Have you Eaten, Ms. Aria?
1075 Words
Lunch hour rolls around and everyone is on break, dining at the canteen section of the building, but Dean finds himself sitting in one of the many tables in the canteen and scoping the area, going table by table as he tries to find the one person he's been trying to find all day.
Aria.
She's not in the canteen either and lunch runs for another 30 minutes.
He needed to extend the time a little for the routine checkups to be done during lunch hours. There are just too many people.
He gets up from his seat and tugs his jacket down as he walks out of the canteen without eating anything or ordering anything from the menu.
The only thought roaming his mind is whether or not she's fallen sick again and considering how she easily loses consciousness, he feels she could have fallen some place dangerous.
Like the stairs.
The thought alone sends shivers down his spine as he makes his way into the nearly deserted third floor with nothing but running desktops and fans.
He walks into the floor and trails his eyes across each cubical, taking a mental note on how jam-packed the place is as he walks further into the floor, only to stop when he spots her by her own cubical.
Fast asleep.
He hesitates for a moment, whether or not to approach her but decides it's best to simply check if she's alive or not.
His footsteps are soft and silent, not wanting to wake her up as he nears the desk.
Taking a quick look around to see if anyone is watching, he reaches a finger down to her nose and waits to try to feel her breath.
As expected, she's still breathing.
He then pokes her cheek, checking her reflex but she doesn't wake up at all, or even flinch.
Easing his shoulders, he moves a little closer and presses the back of his hand against her forehead, checking her temperature and sighing when he notices she's perfectly fine and just taking a nap.
It just comes off as weird as to why she's not bothered to eat.
"Ms. Aria?" He calls and she doesn't respond. "Ms. Aria." He calls again and gently shakes her shoulder, finally shaking her awake as she groans and slowly lifts her head off the table.
He arches a brow when he notices how her hair sticks to the side of her face before she carefully removes it and tucks it behind her ears as her big large brown eyes try to focus on him.
It's the eyes, there's just something about them that catches him off guard. The light colors that seem to change in the sunlight and how her dark lashes exaggerates them makes him want to get trapped in them.
She bats her eyelids as she tries to focus her vision only to gasp and stand instantly when she notices it's her boss. She bows immediately and feels her heart skip a beat as he simply stands there, staring down at her.
"I-Is there something you needed me to do?" She asks and he drops his gaze to her desk, noticing how unorganized she is with her pens and pencils stacked in one cup, her books piled on top of each other with no order to them.
Not to mention the little bracelets and charms she has piled in a small paper box along with paper clips and staplers.
"No." He slowly shifts his gaze towards her. "Aren't you going to have lunch?"
She pauses at the question. Taken aback by the suddenness and informality of it.
Is he seriously asking whether or not she's eaten? and why?
"I... " She pauses and looks around, checking to see if anyone was around.
"I'm doing an inspection on all floors, making sure everyone is taking in their nutrition before working again." Dean says as he brings his hand up to his tie and fixes it for no reason. "You seem to be sleeping instead of taking your nutrition."
Why does he say it like that? Nutrition? really? She thinks to herself as she stares at him and slowly nods.
"Oh that... I forgot my wallet and so I dont have my meal card with me and don't have enough money to buy one." She smiles softly. "I'm not that hungry too... had a uh.... big breakfast."
That is a lie. She ran her way to the office knowing she's late and didn't have time to grab a snack.
Dean stares at her a moment long before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet, getting her to tense before she grabs his wrist to stop him from pulling anything out of it.
"It's okay... I don't need to eat..." She says with a pleading smile and he only arches a brow.
"You're hungover, your fatigue will affect your work. So you need to eat something otherwise you'll be unproductive." He says as he drops his gaze to her hand that's still clenching his.
She lets go immediately when she notices she's touching him and sighs nervously as he pulls out his card.
"Buy yourself a meal and bring the card to my office when you are done." He says as he hands her the card to which she reluctantly receives.
"But sir... I..." She sighs when she knows he's about to tell her not to be stubborn and simply take it.
Her eyes drop to the card and tenses when it's an infinite card... no limits... a limitless card...
"H-Have you already eaten then?" She asks as she looks up at him, getting his heart to thud slightly for a reason only his heart would know.
He looks around for a bit, remembering he'd only sat in the canteen and didn't really eat anything.
He's completely used to having the secretary bring his meal to his office and today, he wanted to eat in the canteen and called the secretary off.
"My secretary will bring my food to the office soon." He says as he steps back. "Bring the card when you are done. Have whatever you want. Do not restrict yourself under any circumstances. That's an order."
She raises a brow at him as he turns and walks off.
Maybe he's also given another employee his card before... Aria nods at this and sighs as she looks down at the card. It can't... only be me.
- Writer
