You make me cry. Then you make me laugh.

Steven opened his office door for Julie and allowed her inside. He closed the door when he entered after her. "So, what do you need to talk about?" Steven said in a cold, bossy tone as he took his seat behind his desk. "Uh?" Julie replied absentmindedly.

She got occupied with various thoughts like, 'Is he angry?" "Do I need to make things worse?" "Will he accept my condition?" "Or will he stop being friends with me completely?" "I don't want him to stop being friends with me!" All these considerations were spinning in her head, making her second-guess her decision.

"You do remember what you wanted to tell me, right? Because I don't have all day. As you can see, I am a busy man." Steven continued with his statement. After his remark, Julie recognized that she had made things worse from the beginning, and it could not get anymore hurtful. "I think it is best to pretend that we don't know each other when we are at the company. I don't want the other workers to assume that you know?" Julie did not complete her statement out of shyness. Steven tapped his hands on his desk out of anger.

"What? Before they imagined we were lovers. Hahaha. You must be kidding me. Who do you think you are? Do you think the world revolves around you? Nobody cares about stuff like that. You know why? Because they all know that I don't take an interest in women like you. Now don't bother because nobody will think that way, and anyone who does is stupid because you are not my type. Ha! We are lovers, puff!" Steven said with a mean-spirited tone.

Julie felt like crying, but she kept it together. "I am sorry, sir. Now that I know what you believe, I will take my leave." Julie replied, turned away, and started walking fast. When she was out of the office, Julie ran toward the bathroom. She could feel tears on her face. Julie kept her head bent so nobody could see her teary eyes. Kate saw Julie walking hurriedly and called out to her, "Julie!" But she did not stop, and Kate figured that she wanted to be left alone.

Steven stared at the papers on the desk and pushed them to the ground in rage. He removed his coat from on him and flung it at the door. Steven still did not feel calm. He grabbed his pen holder and threw it on the wall, sending all the pens flying around the room. His tie felt like it was suffocating his neck, so Steven took it off.

"Knock!" He heard a tap on his door. "Come in!!" Steven screamed and sat on his desk. Kate entered, saw the mess, and did not dare ask, "What happened here?" Instead, she reported, "Sir, there's a lady in the waiting room requesting an audience with you though she doesn't have an appointment." Steven rubbed his face with his hand and rested his fingers on his mouth. He stared at Kate as he wondered what to say to get her to go elsewhere and leave him in his depression.

"Allow her in and don't come back here again." He stated indignantly. "Yes, Sir!" Kate answered, speeding out of Steven's office as though her life depended on it. Steven took a deep breath and started cleaning up his office. He wore his tie and coat. When the last paper was on his desk with the pens in their holder, Steven's door opened for the third time since this morning.

He whirled his head and glanced at Chloe. "No, no, no." His brain screamed. Steven did not feel prepared for another dramatic episode. 'Hey, Chloe." He said as he took his seat. Chloe approached an emptied chair and sat down. "Good morning, Steve." She replied. Steven relaxed, but his entire mind was yelling, "Not now, please! I can't survive either of you today. I feel drained!"

Julie entered the bathroom and shut the door. She sat on the toilet and sobbed. Reality sunk in, and she realized that this moment was her reliving her high school nightmare. Julie never wanted to feel like her past self again. So she stood up, dried her eyes, touched up her makeup, and left the bathroom with high self-esteem. She met Kate in the lobby. "I am sorry about earlier. I had dust in my eyes and needed to rinse it out in the lavatory." Julie said. She had lied, but they were not close enough to talk about the truth.

"No problem. I will forgive you if you keep a seat next to you in the cafeteria tomorrow." Kate said. She knew Julie was lying, but she understood that she had to give their friendship time to reach that stage to tell each other their secrets. "Sure thing!" Julie said and walked toward her office. When she entered, there was an enormous gift basket with a card attached sitting on her table. Julie opened the paper, and it read, "Wish you smiles and cheers on your initial day on the job, Jun. Signed, Steven." She giggled and unwrapped the wrapped bow from the gift basket.

Julie took a brown box with a white polka dot on it out of the basket. She opened it, and her eyes lit up. A mix of nine different sweets, including something for every taste bud. From jelly beans to shortbread bites to several chocolate-covered treats were in the box. Next, she got out a bow rainbow wrapped set of bath and body items. They were all vanilla orchid scented and intended for relaxation.

Six cupcakes fashioned into a ball shape with a pair of hearts were inside a florid box when Julie opened it. An immense glass lidded jar filled with a rainbow of thirty-two foil-wrapped chocolate covered cookies got pulled out next. A crystal box with shower gel, bubble bath, body scrub, bath salt, six-bath bombs, a rose-shaped bath pouf, and a cosmetics bag in it followed the jar. Lastly, a pink stuffed panda toy with a white heart on the chest got grabbed and pulled out by Julie.

She stared at the toy, and writing on it was, "Hug me when you are sad." Julie pulled the panda to her chest and embraced it. She smiled, then laughed. Her spirit felt lifted. "I can't believe Steven carried this huge basket into my office this morning. No wonder he was so mad at me for what I said." Julie told herself. Then her eyes caught sight of an exquisite flower pot in the corner behind her desk. Julie approached and squatted beside it.

"These are real flowers, not artificial ones, and it took me a while to collect them. So please remember to water and take wonderful care of them." Was writing on a piece of paper Julie found stuck on the pot. Then she gazed at the rose, peonies, sunflowers, tulips, carnation, Orchid, and recognized that these flowers' meanings were referring to love.

Julie smelled the rose and decided that today was the day for her to stop being afraid. She will tell Steven how she feels about him since he made the first move. No matter what happened, what Steven had said in the past, and what she had done in those events, Julie felt determined to confess her love to him.