Chapter 2
As Therese stood in the middle of the tiny living room surrounded by cardboard boxes, each neatly labeled with her own handwriting, her emotions were unexpectedly met with a tinge of poignance about leaving behind this place that she had regarded home for the past year. Never mind the ugly paint falling off the walls or the leaking faucet in the kitchen or even the annoying door handle that she often had to wrestle with in order to get the door properly shut and locked. Or perhaps, beyond all these, it was the living alone that she would dearly miss. But then, she would have Carol. She would be living with Carol. Carol, who would make sure that Therese would be too occupied to even steal a moment to miss any part of her old life.
Her thoughts were abruptly halted when the loud buzzer by the door went off. It was promptly followed by several rude knocks and a grumpy voice hollered, "Miss Belivet! Open the door!"
As if fleeing an emergency, Therese ran toward the door and opened it in one swift motion only to reveal an expressionless Mrs. Hensdale and a young woman who appeared to be only slightly older than Therese herself.
"Well, seeing that you've given me such a short notice, I've asked my niece to move in until she could find a more permanent dwelling," said Mrs. Hensdale as she led the young woman into the apartment. "Celine, feel free to look around and let me know if you need more furniture or anything." With that, she wobbled out the door and left the two women alone.
It was Celine who initiated the conversation. "I'm Celine Pratt. I just moved here from Pennsylvania," said Celine cheerfully, holding out her right hand for a handshake.
"Therese. Therese Belivet. Pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise. So, are you leaving the city or moving into a more decent looking place?" Celine asked with a tiny chuckle as her eyes gave the surrounding a once-over and her hand twirling in midair.
"Oh, I'm... I'm actually going to be sharing a place with a friend," replied Therese, painfully aware of how she emphasized the word 'friend'.
"I see. And I'll be living here until I'm sick of my job at the New York Times," sighed Celine.
Therese's eyes widened and she eagerly chimed in, "I work at the Times! How come I've never seen you anywhere before?"
Celine let out a quiet laugh and explained, "Well they just decided they wanted me right after I finished business school at U Penn. I'll be on their sales team. What do you do there?"
Therese wrinkled her nose and answered, "At the moment, I'm still a struggling assistant junior photo editor finding my bearing in the big bad world of journalism."
"Well, I'm sure a smart and sweet little thing like you can find anything anywhere without much problem," said Celine with a playful wink and an upward curve of her mouth.
Therese immediately felt heat rushing to her cheeks and she remained silent with an inward smile.
Although Therese was standing several feet away from Celine, she could almost swear that Celine had the most crystal clear blue eyes she had come in contact with. They were so blue and clear that one could soothe all their trouble away by just staring at them for as long as one needed, much like admiring a work of art at the museum. A work of art that one could spend a lifetime appreciating and never get tired of. The clarity of the blueness, so calming and dizzying at the same instant, seemed to spell out that this shade of eyes could only belong to someone unabashed, audacious and extroverted. All the characteristics that were never Therese's but were what Therese had always admired.
It was then that it hit her.
Was she being unfaithful to Carol? Was finding another woman's eyes intriguing a form of disloyalty to the woman she loved? She shook off the commotion in her head and looked up to find the said pair of blue orbs staring back at her.
Before Therese could command her voice to return, Celine took a few bold steps closer and almost inaudibly, she asked, "Is there a number I can call to get in touch with you?" And as if in a hypnotized state, Therese legibly wrote down Carol's number on the back of Celine's left hand hand.