HomeSometimes I wonder if I'm just being conceited, or just plain paranoid. I enter a room, completely confident and ready to bring to the world my fresh ideas and my hard work, to be greeted by two individuals who have been speaking in hushed tones in the corner of a darkened room.
They stop their whispering as I cross the threshold, and in unbearable slow motion, turn their chins towards me, eyeing me at the corners of their wide-open ocular globes. I wave an innocent greeting and sheepishly tiptoe to my cubicle as if to say, "Oh, please. Don't mind me."
They clear their throats, and in their restored voices, announce that they should be getting back to their desks. I am confused, yet relieved in thinking that I have not interrupted something secretly important.
My apologetic smile fades when I catch sight of an all-knowing smile shared between them, followed by a furtive glance in my direction. One of them smirks and breathes and airy giggle, while the other snorts in malcontent as they separate. A glob of discomfort forms in the base of my lungs, and I gulp like a cornered rat.
I've never encountered a forced silence as thick as the one that follows. I hear the still air surrounding me pushing against my skull, threatening to crush me.
"I can't believe he would say that to you!" she exclaims.
They make no reference to me. The heavy spell lifts instantly. I direct my deepening blush towards the wall and smile, revealing my hidden conceit.