Chapter 23 – Iris
I was not at ease when Cesar opened the door, and he immediately detected the strident note of restlessness in my ways.
“Are you still upset about yesterday night?”, he asked, then continued, “Or perhaps there is something else that I don’t know about?”
“What would that something else be?”, I retorted defensively
“Come on in”, he said, without picking up on my bitter reply
I stepped in and spoke about the paper even before removing my coat.
“I lost the paper you gave me and it seems to be irretrievable in the library’s database. Where did you find it?”, I asked
“I pulled it off the database in my institution, I can find it for you now if you want. I have access to the database from my home computer too”, Cesar said
“Yes, please”, I replied without hesitation
“Sure”, he agreed, slightly surprised
I waited tensely till Cesar searched the cursed paper.
“Here”, he said at last, pointing at a document on the screen. But when I saw it I immediately noticed it was not the same paper I had previously read.
“Wait, this is not what you gave me yesterday!”, I objected
“What do you mean? I am sure it is”, Cesar replied, arching his brows
“No it isn’t”, I insisted, scrolling down and reading lines I didn’t remember
“I am sure it is…it is the one that seemed most relevant to you work among the ones I read, and I passed it over to you because of this. It is about cyanogenic glycosides…”, he started
“It is, yes”, I interrupted, “but it is not the one you gave me yesterday!”
I was exasperated.
Cesar shrugged.
“What about having dinner and forgetting about the paper?”, he proposed with a tinge of indulgent patience in his tone that intensified my anger.
“Why does everyone want me to have dinner and forget the paper?”, I screamed
“Who is everyone?”, Cesar asked, suddenly suspicious
“Otto and you”, I replied dryly
“Your colleague!?”, he exclaimed
“Yes”, I confirmed with defiance
“I thought you didn’t trust him, and rightly so”, his voice controlled but emanating angry vibes
“I’ve began to believe that he is a better man than I thought. Perhaps I was too hasty to judge him”, I said
“Hasty? He was stealing your samples!”, Cesar raged, tapping his fist against the wall
I had never seen him in such a state and his violent side – which I didn’t know about before – disturbed me.
“I don’t trust Otto fully, but I think he deserves a chance to redeem himself”, I said, and described the conversation I had with Otto without mentioning his love confession, and my unexpected feelings towards him.
“I trust you, Iris. I want to trust you”, Cesar said, his voice soft again
I nodded and smiled, swallowing the sense of guilt.
“But please be very careful with the man, that’s all I’m asking”, Cesar concluded, caressing my hair.
I nodded and smiled again, the tears frozen behind my eyes.