S E X L E S S

WANTS

Margot stared at Charya and stopped on his black and white striped shirt and its assortment of mini pineapples.

"Why do you always have to wear such kitsch shirts?" Margot said and burst out crying.

If at other times Charya would have started a verbal joust, there, he immediately left his desk to take Margot in his arms. Charya wasn't the type to be moved when a woman cried. He just didn't want this woman in particular to cry.

"Hey, what's the matter," he whispered.

Margot shook her head on his torso and clung to him more. The clock on the wall ticked the minutes away, and they stood in each other's arms.

Charya realized how much he loved the little things and how they lacked in his current relationship. He and Fay rarely hugged these days. Charya embraced Margot slightly tighter and whiffed the perfume on her neck. The contact of his nose and lips on her nip forced Margot to stretch her neck. Charya redirected his face to lock his gaze on hers. They felt their hearts synchronized at that instant, and their beats became one.

Charya leaned and deposited a kiss on her forehead, her temple, and cheek. He was about to deposit another on her lips when the door burst open.

"Doctor I-."

The two let go and jumped apart so fast that Charya bumped his back on his desk, making the few files seated on the edge of its fall.

Tenzin tilted her head to the side while she tried to conjure up a plausible interpretation of what she saw.

Charya blinked three times as he stuttered to say, "Yes, Tenzin."

The nurse cocked a brow at the quaky and uncertain voice, "Oh, I forgot to tell you the Interne called and said he fell off a ladder while trying to fix new curtains for his mother and sprained his ankle."

"Oh, okay," replied Charya earning himself a glare from the nurse who usually saw the man panic about anything daily. His reaction surprised her. Tenzin grimaced at Margot, who looked in the window's direction and discovered her plants were still there, alive and growing.

"Is that all?" Charya asked.

Tenzin wondered how the man would respond if she added that Interne's cat got run over and his father mowed over his foot. From the looks of things, Charya, eager to resume whatever he was doing, would have probably shrugged and replied, "C'est la vie," with the utmost detachment.

"Yes, I'll be leaving you then," Tenzin said.

"Bye, Tenzin."

Tenzin gave one last sneer at Margot, who redirected her gaze to her Foam sneakers.

The lustful tension in the air seemed to evaporate with Tenzin's intervention leaving space for an awkward stance between the two. Charya slicked a hand behind his head, and Margot decided to lie on the examination bed.

What were they thinking? They thought.

Charya avoided asking himself how far he would have gone, for he already knew the answer.

All his actions since their first encounter commuted to one conclusion heㅡ.

"ㅡI'm sorry for barging in like this. I didn't know where to go," Margot said. "My life is falling apart. My daughter is moving to Canada to live with her father. I'm losing foot at work. It'sㅡ."

No, Margot wasn't confused and crying like a fictional protagonist of a romantic comedy because of the budding sentiments she had for him. No, Margot didn't come to speak about the kiss or him to Charya's disillusion. Reality hit hard and knocked some sense into Charya, who switched modes, "You should come during opening hours or consult a psychologist Mrs. Nzuma."