Protest

Lily Cupid and Peony Cupid sat on the ledge of Maggie Knightley's office window, their wings neatly tucked behind them, wondering why the arrows of love they had shot at her and her colleague, Albert Rimmer, weren't working.

“She rejected his invitation to lunch again,” Peony said and sighed as Maggie hit the buttons on her keyboard hard, her gaze on the screen.

Lily winced and sighed too. “And he's hopelessly in love with her. Humans are strange, really.”

“What do you mean?”

Lily gestured at Maggie just as Albert appeared at the doorway and quietly opened her door with a smile on his face. In slow motion, the Cupids watched her glance up at him and return the smile for a second before it faded and a stoic look replaced it. “See? The man likes her and she likes him too. Their scent of love fills this room. Why is she fighting this?”

Peony nudged Lily, pointing toward a hardcover book on the shelf behind Maggie's chair. “Company policy. I checked last night when you were in a state of rest. Employees are forbidden from dating each other.”

Lily frowned. “So a book is stronger than love?” Peony shrugged and they watched as Maggi pushed back her chair and rubbed her temples.

“Are you free after work? I know this cool place—” Albert started to say when Maggie shook her head.

“You know the policy. We can't keep doing this?” She said, gazing at the window, at the invisible Cupids who stare at her, hoping she changed her mind.

Albert smiled sadly. “I keep hoping you'll change your mind. No one has to know.” Maggie looked away, her expression softening as though she was considering the same thing.

“These humans,” Lily said, crossing her arms across her chest, “they fight good feelings all the time and call it caution or bad timing.”

Peony tilted her head to the side. “What should we call it?”

“Fear…or doubt.”

“You know? Let's protest!” Peony exclaimed, grinning like it was her brightest idea. Lily raised an eyebrow. “Against the policy, of course.”

That night, Maggie waited until the office was empty except for Albert in his cubicle.

“I don't want to pretend about my feelings nor do I want us to risk our jobs. Let's go slow, okay?”

Albert stood before her, his eyes shining with intensity. He clenched his hands to stop himself from reaching for her knowing there were cameras in the office. “I'm all in. Let's have dinner at this cool place I found.” She nodded and they left the office together.

Outside the window, the Cupids smiled and went to work on protesting the policy.

I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "protest”.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

^{_{Image By: Paul Victor Tamuria from Pixabay}}