, slightly louder.

"If you don't tell me and I find out myself, I'll do my best to ruin you."

He raised his head, and a small smile teased the edge of his lips. "You won't win but you're allowed."

Her eyes darkened in anger, and he stood up, silencing his groan. He had been crouched for way too long.

"Laurent!" she called when he turned away to leave, and he stopped.

"At least tell me why you were in that room." Her voice was a little closer.

He thought about it. It wouldn't hurt, surely. Instead, she'd be at ease and know who to avoid in the event that they approached her directly. But he couldn't do it. He was already a devil to her, and selfishly, he didn't want to make that image worse.

Wordlessly, he shook his head and walked out of the office.

ROSE collapsed back into the chair. She angrily wiped the tears from her cheeks. She was worse than a fool. Everything that had left her lips had been true. Her brain, body and heart recognized that fact. She picked up her phone and called her best friend. Anna picked up the call immediately and all of a sudden, the waterworks started again.

"Where are you?" she asked.

She heard a sigh and muttered, 'I knew it', before her friend answered, "Right outside. I'll be there in less than a minute." and hung up.

True to her word, her office door opened almost instantly and she curled up on the couch.

"Rose," Anna sighed, moving until she was in front of her. "What did that jerk do again?"

She just sobbed. She'd been operating solely on anger, but at that moment, the anger wasn't enough to mask the pain again. She gasped as more furious sobs escaped her lips.

Her friend rubbed her back, "Stop it, Rose. You'll hurt yourself."

She kept gasping, her lungs not doing their job of giving her air. Shit, she thought she no longer had these attacks.

Her friend's voice got frantic, and she leaned closer to her face, "Rose, Rose, calm down for a sec, please."

She nodded but her body wasn't listening to her. "I... can't," she forcibly got out.

"Fuck, do you have an inhaler? Something you can use?"

"The… table… drawer, pill."

"Okay, just wait, okay," her friend said, the occasional f-bomb escaping her lips while she ransacked the table.

"Shit, Rose," she finally cried out, "I can't find it." She rushed back to her side, searching her eyes widely. "Talk to me, what do I do? An inhaler?"

Her gasping was getting worse, and her chest hurt now. It hurt to talk so she just shook her head.

"Fuck!" her friend swore again, rushing out of the room.

She cried harder. Laurent had betrayed her; was Anna going to do the same? It wasn't like they owed each other anything.

The door opened again, and Anna rushed back in with someone.

"Hurry," she heard her friend shout and she flinched.

The edges of her eyes flickered with black, and she could feel the soft tug of unconsciousness. Someone jerked her back. "Oh, no, you don't."

She felt her mouth being opened and forced herself to swallow the small pill placed inside. Her lungs settled a bit and then an inhaler was placed between her lips, her nostrils being held closed. She lay passively while they puffed the medicated air into her, her lungs finally doing their goddamned job. When they stopped, she breathed out slowly, feeling the dried sweat on her neck and face.

"Thank you," she heard her friend whisper before she drifted off to sleep.