At eight-thirty a.m., the corridor was quiet except for the office orchestra: the tick of the heating as it warmed itself to wakefulness, the hum of the vending machine, and the low burble of the watercooler. Michael switched on the coffee machine, adding to the symphony, and stood with his tie loosened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rajinder appeared at the end of the corridor. He caught the faint scent of sandalwood before he saw her, straightened\u2014not enough to be obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMorning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, it\u2019s definitely morning again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn the ball today, I see,\u201d she said. She put her mug down next to his, just touching. Hello Kitty <\/em>introduced itself to Liverpool FC<\/em>. \u201cGood night?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot bad. Chinese takeaway and a beer. Then I settled down to watch the box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBachelor life, eh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, it has its benefits. And its drawbacks. Did you see \u2018Hearts Afire\u2019 last night?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She smiled, a small delight he always looked for. \u201cOf course. You think I\u2019d miss Daniel\u2019s latest disaster?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael snorted. \u201cThe man\u2019s got no sense of self-preservation. Sneaking around with his boss\u2019s wife.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The coffee pot filled, and Michael lifted his mug, indicating she could go first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe can\u2019t help it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can see it in his face, he knows it\u2019s wrong, but he\u2019s trapped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He watched her fingers as she adjusted her scarf, then quickly looked away. \u201cYeah. Some traps you walk into willingly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat sounds like sympathy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaybe,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, you can\u2019t really choose who\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He stopped himself and took a sip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pause stretched. \u201cHis boss\u2019s wife looked happier than she\u2019s been in the whole series.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe did,\u201d Michael said. \u201cGuess someone finally saw her for who she is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s dangerous,\u201d she said quietly. \u201cBeing seen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He met her eyes and steadied his voice. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her gaze held his a second too long. \u201cYou think they\u2019ll get caught?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He laughed, breaking the spell. \u201cIt\u2019s an American soap. They always get caught.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd then they forgive each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael laughed again, not losing her gaze. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a wedding, and a shooting, and…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rajinder\u2019s chuckle was softer than his. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s why we watch soaps. To see people survive things we couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaybe,\u201d he said, watching the light shift in her eyes. \u201cOr to see them do what we want to but never would.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She glanced toward the office door. \u201cWe should go back before someone notices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He nodded, cupping his mug with both hands. \u201cSame time tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnly if they don\u2019t move the coffee machine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet\u2019s hope they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She turned to leave, then hesitated a heartbeat, as if she were about to say something, but just gave him a small, brittle smile before walking away, her perfume the only evidence she\u2019d been there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael stood a moment, staring at the cups stacked on the drainer, took a sip, grimaced, and poured the coffee down the sink. He disliked coffee but loved these moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He just hated his treacherous cowardice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rajinder appeared at the end of the corridor. He caught the faint scent of sandalwood before he saw her, straightened\u2014not enough to be obvious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[{"account":"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211","service":"facebook","timestamp":1761679162,"status":"success"},{"account":"twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305","service":"twitter","timestamp":1761679163,"status":"error"}],"rop_publish_now_status":"done","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1490,1750],"tags":[1755,1751,1754],"class_list":["post-2552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-traitor","tag-forbidden-love","tag-traitor","tag-treacherous-heart"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-Fa","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2553,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552\/revisions\/2553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}