• 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 | 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘢

𝟏𝟐. 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀

Challenges that originate from those closest to you are always the most complicated, the most trivial, and perhaps even the most painful.

Saying it was hard to ignore the eager glances one of your closest companions gave towards the one you were to keep her away from, was an understatement.

Of course, you could mask your true intentions of your attempts to keep a distance between them with the excuse of her own beloved, but you knew well that what you were doing was far from something you would accept from someone else, were you to be in her situation. And it distressed you to no end.

The only fact that kept you from going astray from your plans was that the whole scheme was not your idea, but Yelena's. As much as you understood her intentions, you still would refuse to take it upon yourself if it were suggested by anyone else. You wanted to blame her for dragging you into all of this mess, but you knew it had been mutually caused right from the start.

And it was only further justified when you were unable to keep your eyes off of her from beyond the table. Lunch had been called late, and everyone was now feasting in the middle hours of the afternoon, the sun beaming through the windows down onto the wooden tables and resplendent cutlery.

To your surprise, Yelena was not seated on the other, long table as she usually would. It was more frequent, by that point in time, for volunteers and servicewomen to mix and hold friendly conversations, a familiar ambience having slowly formed in the passing weeks they had all spent together.

As such, the blonde woman was only a few seats further down the table from you, on the opposite side, so you were more than able enough to have a direct view of her.

It was truly overwhelming to think that not a single one of the people sat around you were aware of the questionable events that had happened. Matters where anything but helped when you couldn't ignore the eager glances your fellow friend shot towards Onyankopon, seated right beside the one you were skimming your eyes over every now and then. It was all just a shell on the brink of explosion.

As much as you wanted to finish up your plate of peas and ham, the biting sensation in your head didn't let you be, constantly worrying if maybe one of your glances had been a little too obvious.

To your utmost luck, one of them was met by Yelena's own, piercing eyes: it appeared that you weren't the only one keeping tabs on the other.

You didn't require any sort of reason to avert your eyes away from her in a split second, and you tried to avert your attention towards the extensive story Yosefine was so vividly explaining to the others at the table. Surprisingly enough, she had managed to get their full attention with the anecdote, and everyone seemed to be egging her on to finish up already.

The afternoon was to be one without training, though you were expected to attend a meeting with the other consults. Nothing out of the ordinary, you simply had to wear your attire up until the late hours of the night.

Dreading the ache you'd have on your waist by the time the day was over, you drifted your head off slightly to the side, taking one last look at the table's members before you figured you'd just take your leave for now.

Grave mistake on your behalf. As you looked over towards the end of the table, your eyes were caught once more by Yelena's, though this time it seemed like she wasn't going to look away from you. Wondering why her stare was so stern, aimed straight towards you, you remained still, hoping you could perhaps read her eyes or even catch a slight hint on what she was doing.

Something moved just a few centimetres down from where you were looking: her index finger. You could just about hear the faint tap that was caused by her movement, and you flicked your eyes towards her hand, returning swiftly to stare back at her as you did.