Waking up early has its own perks. You don’t have to fake the smile, hide the limp or fix your posture for other members of the family. Just drag yourself out, crawl to the bathroom, get ready for work and leave before anyone can see you. You are already too much in pain to fake it firther. First mission accomplished.
By the time you reach workplace, you somehow managed to pull that smile back to your face. However, people can sense it is a bad day than usual. You force laugh at jokes, take longer to climb stairs and pop painkillers occasionally. Even your makeup can’t hide it. And yes, few concerned faces pop from time to time asking if you are ok or did you catch flue? You polity tell them you are fine. Work hours finally are over. Grabbing your things you head back home to just fall into the bed.
When you reach home you realise a few tasks are waiting for you since you need to help with the household work as well. Silently you just do your bit and limp your way back to your room, not bothering to conceal it anymore. You are too tired to even conceal. And then they ask… “what’s wrong? Why are you limping? Oh! I didn’t know you weren’t feeling well.”
Who can blame them?