Another update. One thing. Please do not kill me.

-

~The weakness of men is the facade of strength; the strength of women is the facade of weakness. ~

-

Opening her eyes with much more effort than she had intended, she sighed in pain. As she brought her hand up to rest on her forehead, she ran her fingers over it, scrunching her eye's up as a dull throbbing pain carried on taking up the whole space of her cranium. The only thing keeping her sane was the fact it was the last day before Christmas break; and even that was hard. No company. No people to be around. Feeling isolated in her own home. But worst of all, no Tom; none of his wise comments, none of his little ways to make her day brighter with that single smile.
However right now, the Blood roared behind her ears in time with the hammer pounding inside her head.

It would be so easy to open her bedside cabinet and grab a paracetamol. But she didn't want a pain pill, though. Pills were addicting. Pills could become a crutch.
And her father. She couldn't do it. She couldn't follow his ways. She couldn't let herself get hooked on...God, oh, God, it hurt.

And then air came in short pants and the world became narrow. She raised her hand to her head to try and physically calm the racing pulse in her head, the pounding and banging against her skull, all while her brain simply replayed images.
Images she tried so hard to forget. Images she should never have been subjected to see at such a young age in anyway.

As she turned her head slightly in the direction of her bedside cabinet, she saw the note. All she could think of were questions. Why? Who? What had she done?
With a sigh, Nikki got out of bed, plodding her way across her soft white carpet. As the fur stroked against her feet; it instantly began to soothe her. She stopped and just stood for a minute, thinking things through before making her way to the bathroom. A towel draped over her arm, her fingers clutching a flannel and a wash bag containing body wash, shampoo and conditioner. – Cherry scented of course. Tom loved cherry.
Her shower gel was plain; smelling of the mouth-watering scent of fresh ripened Cherries; Romantic, pure and cleansing. Her shampoo, however, had an extraordinary scent; making Nikki like she is sitting in the midst of a forest of cherry trees in full bloom; Romantic, sensual, purifying, cleansing, and calming.

As Nikki walked through the open door of the staffroom, she could not deny that she felt awkward. There was no doubt that everyone already knew about the note, and...God, oh, God... 'I know about your past. And I'm going to make your life hell. I will destroy you. Watch out.' The threatening words were embedded in her mind; replaying with every blink, every breath...every move, constantly scanning people, wondering who to trust, who not to trust...

The wonderfully strong aroma of dark roasted coffee beans invaded Nikki's nostrils, turning her mind of her problems for a split second as her head turned to see Michael by the coffee machine.

Walking further into the staffroom, she placed her tote handbag down onto one of the chairs.

"Want one?" She heard Michael offer in a warm tone of voice which brought a slight smile to her lips.

"Erm, yeah thank you, Michael." She replied softly, walking over to the coffee machine and standing next to him, close enough for their thighs to touch but their bodies apart enough to be acceptable.

"We are all behind you, you know..." Michael said gently as he carefully poured the steaming hot liquid into the cup to merge with the coffee granduals.

Nikki looked up at him, a loss for words. Initially, she had thought that everyone was against her, everyone would be too busy snooping around trying to find out about her 'dirty past' to be worried about the effect it would have on Nikki and her life, but as she heard Michael was still talking, she let her thoughts subside, beginning to listen once again.

"...We don't care. We really do not care about whatever your past was. It's about what and who you are now. And I can tell you honestly, that you are a pretty remarkable woman, Nikki..." Michael said softly, edging a little closer to her.
Tilting her head to the side a little, Nikki felt her lips curve up into a small smile as she processed his words.

"Really?" It escaped her mouth before she could put her brain into action, but it was true...did they really not care? Or was he just saying that to try and make her feel better? Either way...It was working.

Michael's head bobbed up and down, signalling to her that they really didn't care about her past, which in a way, took away Ninety Nine percent of the worry about it all coming out.

"Mint?" Michael chirped as he stood beside her, nibbling on a piece of chocolate which she could only guess contained mint.

A strong scent of Wintergreen, Spearmint, and Peppermint invaded her nostrils, replacing the one of strong coffee; a very refreshing, and cooling scent. As she nodded, she expected him to pass her one; instead she found a chocolate mint being softly placed into her mouth. God, wow...that tastes good...really good.

A Stream of dark and creamy yet crunchy mix sliding down her throat, making her mouth water, the chocolate soothing her slightly, relishing in the sense of happiness it brought her for a few seconds.

"Mm, that tastes amazing!" Nikki smiled, licking her lips before taking a sip of coffee, making the mint left in her mouth seem more divine than it had previously tasted. God, this is culinary intercourse.

As if reading Nikki's mind, Michael let out a low laugh, shaking his head slightly causing Nikki's cheek's flush a deep crimson shade.

Nikki suddenly felt uneasy. She became aware of Michael's hand encircling her hip, turning her to face him, her face merely inches away from his.

"Michael..." She whispered her breath hot against his face, but before she could continue, her mug was no longer in her hand, the warmth gone and sitting on the side as Michael rested a hand on her waist, kissing her lips gently.

All kinds of things were running through her mind at this point. Stop, No, Don't do this, you don't love him, you love Tom... But somehow, she couldn't stop. She thought that this was her only chance of love...Tom didn't love her. He didn't; couldn't.
Slowly, Nikki began to respond as he began nibbling on her bottom lip, his arms around her waist, backing her against the work top.

Tom wrinkled his nose at the stench of freshly brewed coffee coming from the staffroom, and released a long sigh. With an air of martyrdom, he peeled off one of his woolly gloves and pushed gingerly at the rough wooden door of the staffroom, decorated with ink of pens and scratches from bags and briefcases being knocked into it. As he gently placed down his briefcase on the table, slightly undoing his tie, he froze.

Turning his head in the direction of the coffee machine, he felt his heart all but shatter. That cannot be Michael and Nikki...she wouldn't do that to me...
But as Michael's kisses began to travel down Nikki's neck, her face being in full view now he felt a lump form in his throat and his eyes brim with tears that stung at his eyes.

Nikki's eyes were closed, however. She didn't want this. She wanted Tom. But she couldn't have him...she didn't want to ruin their friendship.

Finally finding his voice, Tom coughed; his eye's still slightly wide in shock and hurt.
Michael pulled back slowly and turned to look at Tom as Nikki's eyes shot open.

"I..." Tom stuttered out. "I thought you were different, Nikki. I thought you were special." He whispered, turning round. "Looks like I was wrong." And with that, he walked out of the staffroom, the dull ache in his chest becoming unbearable.

"Tom!" Nikki shouted, pushing Michael away as she ran out of the staffroom after him, tears falling down her face.