When a chuckle escaped her, Giselle felt bad. It sure looked like Annie was bedding his love interests, one by one. Her voice went soft when she asked him through the phone, "Does it really matter?".

"Probably not, no", Ian answered and sighed. She took a deep breath and finally took her shoes off. The clothes had cooled enough to make her feel cold. She needed to change.

"So when are you coming home?", the brunette repeated her inquiry. There was no answer. Not immediately. By the time Ian responded, she had stripped down to her underwear. "I don't know. I don't want to see you right now", he said and sounded sad and honest. She understood that much, probably she wouldn't want to see him either, had their roles been reversed.

Instead of dwelling on it, she muttered, "Stay a bit longer in your Hulk sheets. Being around Sam will be good for you. He's nice. And when you're ready to come back to me, give me a call. I'll be here waiting, alright?". Saying it out loud made her insides twist and turn. She didn't like saying it, but it didn't make it less true. A part of her still fought with the moment Annie and her had in the stairwell.

"Fair enough. Be safe, Giselle!", he said before he cut the call. She thought she heard a smile behind all of it. It made the corners of her mouth curl in response. Hope was to die last.

After she took the phone down from her ear, she dried herself, especially her hair and removed the makeup. When she put on her pajamas and settled on the sofa under a thin blanket, she looked at her phone.

Laureen: "Don't let it get to you, he'll come back. Have some faith!"

That text from Laury made her grin. The woman was probably already bedding her new trophy from the cinema. Still it was nice that she had a friend that left her nice messages. Something she never was able to do. Getting into other people's heads was tough, predicting what they needed to hear in advance even more so. It was almost eery for her to predict Ian's call.

Her phone beeped while she stared at the message from Laury.

Annie: "Hey Giselle. Maybe we should talk about what happened. If you're free some time, please text!"

Reading Annie's text made her ponder about the ignore function on her phone. She could just lock the woman out. Never read a text from her again, with some luck, hardly ever see her again, too. Frustrated, she put the phone away.

When she turned on the TV, nothing interesting ran. The news came on a few minutes later. Followed by an ad of the movie they were showing that evening. It was a popular romance movie, one she hadn't seen before. Except that she wasn't remotely in the mood for romance, considering how her day was going. With a click on the remote, she turned off the TV.

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Giselle: "Hey Laury. You're great. Thanks for that! Ian just called. Please share your fortune cookies with me next time! He's still mad, but I guess we'll manage. I need more patience than I have, I guess :sweat_smile:"

After the message was sent, she looked at Annie's text again and was about to type. Something held her back. It made her stare at the screen until it went dark automatically. "Aaaaah fuck!", she complained at the empty room. With a few clicks, she turned her phone off completely. It shut down with a sad goodbye message on the screen. A rare occasion, but she didn't know what else to do.

And instead of a movie, she started a TV show. Laury had told her about it maybe two years back. It was a mix between a Western and love story. Romance it was after all. The characters seemed likeable enough and she deemed the first episode to be watchable after 3 minutes. She snuggled into the blanket and sunk into the show.

Giselle woke around 3am with the TV still on, but the second episode had finished a long time back. To figure out the time, she turned her phone back on. It immediately beeped.

Laury: "You'll be fine, just don't do anything stupid. He'll come back when he sees you care! I'll see you tomorrow!"

This message cast a smile on the brunette's lips, despite the late hour. She made her way into bed and immediately drifted off. Her dreams circled around feeling uncomfortable in an elevator. Multiple strangers entered and left the small cabin, yet she had no possibility to step out, because no matter how often she tried to reach floor 3, it never stopped there.

Uncomfortable and uneasy, she woke and got ready for work. The routine. Her alarm rang when she entered the bathroom. She had all but forgotten Annie's message. After getting ready, having breakfast and taking a bus to work, she joked around with Laury about the second night she had fun with that youngster from the cinema. And while Laury demanded coffee, Giselle had her fun with it.

Luckily the weather held up better than on the previous day. By the time she got home, it was seven. Two buses had been cancelled, diverted or had been stuck in traffic for whatever other reason. Part of her had hoped, Ian would be there when she came home. It was wishful thinking, yet it'd be romantic, in a way, right?

When she entered, her apartment was as empty as she had left it. Frustration held her in its grip. Impatience. Ian would be back soon. It even made her consider watching James Bond. Sanity prevailed and she kept watching the TV show from the previous day. Three episodes later, she went to bed, turned off the lights and reached over with her arm onto the free space, that was Ian's side of the bed.

It was empty. He'd been around for years now and he'd left a hole. One she wasn't ready to fill up and patch over. A sigh escaped her lips as she stared up at the ceiling, doing her best to find sleep.

Slowly she became aware of the noise. Her neighbours were up. When she concentrated, she realized it was someone rhythmically making a sound. By then, it was too late to ignore it. Giselle listened to Annie moan. For minutes. On and on and on. And she hated it. Fought tears, the urge to go over and scream at the blonde. Yell all she was feeling toward the person who caused it. Yet someone else was there with Annie. And she knew damn well who that person was. That made her hate it even more.