matchmaking for experts || h.s au

four

Harry rubs his lips to hide a grin as Maia brings his green juice up to her mouth and takes a generous sip of the drink he made earlier this morning before he left for work. He knows she's going to hate it so when she scrunches her nose in disgust, laughter threatens to escape his throat.

He covers his mouth to keep from laughing but when she starts making weird noises with her mouth and sticking her tongue out, he can't help it. He lets out a laugh and shakes his head at her as he picks up his bottle, unscrews the cap and offers her his water.

"That's disgusting," Maia says. She accepts the water from him (their fingers touch briefly and Harry ignores the tingling sensation that spreads from his fingertips all the way to his spine) and he watches in amusement as she drinks it, trying to get rid of the taste of kale and celery from both her tongue and throat. "You didn't tell me you put celery in it."

"You didn't ask. And also, no one asked you to drink it."

She levels him with a look, one that tells him that she's not amused by his smart mouth, and he would've apologised to her if there wasn't a hint of a smile on the edges of her mouth. That alone tells him that she's not really annoyed at him even though she then rolls her eyes and asks, "How could you drink this thing?"

Harry shrugs. "I like it."

It's not the best tasting juice, he's willing to admit that, but it's good for his body. It's healthy and gives him energy, and knowing that is enough for him to ignore the taste.

"You healthy little shit," Maia mutters under her breath as she eyes his drink one last time and then shivers as though the mere sight of it could bring back the disgusting taste in her throat. "I think I prefer your green smoothies. It's disgusting but not as disgusting."

"I'll keep that in mind," Harry notes as he picks up his juice and drinks it. He used to drink this green juice every morning or at least every other morning, but these days he often goes for coffee instead even though he's never really considered himself a coffee drinker.

Maia regards him with one last smile before she turns around and returns to her seat. She pulls her chair closer to her desk and moves the cursor of her laptop around to bring the screen back to life.

It's quiet in here since there are just the two of them in the office at the moment.

Laura and Grace are upstairs in the brainstorming room with their director of matchmaking, Jennifer, to discuss their new well-heeled client who insists on finding someone with a matching set of credentials as he is and he won't settle for anything less or more. He's also very specific about the kind of girls he usually dates and would date, and whilst it's good that he knows what he wants, it can get limiting. But if anyone in Matchcierge could do it, could find that prolific guy a date, it would be Jennifer, Laura and Grace.

Meanwhile, Chelsea has been in Joanna's office room since their founder arrived about an hour ago. Joanna is working on her book that's set to be released early next year and since Chelsea is the only one in this office who has a degree in creative writing, Joanna has requested for her help.

Late last year Joanna was approached by a publishing company (and a few magazine companies) as people have started to catch wind of the success of Matchcierge and the glowing reviews this agency has been receiving from their clients. As it turns out, quite a large number of people wanted to know the origin of her story — how she ended up starting Matchcierge, and how she manages to earn the title as London's best matchmaker.

So she's offered a publication deal and with no experience writing a book whatsoever, Chelsea has been helping her with it. She's more than happy to do it.