Chapter 7

Three days have passed since I confessed my feelings to Richard Clark, the curt man who is also the CEO of the company I work for.

I could barely even sleep, thinking about what answer he would tell me later. Unfortunately, he didn't send any messages to my phone number at all.

Or even take the initiative to call me. I've been waiting for this for three days. If only I had known his number, I would definitely call him by now.

"Hannah, those eye bags of yours… are they for real?"

Rebecca, one of my colleagues at work and also my best friend, looked at me with a worried face.

Her hands pointed at my eyes, asking me to look in the mirror and see for myself what I look like right now.

I then took the CC cushion that I always carried in my bag and checked it.

"Oh my goodness! My eyes, I almost look like a panda! How come I go to the office with this appearance!?"

"That's why I'm surprised you did not realize it earlier. Do you want me to accompany you to the bathroom?"

"Only if you don't mind."

"Sandra, we are going to the toilet now!" Rebecca exclaimed to my manager who only answered her with a nod of her head.

We then got up from our seats and immediately ran to one of the toilets, which were located a bit far from my department room, without forgetting the small bag containing my make-up equipment.

As soon as I arrived in the bathroom where there was absolutely no one in it, I began to tidy up my appearance that looked like a panda, covered it with a CC cushion and dark red lip tint which would soon run out.

Meanwhile, Rebecca helped me tidy up my messy hair like someone just woke up and tied it back with one of her spare hair ties, which she always tucked in her coat pocket.

"Phew. Finally it's done. Thanks for your help, Rebecca."

"You're welcome. Do you want to buy some Coca-Cola before we come back to our desks?"

"Yes. Can I treat you?" I offered before widening my eyes.

"Why? Could it be that Hanako is here? Hanako!"

I immediately covered her mouth before she invited everyone in the company with her loud screaming voice. "No. I just remembered that my monthly allowance was over for treating someone a few days ago."

"Seriously? Who was the person who managed to spend your monthly ration?" Rebecca asked, after she managed to get away from me. "What do you mean by that person..."

"Yeah. He's the person I am talking about."

She immediately jumped up and down for joy when she heard my answer earlier.

"So the reason why you told me to come straight home a few days ago is because you wanted to ask him out at a restaurant?"

"He was the one who asked me out to dinner, to be exact. And besides, it was just dinner. Not a date."

"Oh." she said, disappointed to hear my explanation earlier. "So, what's next?"

"How's it going?"

"Your impression of him."

I put the CC cushion and lip tint I used earlier into my make-up bag and walked out of the bathroom. "My impression of him? From my point of view, he is the gentle and considerate type."

"Gentle and considerate? Are you sure you do not say it wrong?"

"Nope. At least that was my impression when he took me out to dinner the other day. He even had a special table set up with candles and flowers for our dinner date when we got to the table he seemed to have ordered some time in advance."

"Aw.. it's really romantic. Even Gary was not like that. It's annoying."

Our steps stopped as soon as we arrived at a vending machine containing a row of sodas with different prices and variants.

I then pointed at the can of Sprites, while Anna remained where she was; Coca-Cola.

"You two are still together? I thought you already broke up with him."

Rebecca put some money into the machine and waited for our drinks to come out of one of the genius inventions I hold dear to this day. "Of course, I already broke up with that bastard. Now I'm trying to get close to Linda."

"You mean, Rosalinda Thatcher? That bartender we talked about last week?"

She nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah. Finally yesterday I managed to get her phone number. Turns out she is a really cool person. It's just, well..."

"Why?"

Rebecca glanced around her, before whispering to me. "I don't know if she is the vanilla type or likes us."

"Ah, I see. You'd better tell her as soon as possible. Instead of letting her find out about your bed preferences later and walking away from you."

"But what if she's the vanilla type?"

"That's why you try to ask her first. There might be a possibility that she is also the same as us." I said, opening my can of Sprite and taking a sip.

"You're right. I'll ask her later. Eh, on second thought, I will call her right away."

She asked me to hold onto his can of Coca-Cola and took her cell phone from her coat pocket.

Her fingers nimbly typed letter by letter on the keyboard on her cell phone screen and turned it into a short message before sending it via Telegram, a chat application that we only used two months ago when there were negative rumors about WhatsApp planning to use users' personal data for advertising purposes by its parent company.

[Linda. Can I ask something?]

We then walked towards our department room while waiting anxiously for the answer of the person Anna is currently liking. A few minutes later, a new message appeared from Linda.

[Of course. Ask what you want to ask me.]

Rebecca immediately replied to the message earlier and asked for my approval before sending the message.

[Are you… interested in a kinky relationship?]

It looked like we did not need to wait a few minutes before she sent the reply message to my colleague.

[Kinky huh? I'm more towards the switch anyway. Why? Do you want to try it?]

"See? It's good you asked her first, isn't it?"

"Yes, Hannah. You're right," said Rebecca, who immediately hugged me with teary eyes. "I should have just asked her from the start."

"Just reply to the message."

She nodded and replied to Linda's message.

[Yes, I want to try it. If so, I'll come to the bar tonight, okay?]

"Great. It means that soon you will..."

"Not necessarily. How come I will start doing it with her on our first date?"

"Why not? Besides, I feel that Linda is very charming. If you don't take her quickly, someone else will take her."

Rebecca was about to open her mouth in protest when the cell phone she was still holding in her hand rang loudly in the quiet office hallway.

She received the phone call in a flash, while I was waiting in silence until she hung up the call.

"Hello?"

She was silent for a few moments. Her expression looked really serious when listening to the person who was calling her at this time, until I felt worried about the content of their conversation.

"No problem. I'll send the address later. Then I'll hang up first okay? See you later."

Rebecca then hung up the phone and put it back in her coat pocket.

"Who called you earlier?"

"It's from Linda. She said today was a day off, so she wanted to pick me up later."

I pinched her cheek gently. "Finally something will happen soon to you and Linda, huh?"

"You too. If Richard had accepted your declaration of love a few days ago, you two would have been the most enviable couple in the office." he said, pinching my cheek.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know that there are a lot of men in our office who are attracted to you. As for Richard, there are a lot of attractive women who are interested in wanting to be in a relationship with him. If the two of you got together, just imagine what the effect would be."

"I believe you are just exaggerating that since I am pretty aware that I'm not that popular."

"You're the one who doesn't realize it. I always see a lot of men trying to approach you every time you come to the office. But they could not approach you since you are the type of person who is difficult to get close to."

"Can't believe it. Come in first." I said, taking the initiative to open my department door before letting her go inside first.

"Thank you. That is why you should try to look around you."

"That's too troublesome. Well, you should go back to your place."

"Tch. You are not fun at all, Hannah."

I just rolled my eyes before sitting on my chair and going back to struggling with a pile of my unfinished schedule of activities, even though I only had two hours before the end of office hours.