Silent Love

Chapter 1 - January

 Agila slept in a pile of paper in the office cafeteria. Her colleague, Sarah, walks over to the table before setting her tray down next to her friend with a thud of metal on metal.

"Fuck!" Agila woke up suddenly, her mind dizzy and confused, her big red brown eyes widened  at her friend, who sat up laughing. "Why?" she said with a grunt before realizing what just happened. "You're the worst you know?"

Agila's other friends, Lisa and John sat down at the table as she put the papers in front of her in her backpack.

"You look completely exhausted." John said.

"I think it's safe to say we all are." Lisa replied with a roll of her eyes.

"True, but Agila looks drained." John clarified.

"Thanks guys." Agila said, in a sarcastic tone. Blue Space, the company Agila worked for had been adding more and more work onto their coders plates. Four of them were Agila and the friends she was sitting with. "I don't know, these deadlines are getting harder and harder to meet and..."

Agila lost her words as she saw a woman enter the cafeteria. Tall, and elegant in her walk with her red hair in a ponytail. Agila watched her as she grabbed a salad, paid the cashier and sat down at the first empty table she sees. This woman looked like the strange, lonely type. Her expression was very serious, her face closed as she took a book out of her purse and read while eating. Agila felt a charisma in her, something strong, yet cold. There are few people in this society who do not make friends with their colleagues and she was probably one of them.

"Agila?" Agila snapped out of her daydream before looking at Lisa.

"Yes?" she said.

"Where did you go?" Lisa asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Um, actually, do you know that woman over there?" Agila said, pointing at the mysterious redheaded woman.

"Oh no not that bitch." John said with a sigh. Sarah punches him on the shoulder. "What? but it's true! Everyone calls her that around here."

"I don't really get it." Says Agila with her head tilted.

"I mean she has a job and does it well." Lisa replied.

"Yeah, at the expense of our health." Said John exasperated.

"Now can someone please explain to me clearly who she is?" Agila asked again.

"Okay, you do remember that for the past month, we've been getting more and more work, right? Well here's the reason why, her job is to optimize our productivity, bullshit yeah, her name is January Fischer." Lisa explained before Agila nodded.

"Januray mhm?" Agila repeated while staring at the redhead again. The way January was described would almost make her sound like a grumpy old boss. She seemed to be only slightly older than Agila, probably 28.

"Yeah, the projects weren't going fast enough for the top brass, so they brought her in. She's like a logistician of some sorts." John says with a shrug.

"And she can code? Program?" Agila asked curiously.

"No." Lisa replied, "She has a reputation for being a brilliant woman, in her previous jobs she was into code breaking, stuff like that."

"What, like some kind of secret agent?" Agila asked dubious.

"Sort of, yes." Said John.

Agila took all the information in. In hindsight it was something she should have known, but her head had been so in her screen and papers lately it was hard to think of anything else. "Right, and did any of you tell her about these deadlines problems?"

No one answered.

"Are you guys serious?" Agila faced shrugs from her friends and comments that January was creepy. Agila sighed and put her tray away before leaving the cafeteria with her friends, but not without looking at the redhead again. She looked so serious and calm.

Later Agila sat at her desk before putting on her headphones to listen to music as her fingers typed. She paused for a second, the distraction of an image passing before her eyes, January's face. She sighed and stood up. I guess my brain won't let me get away with this, she thought.

Agila looked for January's building and found it in building D. Blue Space had a large office campus. Like most tech companies, it was a nice place, with a cafeteria, a gym, and break rooms where you could relax and even play video games. Everything was done to make the employees feel comfortable, obviously with the aim of making them more productive. There were no illusions.

After only five minutes of walking, Agila entered building D. She had never been there before, despite the fact that she had been working here for years. She took the elevator to the third floor before finding the office and knocked. There was no answer.

Then Agila turned the knob, it was open.

Slowly Agila peered in and saw January inside, typing at her laptop. The office was very nice, especially compared to Agila's shared office. There was a sofa and shelves full of books on the opposite wall. They led to a very large desk and behind that large windows that seemed to have a beautiful view behind them however the blinds were drawn and shut. "Ms. Fischer? Agila asked.

January looked away from her screen to watch Agila for a brief moment before continuing to type on her keyboard. "Mhm?" Was all she let out.

Agila walked into the office. She wasn't sure if she was welcome since January showed no signs of emotion. Her face calm and solemn, her eyes moved along the screen methodically. "Um, I'm Agila Ocampo. I'm a programmer here. I'm on the Iris project." Agila paused for the other woman to say something. January simply kept typing at whatever she was typing at, not even looking up. Agila continued, "Well, to get to the point January-" Agila stopped once more, expecting the woman not to like it that she called her by a first name. It didn't seem to phase her. "Basically, ever since you've been assigning work deadlines, and you've been doing a great job, it's just, a little bit, sort of...too much for us."

The redhead stopped typing on her keyboard. She looked at Agila for several seconds before looking down. "Okay." She said in a small, barely audible voice.

Agila's eyes widened and she smiled nervously. "Okay?"

January's eyebrows rose as if to say. "Yes, why are you still here?"

Agila nodded. "Thanks." She backed out of the room and shut the door, walking back to her desk. Well, it was easier than it looked, she thought and joined her colleagues with a smile on her face.