So Stupid

"Miss Anna, on behalf of everyone involved, I cannot apologize enough," said Barov, seemingly regretful about how he, and others in the company, had treated her.

It was just Anna and Barov in the room now. Immediately after finding proof of Anna's innocence, Roland had left with his laptop, presumably to patch the breach in their security system. A while later, Barov came in, profusely apologizing on the company's behalf.

"It goes without saying that you'll be generously compensated for our poor treatment toward you and for your continued support." Continued support was code for her silence, even Anna, someone who'd only just finished her degree and left her internship, knew this much.

Anna lightly tipped her head toward him and said, "Then I'll have to thank you for taking care of me."

"Likewise," Barov replied. "Since I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, you're getting promoted, of course."

"Eh?" She'd thought that her 'generous compensation' would be a padded bonus this year, and maybe she'd have to deal with fewer of the office chores. She'd never expected a promotion, considering the fact she hadn't worked here for long.

As she thought of something, she couldn't help but ask, "Wait, my promotion won't be to a position where I'll be dealing with the upper echelons of the company, will it?"

Barov slid a piece of paper over to her.

"Roland personally asked for you to fill this position."

…

When Roland returned to his office…

'Ah, I'm so stupid, why didn't I just say something to her?'

Roland was practically smashing his head against the wall. With his hands covering his face, he went over everything he'd said or done while he'd been in the room with Anna; he couldn't live with himself if he'd made a mistake or done something to look stupid, not around her.

'Sigh… I got nervous, after all, that's the longest I've been in a room with her. I could feel her breathing against my hands as I typed, even though she was trying to be silent so as to not disturb me. Aw… she's so sweet!'

Roland knew he was acting like a kid who'd just held hands with a girl for the first time, but he couldn't help it.

"Well," Roland muttered to himself, "I should probably sure up our cyber defenses now. We can't afford for anything to go wrong with the software launch tomorrow."

With a wide grin on his face, Roland got to work.

"Really, this Nightingale truly is something to come up with a method like this…"

…

Nightingale was watching both rooms through the security cameras. Hearing Roland compliment her, she started blushing; she recorded that clip since such moments were few and far between and were to be treasured. But then she saw that young girl's figure on the other screen and furiously gnashed her teeth as her good mood dissipated, remembering who Roland was currently thinking of as he grinned.

"Why can't he be smitten like that with me?

"Why has he promoted her to be his 'personal finance officer'? What does a personal finance officer even do?

"Well, it doesn't matter. That b*tch will get her just desserts soon enough, and then Roland will be mine for the taking!"

Nightingale stared at the computer screens surrounding her, cackling manically.