More Than Meets The Eye [Englot]

Chapter 17

Engfa's pov

Charlotte and I arrived at our office door right at the same time. As always she had a cup of coffee in her hand, so I let her go first.

"Please." I said, pointing to the doorway.

"Thank you. It's been a while since we bumped into each other." she joked, going in.

"Yeah. I'm trying to stop you from losing fingers over burning hot coffee."

"It wasn't that bad." she said, looking at her hand.

I wanted to look too... which was really weird...

"You guys are cute." Sun said, stopping me from asking Charlotte to show me her fingers.

I turned to Sun and saw him smirk. I gave him a dark meaningful look and he gulped before he focused back on his laptop. I tried to get into the pile of work I had to do today but my mind kept wandering. Having Charlotte sitting in front of me all day long wasn't something I was prepared for... My thoughts were going back to her again and again... I had to fight against myself not to look at her... It was only when she got up to get out of the room that I felt like I could breathe again...

"You're so tense you're getting ME tense." Sun said, shrugging.

"Yeah, sorry..."

"It's been two weeks already, you should get used to it."

"Huh?"

"She's been here for two weeks..." he nodded towards Charlotte's desk.

Sun could read me like a book... I was ready to fight back but Charlotte came back, looking slightly annoyed.

"Everything's ok?" I asked.

"Mmm... Yeah..." she replied but she was clearly avoiding answering.

I took a post-it note and scribbled on it to remember asking her about what was going on when Sun would be occupied somewhere else... I didn't want to give him any more chances to tease me... But my peace didn't live for long... because Sun and Faye didn't spare me during lunch break.

"Earth to Engfa!" I heard next to me.

"Huh?"

"We lost you halfway through the story Faye was telling..." Sun said, pointing his chopsticks at me.

"I don't want to turn back. Sun, is Charlotte behind me?" Faye asked.

"Hey!" I said, trying to stop them.

"Yes." Sun replied.

"Stop." I said firmly.

"I knew it!" Faye said, raising her hand to high five Sun.

"Urgh..."

"Who is she with?" Faye asked.

"Why does it matter?" I said, cutting Sun off.

"Because you had the maddest look inside your eyes right before we brought you back to us." Faye said, crossing her arms in a defying attitude.

"I didn't..." I tried to fight back.

"She's with Jeff." Sun said.

I breathed in deep, controlling myself to not roll my eyes.

"Jelly!" Faye said, provoking me.

"No, I..."

I started to reply but Faye's face changed and she even sort of blushed suddenly. I looked back and saw Heidi and Yoko walking along the tables in the cafeteria hall. Faye was the one to talk and give me shit when she couldn't even sit straight when my intern was here... I was going to confront her about it when she got up.

"I... I gotta go." she said and disappeared before I could say anything.

"You guys are so weird..." Sun said.

"Like you're normal when pretty boys are around..."

"So you admit that you have a thing for Charlotte?"

"Just shut up." I said, getting up too before leaving the cafeteria.


Charlotte's pov

"Hello Miss Malisorn." I said as I saw her walking by us.

She gave Jeff and I a tiny smile without stopping by. She looked like she was in a hurry.

"She's always running somewhere." he explained, trying to apologize for his boss' behavior.

"Oh don't worry, Engfa is the same." I said, chuckling.

"Did you have a nice weekend?" he asked.

I started to talk but I saw Engfa walking by too. Our eyes met and my heart skipped a bit suddenly. She gave me the tiniest nod ever, averting her eyes as she started to walk faster... like she was getting away from me. I felt so weird... Why was I feeling so shaky each time we looked at each other?

"You were right. They definitely are the same!" Jeff laughed.

"Yeah..."

Jeff smiled at me, encouraging me to keep telling him about my weekend. We joked a bit as we ate lunch. It was nice to have someone different to talk to. Someone who wasn't working in the same team... It felt good to have been accepted by most of the girls but as an assistant manager I knew that I had to keep some kind of distance with them too. It was a fine balance between being there for them if they needed it and leaving them enough space to not feel like I was there all the time nor get too nosy. So having Jeff to share a meal and keep my head off... things... was really enjoyable. No weird emotions... No challenges...

Like the one challenge I still had to tackle... I tried this morning to go see Pitchy and talk to her about the interview... She was on the phone when I came into the room... She didn't even look at me. Sitting on Engfa's old spot like she was the boss... Snack told me that I should come back later, with an attitude that resembled an annoying PA... It got a little bit on my nerves... I wanted to trust Snack... I knew she had the ability to do good... But Pitchy's influence on her seemed to be stronger than I thought... Maybe having Heidi with them before was preventing Snack from getting out of hand... But I had to separate them... This was my fault so I needed to act on it...

Getting back from lunch, I decided to give a call to Yoko and Snack's school. Since I knew they both had to write an essay about their internships I offered the dean to make them work on a collective one. My goal was to get them to work together, hoping each could learn about the other. Yoko could definitely use a little bit of Snack's confidence... and Snack more than needed to learn her place... Working together could shine a light on the qualities they both had and lack...

After a few minutes, the dean accepted my project. I dialed Snack's office number and asked her to come see me right away.

"Close the door behind you, please." I asked as we were alone in the room.

"Are you going to give me my second task?"

Clever girl. Maybe she was acting out because I didn't ask anything else from her...

"Exactly. Wait a minute."

I picked up the phone and dialed Yoko's office number.

"Yoko, can you come see me in my office right away, please?"

Less than 10 seconds later, Yoko knocked on the door and came in. I explained to them that they were going to have to work together on their internship essay and that their dean was waiting for it. Both of them were speechless.

"I'll give you 2 hours a week to work on it together until the end of your time here. I scheduled it from 9am to 11am, on fridays. You can meet in Snack's office, Pitchy is rarely there before 11am... I'll help you if you have questions along the way."

Yoko nodded and quickly dismissed herself. Snack stayed in front of me. I didn't know if she was going to scream, to cry or to jump across my desk to attack me... I knew she didn't like Yoko very much... They were quite the opposite...

"Do you have any questions?" I asked her.

"Is this really my second task?"

"Yes."

"Mmm..."

"I can tell that you're disappointed. Wanna talk about it?"

"Nevermind." she replied, leaving the room.

I was starting to get that what Snack was craving was someone to lift her up. She wasn't lazy if she had somebody to work along with... I didn't have enough time on my hands to take care of her this way before the end of the week... but I took a mental note to find some time for her soon... And I was pretty sure that once she would start working with Yoko hand in hand, and see why it was a good thing, she would feel better...

I still had to get rid of Pitchy to make all of our lives easier... I sighed... I needed to get her alone... And she must be in a good mood too... Which wasn't her "go to" personality... I needed to act quickly before Mister Suparat's offer was off the table... but if I were to jump on Pitchy with the idea too abruptly she wouldn't accept it... This was very tricky...

"You sure you're ok?" Engfa asked.

I didn't hear her coming into the room. She looked both worried and flustered, as she was fighting some inner battle too.

"Yeah... I'm just thinking about Pitchy..."

Engfa's face went from worried to hurt with maybe a little hint of disgust.

"I mean about the job opportunity I've found for her."

"Oh, right, right. Wanna tell me about it?" she asked as her features softened.

"I... I don't want to jinx it... Sorry, I know I don't look like it but I'm a little bit superstitious..." I admitted, blushing a little.

I knew this was ridiculous and didn't match what I was showing most times... Yet I really was anxious about the idea of telling something and making it disappear... Like telling your wish when blowing candles on a birthday cake...

"If you need any help, I'll be happy to." she said, sitting at her desk.

Engfa and I worked in silence for the rest of the day. Mostly because I didn't know what to tell her... and I didn't know if she could be of any help... I went back home on Tuesday night still searching for a way to approach Pitchy...

I woke up on Wednesday with a sore upper back again... I've had a few nightmares during the night, most of them were about people asking me about nail art supplies... I got out of bed... well rolled off really... and got ready for work. I didn't know how I got there so late, it was like I was trapped into a time vortex or something... Maybe I zoned out while brushing my teeth... But when I got out of my building I realized that I had no time to stop by to get some coffee... I hated the coffee from the vending machine... Maybe I could ask Sun to go buy me some...

"Hello Engfa. Where's Sun?" I asked as I came into our office.

"Oh, he's off today. Family is visiting."

I couldn't stop the loud sigh that went out of me.

"Damn..." I said, walking to my chair.

I winced when I sat down as my shoulder blade was feeling tight. I was in pain and no good coffee to make me happy. I wanted to pout like a baby... Maybe I was pmsing right now...

"I know we've known each other for only a few days but you don't seem like your normal self, Charlotte." Engfa said.

I chuckled. She was really cute when she was worried... Shut up, brain!

"I'm ok."

"You look like you're in pain. Is it your back?"

"Yeah..."

"Maybe you need a massage..." she started.

Then pictures of Engfa massaging me flooded my mind. It was down right sultry and I felt a sharp pang deep inside me... Fuck...

"I... I... don't know..." I stuttered.

"I know a few good massage parlors if you need one." she said, winking.

Damn it! Why? How could she make me falter like this? Was I developing feelings for her? No... I wouldn't... I was just eager to make her like me... and accept me... Right?

"Don't ask Sun about it, though." she said, chuckling by herself.

"Wh... Why?" I gulped as too many questions were coming to me.

"Once, he sent me to a reaaaally weird one." she started to smile.

Her dimples appeared on her face and I felt like I was struck by lightning.

"What?" Engfa asked, most probably intrigued by my frozen state while she was giggling.

"What are those?" I asked back, the words leaving my mouth even before I could think to stop them.

"What?" she asked again, looking a bit lost.

"When you smile..." my brain had short-circuited, I was going on autopilot...

"Oh... I know... They're weird..." she said, her face becoming blank as she touched her cheeks.

"Smile again." I said.

What the fuck was I thinking?!

"No..." she said, her voice getting shy.

"Engfa, I need your hel... Oh sorry..." Nudee said, realizing she was probably interrupting something.

I looked at her, faking a smile before turning to my laptop... that wasn't even turned on yet... Who was I kidding right now? Myself most probably... more than anyone else... I listened to Engfa and Nudee talk, trying to get on my emails as fast as possible to have something else to think about... But I couldn't... My whole being wanted nothing else than getting Engfa to smile again... for me... That was my sole goal... Fuck saving this place...


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Hello everyone.
Hope you had a nice weekend and that the week is going great!
And as always, I hoped you like this chapter ^^
Kisses!