The next day, Faye was working on the presentation since Eve had ended up calling in, saying she was not feeling well and couldn't make it in today. There was a knock at the door before Dave entered the room, "Faye, it's time for the presentation," he said as he noticed Eve was not here today.
"She is not here today. She called in, saying she was not feeling well. I'll be there in a few minutes," Faye said with her eyes glued to the laptop screen while finishing up the presentation as she had read his mind.
"Oh," he said quietly and left the office. Once he left the office, Faye finally looked up from the screen and watched him, slowly making his way toward Leo's office. Faye sighed before going back to the presentation.
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"What! Why would you say that?" Eve said, shocked.
"Then why are you always quiet and looking at the floor when it comes to me? As if you are uncomfortable around me. Did I do something to you?" Dave said.
"It's not like that...," Eve tried to say.
"Then what is it then?" Dave said, not understanding why she acted this way. "Is it simply because you don't like me?" he added.
"No! It's the opposite!" she blurred as she realized what she said and covered her mouth.
"What did you say?" his mind froze for a minute. "....Does that mean you like me?" he said as Eve's cheeks were turning red. Her silence answered his question as he said, "then why... I don't understand why you act that way?" He stared at her as she felt cold sweat going down her back. "I- I... know you like timid and pure types, so... I thought if I could be like that... you would like me...."
"Wait, how did you know that?" Dave said, not understanding how she came to such a conclusion as he never told her his type was.
"From a friend... I asked one of my friends to ask you..." she said as her voice was becoming quieter. Then he remembered he told a woman that his type was a pure and timid woman, but he just said that so the woman would leave him alone. He would never have expected that Eve would hear that and believe it.
"So this whole time, you lied to me. Just to make me fall for you? Then who are you really.... I don't even know you now. So were you going to pretend to be someone else and never tell me? Were you planning to pretend forever? I- I don't know what to say to you anymore...," Dave walked away from Eve.
"No... that was not my intent!" Eve tried saying, but it was too late. She didn't want to lie to him...
She was also getting tired of pretending to be someone else; she was not. It felt like she couldn't tell who she was either...
____
"Dave?" Leo said again.
"Sorry, sir. You called?" Dave snapped out of his thoughts as the presentation was over. Leo and Faye looked at him.
"You seem pretty distracted today," Leo said.
"Sorry, sir," Dave said, picking up all the binders and papers.
All three of them had left the conference room. "Great job today, " Leo said to Faye.
"It's my job," Faye said nonchalantly. "Well, since I finished the presentation. I'll be heading out," Faye said, walking towards the elevator, but as she was walking, Leo was also following her. "Why are you following me?" she said.
"I'm not following you. I have to attend an event," Leo said as Faye's lip tightened in annoyance, and didn't say anything back. Dave was also following behind them. "You can stay behind, Dave. You are too distracted today," Leo turned his head towards Dave.
"Yes, sir," Dave said, nodding his head and staying back. Dave watched the two of them enter the elevator as his mind started to drift off again before he took a deep sigh.
Inside the elevator, it was just Faye and Leo inside. Both of them were silent. They glanced at each other and opened their mouths to speak, but no words came out. Before any of them could say anything, the elevator immediately stopped, and the light died as only the emergency light was on. To their surprise, they both look up at the deadlights. "Don't worry, I'll press the help button," Leo assured her before walking towards the buttons. As he raised his hand to press the help button, the elevator immediately grumbled before the whole elevator dropped.
"Ah," a small noise came out of her mouth as she lost balance, and her body was falling towards the elevator floor. Once Leo heard Faye make a sound, his eyes immediately looked at her. All of a sudden, Leo's body instinctively went to catch her as he also lost balance. While they were falling, he tried his best to wrap his arms around her and pull her close to him.
The fall happened so fast, and before they knew it, they had landed on the elevator floor. Both Faye and Leo groaned in pain. Faye was on top of Leo as Leo's back slammed down onto the elevator floor. The elevator screeched before stopping as they fell a couple of levels down. Even though Leo had protected Faye's body from getting injured, Faye still banged the left side of her forehead against the elevator's side rails. As for Leo, he slammed his right wrist against the elevator's wall as he was still holding onto Faye with his left arm while his right wrist was throbbing in pain.
"Are you okay?" Leo gritted his pain while only caring about Faye. "I think I'm fine. I just hit my head against the rails," she also endured the pain and tried to get off Leo.
"Be careful. Don't move too much. We don't want the elevator to move again," Leo seriously said and immediately stopped Faye from making a sudden move. However, she felt a sharp pain in her head when she lifted her head as she was trying to get off of Leo. Then she felt something sliding down the side of her face.
"I think I'm bleeding," she said. "What. Where?" Leo adjusted his neck to look down at her as she slowly moved her hand toward her head and touched her head. She winced in pain as she touched her injured head and saw red blood on her fingertips.
"Okay, let's slowly get up," Leo said, extremely worried. Faye quietly and slowly nodded her head. They both slowly got themselves up in a sitting position as he pulled out his suit pocket handkerchief and held it up to her head. Faye's eyes were surprised to see Leo looking at her with deep concern. She never saw anyone show this expression to her as if they were afraid she was dying. "Thanks... I can hold it," Faye said, not knowing what to do in this situation. She touched his hand before taking over, holding the handkerchief against her wound.
"Let's slowly move you. So, you can lean against the wall," Leo said, helping her scoot closer to the elevator walls as the elevator grumbled again and slightly shook but didn't drop.
Faye started to feel light-headed and dizzy, "I'm getting dizzy...," she mumbled.
"Here, lean your head on my shoulders," Leo said as he sat beside her and leaned her head on his right shoulder. "How are you feeling now?" Leo said.
"I'm feeling sleepy...," she said tiredly as her eyes struggled to stay open. "Hey, don't fall asleep. You have to stay awake," his voice quivered. He lightly tapped her arm. "Hmm," she responded with her eyes open a little.
"They should notice that the elevator is not working, so they won't take long. So, you have to stay awake," Leo said, "You can't fall asleep. What if you don't wake up?" There was a pause of silence before she said, "If I don't wake up, then it's okay... I feel that this life was better... I feel pretty content...," as Faye thought that she had many people she met who cared about her and loved her. She got to live her life for herself and not try to be recognized by others, but then she remembered her little boy.
"Hey... if I don't wake up, can you take care of my Ming? He's such a troublemaker, but he's also such a lovely boy... He's my dog letting you know...," she whispered with her eyes completely closed. Leo was shaken up at her remark and immediately got up and pressed the help button, "What is taking you guys so long? There are injured people here." His voice was ice cold with a hidden quiver.
"Sorry, Mr. Lon. We are still working on it. We already have the ambulance on hand," a person said through the speaker.
"The doors better be open soon, or you all will face the consequences!" his voice roared, sending deep shivers down everyone's spine.
A tiny chuckle appeared behind him, "You really know how to scare people," Faye softly laughed with her eyes still closed. Leo bent down and said, "You're still awake?"
"Of course, how could I fall asleep after hearing that? Even I felt chills go down my spine," she chuckled. "Relax, they're working on it. It's just a small injury. I won't die that easily," she softly assured him.
"You don't know if you are internally bleeding," he said, scared. She didn't say anything back as she was too dizzy and sleepy to answer him.
Even though his heart had not settled down, he sat beside Faye again with her head leaning against his shoulder as she was still holding the handkerchief up to her head. She could feel him tremble in fear as if he was so worried about her falling asleep and not waking up. She felt it was funny for him to care and worry about her so much. It's not like she was important or anything. She was just Faye, a simple person. She had already experienced and seen the people she thought loved her, wanting her to hurry up and die, so seeing someone not wanting her to go, she felt oddly warm. She reached over and touched his quiet, trembling hand to help relieve and assure him. Leo was surprised to see and feel Faye's hand assuring him not to worry as he intertwined their hands together.
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