Texts From Him || Timothée Chalamet

14

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Despite the heavy turn of their conversation yesterday, Winnie slept rather soundly. When she woke, she checked her phone to find a text from T. It was from over an hour ago. He was up early.
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T:
Hold onto that strength.

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Her expression warmed at the text. She held onto the soothing feeling as she got herself and her mother ready for the day. Her mother was quiet today, but possessed the strength to walk out to the lounge with Winnie's aid. With her mother seated at the TV, she left for work.

Engulfed in her tasks, Winnie didn't get time to message with T. However, during her short break for lunch, she found herself rolling his words around in her mind. Hold onto that strength... hold onto that strength. 

She was okay. It was going to be okay.

Later in the day, Winnie grew tired. She only realised she'd allowed her mind wander when her boss pulled her from her thoughts. Suddenly there, he was standing next to her, causing a small ripple of shock to course through Winnie.

"Jayson," she greeted him, swivelling in her chair to face him. He wore his usual work attire; white dress shirt, a smart-patterned tie, and navy ironed pants.

"Winnie, I-" his normal booming sales voice was gone, replaced with uncertainty.

"Did I-" Winnie began, scouring her mind of anything she may have forgotten today, or something she'd done wrong. "Those performance reviews I'll have done before midday tomorrow. I'm sor-"

"No, no," her boss cut her off. "Don't worry about that– their deadline is Thursday."

Winnie nodded and he smiled at her. Waiting for him to speak, she shifted uncomfortably.

"Let's go for a drink," Jayson looked at her, hopeful. His offer—or rather, demand—hit her unexpectedly.

"Oh," she shook her head. "Wait, now?" Winnie turned back towards her desk and fetched the time from her monitor. She had only a few minutes before she needed to head home. To her mother.

"Yeah, or we could go see a movie? Anything." he offered.

"I'm sorry, I can't," Winnie told him. She never usually said no to her boss, but this wasn't concerning matters within the office. It felt okay to decline. 

The vibe she was getting from Jayson recently had been less than pure. He had certain intentions that she could easily see. Winnie wasn't going to risk her income on a workplace romance with her boss, especially when she wasn't too fond of him to begin with. She was perfectly happy to tolerate him in a professional setting, and hoped he wouldn't push further. But of course, he did.

"We can go another day."

Winnie began organising the papers on her desk in an effort to leave the space tidy. "I have to head to the train, so I'll see you tomorrow, Jayson."

She grabbed her bag from by her feet and stood hurriedly.

"Just think about it, okay?"

Winnie nodded without thinking—the kind you do when you're not really listening—and headed for the door.
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