“No. It’s ok. Here.” She took the tissue and wiped her mouth while watching the other woman breaking into a mild jog to the newspaper stand. Soon, she was handed a bottle of mineral water which Bette took with much gratitude.

“Are you feeling better?” Helena asked her. The worry in her tone pleased Bette immensely, oddly enough.

“Yeah, thank you.” They continue to stare at one another. Silence.

“It’s getting better these days anyway.” Bette added with a light chuckle after seeing the brunette’s worry intensified from her silence.

“What is it? If you don’t mind me asking, that is…”

“I’m pregnant.” Bette announced with a weird sense of pride to this beautiful person she just met.

“Congratulations… How far long are you?” Helena asked after a long pause. She sounded not too pleased with the revelation.

“Ten weeks. It’s complicated actually…” Sensing that Bette wasn’t ready to talk about it, Helena took the que to leave.

“Anyway, it’s really nice seeing you again, Bette.”

“Yeah, me too… Will I see you again?” Helena smiled widely at the cute inquiry.

“Sure… Here, this is my contact. Call me whenever you want to have a coffee or just talk. I really enjoyed talking to you, Bette…”

“Yeah, ok. I will hold you to that- but no coffee for me…”

“Yes, I better remember that. Look, I’m sorry but I’ve got to go… It was really nice to see you, Bette.” Somehow, Helena just couldn’t stop calling her name. It was so pretty, just like her…

“Hey, I’ll call you soon, ok? Bye…”

“Bye…” They took one last look at the other before departing to separate directions.

–

“Oh, Betty!” Alice exclaims just as she was letting herself in followed closely by a thin brunette. Kit had made Bette leave them extra keys of her house to each of them before finally agreeing to Bette moving back into the house again. She ventured into the living room after receiving no response with the food that she brought left on the table.

“Bette? Are you-“ Alice stopped midsentence. She was shocked to see Bette so engrossed in something other than old pictures. Paints, brushes, and other unidentified art supplies laid were displayed so randomly on the floor. She smiled tenderly at the sight of Bette being so absorbed in creating art that she remains silent for a couple more moments. It was so long ago since she had seen Bette doing art. In fact, it was only shortly after Bette and Tina’s one year anniversary did she stop producing art entirely, opting to concentrate on the gallery business instead.

“Hey… Have you eaten? We got you some food from The Planet. Kit couldn’t make it tonight so, Shane and I decided to hang out with you… Girls’ night in.” Alice giggled in false excitement.

“Shane and me…” The brunette cheekily corrected Alice, making her appearance in the room.

“That’s really nice, Bette. What are you drawing?” Alice tilted her head to the side in order to gain better view on the canvas her friend was working on.

“It’s nothing, really. Just sketches and stuff…” Bette quickly collected most of her canvasses and moved them aside to hide them away from Alice’s prying eyes. Alice sensed her discomfort in sharing with her so, she decided not to push.

“So, Bette. What have you been up to today?” Shane tried to get her friend to share a bit more. The wise brunette sensed that Bette was doing more thinking on her own these days and bottling up every discovery inside her. She wasn’t so sure if that was entirely healthy.

“I went for a walk in the park today and – met a friend.” She smiled at the memory of Helena, the lovely lady she spent the day with.

“Ooooo… Who is it? Is it Sandra? Molly? Or Kim?” Alice asked her excitedly. Her face was progressively getting closer to Bette with each question.

“Stop it, Al…” They laughed at Alice’s cartoonish antics.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you guys…” The girls looked at her in anticipation.

“Why did you lie? I mean why did you act as if I didn’t know Tina…” But she doesn’t, does she? It was the other Bette that loved that woman… Not her… Right?