Crossing lines -An Office Passion Story

Part I

'The deadline is tomorrow morning, are you done with those papers yet? ' Kat said to her best friend and co-worker, Ema, pulling her apple pen out of her bun to scribble something on her I-pad' s project.

She was working as an Operations Supervisor and Ema is an architect in a multi millionaire architecture enterprise in the heart of New York.

The company recently closed a contract of housing development in Cold Springs and it was not an easy job to fit all the architect's ideas into a small town.

It took Kathia's nine weeks just to finish the zoning regulations, you have no idea how many doors she had to knock for that and how many people that worked under her for this huge project had to stress call.

'So tomorrow's meeting will be with the new CEO, mister Till's nephew. I heard he was doing a really good job in dealing with the branch in Germany, wonder what he looks like, I'm sure it's just another old, boring man. ' said Ema stretching her long legs on the sofa, uncovering her underwear from under her oversized t-shirt.

Kathia pinched the bridge of her nose in an annoyance.

'Ema! The windows are not covered. ' she said oggling her friend in disbelief.

The company she worked for offered accommodation to employees that are not from New York to avoid commuting and as she was from Ohio, she made this one bedroom mezzanine her home, she had everything she needed there.

The building was redesigned from an old factory to a forty apartment complex. They had a ground floor gym and sauna, a cafeteria, even a 24 h convenience store, all in the same building.

The apartment was designed to the smallest of details but with plenty of space for the occupant to add his own touch.

Upon entering the duplex you were faced with two large sets of windows covering both levels, offering natural light and spacious atmosphere to the open-concept design, consisting of interconnected living area, kitchen, and dining area, leaving exposed just one door which leads to a small guests bathroom.

The high walls were painted in a cement gray with exposed beams and well placed lightning fixtures in key areas of the space.

The furniture brought a pop of accent colors from the deep green velvet sofa in the living room, to the shinny red breakfast bar stools in the kitchen.

The kitchen had stainless steel appliances and beautifully midnight starburst quartz countertops, all this lightened by pendant lights over the kitchen island.

The bedroom was in mezzanine- style which could be reached with a centered staircase. The space up the stairs was open as well, offering a nice view over the living room area, edged by a steel and glass balustrade.

A queen size bed was placed in the middle of the room with two night stands on each side of it. On the left side of the room was a space saving, walk- in closet which leads to an en- suite contemporary bathroom with modern fixtures, a vanity, and a stand alone bath tub.

'Then pull the damn covers, woman! ' Ema said holding the remote control for the automatic window covers.

A crushing noise came from the hallway making the girls jump in fright. Ema eyed Kathia with her deep brown eyes looking all lost.

'What the fuck was that?' she said in a whisper grabbing Kathia's arms in her little process of a panic attack.

'Calm down, I'm going to check it out. The building has its own security and cameras everywhere, I'm sure it's nothing dangerous. '

She slowly walked towards the door and the thumping noise seemed to distance itself. She peeked her little head through the door opening seeing just a shadow going up the stairs to the last level of the building.