Chapter 10 Not evil as you think

Aurora's POV:

After gobbling my way through donuts and coffee, I bid silent but hearty thanks to Jacob Rivera. I mean, no way could he know that I didn't have breakfast this morning but at that moment I wasn't thinking about him as less than an angel. I thought for a moment that I and Jacob could go along as friends but the realization that he was the best friend of Mr. Rude snapped me back to reality immediately. No way could that devil and I have anything mutual.

I shook my hands to get rid of any crumbs, stood up and dumped the paper bag and coffee cup into the dustbin resting in the corner of the lunchroom, and made my way back to my reception desk. I mumbled my thanks to Mary who assured me that she would take care in case any client needed a receptionist. She smiled at me in response.

I got busy with my work, which helped me ignore the pain in my wrist. I made a mental note to massage it again with ice after reaching home. Today was a gossip

day in the office. Everyone was hushing and talking about two men who made their appearance yesterday. I did not take part in any gossips, not like I was interested in anything else, other than my job, but God did give me two cars, and car curtains were not complimentary with them, so, I couldn't help catching the bits and pieces making their way into my sinful ears.

Seemed like those two men were evil, but I was not convinced that they were eviler than our own demon a. k. a Andrew Davilla. His rage and violence yesterday were the result of that meeting too. No one knew what happened in that meeting but everyone did know that our boss is not in the good mood, because he himself made it clear to everyone by shouting at every single soul who dared to enter his cabin. I just wanted to scream at everyone, "Does he really ever be in a good mood? Today is no different, you idiots." But I preferred to zip up my lips for the rest of the day, or maybe for the rest of the 6 months. That would be even good. I rolled my eyes at the thought and then noticed that I have been doing it a lot often since the last few days. Side effects of Sia, I guess.

In the evening, almost everyone left by 5 pm. Everyone except me, of course. Because apparently, the receptionist was needed to stay till 6 pm to welcome the guests and clients. One week in, and no one showed up this late, and no one will ever, and we all knew about it. I was all alone when at 5:30 pm, Andrew Davilla made his way out of his office, ready to leave for the day. Just like usual, I didn't lift my head to acknowledge his presence or to say to him, 'Goodbye sir! Have a nice night.'

I have decided that I was not in the game, so I was going to have as little interaction with him as this job demanded. I was hiding behind the paperwork, not because it needed my attention but because I very much needed some distraction. He did not stop at my desk, but when he passed by it, there was a small thud on my desk like he threw something on it.

I thought he just dumped a big, fat rat on my desk but I waited for him to leave before lifting my head. It was not like he waited for me to lift my head to see what he left on the desk, because he straightly went out without stopping in his tracks. Once I was sure he had left the office premises, I still waited for two minutes before raising my head. Just to be sure, you know.

There, close to the edge of the table, was a blue ice pack. I moved forward and picked it up like it was some TNT. On closer inspection, I was assured that it was nothing but really an ice pad. My mind was blank, my face expressionless and my insides full of confusion. It did not take much time to replace confusion and blankness with anger.

What the hell? What was he trying to show? Who did he think of himself?

I stood up and started pacing the corridor. What did he just do? Giving me an ice pack to heal the wound? And we were talking about the wound he himself inflicted on me. What was he even thinking? That I would allow him to bruise me and then permit him to cure my wounds? Like hell I would. I was not some charity or pity case.

Yesterday, he tortured me, I did not say anything because I thought that will only make the matter worse, plus I needed this job. But now this? This is one thing I could not tolerate. If he was ashamed of his deeds, then he was needed to come and ask for my forgiveness, not to throw some ice pack at my face like I couldn't afford a fucking ice pad.

My face was contorted with rage, my jaw clenched and my nostrils flaring. I picked the ice pack, went straight to his office, and threw that ice pack into the bin of his cabin. Let him come tomorrow and know how I was going to respond to his pity if he ever tried to show it to me again.

I came back to my desk, picked my bag and phone, and went out of the office. I did not care if he would know tomorrow that I left 20 minutes earlier. Let the consequences be damned, I nodded to the guard to let him know that I was leaving so he should close down the office, and then I started towards the Subway Station.

After reaching the apartment, I went to my room, took a cold shower in order to cool down myself, changed into my PJs, and laid down on my bed. I tried to sleep but it was in vain. I tossed and turned in my bed, trying hard not to think about that ice pack but again, it was all in vain. I threw away the covers from myself and stood up. After thinking a while about what should I do to pass the time, I made my way to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and took out cheddar cheese, chicken, potatoes, and capsicums, I collected other ingredients from the kitchen cabinets. I cut the chicken into little cubes and started preparing loaded fries. The best way to get rid of the murderous thoughts is to start cooking, it helps a lot. And now when I had so much time to spare I was finally going to eat something nutritious after a while. Sia and I had managed to be alive on frozen, canned, and fast

foods mostly.

As I was done with the chicken, Sia peeked from her door, "Am I dreaming, or are you really in your apron, after what? Eternity?"

"See, I am at least giving you the chance to see me in the apron. Kindly, bestow me with the appearance of your ass in the apron, Sia?" I smiled sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes. So, that was where I learned to roll my eyes.

She ran into the kitchen and said, "Jokes apart Aurora, but I was literally sick of all the artificial food we have been swallowing for so long. Thanks a bunch for treating me with a real food." She tried that puppy eyes thingy again.

I narrowed my eyes, "Don't be a drama queen, Sia."

"Drama?" She shrieked, "I promise I felt my insides getting rotten with all that canned food. Now, they are finally going to get some nutrition. All thanks to you."

I replied, "Okay okay. Let me focus on the cooking if I am finally trying to make something. Go over to the couch and choose some horror movie to watch."I did mention earlier that I and Sia are not friends who watched grossy rom-com. Yes, I stand on my point. We did not watch those, but instead, we watched horror movies.

She went out of the kitchen, beaming with excitement and I focused on the cooking. It helped.

After devouring our way through delicious loaded fries and creepy horror movie, we were sitting together on the sofa. I was about to get up and went to my room when Sia said, "How is your

wrist?"

My thoughts went back to what happened today, Sia seemed to recognize the steam coming out of my nostrils when she proceeded, "Is it hurting badly or something else has set your temperature to 180 degrees?"

I looked over at Sia, took a deep breath, and told her about what happened today. She remained silent for a moment and then said, "Okay. I see. But it was just an ice pack, Aurora. Why so angry?"

I stared at her in disbelief, "It was not just an ice pack, Sia. It was The Fucking Ice Pack."

"Alright. But you are just looking at the gesture, not at the intention behind that gesture," she said calmly.

I pointed my index finger at her, "Don't ever think that, that man can even be able to harbor some innocent intentions. He is all evil, so evil that evilness is even drooling out of his pores all the time." I stopped to catch my breath and then continued, "He just tried to mock me by giving me that ice pack. He tried to say, 'Hey bruisy wrist? Did I hurt you badly enough to wear full sleeves? Here, have some ice pack and get healed.""

"Woah, slow down dude. You can never be sure what is going on in his mind," said Sia.

"Exactly. One can NEVER know what is going on in his wicked and evil mind, Sia," I replied and then sighed loudly.

"Aurora? I know you are angry right now. But what if his intentions weren't that bad? What if when he hurt you, he was angry or was not in his senses. But later on, when he cooled down a bit, he mulled over his deeds and realized that what he did was not right. So, maybe he gave you an ice pack as a sign of apology?" Sia said peacefully.

"Sia, if you are ashamed of your deeds or realize that you have done someone wrong, then you ask for their forgiveness. I..." She stopped my mid-sentence and said, "Did you? Did you apologize to him for the punch?"

I was struck silent, then she continued, "Don't you think the situation is a bit similar? You punched him although you did not intend to. Your excuse was that he interfered in your matter.

Similarly, he did not hurt you intentionally, also his excuse was you interfered in his matter. The only difference was he realized his mistake soon. You say he did not apologize after realizing his mistake, but I say, neither did you ask for an apology nor did you give him salve for the wound you incurred. At least, he did one of those things." After a moment's delay, Sia said softly, "Maybe he is not as evil as you think he is, Aurora."

Later, lying on the bed, I couldn't get Sia's point out of my head. She was right to some extent. He did what I did to him. I was hurt, so hadn't he been?

I did not know when sleep engulfed me, but I did know that I was pulling over Sia's another point until I slept;

"Maybe he is not as evil as you think he is, Aurora.”