Vivian's POV:

It has been fifteen minutes since Peggy escorted me to my room, yet I still find myself tossing and turning about. My mind has bluntly rejected my wailing plea to sleep. If it were as smart as one would think, it would know the more sleep I get, the healthier it becomes, in an all rounded sense. 

I can feel that my eyes are heavy, apparently are my thoughts heavier. One final rotation lands me on my back. My eyes flutter open as a dreadful sigh escapes my mouth and I decide to stare up at the drab of a ceiling. 

"What exactly are you doing?" mystery man questions.

My eyes find themselves traveling to the characterless camera in the corner of my bedroom before they draggingly drift back towards the ceiling. 

"Trying sleep, but my brain won't stop talking to itself." 

A questioning 'Uhmmm' can be heard around the room and I decide to ignore it. If I can't bring myself to sleep when it's needed most, then I might as well take a shower since there was no time this morning. I climb out of bed, head towards the closet and grab a few items of clothing.

"I strongly doubt that you'll find sleep in your closet," mystery man voices through his chuckles. 

So now he finds my frustrated state amusing. How splendid. An eye roll is all I'm able to muster as commenting on his statement seems pointless. Once I have what I require, I head to the bathroom.

"I want to ask you something and don't be sarcastic about it. A simple yes or no would do just fine," he asks in one breath. 

His sudden authoritative tone catches me by surprise, but I'm quick to shake it off before he notices. Heaven alone knows I don't need him believing he has some authoritative power over me. "Yeah sure. Go ahead," I reply shortly after while placing the clothing on the toilet lid.

"I said a simple yes or no would do and that wasn't either of them." he raises his voice and I rotate to stare directly into the camera. 

"I gave you an answer, didn't I? Take what you get or get nothing at all." I end off as I turn back around. I remember Marcus telling me those exact same words not too long ago.

A sigh can be heard before a mumble about me being difficult. I shrug it off and start to remove my clothing after turning on the taps. "Do you p-" he begins, but I quickly cut him off. I cannot have him questioning me when I'm trying to rid myself of dirt. I know that he will always be there watching me like a hawk since it's his apparent job. But my shower time is my me time.

Do not disturb me.

"Could we perhaps continue this once I'm done? I prefer you not to speak to me when I'm in the shower. It just reminds me that some random person is watching me while I'm naked and that's far from a comfortable thought." I try to reason as I stop peeling my clothing from my body.

"You do know that I'm allowed to speak to whoever I want, whenever I want. You honestly don't have a say in the matter." he retorts. 

In all fairness, I expected a resenting reply from him. So his response doesn't bungle me at all. Although, a part of me had hoped that he'd be a bit humane about the situation.

"I had a feeling you'd say that." I reply, "Next time I'll keep my ruminations to myself." With that said I continue to remove my clothing.

"Why do you have to be so different?" I faintly hear him say. Utter confusion warps itself onto my face and for the life of me, I cannot understand his question. How am I different? And from who? Or did he mean to say difficult instead of different?

"What?" I question shortly after.

"Nothing. Shower finish. We'll speak afterward," he responds.

For a split second, I find myself surprised by his abruptness, but decide that it's best to ignore it. He's most likely being temperamental which I hope has nothing do to with me. I try not to overthink what's currently happening, turn around, climb into the shower and begin washing. The noise of water hitting the tile-finished floor combined with alleviating steam completely engulfs me. It imprisons my brain, rendering any deduction or logical thinking impossible.

For a brief time period I allow myself to get lost, to let go of everything. I am in a trance so deep that even if time stood still, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. As I fully close the shower door, another door can be heard opening. And just like that, I'm forced to snap back to reality.

"Vivian?" Peggy's voice echoes throughout the two rooms. 

For crying out loud. Can't I be left alone for at least 10mins!... I fume internally. I don't despise Peggy, quite the opposite actually. But I do wish her timing was to some degree accurate. "In the shower!" I yell over the plunging water.

"That's no problem, but I urge you to hurry up. Marcus requires you to finish today's schedule of your 'Triple E' program. You're a few days behind the rest of girls. You have fifteen minutes max to finish up." 

Luckily for her, I finished in 10. 

I turn off the taps and exit the shower. After drying myself off, I quickly put on my clothes and towel dry my hair before putting it up in a bun. Once all is complete, I make my way back to my bedroom only to see Peggy tapping her foot impatiently.

"I gave you fifteen minutes Vivian. You took twenty. Now let's go before we lose any more time." She insists and I decide to comply without hesitation. 

"At least I'm done," I mumble while walking past her.

Once we exit my bedroom, Peggy pulls the door closed and we begin to walk. There's a different group of bodyguards out in the hallway now. I guess they must've changed shift or something of that sort. One of the guards withdraws himself from his post and marches his way over to us. 

"Hey! Nurses aren't permitted to escort prisoners by themselves. Where is your bodyguard!?" he barks in Peggy's face.

Well someone obviously has a stick stuck deep up his a-... Your timing is way overdue Jess. Go away.

Bite me... Honestly Jess. Go. Away.

I know you don't mean that because you need me. But I'll leave for now... Whatever you say.

"Firstly, there's no need to yell at me. We are both mature adults with the ability to communicate in a civilized manner." Peggy firmly responses to the cantankerous human being. "Secondly, Marcus permitted me to escort the girl since she needs to complete her 'Triple E' program. So if you do not mind. Please step aside so that I can do my work and you can continue to do yours. Thank you." Peggy ends off cordially as she steps around the bodyguard who is taken aback by her direct and formal approach.

She gently grabs me by my forearm and drags me along to the evaluation room. Little had been said during our short travel. Now that I think about it, nothing had been said at all. Upon entering the evaluation room, I spot Frank leaning against the desk. His head shoots up as he's aware of our presence and he immediately makes his way over to Peggy.

"Hey, so apparently Steven has to-"

"Don't worry, I know. I already spoke with Marcus." Peggy interjects. 

"Oh. Okay then, just thought I'd let you know in case you didn't," he awkwardly continues, sounding unsure of what to say next.

Since their chitchat does not include nor involve me I walk over to the hospital bed and make myself comfortable, patiently waiting for Peggy to finish her conversation. It's not like I have anything better to do.

"Knowing you, I'd expect you to force your way to go with him, yet here you are," she ends with a light laugh while walking over to the desk to grab my file. 

"You, my dear, are correct. Except he convinced me to stay in case you need help with anything... Or anyone," he ends off as his eyes travel to mine.

Even in his absence, Steven's existence finds a way to taunt me. It's no surprise that he had to use me as an excuse to head out alone. Although I do wonder what it is he's been sent out to do. I can only pray no one crosses paths with him as I fear for their fate. Steven's one trigger hungry prick, a thoughtless asshole and a sadist at that.

"That's fine. Oh yes, while we're on that topic, you need to escort Vivian to her room once her schedule for the day is complete," Peggy says as she flips my file open.

"Let me guess, Marcus's orders?"

"Yep."

"I'll be outside. Just yell my name when you're done."

With an approving nod from Peggy, Frank exits the room and closes the door. That's the first time I've seen that door being closed so gently. Steven always slams the living daylights out of it.

A maladroit silence dominates the room as it's just Peggy and I left in here. I shift uncomfortably on the bed, not knowing what to say or do. My mind wanders off to today's earlier events that occured with Steven. Just then a realisation snaps me out of my thoughts and I bring my eyes back up to Peggy's. Not that she notices; her eyes are occupied scanning the pages before her.

I clear my throat before speaking up. "Peggy, earlier this morning you said that-", but before I can continue Peggy raises a hand causing me to stop mid-sentence. 

"I know I said that I would explain everything to you once I got the chance to, but I thought about it and I think it's best that you don't know everything. Some things are better left unsaid," she says as she looks back down into the file. I swear my mouth dropped to the floor. What on earth does she mean it's best I don't know everything?

I'm pretty sure that your question is self-explanatory... Shut it, Jess.

Think about it. She probably has a really good reason as to why she doesn't want to tell you... Since when is Jess on Peggy's side? I remember her clearly stating that Peggy's not to be trusted, yet she's defending her.

All I'm saying is that you need to try and see the overall picture here. There's obviously something bigger going on in her life that she's not prepared to share every detail... Maybe Jess is right. I should probably just wait it out till she's ready to tell me. Besides, it's not like I have anywhere to go anytime soon in any case.

I decide that it's best to let Peggy be. She's probably under enough stress as is and I shouldn't be making things more complicated for her. Even though I am the victim in this entire situation, there's a possibility that she is too... In some sense.

"I understand. Whenever you feel like you can tell me, please do. I'd appreciate a bit of insight into my new surrealistic life." I conclude. 

A smile beams across her face as my words sail throughout her ears. She looks up at me with a pleased expression and says, "Since we seem to have come to an understanding, let's begin." I nod in agreement and wait for her to do whatever it is that she's supposed to.

    -₹៛₹៛¤៛₹៛₹-

*4 hours later*
     

"Full body laser hair removal finally completed." I hear Peggy sigh in relief as she jots down information in my file. To say I took the treatment 'lightly' would be an understatement. I hate that damn laser. "You have another session booked in two months," she informs me after snapping the file closed.

Another one!? Oh, how freaking fantastic!... I yell internally.

I lay dead still, not daring to move and hum an 'uhm'. My body is burning with irritation. Not the infectious I'm-allergic-to-this type of irritation. It's more of an I-wish-this-didn't-have-to-happen type. Peggy looks over to me with a questioning look which quickly fades as a realization hits her. She starts giggling, only for it to erupt into laughter.

What's so funny?

"You know that you're making it so much worse than what it actually is right?" she says through her laughter. A puzzled expression lingers on my face and she slowly calms down her laughter. "Come on let me help you up. Which you are completely capable of doing yourself by the way," she says. As soon as I know what it is she's talking about, I find myself bursting into a fit of laughter.

"But it hurts," I try to reason.

"Yep, you've said that before," she says with a few giggles accompanying her statement. I like seeing this side of Peggy. The happy, cheerful side. She should smile and laugh more often. It looks good on her. I do hope that it doesn't fade soon.

Peggy places my file down on the desk then walks over to me to help me out. She helps me sit up and I slowly put my clothes back on. As soon as that's done, I swing my arm around her neck as her arm swings around my waist to help me to my feet.

"Such a baby," I hear her playfully retort and I lightly bump into her, causing both of us to laugh at our silliness.

These moments are the moments worth living for. If things could continue like this, it would definitely make circumstances a whole lot less burdensome. Just as I absorb the playful energy surrounding us, the door shoots open and Frank leaps inside, hyperventilating profoundly.

"It's Steven!" he says with a paled expression.

To my surprise, Peggy's entire demeanor shifts...  and for the worse.