Chapter 7 — Unexpected Feelings
485 Words
By Friday, the office had moved from gossip to full-blown wedding fever. Someone in HR created a group chat title “Samuel & Jenna: Proposal Countdown.”
Jenna found out only because Aisha was added as an admin.
At this point, Jenna felt like a character in a badly written reality show – except the male lead was dangerously charming.
It didn’t help that Samuel took his fake role very seriously.
Every morning, he brought her coffee.
Not just any coffee – the perfect mixture of strong, sweet, and sanity-saving.
He’d hand it to her with a calm, “for my fiancé,” like it was the most natural sentence in the world.
Coworkers swooned like they were watching a K-drama.
Jenna tried not to melt.
She failed daily.
There was also the way he paid attention. Real attention.
If she was tired, he noticed.
If she was upset, he subtly positioned himself beside her.
If Lawrence annoyed her, Samuel’s eyebrow would twitch – just a little – before he intervened with a sarcastic comment that left Lawrence speechless.
One afternoon, during a brainstorming session, he leaned over her shoulder to look at her laptop screen.
His cologne hit her first.
Warm, subtle, expensive.
Then his voice.
Low.
Close.
Unreasonably distracting.
“I like this design,” he murmured.
She almost dropped the laptop.
Aisha watched the entire exchange and later cornered her at the water dispenser.
“You’re in trouble,” she announced.
Jenna blinked, “what?”
“You’re catching feelings.” Aisha said.
“No, I’m not.” Jenna defended.
“You smiled at him for seven seconds straight.” Aisha said, smiling.
“I was being polite.” Jenna said, folding her arms.
“You giggled.” Aisha said, poking her.
“I did not giggle. I have never giggled.” Jenna said, while looking at Aisha with a straight face.
Aisha folded her arms “you also tucked your hir behind your ear, tilted your head, and looked at him like he was a pot of steaming party jollof rice after a three-day fast.”
Jenna slapped her arm lightly “you are exaggerating!”
Aisha raised an eyebrow “am I?”
Jenna opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it gain.
Until she finally gave up.
Later that night, she lay on her bed staring at the ceiling fan like it held the answers to life’s mysteries.
This was supposed to be a simple li.
A temporary fix.
A small misunderstanding that would fade with time.
But now, she was always thinking of Samuel’s smile.
His laugh.
The way his eyes softened when he looked at her.
The way her name sounded when he said it – gentle, teasing, warm.
Her heart was sprinting in a race she certainly did NOT sign up for.
“This is bad,” she whispered to the ceiling.
The ceiling refused to help.
- Writer
