17- And tea

-oh geez the tea almost boiled away, but I saved it (⁠ ⁠´⁠◡⁠‿⁠ゝ⁠◡⁠`⁠)

-and you almost lost it, you should be more careful next time.

-yeah, sorry (*⁠´⁠∀⁠｀⁠)

she serves the water in a couple of cups, adds the leaf's to little bags and puts them in the water. mixes them for a little and gives me one of the cups.

-be careful, it's hot

-i know how tea works, thanks.

she takes a sip right from the get go, she seems happy and makes a sound of joy when she gulps it all.

to not rise suspicion I put the cup next to my mouth, but I'm careful not to make it touch my lips,

I grab the cup in a way I can slip the finger from my prosthesis inside it, I absorb part of the liquid with the finger and hold it inside the arm, I always make the arm with containing materials in mind, so I never forget to add the space for a container inside.

-it is quite delicious I must said.

I fake a smile just to make it more convincing.

-right? (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

- how long have you been taking this stuff?

- as long as I have lived, actually.

long term exposure, noted.

- so, why are you like that?

-like what?

-all zombie like, you look like you haven't sleep in days.

- because I haven't, 5 days to be precise.

- geez, is something wrong going on?

-just... job related issues, nothing to worry about.

-you haven't slept for 120 hours and you still call it "nothing to worry about"?!

-its... not the first time I get insomnia, it seems it's here to stay.

-but that is not healthy at all, why are you so stressed out that you have this kind of sickness?

-again, just work issues, it's not that deep.

- enough issues to deprive sleeping for 5 days IS something deep you know? ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ.

-its just stress, it's not that big of a deal.

- your job is really stressful if it can hurt you like that, where do you even work anyway?

-i used to work at a hospital, ICU to be precise.

-w-wait you're a doctor?! ヾ⁠(⁠*⁠'⁠Ｏ⁠'⁠*⁠)⁠/

-i... think I still am. long story.

- well I don't feel like sleeping soon so I can hear a looooong story ♪⁠～⁠(⁠´⁠ε⁠｀⁠ ⁠)

- hey that is true, why are you even awake? it's like 4 am.

-i've always loved spending time during this early in the morning, also, I'm always locked to these kind of nocturnal jobs, you saw me at around this hour that time you went to buy the dress remember?.

-hmmm, that's true.

anyway... i used to work the night shift in that hospital, I worked for around 3 years, I... think I enjoyed my time there.

- you don't look like you liked being there.

- it was quite an interesting time. i've never wanted to be a doctor in the first place.

-why not? Ó⁠╭⁠╮⁠Ò

- I... don't see anything bad about it as a whole, it's just that... I think I developed a hate for it because I studied medicine by pure parental pressure, I never wanted to be a doctor.

-what did you want to then?

- I... don't know, I never knew what I wanted to do, even when I was reaching the end of college I still never knew what I wanted to do for a living, that is why my parents chose... chose is a light word for what happened.

-but even today you don't know what to do?

- I guess in retrospective I really like inventing stuff,

the feeling of ecstasy when what you've been struggling for days and even weeks finally functions properly can't be beaten in my opinion.

a engineering career could have worked, I've recently been experiencing something like that.... I'd like to become an inventor.

-then why don't you leave the hospital and start your own workshop?, I bet you could become a great inventor (⁠☞⁠^⁠o⁠^⁠)⁠ ⁠☞

- I already don't work at the hospital.

-oh, then why aren't you doing what you like?

- I... I was...

-what happened?

- again it's quite a long story.

-again, I'm good at listening ⟵⁠(⁠๑⁠¯⁠◡⁠¯⁠๑⁠)

why am I even talking to her?... oh right, nothing better to do.

-like 2 weeks ago I got a call from an unknown number, after picking it up, it turned out that the one calling me was an agent from the government asking me to go and.... "cooperate" with them.

-you were a government agent?! (⁠´⁠⊙⁠ω⁠⊙⁠`⁠)⁠!

-yes but-

- like a Spy?! nonono a super agent?! (⁠⑉⁠⊙⁠ȏ⁠⊙⁠)

-i-i.... no(?)

-aaaw (⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)⁠っ

-why did you e... you know what, forget it. turns out they somehow knew about my powers and got access to my phone number because they wanted precisely me, apparently because I had to just the ability that they needed.

- oh, talking about that, you never showed me what you can do.

- I didn't? oh, sorry, I can absorb things and then use them later on, like for example I could grab a piece of wood, absorb the wood and the use one of my fingers to print a little tiny chair.

- oh OH do that please (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

-so you don't want to hear the story?

- we can't have both? (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

- nope, choose one.

- darn it.... hmmmmmm I guess the story, I don't like cliffhangers.

- turns out they wanted for me to build... something, to contain a girl.

-like capturing her?

-kinda, she was already captured, they just wanted me.... "avoid" her leaving.

- they have someone kidnapped?! ミ⁠●⁠﹏⁠☉⁠ミ

-not really.... I think, it's not against her will, she wants to stay there.

-she wants?

- I... think.... I mean it's more like she just doesn't care about anything else but her room since to her that is her whole world, and she seems really happy there.

- wait, you mean you saw her? so you accepted that kind of work?

- they promised me quite a lot of money, and the promise of it being a simple and secure work, and it really was for most of the time. it really wasn't that bad of an experience, it was quite.... fun.

- what did that girl do to deserve being kidnapped?.

- she is not kid....*sighs* nothing, she is just... confined there because of some stupid reasons.

-so actually know her? I thought you were working without her knowing.

-its quite the contrary, I work with her, I interact and talk to her. as far as I know she even knows what I'm doing and she is... was, helping me with that.

- she seems like a good girl if you put it that way.

- she is... she really is, she doesn't deserve to be there, anyway, I was working there and mostly spending time analysing her and stuff, but I didn't really make any progress on finding a way to contain her, and some days ago the superior of the complex I was settle on came by and demanded to see progress on the job, I obviously didn't have any because they didn't give me anything to work in the first place, no materials, no schematics, no funding... well apart from my salary of course.

-and what happened?

-i...I'm not sure, they just told me to leave, and I couldn't say no so I did, they didn't... fire me... I think, but I still haven't heard from anyone there for 3 days so...

- is that why you're so stressed out?

- mostly, yes, I started with my insomnia again like 2 days before this whole thing happened, so actually I haven't had a proper sleep for 5 days. it's just that the last 3 had been extremely tiresome for... you know the reason why.

- oh goodness... there's something I can't take off my mind tho, why are they keeping her there if she is not a bad person?

- I wonder about it too, but I guess I won't find out soon.

at this point the sadness in my face clearly exposes me to her.

-you don't need to be so sad, as you say they didn't fire you properly so maybe they could call you back (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

-i really doubt it... but I'm still hopeful it will happen. * sighs* you know, I appreciate the talk and the fact that I could talk about this to someone, but I really don't feel like it helped a lot you know, I want to go to my house.

-aaaw we were getting to an interesting part(⁠´⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠.̫⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠`⁠) but it's okay, you can leave now, it was really interesting speaking with you. I really need to hear more details of that story someday.

- thanks for having me in, and thanks for the tea and the cookies. they were wonderful.

- oh thanks a lot, I'm sure the tea will help you relax now. just be sure to take some time to relax once you get home and maybe watch some movies, you'll be asleep in no time ←⁠(⁠>⁠▽⁠<⁠)⁠ﾉ

I walk to the door and I open it, outside is a hall full of other rooms and a couple of stairs, I almost forgot we were in an apartment.

I try to close the door without looking back but the door is stoped gently.

I turn around to see Mildred peaking in the hole between the door and the wall.

-and you know... I had fun speaking with you, maybe we could go out some day, like to watch movies or at the park, I really feel like we should be friends you know?

-oh... I... I'll think about it.

-oh right, here.

she hands me a little paper note with numbers on it.

-this is my phone number, just give me a call one day and we can hangout at any time, see ya Cecile ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧.

the door closes.

I'm alone in the hallway looking at the paper in my hands, a deep silence fills every-

wait how am I going to get down?