Days always seemed to go much more sluggishly within the office when smaller cases were being dealt with. They were generally one off cases of betrayal or bitter envy, things that Kent had adjusted swiftly when he began working here.
Constantly, it seemed like the only thing protecting him from resigning was the one person who seemed to hold unreasonable disfavour towards him, DI Chandler.
In this manner, today had been particularly slow.
Kent had been kept at his desk, researching into a woman who had died from blunt force trauma. It wasn't that Kent took any sort of enjoyment in investigating death, but he couldn't help but at this moment hope for a more bizarre incident.
"You alright, pet?"
Kent frowned at this sudden jaunt from his personal distractions. But he refrained from his anger, it was Riley. One person Kent could never feel angry towards.
"Yeah" muttered Kent as he let out a small yawn.
Riley frowned, "I don't think so", she spoke very softly as she pulled a chair over beside him and sat down.
"Come on pet, what's got you down? Is it him again?" referring to Chandler, it was fairly clear among the office staff of Kent's certain infatuation.
His head slightly lower, "Yeah, I guess".
"You need to get out more, he's not going to notice you properly. He's just dead inside, what psychologists would call an uptight obsessive compulsive, or what we would call a shallow, cold dickhead".
Sudden warmth went across his shoulders, one of Riley's signature hugs. She rose from her seat and patted his shoulder before striding to her seat to continue with the tasks she had been assigned.
Kent exhaled deeply and glanced at the time on his computer; it was 4:15 PM. He would probably be here until 9 or 10; he needed to cover as much of his tasks as possible, less to do tomorrow that way. However, it was time for his lunch.
It wasn't much of a lunch, plain and typical salad. He picked through it cautiously, it was so dull – very much like everything in this dreary office.
The rest of the day dragged as usual, but finally it was 9:48.
"Me and Mansell are going to the crime scene of that Bradley woman, we're probably gonna be away most of the day. Wanna come? If you're not busy with your own tasks" Riley perked up.
Kent jerked around in his chair; she was waiting at the door leading out of the office.
Mansell and Kent had been experiencing what could be lightly called turbulence. Mansell has been dating Kent's twin sister, Erica. Naturally, Mansell being the hedonistic player he was, Kent was highly irritated by this.
"Em", the thought of being with Mansell for that long. But then again he had to face him some time and being out of the office would be good for him.
"I'll take that as a yes. Bye pet".
And he was alone, although not quite. Chandler was still in his private office.
Kent felt the butterflies churning in his stomach, just the thought of being that close to Chandler made him feel a sense of arousal.
Without warning, Chandler's door opened and, switching off the lights in his office, he continued on route to leave. However his eyes popped when he saw Kent.
"You're still here?" Chandler asked, glaring.
Kent felt his mouth go dry "Em, yes sir", Kent couldn't comprehend what was in Chandler's eyes, so icy though. It made Kent feel like icicles were shooting into his stomach.
Chandler then proceeded to leave.
Anguish slowly creeped in, leaving Kent to hold back tears; he wasn't going to end up crying here.
He then glanced at his computer, it was getting late. He shut off power on his computer, grabbed his jacket and then left.
His car was where he had left it; there were a few other desolate cars here and there in the policing car lot. Some people must still be in the other departments, Kent thought to himself.
Unlocking it, he got in and started it up. He then drove home to his lonely apartment in southern Hackney, it was a safe enough neighbourhood but the place didn't have much to see. Kent could recall only deciding upon this place as the housing was cheap and the proximity to work.
Once he had arrived, he took the elevator to his particular flat. He unlocked, entered and locked his door as was routine and went straight to his measly bed, he shivered. It was freezing tonight and the heating here didn't function properly.
However he soon fell asleep on top of his bed, clothes on and tears forming again; the night was always the worst time – the depression that came with an infatuation was worse now at this particular time than ever. Kent often craved to not be alone in this bed just for once.