Vai was glad to have the truth off her chest. In reality, it didn’t matter – how she’d once felt about Maphira. That had been years ago, and she was over it now. But she’d held onto that pain for so long that there was a sort of release in speaking the truth.
The thing was, now they had to find Maphira. She and Rylee had left the woman behind when she bumped into a renovation salesman, unable to risk the mission by saving her. She had to get out of that situation herself. Hopefully, she hadn’t gotten caught up discussing bathroom tiles. Ideas regarding how to meet back up with Maphira were few. Rylee thought they should go back, whereas Vai thought the more reasonable idea was to wait at the exit to the renovation company, rendezvousing with Rylee before they went into the conveyancing firm.
“You know how it goes,” Vai said. “We head back into the renovations business looking for Maphira, and you know what happens? She walks right past us, stands at the exit for a bit wondering where we are, and then she comes back inside to look for us. I’m sure she got away from those bathroom designers. Close to Melbourne, these designers have a reputation for being insistent, but she’s smart. She’d have a good excuse.”
Rylee sighed. “I suppose you’re right. We just have to trust that she knows what she’s doing. Hopefully, her identity crisis doesn’t have her spinning out too much. That’s my only concern.”
Honestly, Vai couldn’t believe that Maphira hadn’t worked it out on her own. It was so obvious that she didn’t experience attraction of any kind. But she supposed that when that’s your normal existence, maybe you just assume it’s like that for everyone else, too. But still, it came across as oblivious to Vai, given how disinterested Maphira had been in all her relationships over the years. She talked about her romantic partners more like friends.
Regardless of how oblivious she might have been, Vai hoped she’d make it back to them soon.