Romantic getaway? I don't think so

Why, Mike? Why?!

Mike stood in front of the reception area at Rima, with the bag of sandwiches and cookies in his hand. He wanted to walk into the kitchen and look for a plate, because he wanted to keep at least a bit of professionalism given the circumstances, but then he thought better of it and, knowing that it would piss Michelle off, placed the bag right on top of the reception desk. Sure enough, her nostrils flared when she noticed him standing there, looking all smug. She walked out of the employee area, carrying a cup of coffee. She pinched the bag with the tips of her two fingers, as if it had insulted her in some way, and handed it out to him. He took it, but not before he winked at her.

"Why are you here?", she put her hands on her hips, throwing him a quick glance and then focused on a speck of dust on the lower part of the desk. Mike knew that she couldn't force herself to look at him for longer than necessary, or even call out his name. It amused him and saddened him at the same time.

"Good morning, how are you, I'm fine, don't mention it," he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. What do you want?" She sounded bored.

"Well I didn't come to see you, that's for sure. I'm here because Dominic wanted to see me. Is he in the office?" He mimicked her tone, trying to get her to react, but she remained calm and composed.

"He's not. Why don't you go outside and wait for him?"

"Nah...I prefer this place to the rain outside."

"Too bad. I was hoping you'd catch a cold. Or death."

"Tough luck. Maybe next time." Mike shrugged.

"I'll keep my fingers crossed." She said it so determinedly that he was on the tipping point of frustration.

"Listen, you..."

"Mikey, my boy! So good to see you. Come with me," Dominic came behind his back and put his arm around his neck, pulling him in for a hug, effectively disrupting another round of arguing between him and Michelle.

"Yeah, yeah. I brought you something to eat."

"How kind of you, thank you. Michelle, I'm at the meeting and I don't want to be disturbed."

Mike turned around, stuck out his tongue to her, and she gestured with her middle finger as to what she thought of him being friends with Dominic. He rolled his eyes again and went down the hall to Dominic's office.

"What did you want to talk about, brother?"

"I have a problem with Anya." Dominic leaned back on his chair and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Trouble in paradise? So soon?" Mike saddened.

"Oh on the contrary, we dove straight into paradise." Dominic giggled.

"So you did it!" Mike grinned.

"Yeah, Mike. We did it, but it came with a price."

"This should be interesting," he said, still grinning.

"She gave me an ultimatum which I had to agree with, in order to start the relationship." Dominic tried to keep a serious face, but he couldn't resist smiling back at him.

"What was it?"

"She wants to quit this job."

"But this is the only job she has, right?"

"Yes. If I hadn't fallen in love with her, I'd have given her a raise because she can do so much more. This changes things. Not for me, obviously, but the people will talk and Anya would have walked away, job or no job. I won't let that happen."