The 18th Floor

Chapter Seventeen

He looks like shit. Even more than usual. I was greeted by our office door being left open and him already at his desk. He's hardly here before me. He looks up at the sound of wheels turning in and something like relief washes over him as he takes me in from head to toe, assessing.

"Good morning", he nods, and puts on his soft smile. A smile I've hardly he seen him use with the others except Simon as of late.

Despite our small team, each of us are assigned a sub-division of the department and the different types of projects that we work around. We hardly create campaigns together and the meetings are there to let each other know what we are working on. With Lucien as the head, he signs off on everything. So much success at such a young age.

"Good morning", I smile back as I go over to my desk where my coffee is already waiting for me.

As I start to get ready for the day, Lucien clears his throat and begins, "it's good to have you back. Are you ok?"

"Yh, I just wasn't feeling too well. Sorry for taking an extra day off. If there is any work that needs to be done, I can stay –"

He cuts me off. "I don't care about the work, are you ok?" he asks again.

I look over myself, "do I not look ok?", I ask confused.

"No, no, I mean yes you look fine, you look perfect in fact, but I just wanted to double check you were feeling okay", he reassures me.

You look perfect.

"Oh, ok, thank you but I am feeling much better now."

He nods, but then I carry on.

"Are you ok?", and now he looks at me confused.

"Do I not look ok?", he jokes back at me.

"Don't reuse my jokes", I laugh off but then say, "just some days you look a bit tired than most, so I wanted to check in."

He looks at me surprised or angry, I can't tell and suddenly I feel my throat closing up.

"Sorry I didn't mean to overstep my mark, of course you might be tired, busy life, MD –"

"I have trouble sleeping some nights, insomnia", he cuts me off again. I didn't expect him to answer.

"Oh", I say, he nods. "If you want, when I have sleeping difficulties, they prescribed me a pill. I can give you the name, it helps a lot. You can talk to your GP about it."

"That would...that would be very nice. This past week I've barely slept more than a few hours", he nods back at me smiling, almost surprised at himself of the admission he has made to me.

I should have realised sooner, his undereye bags are present most days. So caught up in myself I hardly to stopped to ask him if he was okay. Now that I think of it, he does it often, checking in but how many times have I? I make a mental note to be more proactive.

I write down my medication on a sticky note and he comes over to take it from me, our fingers slightly brushing. We both get started on working, a soft calm settling over us.

---

By the end of the day, I am exhausted. Missing two days off work when I had taken on a new project last week meant I had a lot to catch up on today. As we pack up, we fall into our usual routine of Lucien opening the door for me and both of us heading down to the parking lot.

Although it has happened multiple times, I still hold my breathe every time Lucien places his arms under my legs and behind my back to lift me into the G-Wagon. I can feel his muscles clenching underneath and his perfume strong enough, that it sometimes rubs off onto my clothes if I wear them back to back. After placing my chair in the back, he gets in next to me and starts the engine.

"Are you fully Greek?" I ask.

He laughs, "I'm surprise you didn't ask sooner. Yes, you?", he turns and looks at me as we stop at a red light.

"Well, my dad told me my mum is Greek, she picked my name but my English surname is a dead giveaway I am half English. Although I've never connected with my 'Greek' side", I tell him.

"Fair enough", he says, "and yes, I am Greek. Both my parents were Greek, but they grew up in London."

"Were?", escapes my mouth before my brain catches up with it.

"They both passed away a while ago", the mood sours.

"I'm sorry to hear that", I say turning to face him at the pain of losing two parents, but he's looking out at the road, regardless of the fact that we are still held up at a red light. Despite not really knowing my mum after she got up and left me and my dad, I can't begin to imagine the pain he's felt. The thought of losing my dad is enough to send me into panic. I clear my throat and turn back as well.

"I've been once. To Athens" I say, trying to change the mood, "it was pretty, but it was just me and my dad. Him trying to get me to connect with my heritage. Neither of us spoke a word of Greek so we got by with English and pointing at things." He chuckles.

"I usually go for longer breaks in summer, but head out when I can," he begins, "I have a lot of family back home, my older sister lives there with her husband and my two nephews."

I didn't even know he had a sister, let alone nephews.

"I try and fly out when I can. It can get lonely here."

"Do you have much family here?" I ask.

"Simon", he says he says without hesitation, and at first, my heart warms at the bond those two have but also cracks too. "I have an aunt here, with her kids, but they live up North. I see them more regularly when I go to Greece than here", he laughs.

"That's nice at least, having somewhere to go back to. My dad has a younger brother, with two girls around my age. Other than that, it's just me and my dad", I sigh.

"A small family is good, cosy", he reassures me. "I'm guessing you don't speak Greek?"

"Nope."

He smiles softly, "that's something we can work on slowly agápi mou", he says as he pulls into my drive way. I look at him confused.

"Brush up on your Greek, I'll be throwing in more words from now on", he says as he kills the engine.

"Whatever you say boss."

The car switches off and he's out, going to the back to get my chair and opening the door for me before I can. As carefully as ever, he scoops me up and places me in my chair.

"Thank you", I say, still struggling to fight the redness that finds my cheeks every time we touch and I feel the muscle under his shirt.

"Coffee?" I ask as always.

"I can't today, I'm sorry", he says and I try to hide the disappointment I feel.

We say our byes as I fumble with my keys, and its only when I've shut the door and gone inside the house, that I hear his car engine start.