Curiosity Made Me Bittersweet

Marcel was a very nervous man. Exceptionally restless when it came to work. He could drink perhaps 15 to 20 cups of coffee a day to never slow down the unbridled pace he always displayed in the office.

"Has he ever seen more than piles of paperwork?" chuckled Wanda to Zama.

"He seems to me he is just a poor guy who just needs to have a little fun," Zama replied with a mischievous grimace on his face.

"Phil and Ed have invited him out several times already."

"And what has he answered?" asked Zama anxiously.

"Not now."

"In any case, maybe it would be different if a woman invited him, don't you think, Zama?" suggested Wanda boldly before heaving off down one of the halls of the place.

Zama had thought about it before, but every time she wanted to take the first step, she felt herself start sweating and shaking nonstop.

However, Zama had promised herself that in this new year, she would dare to do new things.

It was 11:55 am. She had little time to execute her maneuver, for by noon all the workers would be gathered at the table for lunch.

Zama looked up before she started walking as if asking heaven for a miracle. She felt herself staggering in her gait, but it didn't matter. She was determined to make it.

Zama was about to greet Marcel, when an unusually low dial tone sounded between them. In a matter of a second, Marcel reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Yes? Okay, I'll be right there," the mysterious office boy said with a faint smile.

Zama, transfixed, could only watch as Marcel quickly left the place without looking around.

Zama's disappointment was inversely proportional to Marcel's joy. The guy was the happiest man in the world as he would be reunited with his lover, his boss Kendrik's wife, after three months.

As shy and awkward as he could look, Marcel had methodically conquered Jessy, his boss's wife, for a year.

It was a love comparable to a candle: it burned brightly, but for a short time. A flame that illuminated the lives of two beings in existential gloom.

This situation was observed by Zama several times. So much so that she could not help but go further and find out who could make Marcel disappear from the office from time to time.

One night when Zama was working overtime, she went to the security room. There she had access to videos and audios of the place.

After fast-forwarding and rewinding all the audiovisual material related to Marcel for hours, she could tell that at one point he said something like "Jessy, are you busy at the cafe?"

Zama's fear was great, because she knew that there was a possibility that it was Jessy. The owner of a café in the center of the city. The wife of her boss Kendrik.

Zama was both saddened and embarrassed. Having found out what she shouldn't have and not being able to talk to anyone about it. Or maybe she could.

In a vindictive outburst, Zama decided to go tell Kendrik just one of those times when Marcel was out. There was a commotion all over the place. Some people were gawking; others were laughing, covering their mouths; some wept at the tragedy that befell their beloved boss. There were also hateful looks over Zama.

Meanwhile, Zama herself was possessed by adrenaline. Her evil plan was about to be fulfilled.

However, something extraordinary happened. Zama took into account many details, except the most important one: upon arriving at "Super Coffee" and finding the supposed couple, Kendrik began to laugh uncontentedly. Stupefied, Zama looked at the couple and Krendik as if looking for an explanation for such an unusual moment.

Soon, Zama became the villain of the story. It turned out that the boy was not Marcel, but his twin brother Marcus, who also worked in the same office, and differed from the other because he had one ear smaller than the other. And the woman was not Kendrik's wife, but his daughter, identical to her mother in every way, except that she bore her father's surname. She was actually in charge of her mother's café.

Zama's dismissal and humiliation happened in a matter of hours. She was a bereaved soul from then on.

Several days later, Wanda invited her over for Milkshakes.

"And now what will you do with your life?" asked Wanda distraught for her former co-worker.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," replied Zama looking into the void.

"Has so much free time made you crazy?" asked Wanda indignantly.

"Not at all. I thought I was good as a clerk, but now I know I'm better as a detective," said Zama between breathless laughter.

The former co-workers continued to talk amid questions and laughter until through the door of that place he appeared. It was Marcel himself with a small bouquet of roses. He went to where they were and said to Zama:

"I heard you were in search of love," stammered the shy boy who could barely contain the sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief.

"Are they for me?"

"Sure!"

"Are you really Marcel?"

Then he pointed to his ear as if for her to confirm he really was Marcel.

"Love's in the air!" soon shouted Wanda, who after a few minutes left the date in full action and happiness.

This story was inspired by prompt #70 embarrass