Sin Of Innocence

Episode 11

I never knew life could ever be so good. Every day, I made sure to go visit Emanuel at his office. Last night was the most special. He told me to go to his office after hours where there was a huge feast waiting for me. It was our own little private date where we talked and talked, conversing for hours about everything.

He told me more about his mom and how much he adored her. She sounded like such an intelligent woman who lived a life of caring for her sons. She supported them through everything and really held the glue between all five of them.

When their father passed away, it stung but it never really hurt. Their father wasn’t in their life much because he was too worried about his business. However, when their mother passed, their whole family fell apart. Emanuel mentioned that Luca was hit the hardest. He loved his mother more than anything, and he fell into darkness when she left.

Letting out a sigh, I entered Emanuel’s office building like I had done for the past two weeks. Only this time, Hazel grasped my wrist in her tight hold and jerked me off to the side.

“I figured it out! I finally fucking figured it out!” Hazel exclaimed.

My heart immediately dropped at the sound of her words. I glanced around us, just to make sure my dad was nowhere in sight.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, you show up around noon. Then, you discreetly go to the elevator and ride on up to Mr. Mariano’s floor, where you don’t come back down until the evening. Even on your dad’s day off, you still do the same exact thing. So, that arrives at the only reasonable conclusion possible; something is going on between you and the boss, isn’t there?” Hazel challenged behind narrowed eyes. 17

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. There was no lie I could rummage up, and there were no words to justify my actions.

“You know, what? It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything. You’re an adult, and you are free to do as you please,” she winked. “If you are sleeping with him, though, I am just going to pretend that I am not the slightest bit jealous as I walk back to my desk and mind my own business.” 5

A huge smile broke out on her face before she walked back to the receptionist desk, whistling a tune with each step. I stood there, staring at absolutely nothing with my thoughts worrying about everything. If Hazel could so easily piece that together, how long would it take for my dad to do the same?

I walked over to her, letting out a loud breath as I did. “Hazel, thank you.” 2

“What for?” she questioned, placing on her reading glasses before she began to dig through a pile of papers.

“For not judging me. We may barely know each other, but I’m not sure how I would react if you told me that what I’m doing is wrong,” I answered truthfully. 2

When she stopped looking through papers and snatched off her reading glasses, I grew worried. Her hazel eyes gleamed into my own as she huffed out a breath. There it was, she was preparing to tell me the words I had been so afraid to hear. I didn’t want to stop talking to Emanuel, ever. There was something he brought me, confidence that I never thought to find in myself. Leaving him meant losing that part of me that had been so suppressed.

“So, you’re saying that if I told you to stop seeing him because you are ‘wrong’, then just like that, you would stop? You would end everything just because I, a stranger, told you to? Honey, you are not a child who can be scolded. You are not a baby to be told, ‘no, stop doing that.’ Everything you decide to do is all up to you and no one else. This is your life. Everyone else is having their turns, no one has any right to interfere with yours,” she advised.

A frown tugged at the corner of my lips.

“I just don’t want to be judged as som—”

“Some whore?” she finished, laughing as she did. “Christina, why do you care so much? It is none of your business what anyone has to say or think of you. People are going to judge you no matter what you do. Let them live with that, but don’t carry it with you.”

I sighed. She was right. 13

I could see it on Emanuel’s face whenever I spoke to him, that he wished we didn’t have to stay in his office all day and night. He wished he could take me home and hold me as we watched movies or laughed about how terribly I cooked pancakes. It was my fault, my fears that blocked everything for us.

“What about my dad? He’s going to be so disappointed,” I whispered the last part more to myself than her. She reached over and placed her hand on my shoulder, before rubbing soothingly.

“Yeah, probably, but if I had a dollar for every time I disappointed my parents, I would be rich. Jason will get over it, especially if he notices the same glow I have been seeing in you. Every day that you walk by, I notice you get brighter and brighter. Be happy, Christina, stop worrying so much about everyone else. Take it from someone who did the same thing, and lost a man that she could have had forever with,” she gloomed. 4

I wanted to ask her what she meant, but Emanuel had exited the elevator. The moment his eyes rested on mine, he sent me a wink. A smile dispersed on my face as I made my way over to him.

“I was looking for you,” he stated before lifting his wrist to check his watch. “You told me you were going to stop by twenty minutes ago.” 2