The Fate Of Broken Hearts

Chapter 39

I slept little.

There was no telling if it was the shadows in my room or the thoughts inside my head that kept me from dozing off. So, when my alarm went off early in the morning, I was confused as to whether I slept poorly, or didn't sleep at all.

The computer beeped as I scanned another book. I glanced down at the clock on the bottom right and sighed.

"Long night?" Kate strolled out of the office lugging a large box in her arms.

"You could say that," I barely managed a smile when I yawned.

"It definitely looks like it." She chuckled. "At least you're not the one who's forced to be alone with Arthur." She turned to me abruptly. "Did you know he's been fussing all damn morning about getting me a sex toy as an early birthday gift?"

I snorted loudly. "What?"

"I swear, if a heart attack doesn't kill him first, I definitely will."

"He really wants to get you-"

She put up a hand in front of her. "I don't want to talk about it! It's embarrassing enough to even bring it up."

Kate hastily unpacked the box she brought in and later left.

I spent the rest of my hour doing small mundane tasks here and there, trying to keep my head busy and focused, and yet, it still fixated on the events of last night – the one that followed after I told Aiden that he wasn't alone. He then asked me to stay. He wanted me to talk to him and then listen to the things he had to say. But I knew it wasn't the right time to do so. He didn't have the energy, nor was he in the right state.

His head had begun to lean to one side as his eyes closed, and his words turned into mumbles. I helped him to his bed, where he tried to convince me to stay once more.

"Stay," He voiced. "Please, stay."

Despite battling with myself whether to give in to the urge to lay beside him or not, I decided it was best if I simply left.

Then, barely awake, asked me why I was leaving. And I told him the truth.

"I don't want to lay next to you not knowing where we stand with each other. If I laid next to you now, I have no way of knowing that you won't kick me out the moment you wake up. Or that you won't regret the whole thing."

"I won't." He assured me as his head sank deeper into his pillow.

Once I knew he was asleep, I snuck out of his room.

"Good morning," Arthur said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Good morning, Arthur."

Surprisingly, he didn't say much more for the remainder of the day. He too seemed to have his head elsewhere.

Kate reappeared in the afternoon, informing me of the time. She offered to give me the rest of the day off to go home, but I felt the urge to stay. So, when people began leaving, Kate and the other guy who also worked with us, James, sat at the front desk together.

We were all drifting from different topics of conversation as they came across us; it was our way of making time go by faster until closing time.

We all observed as each individual came in or exited the library doors. They even created a new game that consisted of guessing whether the next person we saw was single or not.

"This one has to be married." James subtly watched as a woman in her forties walk by. She was fitted in sweatpants and a sweater with a jean jacket around her waist. She wore pale flats and carried her car keys in her hands.