Mayumi gripped the strap of the gun case tightly. She wanted to reassure Cassius, having seen days like this together all of the time.
She pursed her lips and took a breath, “Dr. Aureus, a-am I really not a drag?”
That’s not what she had meant to say … is what she told herself. She was complaining about herself too much today, he probably was getting annoyed by now.
“U-uh … um, I- Today’s just feeling a little off you k-know? Um, I’m probably just feeling a little anxious. I’ll … I’ll go and keep cleaning up my office for now-“
Cassius had turned to the girl and smiled, reaching out to gently cup her cheek with his hand, wiping her cheek with his thumb as he did so. “You’re not a drag, nor a burden, Flowering,” he said, generously smiling at her. “Hey, I’ll help you clean up. I really have nothing else to do yet,” the doctor said, still keeping his hand on her cheek.
Now Mayumi was the one being reassured.
“You sure? I-I complain so much though, especially about myself … and, and I stutter so often and I freeze up …”
Her face was hot. She relied on Cassius so much. There was no way that he wasn’t bothered by her. He even offered to help her clean her office.
“E-even if you have nothing to do, I shouldn’t keep wasting your time, r-right?”
Though she kept trying to block off Cassius, she felt a little better. His voice and his touch were so gentle- Mayumi felt safe.
The male doctor shook his head with a small laugh. “Come on, it’s not a waste of time if I enjoy doing it,” he said again, entering the office with the female doctor. As the door was opened, the man was surprised to not find a single one of the other doctors inside the room. “Huh… weird,” he muttered to himself. Maybe they had gone to lunch or a meeting somewhere? He wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter though.
Mayumi quickly went to put her gun case away and grab her tea-mug.
The inside of the mug was stained, and the remaining tea, separated. Though, it’d be a quick fix with a good soak to restore the mug. Or she’d give herself the excuse to buy another one.
She emptied the remains of her tea into the garbage, and returned it to her desk. She’d clean it when she got home.
The papers she had begun stacking earlier were just as she had left them. A drawer to the filing cabinet was still open too. Perhaps no one had thought to close it for her, or the other staff had to leave in a rush as well. It felt empty, and she was feeling as if she’d barely seen anyone today.
“T-those papers need to be sorted. Most of them are chartings, a-and they’ll need to be put into binders.” she pointed to a pile of papers on a lonely office chair.
The male doctor nodded and had went over to the papers, looking at them for a bit before he started organizing them. “Say, May,” he started “…outside of work, where do you usually hang out? I don’t think I’ve ever asked you that,” he mentioned with a small laugh. His eyes darted around the room, sighing softly when he saw how much of a mess the office actually was.
Mayumi pulled out a pair of binders from a desk drawer. A few small stacks of paper waiting on a stool would go in them.
“Hhhmmm … I, I don’t really go out t-too much. I-“ she glanced up, seeing Cassius had picked up on the state of the place. She pretended to notice something under her desk, and bent down as if to pick it up, to hide her embarrassment. “I u-usually stay home. There- there is a uh, tea shop I go to though.”
She covered her face with her hands. For some reason, she felt ashamed that the office was in disarray. Usually the other staff cleaned up their part, but today was unusually messy. She didn’t want to seem like she wasn’t put together or she was letting things get out of hands.
(Sorry! I thought I’d replied)
“Oh, really? I’d like to go there with you some time then,” he spoke with a clear flirty tone but it was natural for him to be this kind of person. Cassius wasn’t usually the kind to let chances to tease other people like these go out of hand after all. As he continued to clean the office, he sighed quite audibly. “Your co-workers really need to start paying more attention to the office’s hygiene. This place is genuinely a mess except for where you sit,” he mentioned, picking some trash off the floor and tossing them in the garbage bin.
(Ah, I see.)
Mayumi nodded to herself.
She tried to think of why he’d want to go there together. Maybe Cassius secretly liked tea …? But he didn’t seem like a tea kind of person. Maybe … maybe his mother liked tea and he wanted to get some for her? Did he ever talk about his mother or family?
Maybe a sister? Or a daughter- She pinched herself. Definitely not that. I mean … I don’t know. But still! Mayumi get it together!
She reached for a bin under her desk, and pulled out a stray paper clip. She was sure she’d need it at some point, and put it in her pocket.
She blinked, barely grasping what Cassius had said.
“I s-suppose it really is a mess,” she sighed. “Should, should I have enforced it more? I-I I mean, it’s not r-really my role, but it still counts as part of my office s-space ri-r-right? I don’t w-want them to get mad at me though … it is also tech-technically their personal space too …”
(Mayumi is such a mess, I love her XD)
The man shook his head. “It’s not your responsibility. Don’t overwork yourself with things that aren’t exactly necessary. You wouldn’t want yourself to burnout before…” he stopped there as his mind wandered somewhere he didn’t really want it go to. He’d never asked her but for someone like her to have a partner isn’t something too hard to imagine. He did remember her getting along with some other men after all… “Nevermind, please excuse my rambling,”
(Sorry for the wait. I needed to get in a school application.)
Before … what? Well, don’t ask that Mayumi! He probably doesn’t want to talk about it, especially since he cut himself off. He also told me to ignore it. I want to know what he was going to say though-
Mayumi shook her head.
She badly wanted to look up again, and her knees were starting to hurt. But she didn’t need to add any more to the awkwardness she already felt. Best to just keep cleaning.
She pulled open the bottom drawer, and emptied it’s contents. A huge stack of folders, once arranged properly, was now a total mess. She started separating them by colour.
“S-say … is there any reason that you- um, you s-spend so much time with me?” Mayumi felt like her voice was even shakier than ever. “I kn-know we are co-workers and all, b-but I feel like you spend a, a lot of extra t-t-time with me. It … it’s not bad, b-but isn’t there s-something else you’d rather be d-doing?”
(Ah, it’s cool. Don’t worry about that!)
“Well that was a little random,” he laughed softly and tried to think of an answer. There were some reasons as to why he wanted to stay with her but most of them just wouldn’t be good to answer at a time like this where people could walk in at anytime. Eventually though—
“I like you a lot. I know it sounds weird coming from me but if nothing, I enjoy your company way more than others’” he answered with a small smile in her direction. “You’re just awkward, shy, bubbly from time to time like that. I enjoy that, seeing as it comes from someone like you. You’re a hard working individual, but you barely talk with others in fear that they’ll think of you as… a bit hard to get along with because of how much you tend to get nervous around people. That’s how I view it, at least,”
Mayumi bit the tip of her tongue.
It wasn’t like she cared what other people thought or said about her. Cassius was also the best person she could’ve mistakenly blurted this question to. She feel oddly transparent though.
“I-I guess I really am l-like that …”
She picked at the tape she used to label one of the folders. Then realizing her mistake, she crumpled the tape into her pocket and got up to get the roll of tape.
She was careful not to make any eye contact, and quickly got the piece she need to relabel the folder.
Only while turning back, did she realize how little she’d done, and how much she’d made Cassius do. It was time for her to pick up the pace.
She grabbed her mug, took the paper from Cassius’ hands and made sure to swap the items.
“C-c-could you get me some boiled water? I-I’ll make tea, if you want some, yo-you can get yourself a mug too.” She gathered her strength to turn Cassius around and out, shutting the door immediately after. It was time to clean like never before.
