Time can heal things but it can also ruin them!
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Briana was standing near the coffee machine, waiting for the latte to get ready, while tears flowed down from her eyes. She gently wiped them off, thankful no one was there to witness her breakdown. The fact that she was in love with Jake Cooper, despite his attitude towards her, made her loathe herself even more.
She sniffled and threw the tissue into the bin, before grabbing the cup and walking out of the room. Upon reaching his cabin, she gently knocked on the door and opened it. She peeked inside to ask his permission but to her surprise, he was not on his desk. She quietly stepped inside, her eyes wandering everywhere. She kept the coffee on the desk and was about to leave when the door to the washroom opened.
She turned around to look at Jake, who was wiping his hands with a tissue. He turned around only to come face to face with her. Briana gulped visibly when their gazes locked. Knowing what he had said to her, she grimaced inwardly.
"What?", Jake arched his left brow.
"You-your coffee..", she pointed to the hot steaming cup kept on his desk.
"Okay? Anything else?", he shrugged.
"No..no, Sir", she said and lowered her gaze.
"Then what are you waiting for? Christmas?", he gave her a lopsided grin.
"Uh you didn't ask me to leave..", she hesitated again, fidgeting with her fingers to calm her nerve-wrecked self.
"Isn't that understood?", he tilted his head.
She snapped her head to him and glowered, "Tried it in the morning but backfired!".
He raised his brows at her, impressed by her audacity. That was one of the many qualities he liked about her, being expressive and never afraid to call him out.
"You can forget about that", he said casually as if he had never snapped at her in the first place. That was Jake's way of apologizing. He never said sorry directly but made sure the other person understood he was.
He pulled the chair and sat on it before taking his first sip from the cup. He stared down at her, "Leave!"
And she rushed out of the room, again!
~~~
Jake had wrapped up the most of the meetings but the one with the lawyer had him caught up. The new hotel chain that he had planned to buy in New York was still under the suspicion of his rivals. He knew he had to act fast in order to get it at the best deal.
Just then, there was a knock on the door and Ricky, his employee entered with some files in his hands.
"Sir, these are the ones from the New York chain", he said as he stacked them up on the table in front of Jake.
"Good", Jake said and took the first file from the stack.
"Umm, Sir?", Ricky asked.
"Yes?", Jake replied without looking at him.
"Are you staying in the office? I mean, the office hours are over so why don't you take some rest", he chose his words carefully.
Jake looked at his watch and indeed the time was over. He looked back at his employee standing over his head, faking his concern of his boss.
"You know, I'm here because I don't follow time and you're there because you do", his lips twitched upwards, but in a mocking way.
"Sorry, Sir", Ricky lowered his gaze and left the office.
Briana was packing her things to leave when she saw a deflated Ricky exit Jake's cabin.
"Hey?", she called out to him. "All okay? Got busted?", she asked with concern.
"He's an ass and you know that!", Ricky folded his arms on his chest.
That earned him a chuckle from Briana because honestly, the whole staff knew that. Work one year with Jake Cooper and you know how cruel he is, and why won't he be? Orphaned at early age, he was left to fend for himself. He made himself capable of what he is today. Anyone would become cruel.
"Who doesn't? Nonetheless, what happened?", she asked.
"HE WILL LEAVE ONLY WHEN HIS WORK IS DONE!", Ricky huffed while Briana narrowed her eyes at him.
"HE-What?", she leaned in.
"Yeah! I'm leaving, anyways! Good night!", he waved and left.
Briana knew she couldn't let him be all alone in the office, no matter how stubborn of an ass he was. She sighed and slouched back into her seat.
After half an hour of scrolling through her phone, she got bored. She looked towards his office and the lights were still on. Briana got confused as to what was he up to and decided to check upon him.
She started walking in the direction of his cabin but stopped. She turned around and went to the coffee machine to brew some for him and herself. Entering his office without a reason was enough to get her kicked out.
She prepared two mugs and walked to his cabin. She knocked the door with her foot as her hands were busy. Without waiting for his reply, she entered. Jake's face was buried in the files. He looked up only to see who was up until so late and came face to face with his assistant, trying to manage two mugs in her hands.
"Yes?", he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Latte! Will help you concentrate better", she said and placed one mug in front of him.
He looked at the tempting steaming mug of latte, sniffling the aroma as it filled up his nostrils.
"But I didn't ask for any!", he squinted his eyes at her.
"I know but I guess I'm allowed to use my brain after office hours", it was more like a question but he understood.
Not that he wanted to, but appreciated her mentally. Looking back at the coffee mug, he brought it closer to his lips and took a sip from it.
Delicious!
"But what are you doing up so late?", he asked, fixing his gaze on her.
"Grabbing myself some coffee", she pursed her lips together when she realized how sassy that must have sounded. "I mean... you were staying so I stayed... in case you require anything", she fumbled.
He eyed her head to toe, not believing her one bit.
"You're not getting any overtime or promotion for this, if I must clear", he stated.
Briana was taken aback by the sudden statement. That was the least of her motives. Hell, she didn't even have those things in her mind.
"Ohh.. I-I never said that!", she was taken aback. "Never mind", she mumbled an apology and left his cabin. She strode to her seat and sat there deflated. She was disappointed in him. She's been working for him for 4 years and he doesn't even know her that much. Not everything is done out of expectations.
Some are just. Sweet gestures.
However, for Jake it was different. He was not used to sweet gestures. In 29 years of his life, he knew that everyone wanted something in return of their gestures. It was just that in this case, he didn't know that she just wanted to see him happy.
~~~
After 2 hours of strenuous work, he finally decided to head home. Jake had no drivers or anything so he didn't have to worry about calling anyone to drive him home. He closed the files, grabbed his blazer and walked out of his cabin.
He walked to the elevator, but stopped abruptly when he saw someone sitting on their seat with head rested on the desk. He walked up to the person, only to find Briana sleeping there peacefully.
He looked at her and a smile made its way to his face. He knew that she was dumb.. but stupid? He just realized that. Who stays in the office for such long hours, knowing that they're getting nothing in return.
He carefully leaned over the desk, only to find her snoring slightly. A chuckle escaped his lips and he slapped his hand over his mouth to cover his chuckle. To his astonishment, she didn't even flinch!
Heavy sleeper, ahan!
He gently tapped on the desk to wake her up but she didn't move. He tapped again, this time a little harder than before.
In vain!
This time, he tapped over her head.
Suddenly, she jolted up, looking all haphazard and scared, "I'm alive!", she shrieked.
"I can see that!", Jake backed away while he held his blazer on his shoulder.
"What?... Oh! I mean I'm sorry!", she mumbled as she tried to fix herself.
"You should have gone if you were that tired", he said.
"Ya I should have...", she fumbled. But how could she, knowing that the person she's had fallen in love with, had too much on his plate. She had to be there for him to check up on him.
Jake shook his head at her fazed self and turned around to leave. He pressed the elevator button and it dinged open. Briana grabbed her things and walked up to the elevator, waiting for the other one to arrive as no one was allowed to use Jake's.
Jake was about to press the ground floor but stopped when he noticed Briana not following him inside. Instead, she was standing on the different side of the elevator.
"Hey? Hurry up?", he said as he held the elevator for her.
"I'm waiting for it. Might take a few minutes", she said.
"Are you mad? Come over!! It's just two of us anyway!", he said.
"But you don't allow-"
"Oh shut up and hurry! I don't have all day", he said getting impatient.
"As if it's still day", she mumbled.
"What?", he asked.
"N-nothing!", she said and hurried into his elevator.
*****