hate & other words || h.s au

seven

If someone were to go through my browsing history from the last two days, these are some of the things that they would find:

Can enemies be friends?

Is it possible to suddenly not hate your worst enemy?

What should you do when you enemy is nice to you?

What if you don't hate your enemy but your enemy hates you?

What if you hate your enemy but your enemy doesn't hate you?

Define worst enemy

Harry getting me a pizza -- with my favourite toppings, no less -- shouldn't be a big deal, but my brain decides that it is because it's all I could think about. It's ridiculous because whilst I'm aware that I'm fixating, I can't stop my brain from replaying Vivian's words -- "So that pizza? It's all him." Each time, it gets more and more annoying (I love her, I really do, but in my head, her voice gets increasingly annoying and I wish she'd shut up).

It's clear that I'm making a big deal out of nothing. This is a small deal unless... Unless he was trying to poison me. But why would he want me dead if he owes me a favour? Maybe that is his motive. He owes me a favour so he wants me dead.

Okay now I'm spiralling.

"You okay, Cleo?" Adam asks as he reappears from the Mystery section after he's finished putting books back on the shelf, startling me. "Woah, all right?"

"Yeah." I nod before I close my book and put it aside. "Hey, Ad, I have a question for you."

"I told you, Harry's feeling better now." For the record, I've never asked him about Harry and his health. I already know that he's feeling better so I don't see the need to ask Adam about it. He's teased me enough about what happened last weekend so I'm not going to give him another chance to do so.

I chuck a pen at him and he catches it, placing it back on the counter next to a stack of paper that I should be focusing on. I skimmed through it earlier and I noticed that it contains a list of new promotions and new releases that I should order soon.

"Okay, so it's not about Harry," he says, to which I give him a 'no shit' look and he chuckles. "Then, what's the question?"

"How long does poison take to work? Like, say, someone puts poison in your food, would you die immediately? Or does it take 2 to 3 days to work?"

His brows draw together in a frown. "Are you trying to poison someone? 'Cause if you are, you need to tell me."

"No!" I answer immediately, horrified and offended that Adam, out of all people, thinks I would ever do that to someone. We spend an awful lot of time together in this bookstore so we should know each other well by now. "No, of course not."

He lets out a relieved sigh. "You worried me for a second."

"It's a hypothetical question." When Adam raises an eyebrow and gives me a suspicious look, I add, "Just answer it please."

"I don't know." He shrugs as he picks up a book from the counter (a guy I've seen around the town before came in here an hour ago left it there because he decided to only buy one book instead of two) and returns it to its shelf. "Depends on the type of poison and the dose, I guess, and it can take from a few hours to several weeks."

Huh. If Harry did poison my pizza, I don't think the dose is enough to kill me because I felt fine after eating it and two days later, I'm still okay. Besides, the pizza we had didn't taste weird or anything and if it was poisoned pizza that he gave to me, he wouldn't have eaten it. Unless... You couldn't poison pineapples, could you?