Spitting Image • TFC 3.0 • l.t. au

Chapter Eighteen

18

"Welcome back, Meg!" Corwin beams as I entered the office. I furrow my eyebrows and decided to ignore him for now especially since I've been feeling like shit all morning.

"Good morning, Vlad." I say politely and sit down at my desk, switching my desktop on.

I hear him chuckle and he pulls a chair beside me. "I'm glad you figured out who I am by now." He says proudly.

"Yeah, you're sister was a big give away." I say, not looking at him while waiting for the desktop to load.

"Yeah, typical Melanie. Doesn't really know how to keep secrets, does she?" He says, laughing. That laugh I find all too familiar with.

"Let's talk about your webcast." I say as if he didn't bring up Melanie at all. "Next weekend, yeah?" I ask him and he nods without a lot of fuss.

"Filming tomorrow, I'm gonna need you as you're basically one of the higher ranks in the post-production department." He says with a grin.

"No, I'm just part of the crew." I say casually.

"Everyone's welcome to come," he says, leaning against my table. "And I was going to ask you for coffee this break time."

"Really?" I say passively, typing my password in.

"Yeah, we could use some catching up. It's been awhile." He says. "Don't take it personally, I had coffee dates with other co-workers. Even Caroline, she's cooler than she appears to be."

I chuckle and looked up at him. "She's pretty deceiving, huh?"

"People in this business are deceiving. I got to know people well through coffee dates. So should I cross you off my list soon enough?" He asks, crossing him arms.

I shrugged and picked up the phone on my desk. "No, I don't think so. I don't go on 'dates' anymore" I tell him, air quoting the word 'dates'.

He scoffs, "what's stopping you?"

I blink at him. Is that even a question worth asking? I put the phone down and leaned against my seat. "My whole life, actually." I say, sounding like I'm amazed or something but he's just pissing me off.

"Well, you're worth a try. You still haven't changed all these years, Meg. I'm glad." He says, standing up straight.

"Yeah, I'd return the compliment but I would be lying." I say, shrugging. "I try not to be a hypocrite these days."He laughs before walking away.

After the encounter with Corwin, I didn't see him later that day. I went to lunch peacefully while editing some clips and sending them to Caroline. I'm known as the anti-social in this office because I barely talk to anyone. I get my work done earlier than everyone else, though. Even today, I managed to finish by 2pm.

That's the only time I saw Corwin again. He was going around, checking his footage when I gave him the disk containing the file. "You're very much welcome. First part is ready for broadcast." I tell him and he looks at me like he couldn't believe his ears.

"You weren't this efficient back then." He says, laughing but sounding impressed. That's all I needed to hear in his voice.

I smile politely and sling my bag over my shoulder. "If that's all you have for me, I'd best be off." I tell him. He grabbed my hand before I can walk away any further, surprising me.

"Consider what I told you this morning, please?" He asks sounding genuinely polite.

I pull my hand away hastily and held the strap of my bag. "When we're not busy with your broadcast, I might consider." I say.