"Hello?" Pt. 1

Jasmine

I threw down my briefcase on the desk and made my way to the bathroom, where I had several sets of clothes hanging behind the door. Closing the door on Jasmine, I set about changing from my original suit and throwing on another. However, as I turned, I saw that I had no clean suit, only a pair of dark blue jeans and a white t-shirt. It was the outfit I'd change into at the end of a Saturday just as I was running out of the office and going to watch Nola's football game. Groaning, I peel off my soiled shirt and pull on my t-shirt. Five minutes later, with clean clothes on, I unlock the bathroom door and return to the office space, only to see Jasmine and Evelyn sitting together, gossiping.

"He's always been clueless," I hear Evelyn say to Jasmine. "Honestly, he's intelligent but he has zero common sense."

"That I'd believe," Jasmine nodded emphatically. When she saw that I had returned, she turned her nose up at me and ignored my presence. "What can you tell me about his brother?"

"Samuel?" Evelyn frowned. As much as Evelyn had heard me speak ill of my brother, she still protected him and was wary of women who would sniff around him. "I would tell you to be very careful around Samuel."

"Because he'll break my heart?" Jasmine asked. She gave a small laugh. "I can take care of myself."

Evelyn stood, smoothing out her pencil skirt and readjusting the silver watch on her wrist. "It's not that," she said, her voice harsh as she spoke. "There's a reason Samuel is an arsehole and he's put up walls around him. I'm not worried about you getting hurt, I worry about him getting hurt. If that every happens, I'll hunt down the woman and let her know exactly why you don't mess with anyone from my family." Evelyn beams at Jasmine, but it's more threatening than it is polite. "It was pleasant meeting you. Daniel," she looks to me. "I'm just outside the door if you need me. For anything."

I nod. Evelyn closed the door quietly after her, leaving Jasmine and I alone together. I worked silently on the computer for the next hour, researching my notes and revising the contracts that I had drawn up for a client. Thankfully, Jasmine kept silent during this time. The only noise that came over from the sofa was the pinging of Jasmine's phone as messages were received. I'd look up whenever the noise was heard, the inevitable feeling of annoyance rise inside me, but I never asked Jasmine to turn the sound off.

She was constantly working. For minutes after the phone rang, she would fire out a reply and make notes. Once, she left the office to make a call, only to return fifteen minutes later looking thoroughly put out by something. Add to this the fact that she was also working on finalising details for her and Sophie's fundraiser idea, it seemed as if Jasmine's day was only going to get busier. It was almost eleven in the morning now, in London, which meant that her working day in New York City had barely started. I could only imagine how her phone would blow up in a couple of hours.

"If you'd like, you can use the conference room across the hall," I say, looking up at Jasmine. She wears a frown as she reads something on her mobile phone, her lips twitching in anger. She sighs and drops the phone on top of a stack of papers, her eyes lifting to mine. I squirm under her hardened gaze. "I mean, if I'm annoying you or if you need a bigger desk, the conference room might be better. I'll organise a laptop for you too, so if you need to catch up with work in New York, you can do so from there."

She stares at me for a long second, probably wondering why I was being so nice to her. Ever since she arrived in London she had done everything in her power to piss me off, which she'd done a stellar job of, but at the end of the day, I was too nice to hold a grudge against her. Even if she lied to me and made me think she could only drink water and eat air. 

"Actually," Jasmine says slowly, almost like speaking half-decently to me is painful. She slouched, somewhat, in defeat. "A desk and internet access would be great. Plus, the conference room would be an ideal place to have our meeting later."