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Nona woke up with the sound of splashing water from the shower. It must be the new guy taking a bath. She rubbed the back of her hand against her mouth. There was a persistent rusty metallic chia in her mouth. She felt nauseated. She left the bed and passed by the wide-open bathroom door. She could see everything. The tall man was standing under the spray, his naked body gleaming wetly as it flexed his hands, brushing his long hair to the pulsating jet. He turned around, and by reflex, Nona slammed the door, feeling her face burning. 'What the fuck is wrong with him?' she thought.

She went to the kitchen, at least to get coffee, to erase this taste from her mouth. But found two packs of coffee. Same brand, same size and same flavour. Are they splitting groceries? Which one is hers? She chose randomly and filled in the machine. While waiting for the coffee to drip, Eske showed behind her, shirtless as always. Nona rolled her eyes: 'You know the bathroom as a door.'

'Okay, are we trying to communicate being passive-aggressive?'; he tried to say it while sounding serious but hardly could hold a grin.

'First thing in the morning that I saw were you naked!'; she protested.

'Why? Any complaints? You didn't like what you saw?'; Eske locked his eyes on the two packs of coffees over the counter: 'Bab...Nona, which coffee did you use?'

'Why? They are the same. If I used yours, don't worry, you may use mine.'

'Is not okay. The left side is my food, and the right side is yours. Is that okay?'; Eske said while smelling the packs to know which one came from home and which didn't. But to him, they smelled the same. 'Nona, can you smell each, please?'

'Why are you being weird? Is just coffee, dude.'

By the expression on Eske's face, she understood he didn't like to be called *dude*, which was amusing to her,

'Please, just smell it.'

She rolled her eyes but obliged. Indeed each pack had a different smell. The first smelled something earthly wet, and the other smelled like nutty coffee with a weak aroma of roasted. 'The second smell better.'

'That is yours. Keep it in a place that you know is yours, okay?'; Eske said seriously but smiled, showing two dimples on his cheek.

'You are so weird.'; Nona walked away from the counter.

'Are you hungry?'; he asked.

'Not really.'

He took some pieces of bread from the fridge, put them on a toaster and instructed: 'Sit. I'll prepare you something.'

'Dude, I'm not hungry.'

'I don't care, sit.'; he said, pointing to one of the kitchen's stools.

'Are you always that bossy, dude?'; she sat down. She was starting to get annoyed with herself with the *dude's* prank but saw him frowning his eyebrows whenever she said it was worth it.

'Yes, I am,' he replied. 'When it's needed, dude.'

After a few minutes, Eske brought two plates with sliced toasted bread, cucumber and cheese. On the top were slices of ham and boiled eggs: 'Hope you like it.'

'You didn't need to do all of this.'; Nona complained while giving a huge bite. 'Didn't need to have all this work.'

'It's fine. Don't worry about it.'; Eske finished eating and then stood up. 'Do you want more coffee?'; he asked her.

'No thanks, I'll go for a walk or something.'; she answered, standing up.

'Outside?'

'Yes, outside.'

'Why?'

'Just because.'

'Where will you go?'

'To the park, maybe.'; Nona shrugged her shoulders.

'In this weather? It looks cold.'

'Yeah, it is okay. I think I'll survive.'

'Alright.'; Eske nodded. 'I go with you!'

'Don't bother. I just need some fresh air..'; Nona started walking away.

'What a coincidence, I need fresh air too!'; Eske shouted after her.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Nona grabbed a paperback and saved some bread and crumbles. 'What is that for?'; Eske asked, intrigued while dressing a shirt quickly.

'I like the ducks.'

'We are making progress, I see.' Nona did not understand the remark.

They arrived at the park and found a bench near the lake. It was freezing, and she was just wearing a sweater. As for him, it was only a shirt and a suit blazer. The sun had not yet risen in full strength over the town, but its faint light still glimmered through the naked tree's branches with an intense golden glow. She removed the paper bag and started throwing crumbs of bread into the lake. The ducks came swarming around it like a flock of eager birds. Eske got out his phone and aimed down among their heads, where they were all huddled together. 'Look.'

'Oh, that's pretty. Can you forward it to me?'

'Sure.'; he pointed his phone in her direction while she was distracted and took a couple of photos of her.

'What are you doing?'

He laughed and showed them on the screen, one of her smiling while strands of hair brushed her cheek, another looking straight ahead under which there was no smile. He said: 'You look nice either way.' Then he put away his phone and watched her throw more breadcrumbs to the hungry ducks who seemed particularly fond of white-bread scraps.

'How did you find this place?' asked Eske after a while.

She turned toward him, smiled, and then looked back across the pond again. A few other people walked by, a man with two small children walking hand in hand, a young woman talking earnestly about something or other with her boyfriend beside her.

'Couple of years ago, when I lived one block away, over there.'; she said, pointing to a street opposite from where they stay now. 'I used to come here before and after work. I didn't like to go home.'

A boy and girl went past without noticing them, holding hands tightly. They sat on another bench next to them, watching the ducks as them between teenage kisses.

Until Eske broke the silence: 'A couple of years ago?'

'Yeah. Why?'

'Is just, huh.'; Eske looked up at the pond. Nona noticed his expression go blank all of a sudden. The wind picked up suddenly and blew some leaves onto the path before them. There was nothing else remarkable about it except that Eske stared at them intently. His eyes widened slightly, and he shivered.

'It is getting cold, and I need to start the PC and work soon. Otherwise, I get fired.'; she said.

Eske nodded vaguely and made no reply. They remained silent all the way back home until they reached their apartment building. Her key opened the door quickly, and she led him inside and upstairs to the third floor where her flat lay. While Nona went to her office room, Eske sat on the couch. He began fiddling with the remote control of the TV set.

She passed by to pick up a water bottle and asked: 'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just doing some math mentally. Nothing else.'; Eske said with an absent tone.

Nona frowned and returned to her desk. When she came back half an hour later, he was still sitting on the couch but this time with his laptop. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something serious had happened. He returned his gaze to her: 'Are you feeling any different?'

'What?'

'Like something that isn't as it should be? Anything?'

'No,' she replied, 'I feel normal.'

'Okay.'; he said and kept typing on his laptop.

'What an odd man, I know how to pick them.'; she thought.

But as soon she turned her back on him, he shouted: 'If you need something, call me, I'm here.'

She couldn't explain why those words made her face feel like fire.

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**Now talking in #TGTCTT**

**Evil_Kitty ([email protected]@rth) has joined #TGTCTT

File was sent already, did you see it?**

<@Iknowaguy> Not yet, how's the download?

** smooth like the fur of a kittie uwu**

<@Iknowaguy> I need you to recheck it

** as I said is going fine we are at 5%

not bad for two days

Is something going on?**

<@Iknowaguy> WTL is messing with her. I think is messing with her memories

<@Iknowaguy> she is saying she has been here for two years

<@Iknowaguy> right memories at the wrong timeline? or wrong memoires at the right timeline?

** she doesn't mess up TL's, that is for sure. And none of you ever visited .**245863150, at least on the record.

** I don't think that is the answer boss. and I cant work on it without more data. Try to ask her when she comes bac to herself**

<@Iknowaguy> Neither I, I need a new problem case open for this and to keep an eye

<@Iknowaguy> I'm missing something and can't understand what.

<@Iknowaguy> keep this channel open, if I need to contact you, so we keep the logs and maybe request for a second hand on the server room. I really need you Vihann to focus on this!

** I'm fine, think you're overthinking it AGAIN. She is a vortex her brains swirls around and gets a bit confused.

soooooooooooo netflix and chill, they have netflix right?

don't you have a bet to win?**

** so far is 59% of HQ saying you'll lose and adopt a cat

I'm on your side always, I am more of a dog guy**

<@Iknowaguy> I Am happy to see everyone is entretained

<@Iknowaguy> please don't forget to open the incident. We really need the root cause of this mixed memories

** what about the file?**

<@Iknowaguy> First thing tomorrow, is that good?

** yes, nice pics btw! uwu liked and commented!**

**Evil_Kitty ([email protected]@rth) Quit ("")**

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