Distance

Missions

^Vasudha (Vuh soo dha)
_________________________________________

Leiah watched him walk away. Fists clenched at her sides. She wondered whether she should follow that seemed like the right thing to do.

She stood there in silence. He was slowly disappearing from her view. The continuous buzz of work surrounded her as she leaned against the cool wall of the office, trying to gather her thoughts.

'If I chased him, what would I even say? Excuses are all that I seem to have.'

She took a deep breath, deciding to follow anyways.

'I've been making a lot of dumb decisions lately, might as well add another to the list.'

"I don't think you should follow him" A soft voice reached her ears. Leiah startled and whipped around to face the person who spoke.

She took in the woman standing in front of her. She had dark brown eyes, soulful and beautiful like a tree bark after rain. Her skin was light brown and looked smooth. Her stark black hair was tied neatly in a bun and she stood tall wearing pants and a neat tucked in white shirt. She looked professional and seemed to radiate confidence.

She wore low heeled shoes but Leiah could tell she was tall even without them.

'Most people are taller than me' she thought bitterly.

Leiah snapped out of her thoughts when the woman spoke again.

"Well you never asked for my opinion but I see no harm in offering it.
Don't follow him now, let him think."

Leiah wondered why this woman seemed to advice her with so much confidence. She wanted to protest but before she could the woman spoke again.

"I don't really know him though, it's just an assumption, you don't have to follow my words, don't even think about them. He's polite and friendly enough but all he does is work. He's probably just upset that he let his feelings interfere with his job.
Emotions bad, work good and all that" she said with a snort.

Her lips curled into a playful smile.

"You know? That's the first time I saw him close to losing his temper and that calmness thing he has going on. It was interesting. Makes him less boring."
The woman casually tilted her head in Leiah's direction, glancing at the shorter woman. She stretched out a hand.
"I'm Vasudha. I'm assuming you're the one that was going to join the team from today. Leiah?"
Leiah frowned wondering why the woman already knew her name.

"I didn't mean to but I happened to witness a bit of that little 'discussion' the both of you had."
Vasudha smiled as Leiah blushed in embarrassment.

"What's more surprising to me is that he was frustrated enough to abandon his task. He was supposed to show you around and introduce you wasn't he?"

Leiah blinked.
'Project? What project? Oh wait...that project.'
She couldn't believe that she'd completely forgotten about it.

Vasudha sighed.
"I thought so, both of you were so caught up in your little world you didn't pay any attention to your surroundings" she muttered.

She smiled at Leiah.

"I'll show you around, we're going to work together soon enough so this is as good an opportunity as any to get to know each other."

Before Leiah could respond, a voice cut across the silence. In the nearly quiet office, it sounded very loud.

"Vas!" She heard the voice shout. The tone was gleeful, she wondered why this person seemed so happy.

Leiah saw the owner of the voice make his way towards them. He was a tall man, with curly brown hair that reached his forehead. His blue eyes seemed to twinkle and his grin was wide.

'A puppy, he looks like a goddamn puppy.'

At first Leiah thought the man was looking at her but as he came closer she realised he'd never even spared her a glance. His focus was on someone else entirely.
She watched as Vasudha playfully rolled her eyes.
'Oooh' she thought. 'So its like that.'

Vasudha turned back towards her when the man reached them.
"This is Derek. His talent is ruining a perfectly good name."

Leiah stifled a laugh.
'His eyes lit up! They practically lit up when she said talent!'

Though Vasudha sounded annoyed, her lips kept twitching in a desperate attempt to stifle a smile.
She caught Leah's inquisitive gaze and flashed her a smile.

"We used to be a part of the same firm before I went to another, so we're well acquainted."

"Seems more than just 'acquaintance' to me" Leiah couldn't help but mutter.

Vasudha shot her a quick glance.
"I didn't quite hear that, you mind repeating it to me?"

"Oh um, its nothing! Don't worry about it."
In an attempt to change the topic, she stretched her hand out towards Derek.
"Hello, my name is Leiah. It is a pleasure to meet you."
He smiled back at her returning the greetings.
"All right!" Vasudha said clapping her hands. "I have to show Leiah around. Derek do you want to come with us?"

Leiah narrowed her eyes in suspicion as Vasudha got closer to him and seemed to quietly whisper something.
'I could swear I heard her whisper Erik. Am I hearing things?'

Shrugging it off she followed as they started to walk. She walked beside them quietly as they engaged in conversation. She was sure they weren't trying to exclude her and either way she didn't really mind.

Their soft conversation reminded her of the ones she'd had with Erik. Glancing once more in the direction she'd seen Erik leave in, she made a decision.
'I will pursue him. Wasn't this the opportunity I was hoping for? Now I have this chance, an opportunity to maybe make things better, maybe not the way they used to be but hopefully make something new and beautiful, I'm not so foolish to let it go.'

She felt optimistic again. Maybe just maybe she could solve one of her problems, this was the only thing she'd truly regretted from back then.

'I probably don't deserve him but I've always been selfish, so many times. Though it may be selfish I refuse to just let him go.'
Her lips twitched as she thought of something.
'Mission: Wooing the ex was on!'
Even if it didn't work out she'd put in her best effort.

'All in or all out, no regrets Leiah, no regrets'.
As she remembered something her father used to say, her chest still ached but for once she didn't push the thought away.
'Yes Papa.' She thought. 'No regrets'
_________________________________________

A/N: I edited chapter 1 and quite a few things have been changed, so I'd appreciate if you could read it and tell me if its better. I plan on doing it with chapter 2 and others but maybe once I finish this book. It won't have many chapters.

Shout out to TwilaJames for the lovely cover! She's amazing and writes well. I'd appreciate it if you checked her out! Thank you for reading~ I appreciate all of you.