The Loner Got a Friend

Chapter.4

Chapter .4

"So... " Nina tried to start a conversation with her boss.

"Oh, yeah, right. Give me a second and you could update me with your back up plan." Jake said. " Need to take them to the loo, I don't want to leave in the middle of our discussion. These two took their toilet breaks seriously. They need to go there almost every two hours."

Nina stairs blankly as her boss. Who is he? Not the boss she has known, that is for sure. Jake never talk more then two sentences at a go, let alone gave his employee those 3 long sentences of explanation. He never find the need to entertain us with reasons, we simply have to rake our own brain. That might be annoying at times, escpecially when deadline are closing, but in general it has made us think more, oh, those long internal debates of analitical, logical, and creative thinking process with our own brain.

She might be staring at the guy behind the counter, because the first thing she saw when she gained back her focus, was the guy smirking at her, clearly trying to flirt with his smile. She returns his smirk with a polite smile and turns her head facing the window.

Not long after, her boss and the little nephew and niece came into view. She looks at how cute the three were, Jake holding their hands while their other hands hold onto their newly acquired matching baloon. Free gift baloon, the great classic marketing strategy.

They enters the Subway, and Jake help sat Cassie sat on her chair before taking his own seat. "So..."

Yeah right, short word, definitely her boss through-and-through. "I was thinking of giant baloons, " Nina blurts out, "One bigger than those two baloons combined together. And The Giant logo printed on it, back-to-back with our website address, where they could pre-register. The even would be in a slightly smaller in size, holding less people at a time, but for 3 days in row. Our customers won't feel overcrowded like last year, more like a VIP. What do you think?"

"Really?" In was his usual short reply accompanied by the look. O, boy, we might be in for a long discussion. Nina suddenly pities those kids, they have to start their morning with adult work and bussiness talks.

...

Turns out the kids are full of ideas, or their mother certainly does. In the short hour they have came to a decision that: yes, big balloons advertisement is a great idea because the kids like those big balloons; no, the event won't be 3 days long, but 24 hours with the night shopping experience like how 'Mommy' likes to shop; No, it will be an even bigger and more spacious than last year, like Mommy always said, "GO BIGGER or GO HOME". At the end of the hour, the four of them has agreed that Jake's sister might as well get her favourite quote up on the billboard, it will be the new slogan.

As they talked, she realizes that the kids are creative, they adore their mom like the sun, and that they never -not once- have mentioned their dad, Mr. Miller. It might be a coincidence, seeing how shopping mostly relates more to mothers, or they might not talk about their dad that much.

And the end, her work is pretty much done but her brain is full of questions, on her boss' personal life, so she decided to let it go.

"All settled then." She states and turn to talk to the kids, "You guys might not realize this, but you two are the best kids I have known. Together as a team, you guys might be the greatest and most creative master planners."

"What is master planner?" Asked Cassie the same time Jordan ask, "Like Jakey boy?"

Which earn him a big eye stare from his uncle. "Hey!"

"Master planners are people who plan on event, party, gathering and such, Cassie. And yes, Jordan, like Jakey boy over here." Nina answered jokingly.

She turns to steal a look at her boss and found him no longer has his playful stare on his nephew. Jake was looking at her seriously with a frown, the frown she often saw on her boss face whenever he was thinking hard. Nina finds herself always feels bothered whenever Jake made that face on her, yet she has grown way too familiar with it for being around him the past year since she started working in his event agency. It's the face she has got used too. However, Jakes' glare instantly turns into amused pair of eyes, and after a short pause he slowly grins.

Nina was shellshocked. Her boss just grin. She has to return to the office as soon as possible and tell her coworker the news, 'The boss could grin'. Or maybe a more catchy subject in the mailing list would grab their attention faster, 'The iceman has finally landed with a grin today.'

She remembers how she ended up working with Jake. She was going to an job seeker agency to look for a job, she was fresh out of college and had no working experience, which made her hard to find a job on her own. She was about to enter for her appointment when she bumped into an old schoolmate who is two years older then her, they chit chat for awhile until her friends, Tanya told her to try her company. She was quiting the job as she is getting married, and something about her hubby not very keen on her working while pregnant. Tanya was still on her 3rd month, but her fiancee was extremely protective on her and the baby, so she quitted her job and was trying to help her boss find replacement.

Her first thought was, If you volunteerily help your old boss to find your replacement, your boss must be very kind. She then easily got the job, Tanya apparently was Jake's trusted employee, they've known each other since Uni. In fact, Jake was the one who introduced Tanya to her fiancee.

The day she started working, she remember her first thought of meeting Jake, he was wearing a suit and was looking so good in it. Nina felt slightly intimidated by his choice of outfit and his stare. She thought his outfit was his dailywear and his stare is caused by her unfamilar face. Boy, she is wrong. Turns out he wore those for the conference he was attending, he works on some dress shirt and black jeans, casual looks which he totally rocks. His stares on her were permanent. Some colleague said he'll loosen up with the stares within few months, or whenever new people join them. However she still get 'it' after working for almost a year.

She was pretty happy when a new guy joined their team. For a whole month, she still found him giving her the stare, even more so than toward the new stranger. She was dissapointed with that knowledge and has loosen hope of befriending her boss just like the other colleagues do. Maybe he's starting to loosen up now, she thought with a smile on her face.

When she realize her mind yet again wondering, Nina found three sets of eyes watching her with amusement.

"I see you has gotten back from your daydream tour." Her boss states, for the first time smiling instead of critisizing on her bad habit. Then, he went away to grab some cookies to take away for the kids

"You like him, right?" Ask Jordan with similar grin on his face. The boy is quite persistent on that topic, she found herself smiling at him, and before she could answer, Cassie repeats happily after her brother, "Like him, right?"

Nina burst into a laughter, she's quite sure Cassie doesn't know who she is talking about. "O, you are so cute Cassie, and yeah, I like Jordan a lot."

"You like Jordy?" Asked her back with a frown on her face. Wow, her frown makes her face looks more and more like her uncle's.

"You know I meant Jakey boy there." Jordan said while pointing at Jake. "And you call her Cassie, you can call me Jordy. I dont mind, you are family too."

Nina decided to ignore Jordan's topic on her liking the boss and decided to tease him instead, "Hmm, I am not so sure Jordan... I don't think I should call you Jordy. I mean, from what I recalled, you are not my family. We just met about an hour ago, could say we are practically stranger."

"Yet." He muttered short and then added, "We just eat breakfast together, family eats breakfast together, so we are family. Anyway, I see how you look at him, you like him. And I like you, so you can be my auntie. Cassie, you want her to be your auntie?" He went on and ask his sister.

"Yeah, I want auntie." She smiles.

"See guys, the problem is, I can't be your auntie just because the two of you like me-" My reply was cut short, when Jordan said, "Don't worry about him, he always listen to us, he love us a lot, sometimes too much, he think we are his children, Gaah. But anyway, I think he likes you too."

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