🥀“Are you there?”

     Garrett looked over at his phone as he dried his hands on a kitchen towel. When he saw it was Yuè, he quickly grabbed it to respond.

     🗡️“Hi! I’m here. Did you just get home?”

     🥀“Yes.”

     🗡️“I’m not going anywhere for the rest of the night. I’ll be

          here if you want to take a shower and eat before we talk.”

     Fawn started to cry as she held the phone to her heart. She hadn’t bothered removing anything but her cloak and shoes before climbing into the bathtub. There was no water. She just needed the serenity of the habit so she could cry while she talked. 

     On a hunch, Garrett went into his bathroom when she didn’t answer. He heard her crying and sat down beside their shared shower wall. 

     🗡️“We can talk now, Yuè.”

     She heard him tap on the wall, and she leaned her head against it.

     🥀“I have no friends.”

     🗡️“You have me.”

     🥀“I mean close friends. I have no one close like people

          who grew up with someone or went to school with someone

          or had some kind of life experience together. No one at work

          likes me except the owner of the company. Everyone makes

          fun of me and treats me like I don’t belong. It hurts so much.

          I feel like I’ll always be an orphan who doesn’t deserve love

          or a home.”

     He shut his eyes as he listened to her crying become louder.

     🗡️“You do deserve love. It doesn’t matter if you’re an orphan.

          I didn’t tell you yet but I was adopted.”

     Fawn wiped her eyes so she could read and gasped.

     🥀“Were you taken from your home like me?”

     🗡️“Nothing as terrible. My parents couldn’t raise me

          because of a law in their country. They were friends with

          the two people who adopted me and brought me to the

          U.S.”

     🥀“So you don’t really know what it’s like. You went from

          one loving home to another. Two families wanted you but

          no one has ever wanted me. Maybe that woman I think was

          my mother, but she’s probably dead now.”

     Garrett sighed. He felt stupid for not considering how their different experiences could hurt her.

     🥀“Do you speak to your birth parents?”

     🗡️“My mother, yes. My father passed away five years ago.

          Both of my adoptive parents are still alive, but they live in

          the Pacific Northwest. I don’t see them much. I have one

          brother by them and one sister by blood.

          Would you like to tell me about the people at your work?”

      She looked at the screen and thought about Monique, Melissa, and Laura. She thought about the men who only paid attention to her if they needed a file or were laughing at her.

     🥀“I’m not pretty like the other women, and the men there

          do everything the women tell them. I don’t think they’d like

          me, anyway. I’m not like the women those men like. I don’t

          wear a ton of make-up, I don’t dress in fashionable clothes,

          I don’t show my body like they do, I don’t go to hair salons,

          my nails are clean but I don’t wear fake ones like they do, and

          I don’t fake laugh at the stupid jokes the men tell when they flirt.

          They all think I’m weird.”

     Garrett thought of Fawn as he read Yuè’s texts. It was interesting to hear this side of a situation much like hers at the agency. Maybe it would help him understand her better so he could find out the reason she was so reserved. 

          🗡️“You said your boss likes you.”

     🥀“He’s very nice but I’m not important. I don’t think

          I am. There’s a man he likes more than me, and I know if

          this man doesn’t like me, the CEO will fire me.”

     🗡️“Why do you think this man won’t like you?”

     🥀“He’s a jerk. He comes and goes as he pleases, and he

          doesn’t like anything I do or say at the office. He makes fun

          of me like the others. If I didn’t know better, I’d even say he’s

          racist.

          Sometimes I wonder if that’s what they are, but they’re

          all diverse enough to make me think it’s just me they don’t like.

          Maybe I’m just being paranoid. He’s the same culture as me.

          He still makes fun of my style, though.”

     🗡️“I’ve met people who are racist toward their own kind. I think

          some people were raised to believe they’re supposed to be a

          certain way, even like certain kinds of people. If they see

          someone of their own culture behaving differently than that,

          they can become a bully like those who bullied them into being

          their way.

          I find it in all races, believe it or not. I’ve even seen it

          where I’m from. It’s conformity and human nature makes us fear

          and ridicule those who don’t conform.”

     🥀“Well, it’s stupid and they’re all ignorant and I’m tired

          of being the one hurt just for being myself.

          I’m not hurting anyone. I’m not a bad person. I keep to

          myself and I don’t push my ideas onto anyone like they

          do to me. Somehow, I’m the one everyone hates.

          I was raised to ignore my culture. The other kids in our

          foster home made fun of me. They mocked my eyes, my nose,

          and even the way I spoke. None of the kids who came here with

          me were at that house. I was the only one like me, and I was

          always lonely and afraid. I’m still lonely. I’m lonely all the time.

          Do I have to pretend to be something I’m not to belong? I don’t

          want to belong that way. I would rather be lonely than hide

          myself, but I don’t know how much longer I can do all this every

          day all alone.”

     He listened to her cry some more and wished he could be there to hold her. 

     🗡️“I know this is a lot to ask, but would you trust me enough to

          let me meet you? We can step out into the hallway.

          I just want to be sure you’re okay. If you need someone to

          hold you while you cry, I can be that, too. I swear to you,

          I won’t hurt you. I’m not that kind of person.”

     Fawn read the message and cried harder. She couldn’t trust anyone that much. She’d learned never to trust anyone with her weaknesses. Predators prey on vulnerable people, and she still didn’t know why he had reached out to her. Maybe he was looking for something bad. 

     She knew she should probably block his messages and forget him, maybe even move to a different place. She was so lonely, though. She wanted to feel cared for just a little, even if it was for a short while.

     🥀“I’m not ready. I’m sorry. Please don’t go away. I’m

          just scared.”

     🗡️“I’m not going away. Take all the time you need. Promise me

          that if you ever do need to be held, you’ll come see me. You

          shouldn’t be alone crying like this every day. Let me be a

          better friend sometime, okay?”

     Fawn wiped her eyes again. She sniffed and blew her nose on a washcloth before answering. 

     🥀“Okay. I should go now. I have a headache and I want to

          sleep.”

     🗡️“Sure. Eat something before you go to bed, though, okay?”

     🥀“Ok.”

     Garrett listened to her moving around and assumed she was either going to bed or getting something to eat. He rested his head against the wall and breathed in deeply as he thought of Fawn. He vowed to be nicer to her, and if he caught anyone speaking ill of her again, he would make them wish he’d never returned.