Kenneth furrowed his eyebrows as he flipped through the pages, scribbling something before handing it back.
"Get this done before you clock out." Natalie quietly nodded before heaving a sigh as she left the head of their department's office. It has been two years since she began working here and yet she continues to make mistakes. She wondered if everyone's starting to think that she couldn't be taught, especially their head, Kenneth.
"Overtime?" Hannah, who sits beside Natalie, peers over her shoulder, seeing the dejected face of her colleague.
"Mhm," Natalie hummed sadly. She sighed again and began typing on her computer, editing out her document and looking through the one her manager told her to edit. The messy writings from Kenneth's pen and all the words he crossed out was a reminder of how much Natalie hadn't made any progress.
She continued to type until the minutes passed by. Hannah tapped her shoulder.
"Wanna take a break?" She jerked her thumb to the door of the employee break room. Natalie glanced at the time on her computer. It was 5:45. It was almost time to leave. Natalie was nowhere near done, but didn't she deserve a break, too?
"Yeah—"
"You're taking a break?" A voice asked. That familiar low and monotone sound made Natalie irk as her eyes narrowed to turn towards Alexander.
Her gaze landed on him. He was tall and looked slim, his olive skin shining against the fluorescent light, his glasses reflecting it, covering his dark blue eyes. He was handsome, as most women in the company had said. There was no denying it as Natalie had thought that too when she first met him. Unfortunately, his personality wasn't as handsome as he was.
"You have that report to finish. Don't keep taking breaks just because you don't want to keep working on it." He then walked away, passing by them with papers in hand and left the room.
Natalie rolled her eyes. "Gosh, he keeps minding my business. And I haven't even taken a break all day!" Natalie huffed as they entered the break room.
"Alex seems to always poke at you for things. He doesn't even do that to others." Hannah pointed out as she took two mugs from the cupboard.
"Yeah. What's the deal with that? We worked here the same time and yet he acts all mighty and superior than me." She rolled her eyes and opened the tub of instant ground coffee, adding them to the mugs Hannah passed over.
Hannah shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe he likes you." She teased with a sly smile. But Natalie couldn't smile at the thought. No, she hated that idea. She squirmed as she furrowed her eyebrows.
"Oh, god, no." She shook her head. "If there's one thing more obvious about his feelings towards me, is that he hates me. How is that 'like'? Tell me, does that look like he likes me?" She placed a hand on her hip.
Hannah shook her head as she laughed. "I was just kidding," she continued to laugh. As she finally calmed down she said, "well, it's pretty obvious that you dislike him. Very much, might I add."
Natalie didn't even know why Alexander hated her. She didn't even remember if she did anything to him. He was nice to her, too, the first time they met. It was after a few months maybe that his actions towards her changed; he became cold and ignored her.
After their short break, Natalie came back to her computer as Hannah began packing up her things.
"Natalie," Kenneth came out of his office and went to her desk. "You can finish up tomorrow. Why not join us for the team dinner?"
Natalie and Hannah exchanged a glance as if asking each other if what they heard was true and that should she actually join? And what was up with Kenneth's mood today?
With a smile, Natalie accepted the offer, "oh, I would love to, Sir."
Kenneth gave her a smile as well before joining the other team members.
"You're coming?" Hannah asked, surprised by her decision. Natalie stood up to pack her things with her.
"Of course, I am. I'm not having over time because of it, so how can I refuse?"
"Right, right." Hannah nodded in agreement. They both walked together behind the group as they made their way towards a restaurant that was open until early in the morning, obviously they were going out for drinks with their dinner.
Upon entering the restaurant, the place bustled with other office workers and theirs being loud as they chattered. One of the waitresses escorted them towards the second floor which was usually occupied by big parties.
Hannah and Natalie followed. Everyone had sat already.
"Hannah!" One of the male coworkers raised their hand, patting a seat next to him. Hannah's face turned red as she turned to Natalie, silently apologizing to her that she wanted to sit next to her work crush, Damon.
"Go ahead," Natalie jerked her head with a smile. Hannah's lips widened to a smile that reached her ear, said her thanks and quickly sat next to him.
Now alone, Natalie turned her head to scan the table. Everyone had already sat down talking to each other with no seats left--except the one next to Alexander.
Natalie internally sighed as she made her way to the seat next to him. As she pushed the seat back, Alexander's head lifted, his eyes widening and quickly changed his expression to his usual blank face, ignoring her as she sat down.
'Geez, what's his problem?' She thought to herself, putting her bag down. The whole night, they had ignored each other. Natalie couldn't help but curse Hannah for being too flirty with that office romance she was trying hard to achieve.
Though they had begun drinking the night away to celebrate the weekend, Natalie could only feel the awkwardness from the two of them. Especially when their shoulders or arms would accidentally touch.
They would freeze but quickly go back to what they were doing. It wasn't until they had probably drunk a few drinks too much did their arms suddenly touch again.
Natalie expected a freeze and ignore each other again. But Alexander spoke in a slurry voice, "oh, sorry..."
She looked up, surprised to hear his voice. His face was flushed red and eyes that looked dizzy and glittery. She glanced at the empty cups on the table. There were probably 4-5 empty glasses. Natalie wondered if he drank all that.
Alexander must have been too drunk out of his mind that he began talking to Natalie. "I didn't think--hic--I'd hit you." He slurred.
Natalie awkwardly smiled. "Er, it's fine. I... think you should head home." She glanced around at everyone. They seemed to be having too much fun as they were loudly singing and talking with each other to notice if both of them left.
"Should I call you a taxi?" She asked him, trying to make eye contact with him as his head kept falling to his neck in every direction.
"Mm," he grumbled. She sighed and stood up, tugging Alexander along with her. No one noticed that they had slipped away.
While Kenneth talked to one of his employees, his eye caught Natalie and Alexander going down the first floor, her hand on the cuff of Alexander's suit as she dragged him along. His eyebrows furrowed.
Natalie and Alexander stood on the curb, waiting for a taxi. The cold breeze had sobered Alexander up a little bit, shocked to see Natalie with him. He blinked multiple times to see if he was only imagining things; much to his surprise, he wasn't.
"You can go back inside," he said, jerking his thumb towards the lit restaurant, its lights glowing. "I can take it from here. Thanks."
Natalie's eyes narrowed. It was the cold Alexander again. She sighed. "Fine." She walked past him, entering the restaurant once again.
Alexander's eyebrows furrowed, unable to understand why she had given him an attitude. He shook his head and shrugged it off, trudging along the pavement. He closed his eyes, feeling a headache. His vision became blurry as he dizzied.
In the restaurant, Natalie came back upstairs. Noticing this, Kenneth asked her, "where did you go?"
"Ah, I just went to the bathroom." She politely smiled. Kenneth decided not to ask where Alexander was.
The night came in deeper, and Natalie felt herself getting more and more tired. She decided to take her leave and said her goodbyes to her colleagues and Hannah, who was still busy chatting with Damon.
She sighed as she exited the restaurant, feeling the alcohol and tiredness hit her. The night was dark and cold as she continued to walk home. Her apartment was near the office which is why she walked home, stopping to a corner seeing a figure in the alley.
It was small and dark and shaking. Curious, she slowly walked up to it, her eyes narrowing to see what it was. A small whine came from it. Her eyes widened as she saw what it was.
It was a dog.