Hyle

Chapter 1

  

KYRIE

    "Hey girl" I wasn't even aware I was staring blankly till Debbie showed up. I'm on my lunch break and Debbie and I decided to meet up at the cafeteria.
   My six months pregnant best friend of ten years and counting, Deborah, is a radiographer. Taller than me by two inches, perfectly tan skin from her stay in Africa, precisely Nigeria. She's married to another mutual friend of ours, Charles. Brown hair, dangle over her waist as she walks up to me.
   The weather outside had dropped and the air outside was pretty chilly warranting the white turtleneck, black trouser and black boot heels.
    "Deb" I called as I stood up to wrap her in a hug. Her protruding stomach bumps against my flat own which fit a second, has me stiffened. I know for a fact that I can't be squeezing the baby, but I just couldn't get over the idea.
     "How are you doing?" She ask as she withdrew from the hug to take her seat.
"I'm good, so good" I reply, scratching my right eyebrow. It's been three days since I broke up with my fiance, August and I've been- well, I've been confused.
    August is pretty much my dream guy. He's perfect, not an obnoxious bad boy with smelly beards and equally smelly boxers. My twenty eight years old ex-fiance, August is an NBL professional basketball. He's everything a girl would want. He's funny, cute, a cuddler, a money maker and giver, neat and well package. But that was the problem. He was too perfect.
    Call me stupid, but that's just it. He was everything good actually- but I just wasn't feeling it. Sometimes I felt cornered about our relationship. I was relieved when we broke up. He was okay about it, didn't cause an argument or throw a tantrum. Now, three days after the breakup and I'm feeling confused. I've been wondering if I did the right thing. Even though the idea of going back into the relationship felt like walking into a trap with awareness of what I was doing.
   To put it mildly, I've been feeling off.
"Have you?" She arched her right eyebrow at me, her brown eyes running over me in concern. "Have you really been good".
    I wasn't feeling like opening a Pandora box about emotions and feelings that I didn't understand myself.
"I'm fine, deb" I gave a dry chuckle and lifted up my coffee to my lips for a sip.
   She shrugged with a smile as she reached out for my hand that sat on the table.
"How have you been?" I ask with a smile on my face, happy to take the spot light of me for a minute but most of all happy that she's happy.
    Her first marriage to Alex, her crush from college hadn't worked out. Alex was a toxic and manipulative cheater. If there's anything I'm proud of myself for, it's reconnecting her to our old friend, Charles who happened to know a divorce attorney.
    "So awesome. I've been craving ice cream alot for the past two days and Charles ordered in a steady supply from the manufacturer" She had a wide smile on as she spoke.
    I shook my head with mirth as I watched her talk on and on about the favours Charles had been pulling up for her and the baby.
    "Oh! That reminds me, Charles said he's looking in to helping you land a major-" she paused mid sentence, her eyebrows drawn into a frown. Her attention at something going on behind me. I turned around to look at what got her attention.
    It was a man dressed in a black t-shirt and blue jeans. He had his hands wrapped around the waist of a young blonde girl who didn't look a day out of college. Said man had a glare directed at me and for a second, I was confused at what I'd have done to warrant such.
    Then I noticed Doctor Xavier trailing behind and I just couldn't help but roll my eyes. The man was a famous hockey star who had gotten injured around his knee. As I've known, being famous doesn't mean they're nice.
    The man was allocated to me as a patient but he was so rude that I had to refer him to an equally rude and strict colleague of mine who didn't care alot about people feelings and had enough money to work out a court case and still have enough to go on a vacation in Ibiza.
    Doctor Xavier noticed me and nodded at me in acknowledgement. He wasn't usually one to talk but he and I were friends to put it mildly. We didn't usually hold lots of conversation or knew each other's best colours, but we did greet and exchange pleasantries whenever we were in the same room... And that's a huge step, believe me.
    Turning around, I noticed Deborah was still staring at the trio. I cleared my throat, reaching for my coffee again.
"Oh! Yeah, he said he wanted to know if he could refer this major client of his" she said.
    "And who's the client?" I ask with an arched eyebrow. Charles is a lawyer and has a firm which as of present, he's working to create more branches. This wasn't the first time Charles had asked if he could refer a patient to me.
     "You know he can't exactly tell me, right?" She rolls her eyes at me. Some people like confidentiality and were shy and didn't want a lot of people to know about it. Asides that, it was proper curtsey to avoid gossiping about people's problem.
    "Well, tell him to give me a call before today ends so I'll get a slot for the client" I say. I have five more minutes left so we discussed about other things and how work was going. Sighing, I stood up to give her a hug.
    "Hey? How about we do a girls night on Friday night?" She offered, withdrawing from the hug. I would have liked to hang out with her and Mildred, our best friend.
    Mildred, or Dre was my best friend before I met Deb. I and Dre attended the same high school but got into different universities. We still kept in touch after all the years apart.
    " I'd really like that, but I'm on call duty on Friday" I sighed, shoving my hands into the pocket of my blue scrubs trousers.
    "Bummer" Deb mumbled under her breath with an eye roll. Between work and our relationships, we weren't always around to hangout.
     Fortunately, that wasn't putting a strain on our friendship and for that, I was very grateful.
"How about Saturday dinner?" Her eyes narrowed.
"At our favorite Italian restaurant?" I suggested. If it was possible for her eyes to narrow further, they certainly did.
       "Bills on me?" I hadn't even finished my sentence before a grin found its way on her face. I shook my head with a smile.
     "You know I love you, Kyrie" she started. "But you really shouldn't have made that offer" she had a mischievous glint in her eyes as she walked away with a smile on her face.