Dedicated to &

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Never fall for a popular guy. It will be either a waste of time or the ultimate disaster. Cobie has had the wisdom tattooed in her mind for almost a decade now, and the memory that comes with it is impossible to ignore. No matter how dreamy and tempting those guys are, she knows better.

She also knows better than to stare at Luke Williams who is now talking and laughing on the phone. Yet, her rebellious eyes betray her devilishly.

The man is sitting on his managerial desk, facing the window, one foot dangling, and his long fingers fumbling with the document beside him. It's a good thing that he doesn't have eyes on the back of his head, otherwise, he would catch her staring. Feeling like a creep, Cobie reverts her gaze to her computer screen, inwardly complaining why her boss' office wall is made of glass. It should be illegal.

"Keep your mind out of the gutter, Cobie," she mumbles as she shakes her head.

In her defense, who doesn't find Luke attractive anyway? At least, all females in this office do. Even her male colleagues sometimes gawk at him as if her boss were a choco ice cream in the middle of the desert.

Luke is simply that charming. With his broad posture that screams confidence, walnut brown hair complementing his beautiful hazel eyes, dreamy deep voice, and a smile that could melt an ice cube within a second, he attracts all the attention only by living and breathing. And no, he is nothing mysterious, or dark, or dangerous like most girls fantasize about from a fictional character nowadays. He's just Luke. He's friendly, charismatic, and he always knows what to say to make women blush.

Cobie snorts when she realizes she just spent the whole fifteen minutes daydreaming about her boss. It's not like she's going to make a move on him. Plus, Luke never sees her that way. Their relationship has been strictly professional, and Cobie wants to keep it at that. It doesn't matter how kindly Luke has treated her as his subordinate, a popular guy is just a no-no.

Shoving the thoughts to the back of her mind, she wiggles her mouse to turn off the screen saver, then minimizes her browser. She instantly groans when she sees her reflection on the dark computer screen. She didn't have time to wash her hair this morning, causing her jet-black hair to lose its volume and lie flat on her skull. The worst part of having greasy hair is it ruins the rest of her appearance because the excessive oil ravages her deep-set-eye makeup. Within no time, her brown eye shadows leave no trace, revealing her puffy eyes.

"Bad hair day, huh?" says a voice behind her.

While tying up her hair into a ponytail, Cobie spins her chair around and finds Lucy rummaging through her yellow bag. "Smeagol hair day. Yeah."

Her colleague giggles before retracting her wallet from her bag. "Are you sure you're not coming with us? The empanada food truck is back this week."

"Nah. I brought lunch. Another time."

"Okay." Lucy pivots on her heels and waves at her. "Later."

Once the girl disappears behind the elevator doors, Cobie glances out of the window. She can never tell if it's actually a wall or a window since the building is glass architecture. The drizzle has stopped for a while but the clouds are still hanging low, threatening to pour some more rain soon. The streets must be wet with water pooling at random spots on the pavement now, shitty to walk on in her flat shoes. She's just glad she doesn't have to get out of this building for lunch at the moment.

On the other hand, eating at her desk every single day gets boring, especially when everyone decides to go out. With summer approaching, spending time outside under the glaring sun is something she's been waiting for. She needs sun. The thing is, she doesn't know how to stop her mom from packing up her lunch every morning. And she doesn't have the heart to not eat what she makes for her.

A notification blinks in the corner of the computer screen, pulling Cobie back to the current moment. She smiles when she sees what it is. Clicking on her mouse again, she opens the chatbox.

Yo, what's up? What's for lunch?

Hi! Dunno yet. Haven't checked.

So, your eating at your desk again today. Eeek. Boring

It's a rainy day. Can't hurt to stay in to keep me dry. So, how was your weekend?

Meh. The usual. It's been dry here and been helping mom out with the backyard

Good boy. How's the job hunting going?

No progress yet. Gonna need to send some more applications today.

You do that.

How's your Monday so far? What did you say you did at work again? Data analyst?

Research analyst.Close enough :) Not so busy considering I just spent my last fifteen minutes gawking at someone.

That hot dude at work!

Who else?

BreadPitt is typing...

Hey, keep typing, I need to run for a bathroom break and grab my lunch from the pantry fridge. Brb.

Cobie gets up and makes a beeline to the restroom with a smile on her face. It has been weeks since she talked to this BreadPitt guy on a dating site. She doesn't even know why she made an account there a few months ago. Maybe she can blame it on the crappy winter and the lack of companionship. Yes, her life can be that miserable sometimes.

After getting a series of weird —borderline creepy— messages from random guys, BreadPitt's jolly approach felt so entertaining. The more they talked, the more they found things in common. However, it's hard to tell if there is anything romantic between them. All she knows, talking to him is easy.

With a lunch box and yogurt in her hands, Cobie saunters back to her desk, feeling less gloomy knowing she has someone to talk to while having lunch. But when she sees brown hair peeking from behind her cubicle wall, her heart skips a beat.

"Luke," she says to the man who is sitting on her chair, his eyes on the phone in his hand.

Luke cranes his neck to look in her direction and smiles, forcing Cobie to hold her breath. "Evans." He always calls her by her last name, which annoys her for some reason.

"Why are you here?"

"Am I not allowed to be here? In my own team's office space?"

Noticing BreadPitt's chat box is still on display, Cobie walks briskly to her desk, careful not to stumble into Luke's long legs which sprawl over her cubicle room. She puts her lunch box down before quickly turning off her computer screen, hoping Luke didn't see the chat.

"Of course you're allowed. But you're inside my cubicle and sitting on my chair. You always summon me to your office when you need something from me. Am I in trouble?"

Luke raises his eyebrows. "Why would you think that?" He squints his eyes while the corner of his lips curls into a smirk. "Evans, what did you do?"

Cobie leans on her desk, crossing her hands over her chest. "Why do you answer my question with another question? My brain hurts."

The guy laughs at her reply, slipping his phone into his pocket. "Sorry. But I'm probably going to hurt your brain even more for the rest of the day though. That's the very reason I'm here."

"Should I be scared?"

"Maybe. Remember the data Bram needs for the Global Sports group? He said he needed it for Wednesday right? Umm, can you" —Luke drums his fingers on her chair armrest— "make it happen today?"

"What? That's insane!"

"I know it's a lot." Luke winces. "But if you can wrap it up today, it will make a huge difference."

"How so?"

"If we can send them the pre-analysis tomorrow, they might be able to squeeze us in this week, stealing the first spot. I'm taking over the project by the way."

"Oh?"

"Bram has a lot on his plate right now. He's slowing down. But we can't afford to lose Global Sports."

Cobie frowns as she chews her lower lip. Thinking about the amount of work if she agrees to Luke's request makes her hesitate. She will definitely need to stay back tonight for that. But if they get the deal, the incentive will be grand. Plus, it will add points to her appraisal; the valid ground to demand a proper raise. "Alright. I'll see what I can do."

"That's my girl." Luke flashes his dimpled smile, and she grunts inwardly. It's when his mobile phone chimes, prompting him to dip his hand into his pants pocket. "I'm meeting clients after lunch, and I won't be back to my office today. Email me the data when it's done?"

"Okay. And Luke," Cobie calls, glancing at the blinking phone in his hand. "Since I will need to stay longer at work today, I want it to be counted as overtime."

"Anything for you, Evans. Just write down how many hours you need. Sorry for the extra work though, and" —he smirks again — "the forbidden relationship talk needs to wait a bit." With that, he taps on his screen and brings the phone to his ear. Winking at her, he greets whoever it is on the other side of the line and walks away.

Puzzled with Luke's last line, Cobie frowns while her eyes are following him to the elevator. His secretary is standing by the gate in her painfully high stilettos, smiling brightly as her boss strides towards her. It's not a secret that she's head over heels for Luke and probably waiting for the right time to get her claws into him. Once Luke stands next to her, she tosses her hair like a model in a photoshoot. She then hands a leather brown briefcase to him before adjusting the straps of her red Versace bag on her shoulder.

Still with her mind lingering on Luke's words, Cobie turns around and plops down on her chair. She switches on her computer screen and the chatbox from BreadPitt comes into view.

: I dont get why you haven't made a move on him yet. Gawking at him from time to time doesn't make him notice you. Men can be that clueless, y'know? Just ask him out and see what happens.

Hold on. Didn't you say he was your superior at work? Would you be in trouble if you seduced him?

Man, I'm loving this. Forbidden relationship! Woohoo! Lets goooo

Cobie groans audibly, banging her forehead on her desk.

He read it. Shit. How much did he read? Did he know it was about him?

Cobie's head jerks up, rereading BreadPitt's messages. He wrote 'superior' instead of 'boss' or 'manager', which means it doesn't have to be Luke, right? It can be Bram or Sam. But, oh, those two guys are in their forties and happily married. Would Luke buy it?

Guess what? The very person was just sitting here on my chair and reading your freaking messages!

🔹🔹🔹