“Oh? If it’s not our dear Noah from Tech,” Teresa drawled in a sultry lilt. The brunette in her forties was the Head of the company’s PR Department and liked to hang out with the Security ladies. She was also Noah’s reason for wanting to avoid the thirty-eighth floor altogether. “See, ladies”—she winked at him, clapping her manicured hands together—“I told you he’d come up if you withheld the approval.”
Noah blinked slowly at her.Seriously?He barely kept his jaw from clenching or his smile from transforming into a scowl.
“Teresa,” he said, channeling a neutral business tone. “You know how my manager can be. I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t encourage this kind of thing.”
Teresa batted her eyelashes at him, half of which he was sure were those fake ones you glued along your eyelid. “Maybe if you came up here more often, I wouldn’t need to do it?” she countered, flashing him one of those uncannily seductive smiles of hers.
Upon meeting the woman when he’d joined the company, he’d wondered if her position as one of the Church’s most prominent ministers on top of PR and Vice Director was why she liked to meddle in his personal affairs like this, but he’d quickly come to notice it went beyond that.
“I’m very busy, you know that,” he shot back. While hewasbusyofficially, he was also extremely efficient at what he did and how he did it, so most of the time he had to simulate busyness, so he didn’t have to deal with stuff which was abovehis pay grade.
“Are they still forcing all these trainings on you? You should just put in a transfer request and join my team instead,” she mused, giving him a not-so-subtle once-over.
Noah restrained a shudder. While the pay would be higher, there was no way he was doing that because being stuck with her and the pack of thirsty middle-aged women on the PR’s actual floor was the kind of hell he did not need in his life. The strenuous reevaluation by the Church’s Occupational Committee he’d need to pass sucked too, and so did the fact that he would have to start the trainee program from zero.
“I appreciate the offer, Teresa, but I have eighteen months of training left to do in my current position. I’d rather not throw all that away,” Noah replied, letting fake disappointment dictate the nature of his tone.
Teresa propped her hip against the closest desk, crossed her arms and tapped her fingers along her chin. “Ah, they only let you undergo the reevaluation after the first twenty-four months, don’t they?” It was a question directed at Noah, but he just shrugged—corporate bureaucracy was not his strong suit. “Perhaps I should have a chat with the Director then.” She waved the topic off. “In any case. Today, you are joining us for a meal after work.”
Noah wanted to groan. “I don’t think tha—”
“5:45 at the foyer,” she cut him off, dismissing him with another wave of her hand. “Youarecoming with us, dear. My treat. It’s been a while.”
Great. Entertaining a bunch of hyenas instead of relaxing at home was exactly what Noah had hoped to avoid. He opened his mouth to voice an excuse, but Teresa’s arched eyebrow told him that whatever plans he might have had, he just needed to postpone them.
“Yeah, that sounds great,” he agreed belatedly, then shifted his attention to the other women. “Can you send over the approvals, please, so I can get Rosetta off my back?”
Four hours later, Noah had everything ready for the platform to go live tomorrow. He headed down to the ground floor after updating Rosetta and found Teresa and the three women from Security waiting for him by the yellow couches near the reception area. People were milling about the lounge next to it, with both employees and guests making use of the overpriced café or occupying the tables along the thick glass front.
It crossed Noah’s mind to bail, but before he could decide whether he wanted to go through with it, Teresa noticed him. Biting on the inside of his cheek, he hid his frustration with a wide smile.
“There he is!” Antonietta, the oldest among the four women, called out, stroking her blond ponytail as he walked over to them.
“Noah, dear, finally. Ready to head out?” Teresa ushered with a flourish. “I was just about to go up to the sixth floor.”
“Sorry. I had to update Rosetta. I hope I didn’t make you wait too long.”
“Ah, that explains things. And no, you didn’t. But we should be on our way since our reservation was for six and they’ll only hold it for so long.”
Or she could call and let them know they were running a little late. Noah was sure whatever restaurant Teresawas dragging him to wouldn’t mind accommodating her, of all people.
“The taxi is here. Let’s go then,” Antonietta chirped in, ushering them out.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at a posh-looking socializing club in Miraflores, the likes of which Noah couldn’t afford unless he was being treated. With his simple shirt and jeans, he felt a little out of place as a waiter in a suit welcomed and escorted them to their table on the patio out back. The women all seemed to feel right at home, their pencil dresses and pantsuits with silver and gold embroidery matching the venue’s vibe as if they’d coordinated it from the start.
“Noah, dear,” Teresa purred after ordering the chef’s special for everybody. “Is everything okay with you? I stopped by your local church last Sunday and didn’t see you at the weekly service.”
God forbidhe skipped those and neglected his duty to find a suitable wife and produce an offspring.Even worse if he did it in lieu of secretly painting all Sunday morning.
“I was meeting up with friends, so I went to the one in Barreiro,” he lied, beaming his most charming smile at her.
“Oh? Father Antonio must’ve been happy to see you,” she mused, taking a sip from her crystal wine glass.
As the Church’s representative in Lisbon, Teresa oversaw much of the religious activities in the city, including the mandatory marriage workshops all single people aged sixteen and up were required to attend at least once a month. Noah tended to get sick every other month by coincidence and, unfortunately, missed them half of the time. As for the catch-up materials and videos that he had to skim through and pretend he’d read afterwards, those were easier to stomach than sitting through the sessions themselves.
“He was. And he sent his regards.”
“Thank you, dear.”
