Adeline's life at work is back to normal, as if nothing had happened. It is true that Angie has already been fired after being accused of what happened to Adeline's promotion.
She remained ignorant of what was happening to her, especially as to what the true identity of her "supposed" friend Sandra was.
Chris, on the other hand, didn't give up in the decision to take care of Adeline, especially since they have already started dating each other.
Adeline arrived early in front of the building where she was working because Chris sent her off before going to his workplace after.
"Thank you for sending me off to work. You shouldn't have bothered." Adeline turned to look at her first love, who was staring at her, full of contentment.
"You don't have to worry about me. I can do it for you every day, so there's no need for you to complain," he boasted.
Adeline smirked before rolling her eyes off of him. Because of that, Chris teased her by pulling her close to him and embracing her on the side.
"Hey, Chris! What do you think you're doing?" She hit him on the hand.
She kept her face away from Chris's face since she felt embarrassed because they were in a public place.
"Let go of me…" she told him calmly, trying to look around to see if other people were looking at them.
"I will pick you up after work, alright?"
Adeline gets to stare at him, thinking about the reason he's suddenly becoming sweet towards her.
Yes, they were able to give a hint about liking and having romantic feelings for each other, but that wasn’t enough to make their relationship official, especially since Adeline’s mother didn’t even know about it.
Adeline nodded at Chris. "Can you please let me go now? There are people looking at us."
Chris looked around them and saw what Adeline was talking about. He laughed a bit before letting go of her.
"I'm sorry. I forgot you don’t like other people’s attention." He scratched the back of his head.
Silence went in between them. They do not know why they are ashamed of each other after confessing their feelings to each other. It doesn't seem to be normal.
"I will go inside now," Adeline said.
"Oh, okay. I'll see you later." Chris felt awkward for a bit.
Adeline smiled at him before waving her hands good bye. Chris did the same before walking away.
When Adeline arrived at their department office, Shirley immediately called her to the office.
"May I ask the reason you called for me?" she asked Shirley.
"Good question." Shirley took out a portfolio from her desk's drawer and put it above her table. "Take that and study."
Adeline was confused and hesitant, but still she obeyed what Shirley ordered her to do. She took the portfolio from Shirley's table.
"What is this for?"
"The second-level authorities want to give you another chance, but this time they made the tasks harder than the previous one." Shirley took out a piece of cigarette from its box.
Adeline stares at the portfolio, thinking if it would be a wonderful decision to accept the offer again.
For others, they will accept the offer again, even if something bad has happened in the past, due to the fact that they have been tested only once.
But Adeline thinks differently. Even though she only experienced the trial once, it had a strong mental effect on her.
She has grown up and was accustomed to life of being an innocent, kind, and full of love and positivity child. Therefore, it is not impossible that the insult, personal attack, and sabotage will have a powerful impact on her, emotionally and mentally.
"If you badly wanted that promotion, get your ass over to your desk and study what I have given you instead of standing there, watching me light up my cigar," Shirley told her.
Adeline excused herself and went out of her manager's office. It surprised her to see Jeremy and Shizuko waiting for her outside.
"What are you two doing here?" she asked them.
She continued walking, going to her desk, and opened her computer. She noticed being earlier than Sandra in coming to office again.
"How are you, Adeline?" Jeremy asked her with concern.
"I'm good. Why do you ask?" Adeline smiled at them.
"Well, Jerm and I got worried about you because you didn't go to work yesterday. What happened?" Shizuko asked.
Adeline continued with what she used to do before proceeding with her tasks for the day.
"About that, my childhood friend from Austin came to New York. So I accompanied him on a tour of the city," Adeline said.
Jeremy and Shizuko looked at each other.
"Is your childhood friend a guy?" Jeremy asked her in a sudden.
"Yes. Didn't I just say I accompanied him?" Adeline said while in the middle of looking for something. "Where is my pen?"
"What pen are you looking for?" Shizuko asked as she tried to help Adeline look for it under the desk.
"A black pen to be exact."
Adeline didn't take long to search for her misplaced black pen, and she immediately saw it on Sandra's desk.
"I found it!" she said.
Shizuko glanced at Adeline and got confused. She looked at Jeremy, who was also in the same state as hers.
"Um, Adeline?" Jeremy called her.
"Yes?"
"That's not a black pen."
"What do you mean? Of course it is-" Adeline had another look on the pen she just took and saw it was a red one.
She doesn't know how that happened. The color she saw before she took it from Sandra's table was black, but now it's red.
Adeline felt a caress on her back as she glanced at Shizuko.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Shizuko asked her with concernment.
She could not understand what had really happened to her. Is she stressed or is she just lacking in sleep? Whatever the reason, it definitely doesn’t do her any good.
Adeline went straight to an optometrist for an eye check up after work hours. She also informed Chris of her whereabouts and the latter accompanied her without hesitation.
Chris waited outside the check up room for Adeline since it took her about 15 minutes to get done with her check up. He immediately approached her as soon as he saw her get out of the room.
“What happened?”
Adeline never thought Chris would actually go with her to the hospital. She sat down on the bench with him to have a talk about what happened.
“It’s nothing serious, actually,” she told him.
“Nothing serious? Why are you making that kind of face then?” Chris asked her.
Adeline was hesitant to tell her friend that she encounters vision problems. She always thought that if she ever told him or anyone else, they would not believe her, especially her not understanding what is happening to her health.
She sighed before getting up from her seat. “I want to go home and take some rest.”
Chris could do nothing but grant her request. But he couldn't lose his anxiety either, that’s why he was trying to find out what the problem is or what Adeline is feeling bad about.