Page 81 of The Seducer
Susie nodded.
“Great teachers have taught us that at the root of every conflict there isassumption. You already agreed that in your case your colleague may not even know that she is overstepping your boundaries and taking too much of your time. You wereassumingthat it should be as obvious to her as it is to you, and therefore your conclusion was that she was taking advantage of you.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
Taking a step forward and angling my head, I asked, “What do you think would happen, if you took on a different assumption? What if you assumed that she is doing her best?”
Susie looked thoughtful but didn’t speak.
“If you took onthatassumption, then you would have to believe that this is nothing personal, and your colleague isn’t trying to take advantage of you.”
“All right,” she said and nodded. “But then what do I say when she comes to ask me for help the next time?”
“You say ‘yes,’ if you have the time, and you say ‘sorry but I can’t help you right now,’ if you don’t have the time. It’s hard at first, but will get easier when you practice it.”
A teenage girl raised her hand in the audience, and I pointed to her. “Do you have a question, dear?”
“I just want to add that the colleague we’re talking about may not be good at her job yet, but she’s an expert at asking for help, so paying attention to how she does it will be a good chance for you to study an expert.” She blushed a little from having all the people looking at her. “I mean, just in case you want to get better at it yourself,” she added and looked down.
“What a great point,” I praised the girl and turned back to Susie.
“Thank you,” she said and bowed her head to me. “This has certainly given me something to think about.”
I gave her another warm smile. “You’re welcome, my dear.”
We continued the class, talking more about conflicts and how we could best resolve them. It was a wonderful way for me to distract myself, but once the class was over and I put down my VR device, nothing had changed.
My house was still as empty as it had been since Finn left, and new waves of grief knocked me over. I had no experience with a broken heart, except on a theoretical level, and I had already followed all the advice I would’ve given to someone else.
When Karina called to say that Finn was on the news, I hesitated before turning it on. Just seeing him had my pulse going through the roof; I had to do some breathing exercises to calm my heart.
He, and the four other representatives from the Northlands stood with their mediators, some of the Councilwomen, and a small delegation from the Northlands consisting of their ruler Khan Aurelius, his wife Pearl Pilotti, and Magni.
“It’s the ceremonial ending to their visit,” Karina said. “Can you believe how many people have gathered by the border to watch it?”
She was right, there was a large crowd in front of the podium and a lot of camera crews as well.
“I’ll bet some of the women are hoping the men will take them home with them,” Karina said. “Yesterday on the news, they were talking about sending a group of representatives from the Motherlands into the Northlands, and many have already volunteered.”
“There’s always going to be people who are unhappy with their lives and hoping to find happiness in the next place,” I commented with a sigh just as the camera caught a woman in front of the podium, flashing a sign with the wordsI would marry an Nman.
“Those women are crazy.” Karina chuckled. “They make us look bad.”
“Do you think the Council will allow them to go?” I asked.
“No, there’s no way. And how could they? It’s like those women have lost their sanity; surely the Council will have to protect them from themselves.”
“But what if they could be happy with an Nman? I’ve met Christina, and she didn’t seem like a desperate or crazy type of woman.”
“Maybe not, but look at those women on the screen. The press has named themthe Romantics.”
“Ouch, that’s kind of harsh, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but you know that sometimes the press can be mean.”
“But Romantics – yikes, that’s offensive. They might as well call them naïve fools.”
While talking to Karina on the phone, and watching the ceremony on the news, I brewed myself a cup of tea.
