Love My Friends with Benefits

Mr. Chow asked me to sit down in front of him.

I sighed, not intending to explain. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."

There was no point mulling over the reason since the mistake had already been made. That was how things were in the workplace.

Mr. Chow shook his head and sighed. "You don't look so good. Have you been crying? Did you and your boyfriend break up?"

My breath hitched.

The word "boyfriend" hit me in a sore spot. Leonard had never treated me as his girlfriend. We could only be described as friends with benefits.

I didn't say anything. To Mr. Chow, this was a yes answer.

He stood up, walked over to me, and patted me on the shoulder sympathetically. "That's how relationships are, you know. There's no need to take it so seriously. You're still young, Queena, and there are many fishes in the ocean."

I tried to smile. "Thanks."

Something seemed to occur to Mr. Chow and his eyes lit up. "Oh, right, how about that guy from the investment firm? He seemed really interested in you!"

Was he referring to Austin?

I lowered my head and said nothing.

Mr. Chow winked at me. "Out with the old, in with the new. Queena, think about it. If you get together with Austin, you'll be able to close so many deals for the company!"

His enthusiasm flared up instantly. I could only go through the motions and say, "Thanks. I'll think about it."

"You should get some rest today." Mr. Chow sat down behind his desk again. "Get a good night's sleep and come back to work tomorrow."

...

Since my direct superior had given the order, I started packing up my things to go home.

As soon as I was done, the phone on my desk rang.

I answered it, and Lily's voice came through. "Miss. Jones, there's a client looking for you at the front desk."

Another client? It was the last thing I wanted to deal with at the moment.

I moved my lips, deciding not to tell her that I'd been given the day off. "Give me a minute, I'm on my way."

I put my bag back into the drawer underneath my desk and turned to see May giggling cheekily.

Could it be...

I frowned suspiciously and walked over to May. "Which client is here to see me? Is it Austin?"

"Don't jump to conclusions," May denied as she shook her head. "I haven't been in contact with him. How would I know whether he was here?" My suspicion was dispelled a little by her words.

She urged, "Hurry up!"

Recalling how skillfully May had acted at Phoebe's wedding, my suspicions were raised again. "Are you really not lying to me?"

"Why... why would I lie to you?"

May blinked innocently.

If not for her eyes darting around, she'd be more convincing.

"May, you..." I sighed.

I was about to say something else when Austin's voice rang out from behind me. "Hi, Queena."

How'd he get up here so quickly?

It was my turn to look sheepish. I turned around and reached out a hand. "Hi."

May smiled happily and went back to her seat. She started typing away, but who knew what she was really doing.

Austin reached out a hand and grasped mine.

His palm was warm and dry, and I could smell his expensive cologne. Inexplicably, I thought of another pair of hands, one that was longer, slimmer, and better-looking than Austin's.

Seeing that I was a little dazed, he smiled and held up his briefcase. "Aren't you going to invite me to have a seat? I have something important to talk about."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure."

I snapped back to reality and led Austin into an empty conference room.

He held out a chair for me before seating himself. He pulled out a document from his briefcase but didn't hand it to me. "Bad night's sleep?"

I ran a finger over my dark eye circles and lied, "Not really."

Austin was insistent. "You don't look..."

I felt a little annoyed and my tone became much more distant. "Aren't you here to talk about a deal?"

I knew I'd made the wrong move the moment the words were out of my mouth.

This deal with Austin was extremely important to our company and would have a direct impact on our profit for the remainder of the year. I couldn't offend such an important client because of my own issues. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," I explained.

Austin smiled and handed me the document. "No, you're not to blame. It was unprofessional of me to ask so many questions."

His gentleness easily resolved the awkward situation.

I accepted the document and started to read it seriously.

I looked through it for a long time, but I couldn't absorb anything. It felt like the words were all jumbled up.

Austin waited patiently, not saying a word.

The quieter he was, the more embarrassed I felt. I had no choice but to put the document aside and say, "I'm sorry, I'm really not in a good state today."

He smiled. "It's fine. Happens to everyone, right?"

His gaze was so gentle that it pierced me. I bowed my head, not daring to hold his gaze.

Austin's attitude towards me was obvious. A man would only be this accommodating and gentle with a woman when he was interested in her.

In fact, it seemed that he could no longer be satisfied with just sex.

However, I didn't feel anything for him and I didn't know whether I would with time. At the very least, I didn't have any feelings for him at the moment. The room fell into silence, the atmosphere becoming a little awkward.

Austin broke the silence. "You may not be inspired to read this here, but things could be different with a change of location."

It was obvious that he was asking me out.

I smiled absent-mindedly and said simply, "Really?"

"There's a cafe two streets away from here. The Blue Mountain coffee there's pretty good. Wanna give it a try?" Austin asked.

Coffee?

I was tempted by this suggestion. Perhaps I'd be in better condition after having some coffee.

Moreover, I really did need to make up for my earlier mistake.

"Well... why not?"

I nodded, agreeing to his invitation.

Austin drove us to the cafe.

It was decorated in an exquisite and classy manner. The customers were all well-dressed and carried themselves well, giving off the sort of aura only high-society folk would. In fact, there wasn't anything cheap on the menu.

I had rarely been to such places since leaving the Jones family at sixteen.

I was a little absent-minded and didn't even hear the waiter ask for my order.

"Miss, miss?" The waiter called me.

"Oh, sorry." I came back to my senses and smiled in embarrassment. "I'll have a Blue Mountain coffee with double sugar and milk."

Austin glanced at me and ordered a black coffee.

After the waiter left, Austin asked me, "You like sweet things?"

"Yeah, I have a sweet tooth."

I smiled at him.

My life was bitter enough; I didn't need to add bitter coffee to the mix. It was best taken by people who didn't have to worry about a thing.

Only those that had never experienced the bitter side of life would want to have a taste of it, right?☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐