Purple Romance

Maria slumped into the couch and stretched her hand taking a can of beer from Kobby Brian. She sipped it with a subtle smile that didn't escape Kobby.

''You seem to be in a better mood? I was thinking you might want to stab your ex-boyfriend for deceiving you? Did everything go well with you two?'' Kobby asked and sat across her drinking his beer.

''Kobby, tell me. This is not a dream, right? I mean everything that happened tonight wasn't a dream, right?'' Maria said and sipped her beer.

''I don't think is a dream since you seem to be in a better mood after returning? So, tell me. How did it go?'' Kobby Brian asked curiously and looked at her.

''It went well, I guess. Even better than I thought''. Maria said and narrated everything to Kobby.

It was clear from the pitch of her voice that she was happy. This was the first time Kobby Brian had seen her being relaxed as she talked about someone. He wasn't sure whether to be happy or worried about her. It was clear she wasn't over the man who was now her boss so, he wondered how she was going to juggle between her feelings and her work when she was going to be close to that man, but Kobby didn't say anything. He didn't want to make her worry about something that hadn't happened yet. What mattered was that she was doing great at the moment. They could just handle anything that came out latter on.

Speaking of things that hadn't happened yet, his mind suddenly went to a certain woman who went against his words. He frowned and cast the thought of her aside. He was paying too much attention to her matters. He didn't want to get entangled with any woman who belonged to the high society.

....

It was a weekend, Saturday and Calia decided to go to the library. She wanted to look for some books on jewellery designs. She had heard from her assistant that the town's public library had brought a new stock of books on jewellery designs and she wanted to check them out and also buy a few copies.

Today, she didn't dress fashionably, she wore a simple light yellow straight dress that fell to her knees and covered it with a black oversized blazer and paired it with black sneakers.

Calia went into the library and went straight to the fashion design section and turned her left to the books on jewellery design. She found a book written by a famous designer and removed it from the shelf. She looked around for an empty table but found none. It was the time for the national exam for high school students and the library was already packed as early as 10:00am.

Calia looked at the people and frowned. ''Were students these days that studious and enthusiastic towards their books?'' she murmured and went back to the back of the books shelf.

She found a place and removed her scarf from her bag and laid it on the floor and sat down.

She removed her blazer and covered her legs and noticed that her ankle chain was gone. She moved her leg closer and looked at it ''where did I leave it? Did it fall somewhere and I didn't realise?'' She pouted ''it was an expensive piece of jade I personally carved it out of. Well, it has been so long, it must have gotten lose. I will just make another one'' she sighed and shook her head deciding to not be bothered by it.

Calia sat back well and leaned her back against the wall and opened the book she had taken from the shelf.

She soon became engulfed in the book and studied it with a serious expression.

It was after two hours of flipping through the books and writing some short notes on her diary that Calia yawned and her stomach growled. She was hungry. She looked at her wrist watch and realised time had gone by so fast. She stood up and kept the books and her bag on the floor and picked her credit card and went towards the library's café downstairs.

She barely got down the stairs when a familiar figure appeared from the entrance of the library. The figure seemed to have recognised her but shook his head. The library definitely wasn't a place she would visit. It was unlikely for her to be there, he thought.

Kobby was in casual wear. He always visited the library on the weekends after sending Maria and Tiana to Mr. and Mrs. Mathias' home.

The hospital was going to hold a national symposium very soon and he was asked by his head of department to prepare a speech on PTSD so he decided to go to the library to get more information on it since a lot of people had misconceptions about PTSD in general.

It was something that was more serious than people would admit and mental health being his special area was mostly associated with PSTD. He had met with quite a number of people who had PSTD through his work.

Kobby went straight to the part of the library that contained books on mental health and dealing with PSTD. He soon found a book on mental health [sub-version] of PSTD and Depression.

Differentiating PTSD from Depression written by a Professor who taught him at the University in California.

Kobby Brian picked a couple of three books in addition to the one he found first and turned to look for a place to sit. He didn't find any because all the tables were occupied with people. He turned and started to walk towards the back. He found a few books and a ladies bag at some part of the back. The only space available seemed to be beside the bag and the books. Kobby figured he could make use of it since the owner of the things wasn't even around and when she came back, he could just shift and make do with a little space available. He just needed a place to sit and study the books in his hands.

He sat down and was about to open the book when a phone buzzed beside him. He turned and saw that the owner of the bag also left her phone there. He frowned and wondered if the owner didn't know there were thieves even inside the library for her to leave her precious belongings and just disappeared.

Kobby ignored the buzzing but it kept ringing and people were giving him unpleasant looks. He cussed internally and stood up. He went to the lady's bag and found the phone just on top and picked it. He was about to turn it off when he heard a rather cold and yet familiar voice behind him but it was laced with unpleasantness.

''Mister, What do you thinking you are doing? At someone else's space? Are you a thief? Were you about to steal from me?'' Calia asked and looked at the back of the man standing in front of her bag and holding her phone.

''Was the library's security system this bad? That a thief could come in and steal in broad day light?'' Calia spoke again.

Kobby Brian calmed himself down and turned to face her. He looked at the familiar face of the woman who had just called him a thief and spoke ''the phone was disturbing the sound reading of the people here. I didn't want to steal it and I am not a thief. I just wanted to turn it off and put it back''

Calia looked at him and pursed her lips. She felt so ashamed and embarrassed of herself. It was her fault for not turning the phone into silent mode when she got here and now she had just called a man who wanted to help a thief. This man wasn't no other than the man she had a crush on. Could the gods be any more lenient with her? It was only a few days ago when she embarrassed herself in front of him and had to run away. Why did she have to meet him at a place like this? Was this what people meant by saying 'karma was a bitch?' Was karma paying her back for running away like that at the hospital without informing him?

Kobby Brian looked at the woman who had paced out in front of him. It wasn't the first time she had done that. The last time at the hospital, she had paced out in front of him the same way.

''Do you have a habit of pacing out after you have done something embarrassing?'' Kobby Brian asked snapping Calia back to her senses.

Calia opened her mouth but no word came out. She pursed her lips and just stared at Kobby Brian. It was like her brain had developed some sort of dysfunctional ability which rendered her speechless.