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I left the city building during my lunch break and weaved through the dusty Enchor’s Heart streets.
It was then I spotted something I never expected to see:
Sleii with his arm wrapped around the young female human he had brought to my office just the other day.
They were beaming and happy, clearly in love.
They laughed as they crossed the street and entered one of the traditional Chi textile shops.
I ducked into a side alley, watching them closely.
I don’t know why I hid like that.
It wasn’t as if it was a secret — they wereopenlyshowing their emotions and it was not a secret to anybody.
Still, I found myself creeping across the road, careful to peer in through the shop’s front window, hoping to catch sight of them again without them noticing me.
Sleii placed a hand on some Chi fabric known as Yayn.
Aria — and now that I thought about it, I recalled it clearly — was fascinated, listening closely to every word he said.
Seeing the two of them made my stomach clench.
It was the life I had imagined with Mila.
That is meant to be us.
That was meant to be us walking the streets arm-in-arm, happy, forgetful of the world around us.
I turned and left, feeling both angry and more than a little jealous.
I didn’t want them to see me with that expression on my face and knew for certain Sleii, knowing me as well as he did, would almost certainly pick up on it.
I raced back to my office.
Seeing me coming, my secretary informed me:
“Mr. Brara is waiting for you in the canteen. Shall I have him brought to you?”
“Not yet,” I said. “Give me ten minutes.”
The secretary nodded and continued filing away documents.
I shut my office door and marched back and forth behind my desk, muttering to myself.
I came to a stop and scooped up an old picture of me and Jjora.
I ran my fingertips over her beaming face.
Happier times.
Seeing Sleii and his new girlfriend —girlfriend!— had rattled me.
How was ithecould find love but I could not?
How was ittheycould be happy but I was not allowed?
Perhaps it was his age, I thought distantly.
