Salman joins me in gathering up the papers. ‘Hey, paper cuts are extremely dangerous, I’ll have you know.’
‘Of course they are,’ I say with an eye roll.
‘You know,’ Salman says, handing me the final sheet to put away in the box, ‘for what it’s worth, I’m glad Omar pulled out. I don’t think I could leave Eternally Yours yet.’
‘You love the job that much, do you?’
His eyes soften at the same time a slow smile builds on his lips. ‘Something like that.’
I swallow. Even though I was initially happy about my win – even if it was only hypothetical – my joy quickly evaporates. Instead, with Salman reminding me what would have happened if I had officially won, I feel kind of .?.?. sad, I guess. I think about me working at Eternally Yours without him around. This past week has been tough, that’s for sure, but I couldn’t imagine it any other way. Even though he’s been a pain, he’s also been a comfort. It’s felt less like being at work and more like having a friend round.
At the same time, I know this isn’t the way I should be thinking. He’s shown me what he’s capable of. He’s shown me that he can pull the rug out from underneath my feet, and that he means more to me than I do to him.
I clear my throat and put the sheet away, closing the lid of the box before putting it back on the shelf. ‘We should probably get back and work on the proposals,’ I say, wanting an excuse to get out of this confined space. ‘This job is one of the better ones, and I’d like to keep it. I didn’t think working in an office would be like this. I thought it would be all sitting at your desk and sending emails all day, but doing the matches has actually been quite fun.’
Salman blinks rapidly before he rubs his brow. ‘Right? I liked last week’s presentation. Though I bet you hated every minute of standing up there.’
‘Yeah, and your stupid questions didn’t make it any better!’ The annoyance I felt on Friday flares in my chest. ‘What was that about?’
‘It’s not like you didn’t give it back,’ he says as he opens the door. The bright lights of the hallway blind me for a brief second.
‘Because you started it!’
Salman shuts the door behind us and softly shakes his head, like he’s irritated by me. ‘I only asked them because I knew you could take it. I know you. You research everything. You thinkthrough every scenario before you do anything.’
‘And that prompted you to ask questions you already knew the answers to? You make no sense to me.’
‘I only did it because I wanted Sadia to see how well you can do.’
‘Oh,’ I say, my voice rising. Salman knows I’m a people-pleaser to a fault but he doesn’t know how much I have riding on this, so why would he make sure I put my best foot forward in front of Sadia? Especially when he clearly has his own motive for being here. When we’re back in the main office, about to take our seats at our desks, I ask, ‘Why would you do that for me?’
‘Pops.’ He sighs, my name heavy on his lips, and even though I told him not to call me that, at this moment I don’t hate it.
What I do hate is how I’m falling for it.
Although we’re in an open room, there is barely any space between us. It feels like the walls are closing in, pushing us even closer to one another. All it would take is for us to inch slightly closer and our lips would touch. As his eyes go from my eyes to my mouth, I can see the moment happening in front of my eyes, the kiss that could take me back to a time before that fateful day, the warmth and relief of being back with my favourite person.
But then I remember that I can never have that back. He can never be that person for me again.
It’s all an act, the voice in my head seethes.Stop losing sight of why you’re really here. He has already proven to you that he can’t be trusted!
‘Actually, you know what?’ I say, moving towards my desk and sitting down in my chair, turning my gaze to the monitor. ‘Let’s divide and conquer.’
His shoulders slump with what I think is disappointment. Did he really want to kiss me that badly? Or was that part of his act? ‘Sadia said she wanted us to work together.’
‘And we still will.’ I fire up my laptop. ‘We’ll just start offseparately and then come together. How about you take the lead on a few and I take the lead on the others, and we work together by making edits directly in each other’s documents or adding comments on the side?’
I expect him to push back, so I’m surprised when he just sighs, walks to his desk and says, ‘Whatever you want, Poppy.’ Then he sits in his chair and puts in his AirPods. End of discussion.
Why do I suddenly wish I had a time machine and could go back about thirty seconds?
DATE PROPOSAL 1
