Chapter 10

For 3 weeks Kristal made me wary of being alone with her. And that made me scared and jumpy from any stimuli. I was overly aware of my surroundings. Sometimes when I saw her I would just turn around the way I came.

And I felt miserable every time that it happened.

I thought of telling Samantha about it, but she would say the same thing: We don't have any proof that she is doing it.

Kristal was sly. She only harassed me when there was no one around and she never touched me. It was so nerve-wracking that I got myself hoping for her to jump me so I would have something to show. But nothing of the sort happened.

She made it especially hard for anyone to believe me. When we were in public, she would constantly state how weak and naive she was. It was as if she was trying to make people believe she was unable to harass anyone.

After the first month, a lot of male employees took a liking to her. She would constantly have someone taking her to lunch and sometimes those people would be a guy from the company.

If I was around, she strived to be extra loud: laughing at their jokes, twisting her hair, and commenting about how good they were to help her. I once even heard her mention how she couldn't be rude to people because she was a people pleaser.

I snorted at the comment, and everyone seemed annoyed. But I didn't care, I knew I was right.

After another week, she started coming to our department. I was about to leave for lunch when she entered the door with an innocent face. I didn't even had time to react as she stepped closer to me and "tripped" over. That sent me against the nearby desk and almost dropped me to the floor.

_ God, watch where you are going. - She said patting her skirt as if an insect just hit her.

_ You just shoved me. - I said not able to believe her tone. - You literally pushed yourself against me.

_ I tripped and you didn't even hold me. - she said faking a pleading face. - You are very rude you know?

I could sense that she was putting on an act because someone was around. And soon enough Brian came closer to us.

_ Guys, can we take this outside? - he said looking at Kristal with an inquisitive tone.

_ Yeah, you shouldn't even be here. Didn't Samantha say that we should avoid each other? What are you doing here?

_ I am sorry. - She said with a fake insulted tone. - But I am not here for you. I am looking for Cole. We are supposed to have lunch together.

Cole, the womanizer of our department. As much as you get from a software development department anyway. It wasn't surprising that he made a move on her, but it was still a pain in the ass Kristal actually accepted.

Brian and I clearly didn't buy it, but she made an innocent face and just asked coyly:

_ Are you guys going to let me go?

Awkwardly, Brian and I got out of the way, and she went to Cole's desk. As soon as she arrived they started chatting lively. It was easy to see that she was throwing herself at him, and in a few seconds, she was already giggling at something he said.

_ Do you believe this? - I asked Brian while we both observed Kristal.

_ Not really, she is too pretty for him. - Brian said measuring both. - But, looks can be deceiving.

_ Yeah. - I said while looking at her.

For the next week, she would constantly show up in our department. Sometimes she would go straight to Cole's desk, and others she waited for him by the exit. To say it was annoying was an understatement.

They would talk loud and he would try to impress her with whatever it was that he was doing. She laughed and touched him with very clear intentions and he got more excited when she came around.

If she ever came across me, she would make a sour face or even ask me what I was looking at. It was the first time that I was pissed that our company did not have a policy against dating colleagues.

I didn't dislike Cole, but I wasn't fond of him either. And now that I knew he and Kristal were having a fling, he started to piss me off. I got myself wishing for them to go away or to do something inappropriate and get fired.

Samantha was in the loop about everything that was happening in our department. I was embarrassed to tell her that Kristal threatened to hit me, but the relationship with my colleague and the tone she used with me was more than enough to involve HR.

She said she was monitoring the situation, but it sounded like she had something better to do, and I didn't blame her. I was dealing with one terrible person and she probably had to deal with a lot of them for the whole company.

I started using headphones and ignoring Kristal as much as I could. If she even looked at me, I would avert my gaze and not give her the pleasure of answering the provocations.

This seemed to throw her out of her game because she started to meet me outside the department to throw accusations.

_ Ignoring me will not solve your problems. - She said while I was grabbing a bottle of water.

_ It will solve it for me. - I said almost grinning with satisfaction.

_ You are the same as all of those years ago. - she said seeming very frustrated.

_ I can say the same for you. - I said looking in her eyes. I could see her cheeks flush and she seemed embarrassed by my comment and mumbled something while I walked away.

I thought I won our argument until the day that I came back from my lunch break and she was sitting in my chair, casually on her cellphone.

_ What are you doing? - I asked approaching my desk.

_ I am waiting for Cole. - she said without looking away from the screen.

_ Yeah, but what are you doing sitting in my chair?

_ It was free and my legs were tired. - she said.

_ Yeah, there was no other chair lying around. - I said knowing that she was trying to provoke me. - Can you get out?

_ I am still tired. - she said finally looking at me.

_ This is my chair, go somewhere else. - I said close to losing my patience.

_ Make me. - She said looking at me with a grin.

We stared at each other and there was this tension in the air. She was sitting with her legs crossed and a wicked grin, I could see her nails digging in the armrests as if she was expecting a fight.

My anger was swelling inside my stomach. If anyone looked closer, they would see the veins in my neck popping. My head was pulsing with hatred and I was probably going to do some crazy shit when she jumped up.

I instinctively crossed my arms protecting myself from an attack. Kristal jumped up excitedly and in the best cheerleader voice said:

_ What took you so long? - to someone behind me.

As I turned around, I found Cole looking at me and her with a puzzled look. It was clear that he was taken by surprise by that scene. Kristal dared to look back at me and say:

_ Thank you for letting me wait here. - and then she grabbed Cole's arm and walked away.

My head was pounding. I had a cold sweat on my forehead. For a moment I thought she was going to attack me.

I was pathetic.

That day I searched for the gym that Evan told me about and scheduled a class.