The Voices You Hear

...when the office is empty yet full

They argued inside the elevator on whether they should just get Maine to the hospital. She was turning white, but she insisted that she feels fine. It was mostly Bel and Bic nagging her, actually. Richard was still silent, observing her closely.

Maine was beginning to get really conscious of him looking at her like that. She's never been looked at like that before. Even with her former boyfriend, she never gets a stare this intense that she feels like she's being undressed ever so slowly. She nudged at Richard just so he would lose focus on her.

"Is Bel the only one you can talk to?"

Richard blinked and was rather surprised, seemingly caught off-guard that Maine addressed him pointedly about their 'ability' to talk to, well, objects.

"Huh? Uhm, no. There's Remy back in my house, and Lumos in my office."

"Let me guess, hmm, Lumos has something to do with light so...it's a flashlight? A lamp?"

"Lumos is a lamp, yes. A little annoying, like Bic."

"Hah! We're not that close, Richard, so don't judge me."

Richard let out another hearty laugh. It was Maine's turn to look at him. She concludes that she likes his laugh. It's a solid, gut-feel and infectious laugh. However, she couldn't reconcile the hard and tough look he has on every morning when she sees him in the elevator with this laughter coming from him.

"Sorry Bic. I say that with affection, believe me. Who knows, we might get close soon enough..."

With that, he looked at Maine again, this time catching her staring at him. She looked away, her cheeks reddening at having been caught. She looked up at the numbers lighting as the elevator made its way up to her floor. The ride up feels like the longest she's been in on an elevator. She had to sway the conversation.

"So, Remy is...?"

"Make a wild guess." Richard challenged her. He was grinning, that deep dimple showing again and somehow made her knees weak. She's hoping it's because of the blood loss.

"Hmm. Your ref?"

"No. Talking to stuff is weird enough, but to have the ref talk back to you every time you open it to get juice or beer, nah. Guess again."

He was enjoying this, in spite of himself. He's never had relaxed banter in a long while. Not since Andrea left, but that's like a lifetime ago. A lot has changed since then, and not quite worth bringing up. Maybe someday. Maybe with Maine...

TING!

The elevator doors opened to the 24th floor. Maine went out first, followed closely by Richard. Maine was walking too fast, as if trying to lose him as they made their way to her office. He was wondering if he's made her uncomfortable in the elevator. So much for banter, then, he thought. You went ahead of yourself again, Richard.

Maine punched her security code and swiped her card. She held out the door open to let Richard in. She then went straight to her table, just a few feet from their office reception and took out a first aid packet. As she laid out the first aid stuff on her table, Richard looked around the office. It had the same floor space as theirs on the 16th floor, but laid out differently. There were more tables in this office and it looked crowded. Theirs on the 16th had more open space, intended for brainstorming and interaction, encouraging more creativity. That's what advertising is all about, as his bosses would say. Yet Richard prefers the confines of his own cubicle. He never really interacted with anyone, even when he started as a copywriter and made his way to becoming Senior Account Executive. Two years since joining Adventures and Innovations (AdvIn) Incorporated, he was its fastest rising employee, which was of course met with raised brows. But he was brilliant when it comes to ideas and thinking outside the box, a persona largely opposite of how he is perceived by his officemates. At 25, he was more than just a creative genius - he was also passionate when it comes to pitching his ideas and presentations to clients. Not more than once has he clinched an account that was unimaginable for their company, yet he did it with so much suave that he came off as smug when they closed the deal.