Natalie woke up as the light peeked through from her window. She fell asleep on the couch last night after the events that she couldn't comprehend. She glanced at the front door, remembering how the cute dog she was feeding turned into her colleague, Alexander! Who hates her.
But she was far too drunk last night to even know whether or not what she saw was real. Glancing at the bowls the dog used last night that she left in her kitchen, the dog thing most definitely happened. But Alexander, a dog? There was no way.
She sighed and glanced at the clock propped on the stand next to her TV, her eyes widened. It was 8 o'clock and she was going to be very late if she doesn't hurry up.
After preparing herself, Natalie decided to take a taxi to the company building. As she was dropped off, 5 minutes to spare until she needed to clock in, she rushed to the elevators. Seeing one about to close, she shouted, "wait!"
By a miracle, the person inside the elevator actually listened to her wait and let the doors of the elevator open. Natalie smiled in relief and walked towards the elevator. "Thank you so much—" Her eyes widened seeing the man she didn't want to see be in the elevator with her.
Alexander's eyes widened seeing Natalie huff her way to the elevator. He quickly presses his lips into a line and moved further back at the elevator to make some space as Natalie quietly entered. Though there were still other employees in the elevator, they couldn't help but feel the awkwardness as they rode it until the 12th floor.
The elevator dinged and Natalie and Alexander stepped out, taking quick steps to avoid each other. Alexander entered the office first as his long legs and quick strides made him faster than Natalie who was still struggling to take a few more steps from the lack of sleep she had gotten.
As she entered, Hannah quickly noticed that they both had clocked in at the same time. As well as the cold mood between them.
"What happened? Did someone spill their coffee?" She asked Natalie who sat down next to her.
"What?" Natalie frantically put down her bag and quickly fixed herself and her blouse as she turned on the computer, sitting on the office chair.
"You and Alex. It was like, a blast of cold air came out of that door."
Natalie shook her head. "It's nothing. We just bumped into each other and I guess it put him in a sour mood."
Hannah chuckled, "how unlucky. So early in the morning, too."
Late in the night as well, Natalie wanted to say but she decided to keep her mouth shut. No one knew anyway that she had gone home with him. She picked up a dog for god's sake, who would think that that was Alexander?
Even Natalie still wasn't sure if it really was him. But she saw it. But she was also completely drunk. She couldn't tell if it really was true.
As they began to work, Hannah said, "you know, Alexander is being really chill with you today. No minding your business and whatnot. Did you hit it off yesterday?" She leaned to her left for Natalie to hear.
Natalie furrowed her eyebrows. "What? Yesterday?" How did she know about yesterday?
"Yeah, you both sat next to each other didn't you? Oh, god, don't tell me you two didn't actually talk the whole time?"
"I hate to disappoint you, but I will. We didn't talk. He even went home earlier." She explained, recalling how she had to help a drunken Alexander down the stairs of the restaurant and out front.
"Oh, right. Still, maybe he decided to not poke at you now that you two sat in each other's presence." Hannah shrugged and grinned.
"Quite the bare minumum, Han." Natalie rolled her eyes with a smile. Hannah lightly giggled as well.
"Ms. Perez," Hannah lifted her head to see Kenneth behind her.
Her eyes widened and turned her chair and stood up. "Oh, yes, sir?"
"I forwarded you an email regarding the Sales Department's request. Please have a look at it and send me the past reports about it." Kenneth said and went back to his room, the door was wide open. Hannah nodded and sat back down at her desk and looked for the email Kenneth had sent.
"You know, I noticed something," Hannah said in a hushed voice making Natalie lean towards her.
"What is it?"
"Kenneth never calls you Ms. Dalton. Or any 'miss'. I think someone has a crush on you~" she said in a sing songy tone. Natalie couldn't helo but roll her eyes once again.
"Oh, please. It's just an old habit. He was a former colleague, you know that." Natalie explained. When Natalie and Alexander first arrived, Kenneth was already in his first year working at the company. When he rose to the position as their department head, Kenneth continued to keep calling her Natalie. And Alexander, as well.
"Mhm," Hannah said, the last syllabe reaching a much higher note.
Lunch time came and Natalie stood up, stretching her back. "Where are you eating lunch?" She asked Hannah who was turning her computer off.
"Oh, uhm, I'll be with Damon. He asked me for lunch." She sheepishly smiled. It had been about a month or so since Hannah had been talking about Damon as her work crush, completely obsessing over him but never really interacted all that much. Perhaps last night, they were the ones that hit it off.
"Alright, alright. Go get your office romance."
Hannah stuck out her tongue and grabbed her purse, leaving the office where Damon was waiting for her at the door.
Natalie lightly chuckled to herself as she shook her head, fixing up some of the things on her desk. Once she was done, she looked around and heard the clicking noises from a keyboard.
She peeked up the cubicles and saw Alexander still in his space, his back hunched as his fingers continued to glide across his keyboard, the light from the computer reflecting from his glasses.
Natalie looked around the office once more, making sure no one was there. She even peeked at Kenneth's room to make sure he wasn't, but his lights were already out and no one was inside.
"Hey," she placed her arms atop the cubicle walls, Alexander's eyes widened seeing Natalie's head peek through. "Let's talk."