Pretend Love

Chapter 3: Lunchdate

The next day, word had gotten around the office, and while news of the engagement earned Vincent a few slaps on the back, Suzy got jealous glares and whispered remarks sent her way.

"Oh my god, you got engaged?" Andrea practically screamed when Suzy picked up her phone.

"Andie…"

"How could you not tell me? Have this been going on for long? Were you just pretending to hate him? Oh my god, have you been doing it in his office?"

"Andrea Reed! No!" Suzy hissed over the phone, nervously looking around to make sure no-one was watching her. "I'll explain everything later, ok? I gotta go," Suzy said quickly when she noticed Vincent was on his way.

She went about her normal morning routine, quickly straightening up his office and holding out his coffee as he passed by. But Vincent already had his hands full. He stopped at her desk and set down the Starbucks bag, revealing a tray of four Styrofoam cups inside.

"I didn't know which one you liked, so I got a frappuccino, a mocha latte, a caramel macchiato and a cappuccino," he said while taking out the different cups. "Oh, and I took the liberty of informing Louise that you're permanently off the market."

Suzy's jaw dropped. He brought her coffee?

"Uh… thanks."

"Don't mention it," he smiled. "Listen, we need to send someone else to the Spencer book tour kick-off, since we'll be going to Lancaster… can you compile a file that covers everything that needs to be taken care of?"

"Yes. Of course."

"Great. Well, I have meetings all morning, but do you wanna have lunch?"

"Lunch?"

"Yeah. You know that thing between breakfast and dinner?"

"No, I know what lunch is…. I just don't know why you would wanna have lunch with me."

"That's what people do when they're in love," Vincent shrugged and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Remember we're supposed to be in love?"

"Right… well, I was going to have lunch with Andrea, but…"

"Excellent. See you at noon," Vincent smiled, pecked her cheek and went into his office.

Suzy sighed and sat down at her desk, trying to ignore the dirty looks Dianne and Grace, the office gossips, were giving her.

It wasn't fair. No-one dared say anything to Vincent, but they could certainly look down on her for engaging in an office romance. And it wasn't even like there was a policy against it. If this was how she was being treated now, imagine what they would say about her when she got the promotion? Suzy shook off the negative thoughts. Why did she care what they thought, anyways?

"So, Suzy…" Grace sauntered up to her desk, trailing her finger across the wooden surface. "What did you have to do to get the boss to bring you coffee?"

Suzy ignored her, typing on her computer. "Do you need anything, Grace?"

"You know," Dianne said to Grace, talking over Suzy's head, "I actually thought Suzy worked late all those nights because she was so dedicated… but I guess it was Mr. Lee that was hard at work."

"Is there a problem here, ladies?" a stern voice drawled from behind them and the two women instantly straightened and scurried off. "Suzy, can I see you in my office, please?" Vincent said calmly.

"Of course, Mr. Lee," Suzy said and rose from her desk.

"Wanna tell me what's going on?" he said as she had closed the door behind her.