The Office Affair

Chapter 22: What now?

I did not have a great sleep that night. I keep on turning and tossing, replaying the conversation that we've had in my head. Maybe I could have handled it better since I was the one who brought it up but I reacted the wrong way when he made me feel guilty for leaving him without a word.

Now that I think about it, maybe that wasn't really the best thing to do in that situation. However, I was really scared of my feelings growing bigger and bigger that I couldn't control myself around him. I got lost in his presence and I just wanted to be with him all the time then I realized that it was destroying my chance of finishing college. 

Maybe if I explained it better that night, then we could have been fine. Stijn really proved to be a good listener and I wasn't able to capitalize on that because I let my feelings get in the way.

It's been weeks since we haven't talked to each other and I never received a call or even a message from him. Did I really hurt him? But at that time, I just wanted to clarify things with him so that we can move on with our relationship if you can even call it that.

It's been weeks now and he hasn't been in the office. I hope it isn't because of our recent fight because that would justify why I didn't want to date him in the first place.

"You seem to be out of the blue these days, Colton," Joana called my attention.

"Oh don't mind me. I just have a lot on my mind. The second semester just started last week and I already have a lot on my plate. Plus all these reports for signing. Speaking of, do you know when Stijn will be coming back to the office?"

"Well, he said he will be here later. He went to New York last week because of a meeting that is why he was MIA. So at least all your financial reports will now be signed."

"Okay."

I breathe a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't avoiding me because of our fight but he just went to an out-of-town meeting. He didn't even try to tell me about it though and I kinda feel hurt about it. No. I'm not really entitled to anything because he isn't my boyfriend and maybe we're over? **Heavy sigh

"Oh, by the way, we will have our yearly team building this month so make sure to finish all the necessary reports by then. It will be a whole week so I hope it doesn't make a conflict with your classes."

"Yeah, no problem. I can just ask my prof for advance notes. Will everyone in this department be there?"

"Yeah. Even our senior and junior managers said yes. They aren't required to be there but they said they would love to meet everyone in their department. Speaking of which, we will have a team meeting with Stijn later. Just for updates"

Okay, that got me a little bit anxious. Though it will be a team meeting and it's not just gonna be the two of us but still, it's gonna be awkward on our part. I'll just have to hide behind my coworkers and pray that he doesn't pay attention to me.

That afternoon, we were all called into the conference room. The two teams were there with our two team leaders and we were waiting for Stijn.

"Good afternoon everyone. Sorry for the wait." Stijn announced his presence and we all greeted him.

He proceeded to the podium and asked for Joana and the other team leader to present their reports. I was leaning back on my seat to avoid his sight but Joana called her team's attention because we will report on our updates individually. This is not good news for me.

I chose to be last and when I got my turn, I put on my poker face and tried to calm my shaking hands. I've avoided his gaze and put all my attention on the people there even when he was asking questions for me. Heck, I was the only one with whom he asked questions but I directed my answers to my team and I can see their confused faces.