2

The man seemed to be unaffected by the fact that I tried to make the elevator stop. Without further ado, I began to hit the steel doors with the palm of my hand, the one without the letters, while saying:

"We're here! Somebody help us, please!"

"It's only twenty to nine. I don't think there are many people here yet," he said calmly.

"I know! But I can't stay locked in an elevator... especially not with a man!" I shouted nervously.

That comment made the man turn his face towards me, but I kept banging on the steel doors and shouting. He was surprised, I could see it in his eyes as I stared at him through the lenses.

As the minutes passed, my nervousness grew more and more. I dropped with one hand on my chest because I was starting to feel palpitations, heart pounding and also heart rate acceleration.

"The last time I was locked in the elevator with a man... was when..." I thought, getting more nervous.

The tremors made an appearance, while my body began to sweat and the sensation of finding it harder to breathe normally gripped me.

"Hey, what's the matter with you?," the man asked.

He went to touch me, but I jerked away.

"Don't touch me!," I shouted, and he threw himself to the wall, where he hit me in the arm. "Ouch…"

"Let me help you," he said.

"No, I don't want! I don't want a man to touch me!" I shouted again.

The feeling of suffocation increased with every minute that passed in that place. I also had chest discomfort, nausea and abdominal discomfort. I noticed that my legs were beginning to lose their instability and the feeling of dizziness was slowly increasing.

I hugged myself as I noticed I was shivering. Feeling tingling in my legs, I fell to my knees on the floor of the elevator and as best I could, I leaned against the wall, while holding one hand to my chest.

"You'd better calm down," he advised me.

"I can't... I can't..." I said with difficulty.

"If you go on like this, you'll only make it worse."

He crouched down to my level and gave me a comforting smile. Little by little, he told me tricks so that I could calm down and not think I was locked in an elevator.

After that, the man reached out and pressed the button with a yellow bell on it for a few seconds and waited for someone to answer, but there was no response.

He pressed it several more times, to no response. He loosened his tie a little. He was also starting to get overwhelmed.

It was hot, very hot in that confined space.

He sat down next to me, bent his knees and rested his arms on his knees. He reached for something in the pocket inside his jacket and pulled out a cell phone.

He raised his arm to look for a signal but there was none. How could this happen to us?

He turned his head towards me and his gaze was puzzled at the sight of me, as I breathed with the help of a brown paper bag over my mouth and nose.

"You must think that soon we'll be out of here and when that happens, you'll get better. In the course of the day you will end up laughing," he commented, so that I wouldn't think about what was happening.

I nodded slowly.

I continued breathing until he found me calmer, leaning against the wall with the bag in one hand.

My hair fell down the sides of my face preventing him from seeing my face.

From time to time, the man looked at the clock to check how long they had been stuck in that place. Suddenly, when fifty minutes had passed since we had been locked in, the elevator began to move.

I looked up and the man I was with now looked relieved. Before the doors opened, he wiped my cheeks, smiling a little, and I pulled my hair back into a low ponytail, leaving several strands loose.

"Do you know when the General Manager of this company is coming?," he asked, while I was still on the floor.

"Normally at half past nine, but today he must come at nine"

As soon as the doors opened, I crawled, as fast as I could, out of the freight elevator. Once outside, I took a deep breath to calm myself, but at no time did I get up from the floor. The man was watching me silently and decided to get out before he got locked in again.

The people on the thirtieth floor were shocked to see him exit the elevator.

I turned toward the elevator but did not find the man. I turned my eyes forward and found him straddling in front of me as he offered me a hand.

I accepted and got up with his help.

At that moment I realized that this man was handsome. He was wearing a navy blue suit with a blue tie, a brown shirt and black shoes.

To the naked eye, his hair was silky, shiny and blond, with his hair slicked back. His eyes were a greenish hue. His cinnamon-colored skin was very striking.

Her legs were long, as were her arms.

The man stood next to me. He was quite tall, at least he would be about 6'2" and you could tell he was thin. He also had about a three day old unshaven beard that made him irresistible.

"Thank you for helping me," I told him, as I pulled my jacket on.

"It was my pleasure," he flashed me a small smile.

"Did that happen again?," I heard behind them. "But didn't they fix it the other day?"

We turned to see who it was, as we let go of each other's hands.

Turning around, we saw a dark-haired man with blue eyes. He had a mischievous smile. He was wearing a black suit that fit him like a glove along with a blue shirt and a tie the same color as the suit.

He was probably not more than thirty-five years old.

"Good morning, Mr. Davis," I greeted him with a small smile.

"Katia, what are you doing here?," asked the man who had just arrived, picking up the phone. "What happened to you?" He said worriedly.

"Let's just say we had a little problem with the elevator," answered the blond man.

"That elevator is giving more problems lately..." sighed Mr. Davis. "How many times have I told you to call me Joshua? You're my girlfriend's best friend"

"I'm sorry..." I replied with shrugged shoulders. "This man asked me about you"

Both men stared at each other in silence. Without further ado, Joshua closed his eyes and smiled. He approached me and after putting a hand on my shoulder, he advised me:

"Go to the bathroom, get some water and when you are calmer, go back to your work station. If anyone sees you, they'll think of things that didn't happen, right?"

"Nothing happened," I said seriously.

"I know, that's why I want you to go to the bathroom," he smiled at me.

I nodded silently and headed for the bathroom on the right side of the floor.