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ERIS - chapter 3

Hannah’s good mood lasts all day and even Mark’s knowing smile doesn’t put her off. When she comes home after work she pulls Eris’ business card from her wallet and drops it into a drawer in her desk. She thinks about last night, about pouring her heart out to a stranger. It was quite possibly the strangest experience of her life, but for the first time since Helen left her, she felt seen, understood, real.

The next morning, she gets halfway to work before she realises she’s forgotten her headphones again, but somehow the silence doesn’t seem so intimidating any more. She lets her thoughts wander idly and glances around the subway car, vaguely recognising other regular commuters. One, a tall woman in a business suit, meets her gaze and smiles, and the slight flutter Hannah feels in response isn’t terrifying the way it would have been a few days ago.

Almost a week passes and Hannah feels like she’s coming out of hibernation, somehow. She buys a beautiful painting of a cherry blossom tree in bloom and hangs it in the master bedroom, and suddenly the giant bed seems more inviting than intimidating. She visits a flea market at the weekend and picks up a couple of throws and a bonsai tree, and slowly her apartment starts to feels more like a home than a hotel room.

Another week passes and as her team is leaving for their usual end-of-the-week drinks, Pearlcalls out to her.

“You want to come, boss?”

It’s been a standing invitation for weeks and Hannah has always declined, but this time she pauses for a moment before answering.

“Sure,” she says.

Pearl looks at her in surprise, before smiling.

“Great!” She says.

They go to Bar None and Mark promises to introduce her to the head bartender, but it’s her night off. Hannah likes this place, it’s classy without being pretentious and she makes a note to follow up on the idea of bringing their clients here when they arrive next week. She pays for everyone’s drinks, and before long they’re laughing and joking easily with her.

Somewhere around her third cocktail, someone floats the idea of karaoke and is immediatelyshot down, but by the sixth drink the idea comes back and somehow, Hannah finds herself in another bar, watching Mark and his assistant James duet on Born In The USA and laughing herself silly. When Pearl drags her onto the stage she protests, but the opening strains of Man, I Feel Like a Woman hit her ears and before she knows it, she’s belting out the song at the top of her lungs as her team whoop and cheer her on.

They call it a night around 1am, and Hannah takes a taxi back to her apartment, still humming Shania Twain quietly to herself. The taxi pulls up to her building and she climbs out, waving happily to the doorman. He chuckles and walks her to the elevator, and she leans heavily against the wall as it carries her to her floor.

“You’re a lightweight, Harto,” she tells herself, using the nickname she picked up in Japan.

It takes three attempts to get her key in the lock, but soon enough she’s kicking off her shoes and flinging her jacket across the room. She wrestles the rest of her clothes off and heads for the bedroom when a thought strikes her. She goes to the office and rummages in her desk until she finds Eris’ card.

She looks at it for a long while, swaying slightly.

“Fuck it,” she says finally, and grabs the phone from her desk.

It rings three times.

“Hello?” Eris says. Hannah swallows and opens her mouth, but she can’t think of a thing to say.