Athena
There had been times when distractions became my saviour, when work helped me forget for the sake of my peace and small affirmations to myself helped me calm my racing heart down but today nothing helped.
Even as I finished tons and tons of chores, more than what I was supposed to do, from neatly cleaning my entire apartment, to placing even a small pencil in its place, and now at the bakery, doing more work than I had in my duty, nothing gave a hand to reducing my anxiousness I tried to keep hidden but perhaps, partly succeeded.
"What happened sweetcakes?" Shelly asked, surely not mistaking the worry written all over my face for something else.
"Oh, nothing. I am just a bit tired." I blurted out without thinking anything at all.
"What? Then why are you here, Athena? You should have stayed at home and taken a rest," She instantly spoke and her face showed concern, "But here you are, working double the number of your usual duties."
"I will be fine, Shelly. Don't worry." I flashed her a smile and walked to the oven to take out the tray.
"No, you won't. You just said you are feeling tired and I am not going to allow you to work today! Have some mercy on yourself."
A low sigh left my mouth before I could even comprehend my reaction.
"I wish, I could."
"What?" Suspicion plastered all over her features.
"Uh- Nothing," I let out a small chuckle, "You know I just say nonsense sometimes."
"But this wasn't it. What's going on, Athena?" It was not one of her playful questions. She sounded serious.
"It's nothing, Shelly. Trust me." I once again attempted to cover it under a laugh, but I was seemingly failing to cover up my lies.
Before she could question again, I decided to get myself busy with work and opened the oven, and eventually, with my mind being focused somewhere else, I ended up attempting to touch the tray with my bare hands.
"What the heck are you doing, Athena?!" She swatted my hands away before I could grab the hot tray with no gloves, I probably would have ended up with hands covered in blisters if she had not saved me.
"Oh..." I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to say. To say I was flabbergasted by my own action could give away the least of what I went through at that moment.
"Come here with me." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me with her to the corner, "What's going on with you?"
"Shelly, I...I told you, it's nothing." I stuttered. My condition could easily be compared to a deer caught in red light.
"You know, you can't lie to me, Athena. And I have never seen you this stressed, tell me what's wrong," She was calm and quiet, knowing that I was more than just worried about something and till now, it was evident that she perceived the seriousness of the situation, "I will help you, tell me."
"I saw my mate at the event," I finally let it out, the words I had been holding onto till now.
"What?!" Shock wrote itself all over her face, she looked speechless but was quick to gather herself, "But I thought you had no mate, You never...."
"Yes, I never talked about him because I didn't want to."
"Why? If you have a mate and you know him then why are you staying away from him and living on your own?"
"Because he is a monster. He ruined my life and put me through hell," Fortunately I didn't feel like crying anymore, but yes, there was pain that stirred awake at the mention of him. It was nothing unusual, the thought of him had always hurt me, and always will.
"Sweetheart, what are you saying?." She seemed confused, but there was something else mixed in her trembling voice. Not only empathy, but the look in her eyes also said that she genuinely felt for me and it was odd for anyone to feel something to such an extent if they hadn't gone through it.
It could be the case that I was being over speculative but the story did seem deep.
"I know, it's hard to believe for you and even harder to come to any conclusion with this small amount of information, but for now, I can't tell you anything more than this. I don't want to remember those and I don't feel good talking about them," I said, "Please, I hope you'll understand me."
"It's okay, I got you. Don't worry," She flashed me a small smile, "Just tell me whenever you feel comfortable."
"Thanks, Shelly," I pulled her in a hug, "Thanks a lot."
"You don't need to thank me for anything, Sweetheart. I can understand what you have gone through, trust me, everything's gonna be fine soon."
*****
"Hey, Athena," Remi, one of our female workers, came walking towards me, "Would you mind helping me with something?"
The bakery was nearly all packed up for today, except for a few items left to be delivered. Those were sudden customised orders.
"Sure, what it is," I asked, removing my apron and washing my hands after throwing away the gloves into the bin set beside the counter.
"Well, you see, the customised orders..."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. Those are done, and here's the last one," I emitted a small laugh and pointed to the cake I'd just finished decorating. It seemed like an anniversary one since the woman who had ordered it, specifically told us to write 'Four months into the journey' on it. However, that was my assumption based on the lines most of the couples requested to be written down.
"Yeah, I can see that but you see, Shelly has told me to deliver that one and Georgia and others have left, and the one who is here has to deliver the rest of the orders in time," She fumbled with her fingers, sounding hesitant, "Would it be too much, if I ask you to deliver this one?"
"No, Remi. It's not too much," I flashed her a smile, "I'll do that, give me the location."
"Really? You'd do that for me."
"Of course, besides that, I needed some fresh air anyways."
"Thank you so much, Athena. Thank you! I just...." She gave me a quick hug, her childlike excitement and eyes lit up in happiness surprised me, "Thanks a lot!"
"Well...Well," I pulled away, intentionally glancing at her in a suspicious manner, "What's the matter? Something sounds fishy, Remi."
Pink tinted her cheeks and she tried to hide her smile, "Actually...." She fumbled with her fingers once again, proving my doubt right.
"You are going on a date, aren't you?"
"No, it's not like that," She denied but the truth was written all over her face, "It's just a friend."
"Oh really? Just a friend?" I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Athena, stop it." She blushed furiously.
"Okay, fine. I'll stop, now give me the address before I change my mind and your meeting with this 'just a friend' gets cancelled."