9 to 5 Happy

Fourth

I was moving the chips around the plate, not daring to place the contents to my lips, afraid my hands would shake and give me away.

Kai had asked me to lunch. Just as I was about to say no and utter my excuses, he walked off with a grin and a simple "let's go". Leaving me with no choice but to follow.

Now here we were, sitting in front of each other, "enjoying" our lunch.

~ The walk to the canteen ~

As we were walking down to the canteen, I brainstormed all possible ways to minimize my anxiety which was at peak levels.

Walking side by side with him was causing my heart to beat a mile a minute so, afraid I would pass out, I quickly walked ahead.

Once we got to the canteen, I joined the line and picked up a tray, never once looking back to acknowledge his existence.

However, as hard as I tried to block him out, I couldn't succeed.

Him being right behind me was not helping as my palms seeped with sweat, causing the tray to slip a few times, and my right hand shook as I reached to pick up a morsel of food.

My body, ever aware of his presence, as he inched forward in the queue.

The choice of meal was also dictated by the need to quiet the raging discomfort and anxiousness inside of me. Chips were easy to eat and had less chance of causing a mess so I chose that, hoping it would calm the storm just a little.

...I was really underestimating the effects this man had on me.

~ At the lunch table ~

Kai was sitting comfortably, looking ahead, gazing at me with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes and a smile dancing on his lips.

He had finished his meal a while ago - he chose chips just like me which left me confused as he normally opted for a full main meal - and was chatting with Richard and Arden who were sitting to my side, waiting for me to look up and join in.

I stayed glued to my phone screen, praying he would just ignore me, moving the chips around in order to calm the nerves that were eating me alive.

Suddenly, Richard turned to me

"Why haven't you eaten any of your food Peyton?" The amusement clear in his tone.

Richard knew what he was doing, the bastard. Now I had to make something up

I turned to look at him
"errr...I don't feel too good" there! hope that was good enough. But my eyes drifted to Kai's whilst saying those words, giving me away instantly.

My heart thumped as we made eye contact and the pit of my stomach sank then clenched as if warning to regurgitate the tiny slivers of food it housed.

The warmth flooding from Kai's gaze was unwavering and shameless. He was not embarrassed to show his feelings and the large smile on his face was evidence enough.

I looked down, hoping he didn't notice the blood rushing to my cheeks, and picked at my food again.

Why does he not care?! These people were slowly catching on and he didn't seem to give a crap about being the centre of their office gossip.

Which now would be even worse given what he had just shown them...shown me.

"Really?" Richard and Arden smirked as they looked between Kai and I.

"You'd normally have wolfed that down by now, do you need to take the rest of the day off?" Chloe chimed in from beside Kai, her tone smothered in mock concern.

She was always looking down at those who took work off due to illness, which was no fault of their own, but she still thought of them as weak. Safe to say she was a heartless prick especially since she exempted herself from this "rule".

"No, no I should be fine. I'm going to go get a glass of water" I quickly spat out, standing up to run to the water cooler at the back of the canteen.

Before I could take two steps, Kai got up and gestured for me to stay put.

"Nope Peyton, you're feeling ill so I'll get it for you" he shook his head, the bright green eyes now covered with a dark, serious frown.

He left before I could protest and came back, just as quickly, with a fresh cup of water.

"It's warm, just the way you like it" he beamed proudly as he set the paper cup down in front of me.

I looked at it in surprise, the comforting heat slipping between my fingers as I hugged it in my palms. How did he know?!

"T-thanks Kai" I muttered quietly, sitting down and screaming internally with joy at the fact I said his name out loud.

He chuckled softly.

"Now I'm off, see you later guys and Peyton...make sure to finish your food" he called out whilst making his way back down the hall and towards the office. His gait casual and confident as usual.

The way he said my name was still ringing in my ears when the rest of my colleagues got up to leave.

Choi was the last to go. Out of the four, he was the only one who showed me kindness and understood how anxious these situations made me feel.

He came up to me then and put a hand to my shoulder, giving me a small, sympathetic smile before he too headed down the hall.

I sighed and sat back in relief. Finally alone.

But, of course this peace would not last long as I dreaded what awaited me upstairs.

"Ugh" I groaned. This can't go on. I had to find a way to stop it. Though the only option I could think of was to speak to Kai about it directly.

I hated confrontations, especially when that person riled up so many emotions inside of me, but it had to be done.

Swallowing the last chip, I got up fast and marched down the hall, up the stairs and stood at Kai's cubicle. My stomach and heart beating to a rhythm so dangerous.

As luck would have it, he was not there and I stared blankly at the empty seat. Not letting this set me back, I grabbed the pen and the stack of sticky notes that were sitting neatly to one side of his desk - his neatness was so endearing.

Scribbling down my thoughts wildly with no time to think them through, I hurriedly left the note, folded, on top of his keyboard. After all, I didn't want anyone to see me do this...or read what I had to say.

I left just as quickly, my heart drumming whilst my feet led the way.

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Thanks for reading!
Please vote/comment to let me know how the story is going :)

What do you think Peyton wrote in the note?

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