In Bad Faith

Chapter 33

With a steady pace I made my way to the copy machine situated on this floor, while in my head I kept going over whatever the hell that just was. Why did Misha want me out of the office? Normally, if he had important meetings, he'd just close the glass door separating our offices. So what was the reason he wanted me completely gone now? And why did I feel sick at the thought of him and that woman together? I shouldn't let myself get distracted by these feelings. Maybe Ruby being here had something to do with the reason I was here in the first place, although that would be pretty unusual. Misha seemed to keep everything that had anything to do with the shadow side of his business mostly separated from his office, except for that note, but I did realize that I could soon discover otherwise since Floyd told me we'd be going over to phase two. I didn't act on that yet.

As soon as I arrived at the copy machine, I saw an improvised note attached to it telling me it was out of order. Really? Great. Now I also had to go look for another available machine. I just wanted this job done, so I could get back to the office as soon as possible. My best bet was probably going to the first floor, since I knew there was one in one of the hallways near the entrance. So without wasting any more time moping around about the fact that this particular machine was broken, I made my way to the elevator, and then to the large hallway on the first floor. And it turned out to be a lot busier than it was when I just arrived here. Probably since a lot of people were arriving at work at this time.

".. number," I suddenly heard a voice sneaking up to me say, but since the chit-chat surrounding me dominated all other sounds, I didn't quite understand. I stopped to turn around to see who it was sneaking up on me, and wasting more of my time, after which I immediately saw Ralph catching up with me, smiling at me nervously and seemingly waiting for an answer. "I'm sorry, what?" I asked him a tiny bit confused but mirroring his smile, after which I saw him take a deep breath, as if he had to gather the courage to repeat his words.

"I can't text you a date and time when I don't have your number," he then said. Oh, fuck. I completely forgot about this little thing I got myself into with Ralph, just to get back at Misha. "Oh, right," I said, at least trying to sound enthusiastic, as we stood still together in the middle of the busy hallway. And while I was getting my phone out of my purse with my free hand, I was thinking about excuses to not go on this date anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, I liked Ralph, but it didn't feel good leading him on like this. Because even if he was my type, I was still undercover. This thing would never work out anyway.

"What's your number?" I asked him after I opened the page to add a new contact, after which he started telling me his number from the top of his head. I saved it, and immediately sent him a message so he'd also have mine. "Done," I smiled at him, while I put my phone back into my purse. This phone was for everything Nadya Fisher only, so aside from the occasional work-related calls and texts, there wasn't much else going on in it.

"Thanks," he smiled at me, while he also took his phone out of his pocket for a brief moment to check my incoming message that contained nothing but a smiling emoji. "So, now that we're here anyway, when are you free?" he followed, as he looked back up at me. This guy was determined, and still visibly nervous. And as I was thinking about what to say right now, I suddenly remembered. Berlin. Perfect excuse. And yes, I knew the best thing I could do was be honest, and I usually was, but Ralph was trying so hard, plus I kinda got myself into this situation in the first place.

"Well, I'm pretty busy this week, and Zaveri actually just informed me that I'm going on a business trip to Berlin next week, so when I get back I'll let you know," I told him. And I probably was actually going to. Maybe one dinner date wouldn't hurt. I could always tell him afterward that I did not feel anything other than a friendship blossoming, and then that would be it. I did not want to deliberately hurt this guy just because Misha had been messing with my head.

"Berlin? Wow, you're lucky," Ralph smiled genuinely, but I could also tell that he was slightly disappointed with my answer. And I got it. I wasn't exactly putting any effort into planning our 'date', I even almost forgot about it, while he was trying his best. "Am I?" I smiled at him, while still holding the stack of documents under my left arm. "Yes, Berlin is great. I've been there on holiday a few years ago. Lots of great food, and bars," he answered, smirking. "Really? Good to know. Maybe I'll sneak in a pub crawl in my free time," I winked at him, after which he chuckled.

"Hey, I really gotta go make these copies. Boss needs them," I told him as I gave a small nod to the documents I was holding. As if I was really in a hurry, and if Misha didn't just deliberately send me away to have his spontaneous meeting in private. The truth was that I couldn't get back to the office fast enough, since this whole situation with Ruby felt off.

"Oh, no, sure. Go ahead," Ralph smiled at me. "I'll, eh, I'll text you," he followed, pointing at the phone he was still holding. Oh god. I didn't even think about him being able to text me whenever he wanted now. This thing with Misha just now caught me off guard, while I really should be focused. "See you, Ralph," I smiled at him, after which I continued to make my way to the copy machine. Why did Nadya have to keep getting herself into stuff like this?

_

With the documents and their copies under my arm again, I made my way out of the elevator when it arrived at the executive floor. I'd been gone for about twenty-five minutes, and I did not care if that was enough or not. This was also still my office, and I had more than enough work to do. If they wanted a private get-together, they should have it somewhere I didn't have to be. I was annoyed, and I couldn't quite tell why I took it this personally. There was no reason to let it get to me like this.

I opened the door to the office after having the decency to knock twice, and when I walked in my eyes fell on Misha and Ruby sitting at his desk together, looking like they'd just been talking but stopped since I came in. I hated how I felt a tiny sense of relief about the fact that I could obviously tell that there seemed to be nothing going on between them. I had a thousand reasons not to. But despite that, the way they were both still looking at me and not resuming their conversation did tell me that there was at least something going on I wasn't supposed to know.

Ruby smiled at me as I started walking toward Misha's desk, and as I got there, I put the documents on the wooden surface of it. "If you don't mind, I've got some work to do," I casually told Misha while pointing at my own desk, trying to keep my underlying frustrations from giving themselves away in my voice. But instead of him, Ruby immediately shook her head while looking up at me. "That's totally fine. I was about to leave anyway," she said in a friendly tone. I briefly averted my gaze to Misha, who was just staring at me, after which I looked at Ruby again. "You don't need to leave, I can just close the sliding doors," I told her.

She shook her head again. "Well, we were done anyway, right?" she answered, as she looked at Misha again. "We are. We'll keep in contact," he nodded. I didn't believe it. It's not that both Ruby and Misha didn't sound convincing, but this was just weird. What was the relationship between these two? While I just stood there for a moment, Ruby stood up from her chair, after which she took her purse from Misha's desk. "You should still take me out shopping one time. I love your outfit. Again," she then smiled at me, as she eyed the dark blue, striped blazer dress I was wearing. And for a moment I was confused, but soon I remembered her saying that we should go shopping when she saw my dress at the staff party. Why did she have to be so nice, too.

"Have you guys met before?" Misha interfered before I could even answer, and when I directed my gaze at him, I saw him look from Ruby to me. "We actually have. Staff event, near the parking lot," Ruby smiled. "Ah," Misha nodded. And when he smiled back at her, I could see something shifting in his gaze. Was he thinking about how that night ended? About how I saved him from doing something incredibly stupid? Or was I just seeing things again? "Yup," I confirmed her words. "And we totally should," I followed, looking back at her in an attempt to not let this get the best of me. This was probably never going to happen anyway, so I decided to just go with it.

Ruby smiled at me again, after which she also smiled at Misha. "Well, see you both. Have a nice trip, by the way. I'm not jealous. At all," she smirked, after which Misha mirrored her grin and thanked her. Ruby then turned around to walk to the coat rack to take her dark gray trench coat. And after she put it back on and gave us one last friendly smile and a quick wave, she left the office, leaving me and Misha on our own once again.