The Light of the Blue Pearl Read Free Page B

be quite dangerous if
you aren’t keeping your eyes open. He tripped over her and went
flying into the wall dropping all of his belongings as well. She
blushed and immediately apologized for being in his way and started
helping him pick up his things. He felt like a total ass since it
had been his fault for not paying attention to where he was going
in the first place.
    He was at a loss for words, he felt so
stupid for having tripped over her. After they quietly finished
picking up all of his papers he asked if she was alright. She gave
him a small smile, shrugged her shoulders and said she was fine
before picking up her purse and walking away.
    It wasn’t the first time he had seen her of
course, it was just the first time he had noticed her. He wasn’t
sure how she had escaped his gaze before, since after looking into
her eyes that day he couldn’t seem to think of anything else.
    He made an effort to speak to her after
that, but she typically kept the conversations very short and was
obviously trying not to be bothered. Not doing much for his self
esteem he wasn’t sure why he wanted to pursue it, but something in
her eyes had him so intensely captivated he could think of little
else.
    After about a week of thinking about her and
failing miserably at trying to strike up a real conversation, he
came up with an idea. He wanted to learn more about her, and
obviously the typical tricks of the trade weren’t going to help him
here. She was a difficult one, shy and reserved but incredibly
smart; he could tell that she was keeping everyone at a distance on
purpose, and he decided he had to find out what that reason was.
Naturally a problem solver, this was a puzzle he couldn’t leave
unfinished, so he set out to work on his elaborate plan.
    It took him a while to iron out all of the
details, and there were a lot of details, but after he had, he was
quite proud of himself at its cleverness. It would take an
interesting person to do the things that he had planned, but he had
a hunch that she was indeed an interesting and rare person. The
next day he had put his plan into action.
    He was so nervous it wasn’t going to work.
That everything he had just spent forever dreaming up and
scheduling was going to go to waste. “Really, who in their right
mind would travel somewhere with no notice and no explanation?” he
thought to himself. It was outlandish, totally ridiculous to even
consider. He had a sinking feeling his efforts were going to fail
before the plan was set in motion; that this may be a puzzle that
would go unsolved. That was a thought he couldn’t stand. Not being
the type to ever leave a puzzle undone, he was already thinking of
other ways to get the answers he was looking for when he heard the
telephone ring down the hall.
    The conversation wasn’t long and not much
had been said, but her name being pulled from the work schedule
that night was confirmation for him that the first step had worked.
Whether or not she would follow through with the second step of his
plan was a completely different question though, it was quite a bit
to ask of a person really. And for her he knew it was going to be a
gigantic challenge.
    “What was I thinking?” he thought to
himself. He knew very little of her past, but enough to know that
the next part of his plan was going to be a gigantic hurdle for
her. He had probably shot himself in the foot with the idea, but
this step he had decided was the catalyst to the rest; a necessary
piece that couldn’t be left out.
    If she could do it, it would answer so many
of his questions without any words being exchanged. Now, with the
first challenge met all he could do was wait. Unfortunately,
waiting was really not something he was good at. He was pacing the
halls waiting to see if she came into work after all, waiting for
another sign that the next step was going to be taken. He would
have given anything to have been a fly on the wall of where she
was, but that wasn’t possible. The