Chapter Fifty Five.

Elena's Pov.

I sat, thinking about my meeting with the other contestants, and sipping my latte with a cupcake. Tara had to be my favorite participant, she was beautiful and easygoing and had a contagious smile too, Eva came in next, she was easygoing and carefree too, I liked her, Lori cussed a lot, that was just who she was, I am not able to choose between Willow and Lori, Willow talked only when she was asked to do so and Lori talked when she is not asked to, they both were on the same level to me, the other two guys had only chipped in on our banter, Ryan had kept his eyes on Katie the whole time until she gave him a heart-wrenching glare and pointed to the rainbow band she was wearing on her hand, he immediately backed off, getting the message loud and clear, but he kept stealing glances at her, I saw this from the corner of my eye though and I teased Katie about it so much, she looked as if she would strangle me if she had the chance to do so, I was happy that she had at least gotten over Josette.

Now, here I was, lazing around, it was one of those days where my schedule was free and I could just relax and enjoy, which was exactly what I was doing now, Katie was sitting at the table, sorting out the paperwork, as usual, and I was sitting on my favorite sunken-in spot on the sofa, we were at the office, a place we now go to more often.

The office was cool now, at least for me and Katie, Valerie had probably decided that I was not worth her time or she was just too bedazzled by me to want to disturb us anymore, she was still making trouble around the office though, but the problems did not involve me, she had a busy schedule, well so did I, even though hers is busier, so she barely has time for me, or me for her, as she was not worth my time either. I took another look at Katie, she seemed so stressed out, her hair was styled into a high ponytail and she looked sleek, but I could see the eye bags and the dark circles around her eyes, she was definitely overworking herself and I felt bad because it is because of me.

"Hey Katie, give yourself a break, you will not die if you take a short break now you know," I said in an attempt to convince her to take a break.

I did not receive a reply, but that did not mean I would stop trying.

" Katie, are you even listening to me?"I whined, finally grab her attention as she looked up from her work and looked at me from the rim of her work glasses.

"What is it Elena," she asked coolly.

" You need to stop overworking yourself, your eyebags look like giant teabags and the dark circles around your eyes look something deserving of a zombie, you need to rest a little bit" I explained.

" I am not overworking myself, I was just not able to catch a wink of sleep yesterday, that is all, it is not about work." She assured diving right back to her work and trying to avoid looking up at me, but I already knew that she was lying, it was glaringly obvious.

"You should really have a rest, you cannot be working twenty-four seven," I said.

"Look. I have to work to keep myself distracted, you feel me?" She looked up finally.

"No, I do not feel you at all, why do you have to work like that, what are you getting distracted for, why do you need to distract yourself," I asked.

"Josette keeps bothering me, she keeps visiting and dropping mails and sending me messages, calling me, and doing all she can to make my life literally hell." She heaved a sigh, looking really tensed and stressed out.

"I thought you blocked her number or did you not?" I asked, baffled.

"I did, but apparently she got a new number and she even called me with a public telephone, I seriously do not know what to do anymore at this point" she used her index finger and thumb to pinch the flesh between her eyebrows and then kneaded her temple.

"Hey, do you have her phone number, this new one I mean." I asked, trying to tame my boiling anger.

"Yes, I do" she sighed again, this time out of fatigue and my heart went out to her.

"Give me your phone," I said, I was already standing before her desk and looking down at her sitting figure in a bid to seem intimidating.

"What do you want to do with it?" She seemed alarmed.

"Give. me. the. phone" I stressed each word for more emphasis.

She gave it to me, holding her breath not knowing what I was about to do, the thoughts she had in her head probably scared her, but rightly so, because I was not about to stand back and watch that foolish woman make life hard for Katie.

"Call out the number" I commanded, anger seeping through my voice, she did as she was told and I saw that she had saved the number as 'IGNORE', but what bothered me was the fact that she had the number off hand.

"Why do you have the number off hand, did you memorize it?" I narrowed my eyes at her and she shook her head vigorously.

"No no, at first I did not want to save the number so I had to know it so that when she called I would ignore it" She explained.

" So what changed your mind, why did you then decide to save the number huh" I interrogated yet again.

" Would you please just stop asking so many questions, it got really tiring to manually read the number, or what do you think, are you suspecting me?" She retorted.

I had no answer to that, so I decided to ignore it, I pressed the green 'call' icon on the screen and waited.

The phone rang for two seconds and then then she picked up.

"Hey Katie, I have been trying to reach you for……."

" Hold up, bitch, I am going to say this only once, stay away from my girl" I said, making my voice seem deeper.

" Who..?" She seemed confused.

"It seems you do not understand me, rightly so, because I do not speak 'stupid', which seems to be the language you understand, If you want what is best for you,you better stay away from Kate, she cut off Tues with you because she does not want you anymore,try to get that onto your skull and maybe your life fall into place." I said with the fabricated voice.

"I want to speak with Kate, did she send you?, I am sure she did not, because she still loves me." She let out.

I scoffed, " look darling, get out of your imagt and see the light, stop living in your illusions, Kate has left you, it is over between you guys, because you are a worthless piece of trash that belongs in the dumpster, so you better not disturb her any more, or else, I will trace you, chop you into pieces and send your intestines to your cheapskate boyfriend, the one you were double timing Kate with, do you understand me?" I finished and my thumb hovered above the end call button, I heard a sob in the background and feeling disgusted, I immediately ended the call.

"That is what she deserves" I fumed, "Does she think you will be waiting with your arms wide open for her to come back to you after double timing you? Katie, you should have at least tried to shoo her away you know".

" I tried, did you think I didn't? Well I did, I tried scaring her away, threatening her, but it did not work, I guess she knows me enough to know that I would not actually carry out any of those threats" She replied.

" But then, why were you silent about it?" I questioned, now perched at a side of her desk that was not occupied what the papers and folders.

"I did not tell you because I knew you would be angry, you never really liked her, and it can see why, buy I knew you would be angry, that was why I did not tell you, I guess I was really stressed out, that is why I told you, anyways, I wish she would not disturb me again, I like my solitary life as it is." She said and it struck a chord in my heart.

I had never considered that Katie would be lonely, but now that I looked at it, there was a gap that I could not fill in her life, of course she had to be lonely, I had to fix that, what kind of friend am I, I had never noticedy best friend's loneliness, that was real selfish of me, I had advised her to push Josette out, which had been the best thing to do, but what about the loneliness and sadness, no, I had to fix that.

"Uhm, Katie, can I have your picture?"I asked.

"Why, what do you want to do with my picture" she asked, looking skeptical, probably thinking of how crazy I can be.

" Just give me your picture." I said.

" Do you not have my pictures in your phone?" She asked, raised her eyebrows.

" I do, but the in ones I have, we are always goofing around and making weird faces, I need a proper picture." I explained.

" Well, okay, I will send you one" she agreed.

" Yes!" I pumped my fist in the air with excitement, startling her.

"Here, it is" she said.

It was a nice picture where she was standing at a beach, wearing a woolen knitted sweater with loose jeans and looking forward n the direction if the camera, she was smiling and squinting at the sunlight, the picture was possibly taken when she was unaware, she looked so unreserved and vulnerable, so cool and calm and at peace, she definitely did not look lonely in this photo.

"When did you take this?" I asked.

"When I was still together with Josette, I did not delete it because I like the pucty too much, and t is one of the few pictures I have where I am not wearing a suit or a professional attire, so I like it, don't you?" She had gone back to her paperwork.

"I'm sorry" I blurted.

She looked surprised, "why?"

"I prompted you to cut things off with Josette, you seemed to really love her, I must be really selfish" I looked down at my hand feeling really bad about myself.

"You are not selfish by any means, I mean, I loved Josette a lot, I still do, but then I do not think one should be in a one sided relationship, it can get really toxic, my emotions and feelings did not give me the strength to pull myself free, you did, you may have prompted me to leave her, but I know that it was the wise thing to do, I think that you actually helped me to free myself definitely not a selfish thing to do, so if anything, I should be thankful to you." She said, looking at me, her motivational speech touched me but I had to get back to what I was doing.

Tapping away at the phone, I logged in, using her picture and immediately searched for people around.

"Hey,Elena, what the heck are you doing?" She asked.

" Setting you up on a blind date. Duh"I replied.

" Definitely not, there is no way I am going on a blind date, like why would I" she gasped.

"You don't need to look so befuddled, you would not actually socialize with others even if they paid you to do it, so this is way better, I have installed the app on your phone, use it at will, but you MUST go on this blind date, there is no two ways about it." I declared.

" You what?!" She looked aghast.

" I, installed a dating app on your phone and used your picture and your location, you do not have to thank me, I already know that you would not be able to get anything done without me." I blew her a kiss.

She looked speechless for a second and then sent an empty folder flying in my direction, I caught it in time before my nose was destroyed,"what do I do with you" she huffed.

"You do not have to do anything, apart from going on that date and having a swell time." I replied, earning a death glare from her.

"You deserve a spanking." Was her only response.

"Yeah,and Lorenzo will take care of that, don't you think?" I winked and but my lip.

"Ughhhh" she sneered at me, but I was not easily intimidated.

She did not know that the blind date was not on yet as I had not found a suitable person for her, but that did not mean I vws not going to do so. A little 'ping' averted my attention, it was a notification from the app, someone had paired with Katie, she was really beautiful and elegant and she was not really far away.

"Hey" I tapped Katie on the shoulder.

"What!" She snarled.

"What do you think of her?" I asked.

She paused for a minute, "uhm..well…"

"Yeah understood" I accepted the pairing and immediately started chatting with the girl, setting the time for the date, Katie obviously liked her, I mean, what's not to like.

"You need to get ready, you have a date by seven" I said, jumping off her well polished desk that I had been perched on.

"What, no, it cannot be today" she complained.

"Why is that? If I may ask" I narrowed my eyes at her.

" I have so much work to do" she whined.

" Suspend it, you are coming with me to the spa, to get a waxing and a make over."I pulled her arm to get her to stand up.

" A waxing? Why?" She asked.

" You know…" I wiggled my eyebrows at her and she made a disgusted face at me, all the while finally heading to my pull and getting up.

" I'll help you chose your clothes" I volunteered.

"Yeah right,you seem to be more invested in this date than me, in my love life as a whole." She pointed out.

" The same way you are invested in mine" I retorted and she giggled.

" Well that makes two of us." She replied.

"Come on… we have a lot to do" I whined, beckoning on her to be fast.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" she smiled, I knew she was looking forward the the date too.

XD💜💜.