In front of one of the closed off rooms he spotted Dolly. She saw him too and waved him over.

"Good morning, Adlai."

"Hello, Ms. Harper." he answered timid.

"I thought I told you: Call me Dolly."

Kinda embarressed he looked down at his feet. "Sorry."

"Oh but don`t apologize! ... Enough with that. I would have liked to introduce you to the big boss, after all you`re his personal secretary, but he is out today, so instead we will start with your workplace and set-up and these things."

Time went by fast. Dolly was very friendly and Adlai had accustomed to his act. He had learned pretty fast that it wasn`t so hard, his lie was not one that hid every part of his life and as long as he didn`t say too much he would be fine. Until now. 

Soon it was time for lunch. He sat with Dolly and the woman from the lobby, whose name was Abby Parker. 

"... and that`s how I ended up at home. Alone.", Abby ended her story. Both Dolly and he grinned at her. he felt comfortable.

"Well, I better get back to work, you two. See you later." Abby stood up and waved them goodbye as she left the break room. They waved back. then Dolly began packing too but suddenly stopped. 

"I almost forgot- Adlai when I told the boss my decision to hire you, I mentioned your situation, don`t worry I said nothing too detailed, but he agreed to finance you some counseling sessions."

"Of course you don`t have to go!", she added, "But I would recommend it. Think about it."

Adlai was surprised. He didn`t know if he liked it that Dolly had told the boss about his personal problems, the fewer people knew about his story the better, but his boss would have found out eventually and he was grateful she thought of him. Dolly seemed to care and he could really see no evil intentions in her actions. He didn`t know if a therapist would help, but if he had the chance to visit one without having to pay himself, why wouldn`t he try it? His body was healing, why shouldn`t he want that for his mind too?

Dolly didn`t seem to notice that he wasn`t listening anymore and went on about how with the old CEO counseling wouldn`t have be financed by the company.

The rest of the day he tried his best not to be in his head, but the possibility that he would start getting better occupyed his thoughts. It was almost nine by the time they finished work for the day and they were taking the elevator down to the ground floor just now.

Now that the thing wasn`t as cramped as before Adlai could actually breath and he could hear the monotone music playing faintly in the background.

"When could I start counseling?", he asked.

"Uhm... the money is available. So as soon as you would like. Just find a therapist and make an appointment. The company will take care of the payment."

"Oh... okay. Cool."

He didn`t exactly show it but he could barely wait to start. Maybe it was naive, but he really thought it would help him. And even if not, he would have someone to talk to, some one he could tell practically everything and furthermore: that someone would understand him.

Dolly tried, but he couldn`t really talk to her in such a way. He knew she wanted to ask about his bruises more, knowing about his recent break-up too, but she didn`t and Adlai was thankful for that, because he couldn`t tell her. 

He had lied to her and the doctors in the hospital about the incident, claiming he had fallen, not wanting to have to talk and/or think about it anymore.

Besides his bruises weren`t hurting that much anymore, anyways, and they were already changing colour and fading. Plus he hadn`t had any external open wounds to begin with (besides his nose). And most of the bruises were hidden by clothing. Admittedly - he did have to wear a high collar, but that wasn`t so bothering whan the days were so cloudy, rainy and chilly.

And the weird looks he was getting from other people when they saw his bruised face? It didn`t really bother him, he had learned to live with these a long time ago. Being out and all...

***

Finally home he went straight to his room and started looking for apartments on the internet. It was late but he was sure it would take him a few days until he found one that fitted his needs. It didn`t matter where or how big or how modern it was, but he needed one he could move in soon and that was not too expensive.

His phone pinged.

His mind immediatly thought of Elias. He knew he should have blocked him but his heart wouldn`t let his brain see the reason to that. In his heart he still hoped.

He took a look.

No new messages from Elias.

The message was from Dolly. She had sent him phone numbers of therapists she knew and thought were good. 

That made him smile, despite the fact that he was reminded of what had happened with Elias. 

Unconsiously he touched his face where the bruises were still visible.