The morning after a sleepless night was not pleasant. Eurus had received another peculiar postcard from her missing mother earlier that day and she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Yet the “reminder” from her mother and dark circles under her eyes were not a good excuse for her boss.
Eurus assumed that nothing would be worse than a spilled coffee, broken nail, and an uneven eyeliner. She bet. Entering the main doors of the Pearson-Specter-Litt law office building she absurdly collapsed on the shiny white marble floor.
That’s when Adam, her co-worker, sprinted towards Eurus with the velocity of a cheetah and intentions of Superman. Adam was ginger, curly, with his face covered with freckles, he was awkward, and he was kind-hearted.
‘Stupid heels! I knew I should have worn moccasins!’ Eurus thought, sitting on the floor and blaming these stupid heels.
Those were actually not average heels. Those were Decollete 554, black patent leather 100mm heels, enacted in the world of every respectable woman by the one and only Christian Louboutin. But at that exact moment, when Eurus was surrounded by tens of meaningful and useless items, she didn’t really care about those 670$ heels.
There was a whole story behind Adam and Eurus, yet he had no clue that his heartthrob was married and had a child. Adam could not believe that this charming lady (as he usually thought of Eurus) have been taken by someone braver than himself. With hair color as luscious and bronze as fresh cinnamon sticks; with eyes as black as goth’s nail polish and as deep as the Mariana Trench, oh Lord, she was charming in his eyes. With all her disinterest and at the same time solicitude to the world, Eurus settled in Adam’s mind long ago. It was love from first sight. He bet. Yet news of her child and husband were about to kick in his heart like a poisoned arrow.
Her bag now was wide open, lying near its owner and Eurus cursed herself for picking this old shabby bag. The bag was not so mediocre either, yet it didn’t play a crucial role in her collapse. Eurus simply needed someone (apart from herself) to blame.
As Adam approached Eurus he leaned on his knees and started clumsily grabbing her stuff putting them in the bag (which, by the way, seemed pretty nice to him). It was then when Adam noticed a whole bunch of first aid bandages, scattered on the floor: rounded, prolonged, with aloe oil, tiny little ones, and even a couple with Winnie-the-Pooh print. The last ones caused him to be concerned about whether she was childish or a mother of a child.
‘You don’t have to help me, Adam, I can … uhh, I mean, thank you.’ Eurus said, scrutinizing the floor. She felt shame for being rude to Adam. But these heels, these goddamn heels… And this floor, why is marble so slippy?
‘It’s not hard for me. Let me help you.’ he tried to sound neutral, but she could hear the melancholy in his voice. ‘Your stuff is everywhere now, hope no one else will fall, haha… ’ even after being dumped Adam attempted to joke. And this made Eurus feel even worse.
‘Thank you’ she whispered again accepting “a help hand” and awkwardly standing up. Eurus looked up at Adam who was holding her hand way to tight.
‘Adam, you can let go of my hand now… ’
‘You are bleeding.’ he cut her in the middle of the sentence.
‘Excuse me?’
‘You are bleeding, Eurus.’ he pointed on her knee, ‘You scratched when you fell, I guess.’
Eurus saw a small scrape on her left knee and a few drops of blood.
‘Great, not only I fell in the middle of the hallway, but I also managed to tear a stocking.’ she murmured under her breath hoping Adam won’t hear it. She was already rude, she didn’t want to appear cynical and bitchy.
‘Thank you again, Adam, I will now go to the office, I am already late.’
‘Yeah, sure.’ he said letting her hand of, ‘but, hey, don’t worry, you have plenty of bandages!’ he smirked and handed a pile of bandages back to Eurus. ‘Is that why you carry so many of them, huh? Because you never know what to expect, right?’ Adam said, imitating a voice of “well-known” comedian and then pointed on the one with Winnie-the-Pooh print.
‘I see you like Winnie.’
‘What? Ah, yeah, kind of. My daughter likes him. Tony, my husband bought them for her.’
Husband. Daughter. She has a daughter. Thus, she’s not childish, she’s a mother of a child.
‘Oh, yes, sure, your daughter. And husband…’ Adam exhaled, yet he wasn’t truly surprised. Well, after all, how could this charming lady, with her bronze hair and black eyes and all this disinterest and solicitude be single, right?
Now, looking into her eyes, Adam realized that he knew nothing about Eurus. He only knew things she allowed him to know. He didn’t know, for instance, what her favourite color was. Maybe it was black? Or gray? Adam supposed so because he couldn’t recall her wearing anything but black and grey. Did she grieve for someone? And if she did, for who and what happened?
‘Here,’ she said and gave him one of Winnie-the-Pooh bandages, ‘take one.’
‘Ugh, thanks, but what for?’
‘Because you never know what to expect, right?’
