Foolish Games

46. The missing piece of the puzzle

Misha did notice the looks he received from his co-workers. The bruise was still visible and made him self-conscious in a way he didn't like. So far no one had said or asked anything about it and Misha hoped it would remain so.

Sighing heavily he sat in front of his desk and turned the computer on; his thoughts continuously trying to escape back home to Joni. Of course, Ivo would take good care of him. The two had always gotten along, in fact, they were getting along so well that... Misha frowned, there were still times when he wondered what had happened between the two, had there been any true feelings? Any at all? Had there been more kisses? And why the hell was he thinking about this now?

"Wow, must have been some party?" A familiar female voice startled him from his thoughts and he looked up to see Cecilia, one of his closest work friends. Her desk was situated close to his own. "You look like shit," the woman pointed out in her usual blunt way and sat on the edge of his desk holding her coffee cup.

"And good morning to you as well," Misha groaned glaring at her.

"To be honest, I thought you'd be away for the rest of the week since tomorrow is off," she said and tilted her head slightly.

"Tomorrow is off?" Misha frowned and she giggled.

"Midsummer's Eve, silly! The great holiday with a brilliant excuse to party 'till dawn, or 'till you pass out from enjoying too many drinks. Surely you can't have forgotten my dear Vodka?" She raised her brow and Misha again remembered why it wasn't good to introduce people to his brother; the silly nickname given to him by Ivo spread fast.

"I had forgotten," he confessed, staring towards the screen tiredly. He would have to call his friends and cancel the plan of joining them at a party at a cabin owned by one of their parents.

"So this is serious, what happened?"

"It's a long story, long and unpleasant," he sighed, not really in the mood to go through it.

"A fight at the party?" She pressed on.

"No," Misha replied shortly. It was odd to think that it had been less than a week; Saturday Joni had been okay, and on Saturday night they had.... It felt like forever ago now.

"I'm worried about you," Cecilia sighed. "Are you alright?"

Misha looked up at her and tried to smile. "I'm fine; it's just that a friend of mine got hurt quite badly and I'm just not in the mood to talk about it," he explained.

"Okay, I understand. Would you like me to bring you some coffee?"

"Thanks, I would appreciate it," Misha said and she smiled getting up.

"No problem, and if you want to talk later, just so you know, I'm good at keeping secrets," she winked on her way.

The day seemed to go by slowly and it was difficult to concentrate. Though he thought about calling home and checking on Ivo and Joni he managed to stop himself each time because he didn't want to seem too... what? He wasn't sure exactly, but he should still restrain himself from calling home.

Cecilia had picked up lunch for the both of them which they were now having in front of their desks and he could at times feel her eyes upon him as she was browsing through some web pages that definitely didn't have anything to do with their work.

"I'm so addicted to Facebook," she sighed at one point. "This is ridiculous, really. Like you know it's ridiculous and still you hang out doing these silly tests. What kind of shoe are you? Oh, I just did a test of when I will lose my mind and the answer is; tadaa April fourteenth 2021! I still have time," she laughed.