Her Therapist

Chapter 24.

ESTHER

The breakfast was average. I mean my coffee was the best. Mery kept talking, and I kept hating on her, rolling my eyes each time she would speak, and even Sebastian was quiet. Time after time he would glance at me, and smile. I would again roll my eyes, which would make him laugh, and only then Mery would realize that she was the only one talking without anyone listening to her, but soon she would continue.

I can't lie, it's been an eternity since I've had breakfast with someone. Usually, I don't even have it, or I take something fast before I leave my apartment early to head to my job. Now, I don't have a job. Yet. Sebastian said he'll find me one, and currently, we've been walking for more than an hour. And to be honest, I keep doubting him, thinking that he lied to me again.

"Why did you lie to me?"

He turns to me abruptly and tilts his head. "What?"

"What what?", I snap, walking faster. He quickly keeps up with me. I cross my hands against my chest because the air is slightly fresher today. "Don't play innocent now. You lied to me."

"About what? I don't lie, Larsson."

I hate the way he says my last name. "You do Tomlinson. You lied to me about Mery. You said you don't have a girlfriend and that you don't bring girls to your place. That was obviously a lie." I shrug and sense him watching me, while I look in front of me, scared to face him.

He irritates me so much. He also makes me want to believe him whatever he tells me. And stupidly I did. I came to him to ask for my job, I came... I wanted to try with him. I sensed that he was a different therapist. But all of that is gone with the wind now. He lied, and I will never forgive him that.

"I didn't lie", he denies though. Oh, you just keep doing that, you'll make it worse. Harder for me to believe you again. No, I won't believe him again. Ever. "We've just met last night."

"Yeah, sure, I believe you."

"I'm serious."

"I'm more serious."

She scoffs. "Why would you even care, Larsson?"

"I don't care about her, Tomlinson", I hiss the last word, "I care that you lied to me. How am I going to...", I trail off. 

"How are you going to what?" When I lift my head, I see that he closed the approximation between us, and I let the gasp escape my mouth. "Why does it bother you that I might have a girlfriend, Larsson?"

"Might?", I snap, taking a step back, but my back senses the wall, and when I turn to it, I see it with my eyes, too, as if I thought that maybe I was imagining it. "She calls you love and everything!", I snap again. Why can't I keep my voice down when we are in the middle of the street? When I glance around I see that it is, thankfully empty. 

"So what?"

"So what?", I repeat bitterly. "You had been living with her when you told me that you were al..." Sebastian pulls me by my necklace, and I gasp one more time. 

"So what?", he repeats, with a low voice, looking down at me. At my neck, and my... Is he looking at my lips? He was doing that too when I was with him in his office the last time. Why that is something I have no idea. "Tell me why do you care?"

"I... I don't", I barely gather my voice to speak. "I don't", I say more confident.

"You do. Tell me why." 

He pulls my necklace stronger, and when I look down at it, I see that it is on the edge to break. "You'll break it."

"Why do you care?"