Kholo paused for a moment, trying to decide whether to tell the truth. Her eyes flashed from memory to memory. "Just, uh..." She broke off. What was there to lose? "It cut a little close to home," Kholo said reluctantly, finally staring into Conrad's eyes. Hoping that he wouldn't read the emotions flowing through her mind, she blinked quickly to drown the tears forming. She took a deep breath. He wouldn't judge her. Would he?

Then everything slowly came out. "Well..." She bit her lip. "When I was a kid, my brother." Her voice became slightly strangled with pain. She began again. "My brother fell of a horse. The horse trampled his legs...." She trailed off.

When Conrad's eyes met Kholo's, he noticed for the first time that behind her brave front, there was a lot of pain. He hadn't noticed before, perhaps because of his own hesitance to make eye contact with others. That was probably Keenan's fault, he always claimed aggressive eye contact, "established dominance." When she began speaking, it only furthered his assumption, that perhaps there was more to his boss than met the eye, more to her story than happiness and cheer.

"Oh, Kholo, I'm so sorry, again, I uh," he scratched the back of his head awkwardly once more, "I don't know what to say. I mean, we've had some accidents, but nothing like that. Are you, are you alright? Is there something I can do for you?"

Kholo pulled herself from her fantasies as Conrad spoke. "No, uh..." She realized just how rude she sounded. "I mean, I think I'm fine," she said, forcing a wan smile. She glanced into at Conrad, hoping that he wouldn't see past her facade. He didn't seem like the guy who would go looking for someone to counsel. Hopefully she was safe. Standing up, she looked around the office walls, properly smiling as she saw a couple of pics of her and Glory. At their first competitive show. Her kissing his nose. Glory nuzzling her neck while her younger self flung her arms around him.

"Sorry about that," she said apologetically, awkward with Conrad's sympathy. "Anyway, I have horses to take care of. Catch up later?" Kholo tried to sound lighthearted, failing miserably.

Just for fun :D

Emily | Eventing | Open

Several months came and went, and before long Christmas was hastily approaching. Since Emily's life-altering emergency operation, she'd been depressed, her OCD off-the-charts. She'd been through a difficult time. When it'd seemed she was at her worst, Tim had left the hospital, going to an unknown place and abandoning her when she needed it most once again. At first she'd tried to fight her way back, fight her way to learn to walk, picked herself back up every single time she fell, every time she tried. Then, when all hope was gone that he'd return, she'd basically given up. Wyatt became her only support system, her only hope that a metaphorical tomorrow would be better than the day at hand. She spent more time sleeping and missing meals than she did interacting with anyone. Christmas was especially hard for Emily, for not only was it her mother's birthday, but her favorite holiday. In fact, the only memories she had of her mother were of this holiday. Even with her supportive and now official and rather serious boyfriend, it seemed Emily couldn't handle the weight of all of the burdens cast upon her--she hadn't even really had time to grieve all of her losses.