I shook my head as I thought about my actions. Was I too harsh with my words? Len looked a little timid in there.
No. I'm not wrong. It's a little bit of tough love here in the office. I'll spoil him after office hours. Maybe I should check up on him.
I hummed to myself as I thought about his expression when he saw me touching that woman's arm. It was just business. That woman was of high standing in JJJ Corp, it would do well to please her.
I wouldn't meet with her if not for the crucial need to succeed in the proposal. When Len saw what I did, his expression darkened and he looked jealous. It made my heart jump with joy. It meant he thought of me as something more than a mere fuck buddy.
I then swiveled to head back to the room to calm him down. As I approached the room, Len's sobbing could be heard. My heart clenched as I found myself feeling upset for making him that sad.
"... Maybe I should get him something warm to drink..."
I then left to get Len a cup of coffee as I set it to brew and took two coffee cups from the cabinet and set it aside. The coffee machine beeped soon after and I poured the coffee into the cups. I took some sugar cubes and placed it into his cup before stirring.
Len liked sweet things. I knew this because he mentioned it once when he was drunk.
I then placed the cups on a small coffee table and left to get Len. As I walked towards the room, I heard Len's high pitched voice that he usually uses whenever he was flustered.
My heart raced as I knitted my brows. I can't believe I forgot that Rayson had a meeting in the same room!
I hurriedly opened the door and found Rayson touching Len's forearm. I found myself enraged but quickly calmed myself before turning my gaze from Len to Rayson.
"Rayson, sorry if he messed up. I'll handle things now." I said as I waited for Len to walk to my side.
My words sounded nice but if Rayson were to read between the lines... It would be bad. I basically meant something along the lines of, 'You can f*ck off now. Leave him to me.'
As Len exited the room, I waved goodbye and quickly stepped out before grabbing his hand and pulling him to a secluded corner of the office.
"What was that earlier?!" I asked as I pinned Len against the wall.
"H-huh? ... Earlier?" Len looked up at me timidly as he backed himself further against the wall.
"Yes."
"... I bumped into R-R-Rayson... I just helped him pick up his documents which I caused to drop.
"Is that all that happened?"
"Yes. A-are you going to punish me?"
I bit the inside of my cheeks as I stared directly into Len's round eyes. He blinked it slowly, attracting my interest before he tugged at my sleeve.
Cuuuutteee!!!
"Hmm... Do you want to be punished?" I huffed as I tried to hide how elated I felt.
"N-no..."
"That's what I thought. Be more careful next time." I said as I patted his shoulder.
"A-are you no longer angry?"
"... ...? Angry? When was I?"
"Eh? You weren't? But..."
"Len. We're in the office now. We should be more professional... But I guess I'm eating my own words because.... Well..." my cheeks flushed as I thought of what I did yesterday. I must have been crazy to do that in the office.
Len looked at me with his confused expression, making my lips twitch as I wanted to grin. I settle for pulling his cheeks before asking him to follow me.
"Here. Drink this." I said as I handed him the cup of coffee I had prepared.
It was still warm so it should be no problem. I watched as Len thanked me and took a sip from the cup.
He looked cute even when drinking coffee... Oh God... I must be insane.
My eyes stayed fixated on his face as I etched the lovely image before me into the back of my mind. I could see a little bit of his tear stain on his cheeks.
I found my heart sank at the sight and stood up as I went to wet my handkerchief. I then walked back to the table and dabbed my damp handkerchief on Len's cheeks, clearing off the tear stains.
"W-What are you doing?" Len asked as his cheeks flushed. He didn't stop me but found himself flustered at the action.
"Nothing. We'll be done with work soon. Do you want to go anywhere?" I asked with a gentle smile, or so I hope.
"Out.... go out... with me?"
"Yeah. We can grab dinner." I said as I hoped he'd accept. I know the order was all wrong but I probably wasn't in the right mind yesterday when Rayson dissed Len.
A long silence filled the atmosphere as I waited patiently for Len's response. I tried to keep the anxiety at bay as I nervously fidgeted with my feet beneath the table.
"Okay." Len said as he glanced up towards me.
I nearly broke into a grin when he continued his sentence. "But... I need to go home by 8pm."
"Oh... sure. You have a curfew?"
"Oh, no. It's just... I have some things to attend to." Len said as he smiled apologetically at me.
"I see. Well, it can't be helped but... We can spend time together during the short amount of time." I said as I tried to put off the idea that he actually didn't want to spend time with me.
"I'm sorry..."
"Huh? No, there's nothing to be sorry about." I replied as I felt a smile tugging at my lips. He apologised that we couldn't spend a longer time together! That means he didn't mind going on a date with me!
"Ah... right... ..."
I couldn't help it but grinned as I watched Len fiddle with his cup. He then stared into its content before glancing up at me and breaking the silence.
"This coffee... is sweet... Did you make it?"
"W-well... yeah..."
"I see... Thank you. I like it." Len said as he looked down to hide his expression but I knew he was elated and embarrassed as even his ears flushed red.
"No problem." I said as I leaned onto my hand and stared at him.
***
After our short break, I insisted on washing the cups and sent Len back to the office first. I then sighed as I ran my fingers through my hair.
The smile that I tried to keep reigned in, broke into a wide grin on my face as I felt the giddiness settle in. I did a mini celebration in my head for being able to successfully invite Len on a date.
"Oh, Doyle. You're here." a voice said from behind me. I flinched before I put on my usual deadpan face saved for the office.
"Yes? How can I help you? Woah!" I asked as I turned around, only to find Rayson so close to my face.
"Ah. Sorry about that. I wanted to grab a coffee cup." Rayson said as he moved a little to the side but remained very much still in my personal space.
"I-it's fine. You just surprised me. Is your meeting over already?" I asked as I dried my hands and tapped his shoulder to move him to the side.
Rayson merely grinned as he returned the favour and instead patted my shoulder as he leaned in and grabbed a coffee cup from the cabinet behind me. Ugh. What a roundabout way to do things.
"It is still ongoing. I'm just getting them some coffee."
"It seems enough only for one person, though."
"Hahah. I'm just teasing."
"Yeah. How many cups do you need? I might as well help you take down the cups since I'm standing here."
Rayson leaned in against my back as he brushed his legs on my inner thigh while his hand touched mine that flinched and nearly dropped the cup.
"Be careful, Doyle." Rayson's breath tickled my ear, sending shivers down my spine. Oof... I think I have some goosebumps.
"R-right. Anyways. Can you give me some space! You tend to do this a lot." I said as I placed the cups on the counter and turned around to confront Rayson.
"Do what?" Rayson asked as he blinked innocently at me. I did a double take because his face was so close to mine.
Dark ebony hair tickled my nose as his piercing blue eyes stared directly into mine. He had a smile on his face which I know why the women called it a killer smile. I could feel myself agreeing with their statements. However... I was 10000000000% uncomfortable with the distance between us.
"C-close! Rayson! You're too close!"
"Eh? Is that so? I didn't realise. My bad." Rayson said as he moved away from me. I sighed in relief as I turned to align the cups on a tray.
"It's fine. Did you lose your contacts again?"
"Eh? How'd you know? I lost it this morning. Well, you weren't here at the office yet, though. Did you oversleep?"
"Well... I did."
"That's strange. Didn't you say you found it hard to sleep and never overslept?"
"I told you that? Hmm.... Well. Let's say I found a reason to sleep for a long while." I said as I turned towards Rayson and grinned.
I then poured the coffee into the cups as I handed the tray over to Rayson. He gasped at the weight but held onto the tray nonetheless before bidding me farewell and walking back to his office.
I couldn't hear what he muttered as he left but took no heed of it as I quickly left the area to go to my desk and finish whatever workload I had left for the day.
The sooner I finish, the quicker I could leave for the date!