To Err Is Human

Substitute

"Sleep well?"

Anna folded her sweaty palms into a fist, keeping her composure as she set her gaze in her sit. She had had the longest day ever and the longest week too, all she wanted was to just throw herself in it and dissappear. She had planned how her week should have gone and she had also prepared for that moment, she had figured that it was time he came.

"Good morning Shink."

She threw her phone lazily on her desk as she retreated into it, suddenly craving something warm to calm her nerves, avoiding his eye contact too. She pushed a button her desk.

"I'd like a cup of coffee please." She said right before she let go of the button immediately and turned to the file on her desk, pretending to not feel Shink's gaze boring an invincible hole on her forehead. She packed her hair in a careless bun and fastened her pin on it immediately.

"How are you holding up?" She heard him ask her, causing her to raise her gaze in an attempt to look at him for a brief second. She raised a brow.

"Holding up?" She asked him. "Why? I don't remember telling you I was falling apart." She retreated back to the document.

"Come on Anna, you know what I'm talking about."

"No Shink," she shook her head. "I don't." She went on as she felt him take more steps up the short stairs till he was standing right across her. She could see how he had folded his fingers in one another and left them in front of his thighs. She could feel his gaze on her still, like he was dying to let her in on how he felt about the idea that she had made one of the worst mistakes of her life. She was sick of it, she couldn't stand his judgmental gaze. She exhaled.

"If you're going to gloat at how much you warned me and I didn't listen, I honestly wish you don't, I really do not want to hear you say you told me so."

She could read him like a book.
She didn't remember Shink leaving her any messages after her voice mail, he never reprimanded her either. She had remembered him calling her on several occasions hours after she had left the hospital, calls she never picked, and now, it all bounced back in her face. The news of Angelo and Patricia must have made him boil with excitement within.

"But I did tell you so." Anna eyed him. "You should have listened to me while you still had the chance. Anna what on earth were you thinking? Was he really worth it? Was he really worth the humiliation and dangers that your selfishness has brought on yourself and on our community? Our people?"

Anna rolled her eyes, here it came, the righteous Shink educating her about her responsibilities to her people. She wasn't exactly in the mood to listen to him but she didn't know how to stop him either.

"What you did was a very stupid mistake, it was selfish and I am extremely disappointed that you'd make such a big decision like that on your own. Blood jumping has not been practiced by our people in years, and there is a reason why. There is a reason why we have protected that which is very special to us from them. What do you think is going to happen when the humans suddenly start to ask questions? When they find out that you healed him? What do you think is going to happen to all our people? Do you have any idea what is going to become of everyone back at the pod when they finally learn the art of using Atian blood to heal themselves? How could you Anna? All because of some silly affections you have for a man who doesn't even appreciate you or your efforts."

Anna raised her hands to her forehead and rubbed it.

"Shink please, not now, really. I'm having the worst day so just-" she stretched a hand to stop him after taking a deep breather. "Don't make it any worse."

"Do you even regret it?" He asked her. "Do you even regret what you've done?"

She raised her head to him.

"What did you really expect to happen Anna? Did you plan to buy his affections by giving him another chance to live? Did you think that if he found out you saved him, he'd leave that woman and come running into your arms?"

"Don't exaggerate Shink,"

"Oh I'm not exaggerating Anna. It's all over you, you can't even help yourself, I can smell your anxiety and disappointment from a mile away, and I don't know what to say, you kind of deserve it. He's a human in love with another human, that's absolutely normal, Anna, that's the only way this is ever going to turn out, they would always choose each other over us no matter what."

"i just-" Anna raised her hands for a second. She really didn't want to talk about any of it. "What part of I don't want to talk about this do you not understand Shink?" She was getting extremely irritated with his nagging. "Cut it off, please. I already healed him, and I really don't care what Angelo chooses to do with the second chance at life I have given him. I don't care who he ends up with just stop making it extremely difficult for me to live with the consequences of my actions okay?"

Shink observed her for a while. Maybe he had done too much, maybe he had been too hard on her. It wasn't like she didn't deserve it, but he could see how tensed she was by everything. He exhaled.

He watched Anna flip her book open again, pretending to be too focused with it.

Darn it!
She shut it and took in a deep breath. It was hard to keep her eyes or mind on anything at that point and Shink's presence made her even more nervous. She couldn't stop thinking about it, she couldn't stop thinking about the pictures of Angelo and Patricia all over the internet.

"God, I'm so stupid." She placed her head in her hands, and took a second before she dropped her hands and raised her head to Shink. "What was I even thinking Shink? What did I expect? I can't believe I let her get to me."

Shink frowned, furrowing his brows as he looked at her.

"Listened to who?"

"Sophie." She exhaled. "Angelo's sister."

"Sophie?"

Anna nodded.

"Yes. She went on and on about accepting my feelings for Angelo."

"You met Sophie Trusk?" She dropped her back in the back rest of her seat and relaxed into it. "I had no idea she and Angelo were close. The last time anyone heard about Sophie Trusk was a long long time ago, after she had built that hospital with her husband."

"Well I met her, and they have that relationship." She exhaled.

"Anna, you are getting extremely comfortable with the opposition. Its high time you snapped out of this fairy tale you've convinced yourself that you need, and focus on the things that really matter, on the original plan. What you did could destroy everything we have sacrificed so much for, We can't afford any casualties to our plan, especially now that we are so close. We need to act fast, faster than we ever did before they get a hang of the situation. We need the location of the black city because it's only a matter of time until word gets around. The arc is ready, your brother has built soldiers out of everyone in it, all they wait for is your signal. "

Anna looked him in his eyes.

"Anna, I need you to wake up from whatever dreams and fantasies you're having right now and remember how far we have come and all we had to sacrifice to get here. We are all that matter, the survival of our people is all that matters. Your feelings can't get in the way so do something about it or I'd have to find someone who will."

Anna scoffed.

For some reason she had an idea who it was he had talked about. She couldn't believe how Shink was threatening her all of a sudden but she understood. She watched how he retreated to the couch at the other side of the room and picked up his briefcase before she could say anything else. She watched him walk briskly to the door and could tell how angry he was.

She didn't stop him, she had no reason to. She felt extremely suffocated and hated the position she was in. She hated how her emotions were in conflict with one another now and how her heart raced uncontrollably.

Bang!

The door closed and everything else that had happened right after.