The pair jumped as her ringtone suddenly cut through the silence. Sahira sighed deeply and reluctantly and carefully let Henrik out of her grasp. Angered that her few moments of peace with a man who clearly needed her help was ruined, she fiercely tugged her phone out of her pocket. It was her mother. A stampede of worry suddenly rushed back into her life and it was though it was banging on the front door. She didn't need this right now. "Sorry Henrik, I better take this."
His now guarded eyes already looked heavy with worry again and she could tell from the way his shoulders had tensed that what had just happened between them was racing through his mind. The urge to stay with him, to help clear the confusion that haunted his features was immense but she knew she had to go, and he did too. "Of course off you go." Was all that he said to her, it was as if he was afraid to be his normal, sarcastic and relatively verbose self encase he made a mistake of some sort and lost her, yet again.
With an understanding nod, Sahira immediately turned on her heels and went to leave. As she began to open the door, she was still aware of the ever insistent ringtone but she found for a moment she didn't care, she turned to face the man still standing in the middle of the room. Instantly she knew that all those years ago she had made a mistake, one she had regretted ever since. "Everything will be alright Henrik." She knew that the years of abuse and buried memories could not just be washed away and forgotten with a hug, but if everything wouldn't sort out by itself, she would force it too.
"Hi mum." She answered as soon as she had closed the door to Henrik's office.
"Hello darling." The chipper voice of optimism that was her mother sounded out from the phone. She had been a pillar of strength these past few weeks. Truth be told Sahira would have cracked by now if it weren't for her. "Indy's got a slight rash so I'm just going to put some cream on it, if that's ok?"
Sahira smiled. Her mother was always checking if everything she was doing was ok, like she had forgotten she had once had little children of her own. "Yep, that's ok. I should be back soon anyway."
"Alright honey, I'll have a cup of tea ready as soon as you get in. You sound like you need it. See you soon." Currently, the promise of tea was close to a life savour. With this in mind she said her goodbyes and hung up. People walked past her as she made her way slowly through the corridors, stairwells, and lobby and then into the car park although she never took any note of them. Her head was full of so many mixed emotions; nothing from the outside world could get in.
Trying to keep her mind on the car seemed more difficult than normal, though normality had been missing for quite some time now. Things had been hard for her since her husband had left. The ungrateful sod had run off to France with a pretty, young girl even though he was old enough to be her father. His disappearance had left her coping with two young children while juggling a demanding job. It had not been easy. Her parents immediately offered help, and after struggling with her pride, she had accepted it. It had also been a tough mental battle to appear as everything was normal at work. She wanted no one to know of the fool she had been in marrying that cheating waste of space. Since he had ran off however, every time Henrik came onto the ward it had been near impossible to keep her regret at bay.
As Sahira opened her car door she looked up at the stair well. There on the fifth floor was Henrik, softly smiling down at her in the way he did for no one else. It relieved her to see that she could still make him smile even after she had nearly destroyed him. The smile she gave back was genuine, one of deep fondness for he had always looked after her, even when she hadn't done the same to him.
The car purred into life as she backed out of the parking space and drove away. As she did so, Henrik's face from all those years back haunted her. Nobody had told him that she had got engaged. The first he knew about it was when he noticed the ring on her finger as she picked up some paper work. He had been smiling in the same soft way until she told him, the same could not be said after however. His eyes had looked broken; there was none of the old vitality and glint in them anymore. Henrik did say the obligatory 'congratulations' but his voice had been barely audible with badly disguised sadness. After he had walked away from her, he wasn't seen for another two weeks. Upon his return the transformation in him was shocking to all. He was pale, thin and his face was gaunt. There was none of the witty comebacks and even when he could be bothered to be sarcastic it was always delivered with such remarkable venom that made every F2 quiver in their boots. It was months until a smile was once again seen upon his lips and gradually he started to return to his former self. But Despite this though, some of the glint had gone from his eyes seemingly never to return. The Henrik Hanssen she had known before was not the one she knew now and Sahira knew, deep down that she had destroyed him, the moment that he had found out.
It angered her that she had been so stupid and given up Henrik's love for a man who had never appreciated her and was now hiding somewhere in France with some skinny young bint. Henrik had every right to hate her, but he didn't. Sahira found it annoying that he had forgiven her for she knew she didn't deserve it and instead of blaming her, he blamed himself for being so stupid as to think someone like her could love him. He may try and hide it but she could see it, the self loathing in him that she had caused. Even with all this, Henrik had stood by her for all these years. The memory of the hug the two had just shared came flooding back. There was something there, a possibility, a hope that maybe, just maybe some of his old feelings for her were still there. Sahira shook her head, banishing the thought as a silly idea. How could he love her, after all the things that she had inflicted on him. To her it was a miracle that he could even stand to look at her. As she pulled up outside her home, she pushed all thoughts on the subject to a side and got out. Despite this though, a little bit of her mind still clung onto a desperate hope that she was wrong and that Henrik could still find room in his battered and bruised heart for her.