A Beautiful Struggle Read Online Free PDF Page A

the room seemed amplified,
especially my own – I could hear my heart beating in my ears, and I seemed to
be breathing so loudly that it filled the room.
    Above my noises, I could hear the fabric of
Elliot’s shirt as he moved to turn the very loud page. I tried to still my
breathing to calm myself when I heard him close the book and slide it back onto
the shelf.
    I kept my head down turning pages and
pretending to read, highlighting here and there but still focused on him. In my
peripheral, I could see him start to walk towards me. I tried really hard to
look too busy to notice him; highlight, highlight, thoughtful expression, page
turn.
    “Katrina?” he said briskly to get my
attention when he was near my desk.
    I looked up with feigned surprise and said,
“Oh hi! Um, Evan is it? What can I do for you?”
    He looked a little taken aback when I got
his name wrong and started to fumble his words, “Uh, it’s um… Elliot actually,
I, uh, just wanted to ask you if you had any microfiche for me,” he pointed to
the sorted pile on my desk. “I figured since I was here I would grab them to
save you walking them over to um… my office,” his hand flew up, and he rubbed
the back of his stylishly messy hair uneasily and gave me a slightly sheepish
grin.
    “Oh of course, thanks,” I replied handing
him the pile I had finished with earlier.
    “Thank you,” he said taking them, he turned
slowly, then hesitated. “Uh, bye Katrina, and thanks again for these.” He held
up the pile of microfiche and started for the door.
    I sat there watching him leave, feeling
very impressed with myself. I pulled off the ‘deep in thought act’ and actually
made Mr Hotstuff himself get a little tongue-tied  – I guess he wasn’t used to
women ‘forgetting’ his name.
    Kayley walked in with a conspiratorial grin
on her face. “What was that about?” she asked in a low voice.
    “What was what about?” I said
indifferently.
    “Don’t play all coy, Elliot just walked out
of here with a very confused look on his face. What did you say to him?” she
asked with her hands on her hips.
    “Nothing, he was looking at a book and then
asked me for the microfiche, so I gave them to him.”
    “Yes, but what did you say?”
    “I said ‘Thanks’.”
    “You said ‘Thanks’? That’s all?”
    “That’s all.”
    “Hmmm, if you say so,” she said looking at
me suspiciously. “I just haven’t seen the cool, calm and collected Elliot look
confused like that before.”
    “I don’t know what to tell you Kayley,
maybe he read something confusing.”
    “Hmm maybe… alright, I have to get back to
work. I’ll see you later,” she said as she left the library and went back to
her desk.
    I closed my uni reader and put it back in
my bag to start on some more law book updates, smiling to myself about the look
on Elliot’s face when I called him Evan. That’ll teach him to be rude when
someone says ‘hi’, I thought to myself.
     
    At lunch time, I wanted to run in the
Botanic Gardens. It was the beginning of August; spring had come to the city,
and the gardens would be beautiful to run through.
    It was a five-minute walk from work to the
gardens closest entrance, so I decided to jog and use it as my warm up.  I
stopped just after I arrived to stretch in front of one of those signs that
give you a bit of information on the plants nearby.
    Looking around, I could see quite a few
people in the park. Some were just sitting on the grass eating their lunch and
enjoying the sun, others were in the distance, doing tai chi and I could see a
couple of women with a personal trainer doing burpees and not looking very
happy about it.
    The running track was dotted with people
who all had the same idea as I did. I shook out my legs a little as I checked
my watch for time – I figured I could run for 15 minutes in one direction and
then turn around so I had enough time to get back to the office, shower and
return to my desk before the hour was