The Echo Of Unsaid Words

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Kelly came from a modest family. They didn't have much, so Kelly took up jobs in college to support her parents. Kelly was your usual nerd, loved books, was very smart, and an extreme introvert with a very small friend circle which included some of her family members. In college, she had very few friends, Lily and Dave from the mathematics club, and Manuel from the drama club.

She switched jobs every session. Of all her jobs, she never had a friend at work; she hardly even spoke. But that particular session she met Brandy, who was her coworker in a coffee shop. There was just something about Brandy that she liked. Brandy was nothing like her she was the opposite of Kelly—she was jovial, talked a lot, loud and wild, and she didn't have a thing for books, not even novels.

Kelly and Brandy became friends when Brandy walked up to her one evening and started talking to her about how she was frustrated by the assignment given to them in class. Kelly helped her with the assignment and thought it was going to end there, but Brandy became more fond of her, and slowly Kelly warmed up to her.

“What do we have here?" Brandy said as she snatched the novel away from Kelly, who was behind the counter during a work break.
“Brandy," Kelly sighed before turning around and then smiled.
Brandy opened the novel and imitated reading it the way Kelly read books, adjusting her imaginary eyeglasses, “what do we have here," she said in a quirky voice.
“Give it back," Kelly stretched for the book.
"Ooh, it’s love and romance stuff,” Brandy stepped back out of Kelly's reach as she winked at her.
Brandy wrapped her arms around herself and imitated a romantic scene with the air. Kelly giggled as she took the opportunity to grab her book.
“You know people who are into novels never find love, right?" Brandy sat beside Kelly, resting her head on her shoulder.
“That’s a lie," Kelly smiled as she rolled her eyes.
“Trust me, I am speaking from experience," Brandy said with a serious face.
"Please, you are yet to read your first sentence,” Kelly replied.
They both looked at each other for a few seconds before they held their ribs, giggling uncontrollably in low voices so the manager wouldn't hear them.

Later that night, they were the only ones left to lock up after closing. Kelly usually walked with Brandy to Kelly's place before Brandy took a lift to her place.
“God, I can feel my stomach folding," Kelly groaned as she held her stomach.
“Kelly, I think you should go. Because I can't leave without that pen," Brandy said from under the counter.
“Okay, good night," Kelly rushed out, her hunger growing.
Kelly wasn't far when she noticed she had forgotten her key. She ran back to the store to get it.
“Hey, I forgot my—" Kelly dashed into the store and froze on seeing Brandy, who also froze like she had seen a ghost, with her hand dipped into the register.
“My key," Kelly snapped back into reality, grabbed her key, and left awkwardly without saying anything.

The next day, things became awkward between them as the only word they exchanged was ‘Good morning.’ The awkwardness became worse when the manager complained of the money in the register being short of what was calculated. It wasn't the first time, but the manager trusted his workers and always blamed them for not calculating properly. But now Kelly knew where all the money went. Things became so awkward that they hardly saw each other or stayed in the same place, and Kelly didn't have any chance to talk to Brandy about it.

One day, the manager called Kelly into his office and sat her down to talk to her.
“Okay, what's going on? 'Cause I have noticed the elephant in the room. There is some kind of tension between you and Brandy," he said.
“It's nothing," Kelly said, shrugging off the question.
“No, it's not. She's the only one you talk to, and suddenly you guys hardly even greet each other."
After some pressure from her manager, she finally told him what she saw that night.
“God, I am stupid," she muttered to herself, tapping her forehead as she left his office. Kelly felt guilty for doing the right thing; she felt like she was wrong and had betrayed her friend.

The next week, Kelly came to work to find out Brandy was fired. She beat herself up for it and regretted that the last time she saw Brandy had been so awkward.

Years later, after graduation, Kelly bumped into Brandy at a train station. She was ashamed to go over and talk to Brandy at first, but when Brandy saw her, she immediately came over, excited. They talked, and Kelly learned that she had gotten a job at a national reserve science lab, while Brandy was doing an internship at a forex firm.
What Kelly didn't know was that it was the first time Brandy had been reprimanded for theft and would probably never have changed or stopped stealing if Kelly hadn’t reported her.