Page 14 of Their Arrangement

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My fingers trembled.

I counted my breaths.

One. Two. Three.

The door creaked.

Heels tapped the tile. Two women entered the bathroom, laughter trailing behind them like perfume.

I didn’t move.

Didn’t make a sound.

They didn’t know I was there.

“She’s not that pretty,” one of them said. Her voice was coated in sugar and venom.

“I mean, not ugly,” the other replied, “just… kind of frumpy. Cheap shoes.Thickaround the thighs.”

Their words landed like bruises. Quiet, brutal, precise.

I stayed still.

“She’s, like… the cousin of someone they used to know, right?”

“Or the sister’s friend. I don’t know. Either way, she doesn’t fit. Total pity hire.”

The first woman laughed. “I heard Barron didn’t even approve it. Loyal did.”

A pause.

The rush of running water.

The mechanical chirp of the soap dispenser.

Then one of them laughed again. “Watch her get fired before she finds the break room.”

The door opened.

Closed.

Silence again.

Heavy. Absolute.

I stayed in the stall for five more minutes.

Long enough to make sure they were gone.

Long enough to swallow every sound I wanted to make.

Then I stood, slowly, and stepped out.

I didn’t fix my mascara.

Didn’t blot the sweat at my temples.

I just stared at myself in the mirror.

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