We were just colleagues who got closer because we were working together on the same project. I had no idea since when it became a crime for us to have lunch together.

“You should be careful,” he repeated his warning sternly.

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I looked around to make sure that we were not attracting any unnecessary attention from the other people in the room before returning my attention to Richard. This would truly get out of hand if he got the wrong idea.

“Listen, I don’t know why you’re getting these ideas just because I went out to lunch with him but there is nothing going on. Thank you for the warning…” I said in a desperate whisper.

“Romance between employees is strictly forbidden in this company. If I were you, I wouldn’t do things that would attract suspicion,” he said before shooting me a glare.

I took in a deep breath before letting out a loud sigh. I was certain that there were many other instances of colleagues going out to lunch alone together. Just because we had lunch a couple of times alone and just because we talk now and then at the office doesn’t mean that we were romantically involved.

“I know that just as well as you do and that’s why I’ve been trying to explain to you that you’ve got it all wrong. He’s just a colleague and a good friend,” I repeated defensively.

“That better be the case because I don’t want to be reporting you two to the HR committee about something like this,” he muttered darkly.

I wanted to roll my eyes at how ridiculous the situation was. His warning scared me, but it wasn’t because he was concerned about my relationship with Jeremy. Although Richard didn’t know it, I was in fact dating someone from our company. He probably couldn’t imagine that of all the people in this company, I was dating our CEO. The thought of Richard or anyone else finding out about that made me feel sick inside.

“You won’t have to report anything. We’re just friends, honestly…” I said before offering him a smile.

I prayed with all my might that he would just drop the issue. Richard stared at my face as if he wanted to judge whether or not I was lying. I felt extremely uncomfortably but managed to stand my ground by not breaking eye contact with him. After a short moment that seemed to stretch on forever, Richard let out a sigh and looked away.

“I’ll believe you for now, but you should take my advice and be more thoughtful about your actions,” Richard advised with a serious look on his face.

“You’re right. I’ll be more mindful…” I replied in a small voice.

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I had to admit that his warnings may really be for my benefit. I wasn’t sure if it was hard for someone like Richard to voice his concerns directly like that, but it would have been hard had it been someone else. I couldn’t imagine initiating such a hard conversation like this with any of my colleagues. It hadn’t occurred to me until that moment that he was probably doing this for my own good. If push truly came to shove, as the company’s employees, we were expected to report misconduct of our colleagues to HR.

Richard shot me another look of warning before he turned his attention back to his work without saying anything more on that topic. Just as suddenly as the conversation started, it came to an abrupt end. I let out a silent sigh of relief when I realized that the storm was now over. I spent the rest of the day feeling slightly conflicted and depressed. I never thought that anyone would read into my relationship with Jeremy that way. Of course, I had no romantic feelings toward him, and I truly believed that he felt the same way. I enjoyed spending time with Jeremy so much during our lunch breaks that I didn’t want to stop seeing him.

Regardless, I told myself that I had to be more careful. Maybe I could find a way to spend time with him that wouldn’t cause any misunderstandings. One of the best ways might be to stop going out to lunch or spending time with him alone.

…

Juggling between my working for the project that I was staffed on, and the tasks required of me as Ace’s personal secretary did get easier as the days went by. At first, I truly struggled during the earlier days of Project Alpha. From learning and experience, I have improved quite a lot in managing both workstreams. I could proudly say that I was a lot more efficient at my secretarial work and that it didn’t take me as long as it took me before and that meant that I could focus more of my efforts on the project for my client.

“How are things going?” I asked although I only had one thing that I wanted to ask about and that was the merger.

I never dared voice that word on the premises of the office even if I was alone with Ace in his personal office. It just felt too risky and supposedly the walls have eyes and doors have ears. If this were to leak out, the damage would be way beyond repair.

“It’s still complicated. It’s sad, but there’s not much progress…” Ace admitted before showing me a tight smile.

Although not that much time had passed since Elizabeth stayed over with us, I had expected her to clear things up with her father right away after returning home. It just didn’t feel like her to keep things unsettled for too long. Maybe her father was the one being difficult again. I couldn’t ignore the possibility that Elizabeth might be indecisive in choosing between giving up Kyle or the merger.

“Well, I hope there will be some progress soon. How is Elizabeth?” I asked curiously.

“She’s holding up quite fine, much better than I thought. You don’t have to worry, she’ll figure something out,” he replied before winking at me.

--To be continued…

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