"So~" Ola groaned as she heard the woman speak up the same word for the seventh time in a whole minute.

She hadn't gotten used to the unnecessary attention that Freda would give her at work, or even during dinner time since now they all ate together. Freda had been sure to bring new dishes each night ever since Ola's mother had been bold enough to request the woman to eat with them.

Ola had even bought a new dining table chair just so she wouldn't have to move her pile of clothes from her study table chair each night.

"So~" Ola groaned once again as she glanced over at the red head with a frown on her face. It surprised Ola how the other woman took out time from her schedule just to come to her in the mail room and annoy her or something.

The flowers and the shining light visible behind Freda's head were also a source of her annoyance. She had even gone to an eye-doctor who had recommended a psychiatrist to the brunette. But Ola was not crazy. She was sure that she wasn't.

"Let me work." Ola spoke up as she sorted through the mail which was her main priority currently. Not answering some weird question about a relationship.

"I just want to know if you're single. You already know that I am." Freda clarified, and Ola just shook her head in disinterest. "It doesn't matter." Well, that wasn't a lie since being single or not didn't matter to Ola. She just wasn't up for that lifestyle.

Her parents hadn't outright shunned dating, but Ola knew that it wasn't something ideal either. The usual way of forming romantic relationships in her society was through marriage. There was either marriage or no marriage – no in-between.

But Freda had been asked a specific question by Ola's parents when she was at their place for dinner one night. It was a straightforward question and Freda had blushed darkly before answering.

It was near the lines of, "Do you have a special someone in your life, dear?"

Mrs. Shafi had been the one to ask the question quite neutrally since she respected and clearly understood the fact that not everyone lived their lives the way they did.

Freda had shaken her head as she replied. "I've never really found someone interesting enough." And when she had finished her sentence, she had glanced over at Ola quickly, who wasn't even paying attention to the woman as she stuffed her face with some homemade bratwurst.

"Oh, come on." Freda groaned back at the mail room as she pouted and suddenly Ola had been hit with a beam of light from behind the red-head's head, almost knocking the brunette off her chair.

Okay, sorry for that one. Couldn't really control the lever there.

"What the hell?" Ola shook her head to get rid of that weird sensation before she turned back to look at the red head sitting in a chair beside her.

"When you look in the mirror, do you see flowers or rainbows?" It was a question right out of the blue as Freda wondered if that was meant to be a compliment or something. But judging by the seriousness clearly visible on Ola's face, she frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Ola shook her head again before she waved her hand dismissively. "Never mind."

The brunette got up from her chair as she grabbed the mail that she had just sorted. "I'm going to go drop these off around." Freda was still frowning as she watched Ola just walk out of the mail room with the letters in hand.

Howard's intense keyboard bashing, and mouse-clicking was now more apparent as Freda turned to stare in his specific direction. She wanted to wonder about the man just to take her mind away from Ola, but she ended up still thinking about the brunette.

Something about Ola was mesmerizing. It was entrancing and Freda felt insecure since she knew that nothing about her was as attractive as she had found Ola to be. Maybe that was why the brunette failed to notice any of the red-head's romantic advances.

But really, the truth was much more disturbing and annoying since we all knew how Ola was a thickhead and completely oblivious to everything. But Freda didn't know all of this, and that was what made her so unhappy in the first place.

As she got up from the chair she was sat on, she felt her eyes prick with fresh emotion. This emotion was raw and unapologetic. It called Freda ugly and uninteresting in a total of four languages. Well, those were the only languages Freda spoke and since the hatred towards herself had been born within herself, it resembled the red head completely.

And to her, it wasn't pretty either.

.........................................................

Ola had come back to the mail room after her rounds, and she sighed a breath of relief. She had to admit that at first when she had first started the job, she had immediately despised Howard since he didn't work and still got paid. But then she realized how it was all for the better because Ola was a little bit bossy when it came to any professional work.

So, now she was fine working by herself.

Ola's attention went over to Howard firstly as she saw the man do a quick air fist bump before going rigid in his seat again. Howard did do that from time to time which usually was because of him winning at some level or something.

The second thing that Ola noticed was that there was no red head in the mail room anymore. The brunette frowned as she raised up her left wrist to see what time it was.

There were still eight minutes before two o'clock and Ola still didn't have any lunch. Her frown remained on her face as she immediately left the mail room after grabbing her jacket from the backside of her chair.

There was no way that Freda might've gone to lunch without the woman, and even if she had, she would've told the woman prior. It was just what Ola had observed while spending an immense amount of time with the red head.

Freda practically had her worktable in the mailroom, and she got lunch with Ola every day, which was one of the reasons why Ola found it strange.

"Hey, have you guys seen Freda?" Ola had asked up as she came out to the large hall where all of the desks were arranged. Most of the employees shook their head while some didn't even pay any attention to the woman.

"No, wait, well..." Ola wanted to roll her eyes as she saw who had spoken up and then paused for dramatic effect. Yep, it was Carl.

Carl was one of those people who would bring attention to themselves just to say something completely unnecessary or cruel.

But Ola still gave him a chance to say something as her eyes locked onto his behind the first row of desks. He was sat comfortably with a donut in his hands and a greasy smile on his face.

His smile morphed into a smirk, which made him look more unpleasant.

"Mr. Ericson isn't in his office either." A few of the other employees glanced over at Carl as he spoke out and then rolled their eyes. Ola shook her head calmly before speaking. "When is he ever?"

Carl squinted his eyes now as he spoke his other sentence carefully. "Maybe they went to the janitor's closet to – you know – do something-something." His insinuation was deeply unnecessary, not to forget very inappropriate considering how Mr. Ericson was happily married and even though he was a bit strange; he was definitely not a strange person.

Oh, also Freda was practically in love with our protagonist.

Hm, we're also forgetting the part where Freda absolutely loathes Mr. Ericson.

And these were all the top reasons why no one sitting in a 10 feet radius of Carl's believed what he had just said.

But Ola had been sure to go over to the janitor's closet to check on the red head, who was missing from the main hall and even from the mail room. Maybe the woman was really in there or something.

Ola's stomach grumbled as she was reminded how she didn't have lunch yet.

Her feet took her to the janitor's closet as if on autopilot, since she just wanted to go and get something to eat, and then maybe even get off early from work.

And just as Ola reached the janitor's closet door, she heard the unmistakable sound of weeping. It was light and almost non-existent, but it was there, alright.

Now, we'll just insert useless lesbian moments here really quick.

Ola tapped her right ear with a frown as she opened the door quickly, and no doubt, there Freda was. With all of her shining light and flowers, sitting atop some discarded cardboard boxes which looked sturdy enough to be used as seats. The mops and other cleaning supplies were stacked up in the corner of the closet while the rest of the space was occupied by cardboard boxes.

Freda had immediately noticed Ola's presence as she suddenly stood up and wiped at her eyes frantically. Ola frowned seeing the view in front of her. She felt this weird emotion which she couldn't really name but she knew that she was disturbed. Maybe it was because of how Freda's usual backlight looked a little dimmer than usual or maybe it was how the flowers that usually bloomed around her head were somewhat withering.

But out of all of those weird ass reasons, it was more so because of how unattractive Freda looked at that moment. Her mascara running freely with the tears that she had tried to wipe away, and her nose was runny which she kept wiping with the sleeve of her blazer.

Ola had immediately come forward and fished out her handkerchief from her pocket as she stretched it out to the woman. "Don't cry."

Freda didn't know what she felt about that small request as she looked down at the handkerchief offered to her. Slowly taking it from Ola's hands, she looked up at the brunette not even knowing why she was feeling so emotional at the moment.

Surely, there hadn't been many people that Freda was ever interested in, and here there was this one woman that made the red-head curious as well as comfortable. Even crying in front of Ola was comfortable. Well...

"You look very unattractive while crying."

Freda's eyes widened as she looked at Ola with freshly tear-filled eyes. And I slapped my forehead, while also slapping Ola's.

Ola frowned as she felt her forehead suddenly hurting while also looking at the red head who had released a fresh batch of custom-made teardrops. Fre-drops, if you may. See, I can be punny too.

"No. No." Ola whispered as her hands moved a bit in thin air, not really knowing what to do with them as Freda held onto the handkerchief while also continuing her weeping.

Just shut the hell up and let her run out of tears, you idiot.

Ola frowned as she did what the voice in her ear had spoken. She made a mental note to get that checked out as well since it was becoming quite rude to her now. Her eyes had somehow gotten used to the flowers and rainbows and shining light behind Freda's head, but the sudden voice in her ear was something fairly new and disturbing.

"The flowers behind your head don't look so fresh now." Ola spoke up even when she was told to stay quiet. What were we gonna do with this woman? "There's no light coming from behind you either."

Freda had paused her crying just to listen to what Ola was speaking. It sounded awfully like Ola had smoked a fresh blunt and now she was high.

"You look the best when you're smiling." Freda felt a warm sensation spread in her chest as she looked at the brunette, who was frowning as she inspected Freda's face. "Even everything around you looks beautiful when you smile."

Ola was surely high, but she had said the word 'beautiful' in the same sentence as the word 'you', which was good enough for Freda, who finally let a small smile appear on her face.

It was as if Ola had been rewarded with something worthwhile as she smiled back at the woman, glad to see the usual imagery behind Freda's head and not the carcass of flowers and darkness.

"Save those tears for the flowers." Ola spoke up again and I slapped her forehead again so she could stop talking. Ola found herself rubbing her forehead as she raised up her other hand to wipe a stray tear from Freda's left cheek. "You can blow your nose on that now."

Freda had certainly stopped crying now and she had raised up the handkerchief in her hands to blow into it, unaware of how much she was going to let out into the poor piece of cloth.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Freda suddenly felt the self-consciousness come back as she looked at the dirty handkerchief, but Ola didn't mind. The brunette shrugged before smiling lightly at the other woman.

"I'll wash this up and give it back to you." Freda mumbled as she scolded herself for ruining the poor handkerchief which was a light blue color with lace borders. It was quite a girly handkerchief and she wondered if Mrs. Shafi had given it to the brunette.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll have mama wash it for me." Ola spoke up as she took away the piece of cloth easily. Folding it up like there was nothing wrong with it, Ola simply pushed it inside of her pants pocket again. All the while Freda stared on in disbelief before she found herself moving forward unconsciously, and before she even knew it, she was embracing the other woman.

Ola wasn't as much affected by the sudden body contact since she knew how women tended to be more physical with people, they were comfortable with. She had learned through experience, and the thought of Freda being comfortable with her brought a warm feeling to her chest.

Freda was grateful that the brunette hadn't asked her why she was crying or even made their short embrace uncomfortable. She was just there, with all of her eccentric qualities.

Surely, they both didn't know what clichés were. 

******