Beautiful disaster (completed)

Chapter 19 - Maze of Codes and Old Roads

I rubbed my temples, staring blankly at the error-ridden code on my computer screen. It had been a long and exhausting week. I had been avoiding my colleagues after the embarrassing drunken episode at the team dinner last week, and now I was struggling to fix this code. I felt drained and overwhelmed.

Surprisingly, none of my colleagues had mentioned anything about my drunken ramblings or Kabir hadn't talked to me other than work. It was almost like it hadn't happened. I wasn't sure if I felt relieved or disappointed.

I sighed as I stared at the error messages flashing across my computer screen. It had been two hours of trying to fix a bug in my code, but nothing seemed to be working. Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was already 9 pm. My teammates had left over an hour ago, eager to start their weekends. But I had volunteered to stay late, not having much to look forward to at home.

I was about to give up and pick back up on Monday.

Just then, I heard footsteps and turned around to see Kabir walking towards my cubical. My mind instantly flashed back to the team dinner night when I had made a fool of myself in front of him. I felt my cheeks grow warm at the embarrassing memory.

"Hey, still working?" Kabir asked, leaning against my desk.

I minimized the window hastily. The last thing I needed was for Kabir to critique my sloppy, unfinished work.

"Uh, yeah. Just trying to get this feature working before the release next week," I replied, avoiding eye contact.

"Mind if I take a look?" he asked. Before I could protest, he had already reopened the file, scrolling through the code with a concentrated look. I fidgeted nervously with my access card, resisting the urge to snatch my laptop away from him.

" umm, just trying to get this page template to render correctly," I mumbled, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear self-consciously.

We sat side by side at my workstation, shoulders almost touching. As we peered at the code together, it reminded me of old times - staying up late to study for exams, bent over books and scraps of paper covered in diagrams and equations. The familiarity of it made me unexpectedly nostalgic.

As he scanned my code, I snuck a glance at him. The faint scent of his cologne mingled with the sterile office air. The top buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing a hint of his chest. I tried to focus on the screen instead of his proximity.

"Hmm, yeah, looks like an issue with the CSS," he murmured after studying my screen. "The styles aren't cascading down through the child divs."

He reached around me to jot a few lines directly into my text editor and I drew in a sharp breath at his sudden closeness.

Focus, Kiara! He is your team lead, not your high school crush anymore!

I could have sworn I saw him hesitate for a nanosecond when he noticed my reaction.

"There, try adding that now around your main content sections," Kabir directed, straightening back up abruptly.

My face still felt hot but I managed to give him a quick nod. "Right, thanks. I'll try it out."

Kabir lingered by my desk another moment, shifting his weight almost nervously. I shot him a questioning look. Was he waiting for me to test it now while he watched?

I hit run, holding my breath. A few seconds later a message popped up indicating the code had executed successfully.

"It worked!" I exclaimed, turning to Kabir with a brilliant smile.