The warm sunlight lit up the green artificial grass flooring of the outdoor concourse. Most of the shops remained closed since it was too early to open, except for a 24-hour convenience store and a few cafes that were open for the morning people to grab and go for breakfast before heading to work.
This place was well maintained and clean, and also a nice spot for people to get some peace of mind before kicking off their workday.
One of the benches was occupied by Drew. She had long raven black hair that was let comfortably down past her shoulder, dressed up in a plain navy blue button-down shirt tucked into her long dark gray pants and a pair of low heels. She was holding a paper cup of hot coffee with her left hand while her free hand was scrolling her phone and checking out someone's Facebook.
Coffee and Facebook apps were Drew's need and healer every morning before getting started at her hectic and stressful workplace. She used to see plenty of silly memes on social media, but lately, she had mentally subscribed to a new favorite girl's profile.
Amy Tang
Amy wasn't a famous Youtuber or a celebrity, but she was special to Drew. They get to know each other on the first day Amy joined the place Drew was working.
Drew admired the ladies' beauty with their matching good-looking attire, but she was hooked when Amy appeared in her workplace. Her captivating face and her wonderful personality got Drew drawn into her day by day, especially her trademark sweet smile.
"Drew!"
Speaking of the devil, Amy was walking in Drew's direction. Nothing much had changed since Drew tried to avoid seeing Amy for a month, but it was pretty hurt to see her favorite girl was comelier in her fresh look. Amy's newly trimmed shoulder-length silky dark hair down smoothly on her shoulders, red blouse, black pencil skirt, and a pair of black flats looked stunning on her petite frame.
Last but not least, Amy's dark eyes irises beneath her black full-frame glasses along with her matching smiley lips were Drew's favorite all the time. However, when Drew's dark eyes irises shifted to the lucky guy, Zach, an awkward feeling crawled over her skin.
Drew knew better. She had to deal with this and let go of the past since Amy was her best friend. Also, Drew was a master at hiding her emotion, a nice smile crept onto her face to greet the couple and she quickly dropped her phone into her handbag.
Drew tried not to look at the lovebird's intertwined hands, focusing on Amy's face while she was happily waving at her. Drew hoped she would vanish right in front of the couple, but she knew that she shouldn't be rude to nice people like them
It was pretty hard to overcome her feeling of hurt and embarrassment since it had been a month, but she knew she was old enough to get through this.
Giving them best wishes was the only thing Drew had done for them after Amy shared the happy news with her. She was kinda hurt, but Drew was happy to see Amy was happy with Zach. She eventually played it cool and waved at the couple in return.
"I miss you so much, Drew!" Amy squealed gaily and enveloped the taller girl in her arms.
The embrace was always nice and soothing for Drew, and she always looked forward to that whenever they saw each other around. But Drew knew that she couldn't expect so much from Amy's return. She eventually wrapped her arms around the tiny girl firmly in return.
"I missed you too," Drew seemed to force the word out of her mouth because she was guilty that she had expected all this little gesture from Amy was a little too much. It was hurting her to commit to a real friendship instead of a crush on a wonderful girl, but she had to.
"How was your trip?" Amy asked delightedly while they pulled away from each other and she happily linked her arm to Zach's strong and long arm.
"It was good. Just relaxed and got some coffee," Drew chuckled while smiling at the love birds.
"Right, coffee is your best companion," Amy grinned as she indicated the paper cup in Drew's hand.
"Mhmm. I wouldn't be in a good mood without it," Drew admitted and quickly added, "Oh, I got souvenirs for both of you. I will pass them to you later."
"Thank you!" Amy grinned as her dark brown eyes brightened and she looked at her boyfriend and said, "She's sweet, isn't she."
Zach smiled in agreement, and he looked at Drew as he offered nicely, "Wanna join us for breakfast?"
"Nah, it's okay. I'm on a diet," Drew nicely declined and added, "Hey, it's getting late, you guys should go."
"Well, you're right," Amy pouted her lips while checking the time on her watch as she smiled softly and gave a small wave at Drew, "Bye, I'll see you around." With that, the tiny girl happily headed to the coffee shop with her boyfriend.
Right after the lovebirds entered the coffee shop, Drew made a long sigh like a deflated balloon, slumped her back against the bench, and lazily took a sip of her favorite coffee after a tense catch-up.
It had been a month since Amy and Zach were dating, but Drew never got better. Awkward, was the way she felt right now, and she barely could put this feeling aside whenever she saw them around.
It was a little too late to regret it since Drew was a moron for being unable to take initiative or making a move toward Amy but in the right amount for her own sake. Drew should have known better. They could never happen because same-gender relationships were illegal in their country.
Unfortunately, Drew never had any interest in men but only in women. She had been confused about her sexuality since high school until she had a high-fever crush on Amy. But Drew had to take baby steps for making a move with the girl she liked.
Drew had a tiny hope they would make it since there were many chances for her to get closer to Amy. They had a lot of discussions because they had to work together as a part of their job. The sweet girl even offered a few lunch dates with Drew.
With the nice personality and gestures of the sweet girl, Drew had gotten drawn to Amy day by day. They instantly clicked and shared plenty of interests like close friends did.
They kept this friendship close to 6 months and the layers of the wall from Drew had been pushed down since their friendship was getting platonic. Drew's hope was getting high, and she would wait until the right time to walk out of the closet and confess to Amy.
But right before Drew had a chance to share her feelings with Amy, her crush asked whether she needed to confess to someone she liked. Drew was thrilled yet nervous, and she happily supported her best friend to go for it.
Drew silently prayed that 'someone' would be her. Every single minute waiting for a nice text or news from Amy was killing her. It didn't take long for Drew to wait, but it was a disappointing twist for Drew.
Drew's mood immediately went down after she read a text from Amy that she was dating Zach. However, Drew was happy that her best friend found a lover even though she didn't have the luck to get her favorite girl.
After an earnest text in return for congratulating her best friend, Drew kept making excuses to skip lunch dates with Amy and avoid her. She was grateful she had planned a vacation for a week in the early of the year. So, she could heal her hard feeling of unrequited love.
Time will heal her wounds.
Amy was an amazing best friend after all. Drew had kept that in her mind, and she knew she would eventually move on. To avoid bumping into the lovebirds again, Drew chugged down the warm coffee as she threw the empty paper cup in the bin next to her, grabbed her handbag and she stood up before going to her office.
Drew reached the lobby of her office, knowing that she didn't get the chance to catch a lift since the door was closing. But Drew saw a glimpse at a petite girl with chestnut color hair looking sharp inside there.
It didn't take long for Drew to reach her office from a second lift, happy when seeing the dim light in the office was a sign that she was early. She took her staff card to swipe the access machine, pushed the glass door, and entered.
In the corner of Drew's eyes could see a familiar figure on the left side far end. When she turned to look in that direction, her heart skipped a beat when she found out the chestnut-haired girl in the lift just now was sitting timidly on the guest couch.
Drew tried to synchronize the memory of the conversation with her manager yesterday right after she returned from her vacation. Granted, she remembered her manager had assigned a new employee for her to mentor, but she never knew what her potential co-worker looks like since her manager only mentioned her name in their phone call.
Drew couldn't help but her dark eye irises trailed the petite girl's body from head to toe. Stunning! That was what Drew thought about the brunette great and neat in her attire with a chiffon white long-sleeve blouse, beige suit skirt, and a pair of matching heels that perfectly fit her figure.
Drew was getting intrigued to look at the closeup face of the brunette, walking toward her direction, admiring her stunning permed curly hair pinned in half up and half down style, a pair of light brown eyes that were dreamy, big, and round with thick and long lashes on her eyelids like a doll.
The smile had already lingered on the brunette's face and was even cuter, and the corner of her pouty lips turned upward deeper when Drew stopped in front of her.
"Hi, I'm Giselle," the brunette greeted politely yet timidly with a small wave as she swiftly stood up and stretched her hand toward the taller girl.
The heavenly sweet and comforting voice from the cute girl had sent a wave of tingles along Drew's skin. The poor taller girl knew better that her knees would buckle since she was a sucker for a cutie, and Giselle was definitely a package to make Drew swoon.
Drew had to keep calm and she eventually stretched her hand to grasp the brunette's hand which was soft and warm like cotton and greeted her with a small smile in return, "Drew, it's nice to meet you." Drew politely let go of the cutie's hand and she added, "I assume you would be the girl Monica told me about yesterday."
"Yes, that was what Miss Monica told me as well. She told me to look for a girl, Drew when the first day I report on duty," Giselle explained with a wide smile and seemed slightly relieved.
"That's cool," Drew said briefly with a small smile and indicated the empty cubicle at another far end and said, "I'll take you to your seat."
"Thank you," Giselle said close to whispering since the place was too quiet. Drew kept smiling as she started leading the way for her new co-worker, and the petite girl swiftly joined the taller girl and said in a small voice, "By the way, I'm sorry about just now. I was supposed to open the door for you, but I was too silly and pressed the wrong button to close it instead."
Drew chuckled and thought this girl was so adorable for her to make fun of, but she didn't since it was a bad idea to scare a newbie. She glanced at the adorable girl next to her and assured her, "It's okay, you didn't mean it. I was still able to catch another lift."
"I'm glad I didn't get you late clock in," Giselle said timidly
"Nah, it's still early," Drew assured her junior once again as she checked her watch and said, "Have a seat and I will pass a job for you."
Giselle obediently complied as she stepped into her cubicle with a small bow and said, "Thank you for taking me to my cubicle."
"It's my pleasure," Drew replied politely and added, "You may get comfortable at your seat at the moment, and I will brief you on your work later."
"Sure thing!" Giselle beamed as she started taking her seat.
Drew only took a few steps to return to her seat since her cubicle was only across from her newbie junior. She squatted down and put her belongings in the drawer before sitting on her rolling chair.
The brunette across her was too captivating to keep Drew's eyes on her. It won't hurt to take a glance at the cute girl across, right? So, Drew quickly had a look at Giselle, but she couldn't avert since the striking light brown eyes were gazing at her.
A heated rush to Drew's face when Giselle's pouty lips broke into a wide smile and gave her senior a small wave before looking down at her phone since there were another 20 minutes left before they had to start.
The senior was grateful the dim light could hide her tinted face and she quickly switched on her computer and pretended that she was occupied with her preparation.
Deep down, Drew knew she couldn't hide her grin at the idea of an adorable newbie who would be her co-worker. She lowered her head to hide her silly smile from her junior.
In the meantime, Drew felt everything was déjà vu after she read the email about the welcoming of the new staff.
Giselle Tang
It was shocking news that Giselle and Amy shared the same last name, they were pretty, friendly, and likable. Drew quickly shook off the thought, she mentally reminded herself that Amy was straight and Giselle probably was too.
Yes, Giselle was eye-catching, and it made sense that Drew was just attracted to the cutie's appearance since she enjoy checking out the ladies.
"That's right," Drew thought.
Drew knew better she couldn't invest feelings in any girl she liked, but it won't hurt to admire their beauty. Drew eventually convinced herself that she could at least be friends with Giselle since she was such a nice girl.