Betray The Ill

Hadiya stood in the doorway to the office of her two favorite employees. She was used to seeing them stare off into space, but the air around them felt different than most times she caught them daydreaming. Roma was staring at her desk, burning holes into the paperwork in front of her with her eyes. Unlike her colleague, however, Kassy couldn't feign a busy focus and was looking at the ceiling as she relaxed in her chair.

"Okay, what's going on?" Hadiya questioned them, folding her arms intently. "I'm not in the habit of letting my employees take breaks in la-la land."

Kassy snapped to attention in a panic while Roma simply reacted as if she had dozed off.

"Words. Now. Speak," Hadiya demanded.

"Sorry, boss," Kassy apologized. "It's always a bit cloudy after Roma visits her mom."

The buxom boss widened her eyes before closing the door to the office behind her.

"Yeah?" she replied. "How'd that go?"

"Pretty good, as far as her history of visits is concerned," Kassy said. "But a really good visit turned out to be far more depressing than we thought."

"You're going to have to elaborate," Hadiya said.

"Tess spoke to me like a mother again," Roma explained. "She wasn't cold at all. She was upset rather than indifferent. She cried and laughed and looked really healthy."

"That sounds great," Hadiya said. "Doesn't that sound like recovery?"

"It does, but there's no guarantee that anything good is happening," Kassy said. "If she is just as sick as ever, behaving so well for a visit just reminds Roma what life used to be like."

"I'd appreciate this straight from the daughter, but your blabbering mouth can't shut, can it?" Hadiya said. "Why don't you go home, Roma? Don't worry about this crap for today. Go get some rest. You're no good to me like this anyhow."

Roma tried to keep focused on the conversation. She had largely gotten over her bad feelings on the way to work but then made the mistake of telling Kassy how her weekend went. Kassy had been close to Tess as a family friend. The two office workers hadn't known each other since childhood, as most assumed, but had grown to be loyal friends through their shared space. There was a time when Tess considered Kassy a part of the family, when she was in good health.

"You know I can't take days off," Roma replied.

"Just go," Hadiya said with an annoyed, hushed voice. "Both of you, get out. I'll make sure you're paid for the day. Just get back in shape. Believe it or not you two are my star players."

Kassy lit up from her new orders.

"Say no more," she said, clapping her hands softly. "I'll get this girl back to herself."

"But we have so much work to do-" Roma tried to protest.

"Shut up," Hadiya and Kassy said together.