Pam and Jenna arrived the B Telecoms office at exactly 8:30 am. Offices normally starts 9:00 am so they have time to ask where the Project X would be. They were holding their visitor badges and got themselves on queue for the elevator ride. Early in the morning, influx of employees rushing to the elevator is a common scene so queue made to put things in order.
Jenna decided to wear the smart IT look. She wore a dress pants in black paired with boyfriend jacket of same textile. She wore a white shirt inside and suede flats. She looked smart with her hair pony-tailed and black rimmed glasses. The glasses are actually just protection for computer screen, but she liked wearing it.
Pam on the other hand wore a cropped dress pants in black and a chiffon skin tone blouse with ruffles from neck down to mid stomach like those of old English shirts. It was short sleeved and the black ribbon accenting the neck. She chose to wear oxford shoes for ladies. She exudes the young professional look. Her natural wavy curls fall just below her shoulder tucked both sides on her ears.
They waited at the floor reception area as the Delivery Manager from same company is yet to arrive. Since they do not know where they will be seated, they decided to wait from there. Chatting with their computers and bags on their lap, they were distracted by group of men entering the office laughing.
"Good Morning Sirs!" The reception lady politely greeted the bunch.
Jenna caught the Indian guy. If she is not mistaken this the Delivery Manager deployed for this project. Before she could even say 'excuse me.' a man in in powder blue long sleeves polo and dark blue pants advanced and said, "hi there ladies! I am Mark, your project manager."
The two had to shake hands with him.
"Ahem" Sanjay walked over on the side. "Are you Jenna and Pamela from the local team?"
The girls nodded their heads in sync and smiled. "So who is Jenna and who is Pamela?" Sanjay asked. He is one good looking Indian guy. Most of the Indian they worked talked in heavy accent. Sanjay sounds Australian.
Captivated by guys in front of them, Jenna was the first to answer. "I am Jenna."
"So obviously she is Pamela." Mark grinned.
Pam for a moment was tongue tied before she could say "Yes I am Pamela Cruz from the local office."
Everyone burst into laughter with what she said. She was like introducing herself in class. She blushed in embarrassment and most importantly, the tall guy towering from two other guys behind him is gazing at her with a lips curved up.
This is when Pam first met Tim. There was no handshake or whatsoever. He just looked at her and Jenna smiling yet aloof.
Later she learned his full name is Timothy Connor. He is half American half Chinese. No wonder his eyes looks Asian, but all the rest looks American his built, height and his accent. She is senior consultant for the application package that they are deploying for B Telecoms. This also gave her the opportunity to work with him closely as configuration analyst.
One late evening at work, everyone is doing over time to catch up on deployment schedule by next week. There was some fine tuning that needs to be done in one of the modules of the billing system. As the plan to complete the internal test before handing over to QA, their team was determined to complete the test tonight. Some are taking their coffee and sandwiches in their station while the others grab food quickly downstairs where fast food and restaurants are in vast selection.
Pam showed no signs of slowing down focused on her computer, fingers tapping on keyboard while seemingly muttering something like she is reading to herself. She got her hair up in bun so as not to distract her face. The sleeves of her cream colored one-piece oversized polo dress is rolled up to her elbows while front is completely buttoned up to her neck. She looked cute and innocent, but everyone knows she is one good diligent programmer.
Tim was looking at her while he sits diagonally against her in one corner of the floor area. He is carefully observing her for the past 4 months. In most cases where girls are attracted to him, by this time they would be throwing themselves to him. With Pam, he was like just another colleague.
"Hey aren't you hungry?" Tim finally approached her. "It's almost 9:00 pm."
Without even looking at him, "Oh i am not hungry, go get your dinner. I am good." She was expecting him to leave however he pulled an chair and looked at her two big monitors. She lifted her head and saw a well-defined jawline and the side profile of a handsome man. She quickly pulled back to her focus. Heart beat was racing. She tried to maintain calm in the outside.
"Hmm try setting value for this to zero and run the call again." He as looking intently on the screen.
Pam updated the configuration and submitted the job. It finally yielded the correct response. "Whoa~" she exclaimed. She stretched her arm up unaware of the sight she is creating. Tim was utterly surprised with her action.
She was smiling crossing her arms as if hugging herself while trying to crack her neck left and right. Turning her head back to Tim still smiling, "now i am hungry."
Unlike any other girls she have met or known, everyone seems to put up a front acting all lady like, demure, sexy or too sweet in front of him. Pam is different, she doesn't seem to have any pretensions in her body. Tim finds her interesting. "i am grabbing something downstairs, wanna join?"
Pam just smiled and took her mobile phone and wallet. No nonsense, she just stood and walk together with Tim. They continue to talk about the application and eyes were following them as they lead towards the exit of the floor. As Pam is wearing her favorite oxford shoes she stands just within his shoulder. If someone from the outside would be looking, they look like a cute couple.
Instead of taking out, they ate in about 20 minutes from a Mexican restaurant. Pam ate comfortably in front of Tim. To avoid his eyes, she would once in a while glance at her mobile phone and pretend to be reading some chats or feeds on her Instagram. This is the first time she ate with someone else other than Jenna or the team. This is her first time eating with Tim.
Tim on the other hand was pretending to be a friendly colleague. As he was not getting any hints of interest from Pam towards him, he played it cool. Now paying attention to her face, nothing seems to be extra special about Pam except that her eyes black eyes were sparkling. She also smiled like she was the happiest person on earth. There is innocence in her face like someone you wanted to keep and protect.