I looked down. Honestly, I'd forgotten it was even there. The cup sat beside my laptop, still full and probably very cold.
Marcus reached for his tea and gave it a quick stir beforetaking a sip. "You've been stretched too thin lately." His tone was light and came off as more observant than concerned. "I'd hate to see you burn out before the term even starts."
I pulled off my glasses and rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the fog from my head. "It's always like this at the start of the year. Nothing new."
His fingers tapped lightly against his mug. "Still. You've got enough going on without piling on extra stress."
"You say that like I have a choice."
"You do." He leaned in to rest his arms on the table and gave me a pointed look. "You just don't like asking for help."
I frowned. Where was he going with this? "It's my job, Marcus. I can’t hand it off to someone else."
"I'm not talking about work. I mean everything else. You've been running yourself ragged, and I don't want you stressing about money on top of that."
That was an odd pivot. "I'm not – "
"You said your pay was lower last month. And last time we talked, you weren't even sure if you'd break even."
That was ... meant as a passing comment. A vague complaint, really. Just something I'd noticed in my account and hadn't looked into yet.
I shrugged. "It's probably taxes. Or pension stuff. You know how it goes."
"Exactly. You don't even know what it is."
I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it. I hadn't thought it was serious. Just annoying. But now that he’d brought it up...
I straightened a little in my seat. "I'm not bad with money, Marcus."
"I didn't say you were. But you don't pay attention to the details. Little things stack up fast, and half the time, you don't even realise it's happening."
I mean ... he wasn't wrong. I didn't like thinking aboutmoney more than I had to. I paid my bills and kept a general idea of where I stood, but I didn't comb through statements and track every transaction.
Marcus did, though. He always knew where every quid went. It was his job, after all. Numbers made sense to him in a way they never did to me.
I let out a slow breath and leaned forward to rest my chin in my hand. "Okay, but what do you want me to do about it? I can't exactly ask for a pay rise."
"You don't have to do anything. I can take care of it."
I frowned. "Take care of it how?"
"We set up a joint account. I can manage your payments, figure out where the issue is. You won't even have to think about it."
My brain caught up a little too late. "Joint account?"
He gave a small, reassuring smile. "It makes sense, doesn't it? You're already juggling too much. This way, I can make sure nothing slips through the cracks."
Well... It sounded logical. He was good with money. And we'd talked about the future recently, so it wasn't totally out of nowhere.
Still, I hesitated. "That's a big step. I mean, that's – "
"Just smart. You trust me, don't you?"
"Well, yeah. Of course, I do. It's not that."
He reached across the table, brushing his fingers over the back of my hand. "Then let me do this for you. We're in this together, right?"
I sighed, my fingers twitching beneath his. The idea still didn't sit right... But I could've just been overthinking again. Marcus always had a plan. He knew what he was doing. And he was right. I was stretched too thin. If this took one thing off my plate, then it could only help.
