Oh, how people misunderstand so many things.

Ola frowned as she turned away from Mr. Ericson, who was currently reciting the love letter he had written for his missus but stopped as soon as he saw the woman sat in front of him frown.

"Did I say something wrong again?"

Oh yes.

The frown on Ola's face didn't leave as she looked back at Mr. Ericson before her eyes went straight to the small clock sat on her work desk. It was past 2 o'clock and Freda hadn't come around to the mail room yet.

Ola ignored Mr. Ericson's worried expression as she tilted her body to the side just to look behind her boss and at the door to the mail room, as if Freda would just appear there suddenly.

"It's lunch time now." Ola spoke up and Mr. Ericson finally let go of the worry he was feeling. He thought he had said something wrong again.

He wasn't ready to have more mistakes in his letter as he had been with Howard and Ola since morning. Ola was the only one helping him with his romantic surprise for his wife, but Howard had stopped playing his game just so he wouldn't get fired. Even though Mr. Ericson didn't care if he played games during work hours or not.

"I haven't finished reading the whole thing yet." Mr. Ericson whined like a child as he watched Ola suddenly get off of her chair. The woman still had the frown on her face since she was worried about Freda not showing up.

The redheaded woman usually showed up at around 2 to go for lunch. They had been following that exact same schedule for 2 months now, but somehow today was different.

"I'll be back after lunch." Mr. Ericson pouted as he nodded his head sadly. Ola blatantly ignored his attempts of looking sad just for sympathy, as she picked up her new jean-jacket and made her way out of the mail room.

But just as she was about to pass through the doorway, Howard spoke for the very first time to her. "Freda came a few minutes ago." The brunette hadn't really caught the man's words as she looked at him with her eyes wide. "What?"

Howard sighed before he repeated. "Freda was here a few minutes ago."

This time Ola understood clearly as her previous frown came back to her face.

"Why did she leave then?" Howard smirked this time which felt creepier than him talking to her for the very first time. "The boss was telling you how much he loved you."

Mr. Ericson placed a hand over his mouth as he tried to not laugh at what Howard had said, while Ola threw a glare at him. "He wasn't confessing his love to me. You know I was helping him with his romantic letter to his wife."

"Yeah, but Freda didn't."

"Oh, she's such a gullible person." Ola threw another glare over at Mr. Ericson as she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Another word about her and you're writing that letter on your own." Ola's eyes narrowed at her boss which got the man to quickly apologize.

"I was just kidding." He spoke up slowly which wasn't a lie, but Ola didn't care. She just knew that Freda had misunderstood their interaction and now maybe she had run off to somewhere.

Without another word spoken to any of the two men in the mail room, our main woman made her way out of there. She had quickly gone to the janitor's closet since she had found the woman there before when Freda was upset about something.

But this time, Freda wasn't in the closet as she was before, and this got Ola all upset. She left the place as soon as she saw it unoccupied and made her way over to Freda's work desk.

As usual, Carl was not far away from the redhead's desk as he smirked over at the brunette. Ola ignored the man as best as she could, as she sighed in disappointment for not finding the redhead there as well.

"Looking for someone?"

Oh, if I was a physical entity, I'd whoop his ass.

"Freda." Ola replied to the man as she ignored the imaginary voice speak in her head. She had begun to think that maybe she really had gone crazy.

"She went to the elevator earlier. I think she might've left the building." Carl replied with the smirk still on his smug face. Ola usually didn't feel so many emotions but at that moment, she felt like beating the man up and then maybe screaming at him. She felt angry. She also felt scared for some reason.

But she pushed her emotions away since she had to think clearly. And her clear mind urged her to go to the elevator and maybe check the lobby for the woman.

Maybe Freda had just gone to lunch on her own.

Her feet had taken her to the elevator as she pushed the button on the wall panel. Ola didn't know why she felt such discomfort as she fidgeted in her place. She moved her hands around and sighed a lot too.

It was like something entirely different had taken control of her body, but she was sure that it was just her, inside of her own body. Maybe she was coming out of her shell and finally feeling something towards someone other than her parents.

She cared about Freda.

The elevator dinged to notify its presence before the doors slid open. Ola quickly got inside the elevator and pressed the lobby button before leaning against the handrail.

Her journey in the elevator had gone by in a flash since she had gone back to thinking about Freda, who was her priority for the time now.

It was weird how at moments like these, Ola would forget that she had a phone which she could use to call up Freda. But no, she didn't have time to even think of using her phone.

And as the elevator came to a halt at the ground floor, Ola was out of there quickly. Her feet had continued to move as she walked all the way to the front of the building and walked out as soon as the doors slid open automatically.

Ola frowned as she saw how it was pouring outside. Her direction changed as she turned back around and went inside the building again.

A good thing about her office building was that there was a communal umbrella stand in the lobby which the employees could use and then return whenever they wanted to. Ola had remembered the umbrella stand immediately since she hated the rain, and more than that, she hated getting soaked under the rain.

She believed that rain was a punishment from the universe since it caused more harm than good.

I swear, rain is not my department of work.

Ola frowned as she shook her head at the imaginary voice before locating the umbrella stand right beside the reception counter. The receptionist eyed the brunette carefully, but Ola didn't care as she walked back over to the front entrance.

This time, as she exited the building, she immediately opened up the umbrella and sighed in relief when she walked into the pouring rain.

Now, since there was nothing distracting her from her main task, she began to look around.

The office building was located in a downtown area which was usually busy with shoppers and office workers, while also being filled with street vendors. Part of that was because of the small park that was just across from the building.

Usually, people came to relax there after work or just during their work break.

And as Ola's eyes scanned the whole area for a certain redhead, her eyes fell upon a figure sitting alone on one of the park benches. Ola sighed as she recognized the red hair which was now two tones darker due to being wet.

Walking all the way over to the park wasn't such a big deal since there weren't many cars around and Ola had easily crossed the road. No, the hard part was to go over to Freda which the brunette had done slowly.

She had walked over to Freda with small and shy steps as she came to a stop right in front of the other woman. She pushed her hand which was holding the umbrella's handle, forward, so that Freda wouldn't get assaulted by the quickly falling raindrops.

"Freda." Ola spoke up as she made sure to step closer to the other woman, just because she didn't want to get wet and neither let Freda get any more soaked than she already was. "What are you doing?"

Freda didn't dare look up at the brunette, as she sniffed. It was mostly because of the cold and the rain, and partly because of the little sobbing she had done before Ola showed up with her umbrella and her soft voice.

It was like the redhead had suddenly been reminded of all the things she had begun to like about the other woman.

Since Ola hadn't gotten a response to her initial question, she chose to go down another road with a clear of her throat. "I think you might have misunderstood what you saw in the mail room."

Freda's eyes opened wide as she kept staring straight at Ola's boots which were now slightly muddy and covered with small pieces of grass. It was apparent that she had walked over to Freda and had chosen to step in the grass rather than use the stone paved pathway.

"Mr. Ericson was just asking me to help him with some anniversary letter for his wife." At the new information, Freda's head tilted a little upwards and Ola was finally able to see flowers in full bloom and shiny butterflies fluttering about, even though it was raining madly. "So, what you heard was him just reading out the letter so I could spot any mistakes." Ola continued even though Freda was convinced from her first sentence. But the brunette kept talking. "He has extremely disappointing grammar, like—"

"I like you."

Freda's eyes held conviction as she looked into Ola's, who was now staring at the woman sat at the park bench in front of her.

There were a few car horns here and there, which broke their silence but other than that, there was just the constant sound of rain pouring onto the surfaces around them.

That's how long their silence continued on for, as they just kept staring at one another. Ola wasn't sure if she had to say something back to the other woman since she had never been in such a situation before.

She wasn't even sure if 'like' was anything as serious as Freda was making it seem at the moment.

When their silence continued on for another agonizingly slow minute, Freda chose to speak up again. This time, she had made sure to stand up for more emphasis. "I don't think you've noticed but I've liked you for some time now."

Oh, Ola hadn't noticed for sure, but she did feel different around the other woman. Maybe it was because it was the first time, she had gotten so close to someone that wasn't one or both of her own parents.

"How do you know?" Freda frowned as she heard the question spill out from Ola's lips. It was an unconsciously asked question since Ola wasn't even sure why she had asked that. But whatever it was, it didn't stop Freda from answering.

"Because I like being near you and getting to know more about you." There was no hesitation in Freda's voice which made the situation scarier somehow since it was real. Ola blinked as her eyebrows knitted together. "Do you see flowers and rainbows behind my head?"

The question was out of Ola's mouth even before she knew it. Freda sighed as she swiped at her eyes before holding her hands around her body insecurely. Now, she was finally feeling the effect of sitting out in the rain for so long. Even the short overcoat that Ola had given her before, was wet and heavy over her body.

"Are you trying to make fun of me?" Ola shook her head immediately, not understanding what it was about her question that seemed like she was joking.

"I-I see them behind your head, sometimes a little too brightly when you smile." Ola spoke up hesitantly and slowly as she held the umbrella handle a little too tightly. Her heart was somehow pounding in her chest as she looked at the redhead. Like, really looked at her.

Freda looked disheveled and disoriented, with her hair stuck to her face and her eyes swollen a little, as she looked at the brunette with her eyes wide. But Ola couldn't look away from her. "Rains are depressing."

Ola realized what she had spoken as she rephrased her sentence. "When you cry, like that day in the janitor's closet, the flowers behind your head wilted and everything looked depressing. Like now."

It took a while for Freda to understand that Ola was being completely serious about the flowers and whatever she saw behind her.

"I-Is that similar to liking someone?" Freda couldn't help but smile at Ola's innocent question as she nodded her head lightly. "Maybe. I guess it's different for everyone."

Ola nodded her head in understanding as she felt her heart still beating fast. She knew that she was treading on eggshells at the moment. She wasn't supposed to be feeling the way she was for this redheaded woman in front of her. But she was feelings things. Something she couldn't name because she wasn't even sure. However, she was sure that she had to be honest and being honest meant telling Freda that she also felt the same as her. "I also like being near you."

There was no imaginary voice floating into Ola's ears, but she was sure that she could hear her rapid heartbeat, which didn't quiet down as she watched Freda step forward too close for comfort and then lean in towards her face.

Ola saw and felt so much in those few seconds.

She felt Freda's wet hair brush up against her cheek, and her hand grab onto her hand which was currently keeping the umbrella over their heads. Freda's lips were soft but also damp as they rested atop Ola's, unmoving but still being able to move something inside of the woman.

The moment lasted for mere seconds. Ola was sure she hadn't even closed her eyes just like Freda had. But the moment when Freda backed away from the other woman with a large smile on her face, Ola gulped seeing the woman seem brighter than ever before.

It was as if she had become somehow more prominent, and just there.

Freda's smile had been comforting but it didn't do much to slow down Ola's heart from pounding harshly against her chest. This was going to remain as an ailment for Ola until she came to terms with herself instead of feeling guilty.

She had realized her actions a little too late and now her heart refused to ease up.

She had kissed a woman, being a woman herself. But that wasn't as bad as having all those raw feelings for Freda, who had begun to shiver. And as if her priority had suddenly changed, Ola grabbed a hold of Freda's hand and dragged her back to the office building.

Oh God, protect these children.

Ola repeated the prayer in her mother tongue, seriously meaning it with all of her.

'اے اللہ ،ہماری حفاظت کرنا' (O Allah, please protect us.)

********