I got the job

Woah! That's fast! CONGRATULATIONS!

BreadPitt: Thanks!

When do you start?

In two weeks. And here is the thing. I will need to work in a branch in another state during my first month of probation

Oh? Is that a good thing?

I believe so. At least I will be able to see you

Huh? You're moving here?

Not exactly. Just a couple of hours drive from where you live 😁

Oh

Oh? 'Happy oh' or 'shit' oh?

I was just surprised! Wow.

I see 😁 We can start planning to meet up then. As friends.

As friends.

No expectations

No expectations.

I should be free on weekends.

That's handy.

You should show me around

Sure. I can do that :)

Gotta run now or I'll miss my train! Ttyl!

Cobie mindlessly stirs the spoon in her coffee mug. She's not sure how long she's been standing at the pantry alone while watching people leave the office for lunch. Her mom prepared her food again this morning, leaving her no choice but to stay in during lunchtime. Well, she has options, but she prefers to eat what her mom made for her. It might be the last few lunches from her since Cobie has started calling around and secured appointments with a few residential cares.

Staring blankly at her mug, her mind bounces back to the convo she had with BreadPitt this morning. They're going to meet up. Shouldn't she feel excited about it? Isn't it the idea of talking to someone online on a dating site? To meet up in real life and see what happens next? Well, BreadPitt is only staying for a month. Nothing is going to happen. And they agreed it was going to be platonic, didn't they? Just as friends.

It's just BreadPitt for god sake. The boy she's talking to almost every day. The boy she shares her casual daily rant with, including her silly crush on Luke.

"Are you going to stir your coffee for another ten minutes?"

Thinking of the devil, the devil shall appear. She has no idea how long Luke has been standing by the pantry door and watching her.

Cobie stops stirring. "Umm, no."

"Good. When you're done, come to my office." With that, Luke pivots on his heels and strides to his room, leaving the perplexed Cobie.

With questions in her head, she quickly arranges the sugar container and the coffee creamer back into the pantry shelves, rinses the spoon, and puts it on the drying rack. Why does Luke summon her to his office at lunchtime? Is it about another extra work? Are they going to need to have another business trip? Or is it about something unrelated to work? Between her uncertainty and curiosity, she makes her way to her boss's room with her coffee in hand. To her surprise, Dara, the new kid on the team, is already sitting in front of Luke's managerial desk.

"Couldn't we wait until the lunch hour is over for a new project assignment?" Cobie asks as she closes the door behind her, noticing the shades on Luke's office are all pulled down, concealing them from the curious eyes of those who are staying in during break time.

"I'm not assigning anything at the moment," Luke replies, his eyes following Cobie's movement. "Have a seat."

"Okay." Cobie obediently takes the spot next to Dara. "What is it about then?"

"I believe Dara has something to say to you," Luke says after looking back and forth between her and her colleague. He then leans back to his chair, resting his hands on the armrests.

When Cobie turns her head to the girl next to her, Dara shifts uncomfortably on her chair. "I, uh, yes." Fumbling with her fingers, she glances at Cobie. "I did the thing. I mean, the screenshot of your email came from my account. But I swear it wasn't intentional."

It takes Cobie a few seconds to process Dara's confession before her eyes begin to narrow at the girl. "You? Why? And not intentional? How? You took the screenshot and spread it to the rest of our colleagues. Do you call all those moves accidents?"

"I didn't take the screenshot!" Panic washes Dara's face. "The girls from the Finance division did."

"What? Wait, wait," Cobie interjects, shaking her head as if she's trying to shake away her confusion. "You showed it to them?"

"As I said, it wasn't intentional. They were on my desk that morning, gossiping while having our breakfast, like usual. It was when I opened your email and I shrieked. And they saw it and things were out of control from that point. I'm so sorry, Cobie."

Cobie presses her lips into a thin line, her heart starts to pick up the pace as fury boils inside her. "And you let them take the screenshot before checking it with me first? Unbelievable."

"I'm...I was just..." Dara's voice shakes, so close to crying. "They were just so nice to me from day one, and no one else really talked to me in this office since I joined in. I just didn't know how to stop them."

"Easy. Just say no to them," Cobie replies, shoving her guilty feeling for never trying to be friendly with the new girl on her team.

"I would if I knew they were going to do this to you. But they said they were just going to pull your leg as friends. That it's what you guys do from time to time. I swear I had no idea they were going to use it to prank you. I'm so sorry." A tear falls down Dara's cheek, but she quickly wipes it with her hand. "I feel so stupid for believing them."

Cobie lets out a heavy sigh, not knowing what to say. Despite the rage and the urge to scream her lungs out in her colleague's face, seeing how remorseful and frightened she is now, Cobie holds herself back. Those two bitches from the Finance division have always been troublemakers since they love to snoop on other people's business. Ironically, Cobie has to admit that their existence spices up the dull office work demand, especially when they bring in new gossip about Luke. The thing is, she's standing on the wrong side at the moment.

"You shouldn't trust those two girls. They are nothing but trouble," Cobie says. "I know that working life is still new for you. But I'm going to say this, if your mentor, Sam, hasn't told you about the unwritten rule yet. Do not trust anyone. Your colleagues might show their sweet sides when they have no issues with you, but once a problem arises, they might use anything to take you down."

"Okay." Dara nods, not daring to look her in the eye. "I understand now. And I understand if I get fired after this."

"Woah," Luke chips in. "No one is talking about anyone getting fired here. You came to me to confess, and that was very brave of you. And I appreciate that. I know I will need to bring this to the Personnel division, and see what they're going to do. But I assure you no one is getting kicked out. It's probably going to be a little warning and some serious talk."

"You came to Luke to confess?" Cobie's eyes widen in disbelief, glaring at Dara. "Why not come to me first?" When the girl opens her mouth but then closes it again, Cobie urges, "Dara?"

"I-I was afraid of you, okay?" she replies, half stammering.

"You were what? I'm not that scary! Look at Luke, he's way more intimidating than I am."

"Um, actually...Mr. Williams is not intimidating." When Cobie is about to object, Dara adds with noticeably dreamy eyes, "He's...very supporting and calm."

Cobie grits her teeth. "Are you saying I'm not calm? Am I explosive?"

"That's not what she said," Luke says, a repressed smile curling in the corners of his lips. "Although I wouldn't argue with that."

Cobie frowns deeper. "I can't believe you guys are ganging up against me for this."

"We're not. Come on, Evans, you know I'm just joking to lighten up your mood," Luke replies. "Bottom line, we know now who did this and how it happened. I will take care of the rest. I just want to stress that this incident shouldn't affect your team's productivity. Dara has learned her lesson, and she understands that another mistake in leaking unnecessary internal information will not go unpunished next time. Especially when it potentially leads to bullying."

"I really am sorry, sir. It won't happen again," mumbles Dara.

"For the third time, you can just call me Luke, Dara."

"Can I have a serious talk with those two girls?" Cobie asks.

"And create another drama? I don't think it's a good idea. Let the Head of Personnel handle this. I'm sure she won't go easy on them." The man leans forward, resting his hands on his desk as he interlocks his fingers. "Any questions?"

When Cobie and Dara shake their heads in unison, Luke smiles brightly. "Very well. The case is solved for now. And ladies, you two are dismissed."

Dara is the first to jump out of her seat and dashes to the door while Cobie stays rooted in her seat, still bewildered by the discussion they had just now. She still can't believe Dara has something to do with it. And she didn't even have the guts to come to her in the first place just because she's scared of her?

The sound of the soft whump of the door closing pulls Cobie back to the current moment. Luke still sits on his throne, exactly in the same position and eyes fixed on her. She gulps and looks down.

"I...should get back too," she stammers before propping herself up and heading to the door.

"Don't you forget something?"

She stops short and turns around to find Luke glancing at her coffee mug. "Oh, yeah." She walks back to his desk and grabs her mug. It's when the talk with Lucy pops up in her head. "Before I forget, I want to say thank you."

Luke raises one eyebrow. "For catching the bad guy? I didn't. She came to me."

"No, not that." Cobie runs her forefinger along the brim of her mug. "I heard you brought the issue to the Personnel last week. As a result, it has been a quiet week for me. So, thank you, Luke."

"Ah, I see. I thought it was the least I could do to help you out."

"It did help." Cobie forces a smile as she glances at him.

"I'm glad." Luke pauses for a few seconds. "And Evans, while you're here, I want to apologize about that night. The way our talk ended bugged me for a while. I believe I pushed you too hard. I'm sorry about that." Before Cobie has a chance to answer, Luke gets up and plops down on his desk, next to where she's standing now.

Noticing their hazardous proximity, she holds her breath, yet she doesn't move an inch. What did he say again? Right, the balcony talk. "It's...okay."

"The things with you, your sister, and her boyfriend are cleared up now?"

"Yes, of course. It's all good now. They broke up actually, but it's for the best."

"I see."

Cobie knows Luke will not stop there. The glint of curiosity in his eyes says enough. With his scents attacking her nostrils and the rest of her inner balance, it's not a good idea to stay here any longer, alone with him, behind closed shades. Because she will succumb to his tricky questions once again.

"I...um..." she trails off, not sure what she is going to say. She loses her train of thought. Not only does his aftershave mixed with manly scent cause her brain to bail on her, but the way his intense hazel eyes bore into her also dissipates the words on the tip of her tongue. Feeling the sudden dryness on her lips, Cobie instinctively sticks her tongue to wet them.

Luke's gaze travels down to her lips. "Yes?" His voice is dangerously deep.

"I'm...going to get back to my desk and start with my lunch," she says once she can find her voice again, wiggling her mug gently. "And drink my coffee, of course. Oops." The black liquid jumps out of her mug and lands on her fingers. Apparently, she shook it too hard.

"Okay."

"Thank you, again, for doing this." Still with her hazy brain, Cobie pivots on her heel and bolts to the door with trembling knees and thumping heartbeats against her chest.

Staring blankly at the panda-with-one-eye rice balls in her lunchbox, Cobie still can't get her mind off the scene in Luke's room. She still has goosebumps from thinking of how thick the tension between them was after Dara left. How her brain became completely useless around him was just alarming. Luke is too dangerous when she lets him come too close.

What can she say? This is what she gets from breaking one of the rules. She needs a constant reminder that Luke is the forbidden one. She can't fall for him. Hasn't she learned enough about it? Even Rose is now suffering for the same reason. Getting involved with a popular guy comes with a price.

The chiming phone urges Cobie to fish her phone out of her bag, and Rose's grinning face is blinking on the screen. Her sister has a half-day of work on Fridays. She should be home, having lunch with Mom right now.

"Hey, Rose. What's up? Is Mom okay?"

"Why did you lie to me?" Her sister's voice is low and volatile.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Harry told me. You talked to him last Friday, on the phone."

"He what? Rose, I can explain–"

"I asked you if you'd talked to him, Cobie. Yet you lied to my face when I cried in your arms." Rose's voice shakes, containing her emotions"Oh my god. It's you, isn't it? You're the one who is seeing Harry behind my back!"

"What?"

"That's why you kept pushing me to keep moving on and get over him. And you have always been cynical about a long-distance relationship. Because you want me to break up with him! Because you want him for yourself!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"You're such a hypocrite. Such a liar! I still remember Beth saying how you and Harry used to be so close. Were you jealous of me, Cobie? Is that why you were never happy for me and Harry together?"

"What kind of absurd thought is that?"

Rose lets out a heavy breath, half wailing. "Everything makes sense now. How could you do this to me? God help me! I can't take this anymore. This is just too much!"

"You need to listen–"

"I'm going away for the weekend. Don't look for me."

"Rose! Please, calm–" Cobie is yet to finish her line but her sister has already hung up the phone.

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