Be Careful What You Wish For (PUBLISHED)

(16) - The Flaw in the Plan

It was seven o’clock on a Friday night. The cubicles at the institute were relatively deserted, as most researchers had already gone out for the weekly drinking party or nomikai. Ana sat at her workstation in the laboratory, hunched over a microscope as she jotted down notes on the new samples that she, Nakano, and Tanaka had been processing for the past week. Her assistants had left thirty minutes ago at her urging. Nakano had let slip that Fabio, the Brazilian post-doc she had been eyeing would be attending this week’s drinking party. Ana, who was not about to stand in the way of true love—or infatuation—had let her go.

Both Nakano and Tanaka had tried to convince her to come with them, but somehow Ana wasn’t in the mood for drinking tonight. It was probably because there was still work to do, she mused. No, it was because she was exhausted, she told herself.

For the nth time that evening, her gaze strayed to the mobile phone that lay on a small shelf in front of her. The display remained blank. Still nothing. For the nth time that evening, Ana told herself that she shouldn’t get worked up about not hearing anything from Ken.

But she was.

No, no, it wasn’t that she was bothered; it was just that they usually went out on Friday nights. And Ken usually sent her a message or something most days. But he had been on location in Nara most of the week and she hadn’t heard from him since Wednesday. It had just seemed so quiet without him this week. Ana sighed, she had had a tiring week and she wanted someone to complain to.

You miss him.

Ana almost fell off her chair at that thought. No, no, no. That was just plain impossible. She didn’t miss him. It was like missing a thorn in her side. It wasn’t as if their relationship was smooth sailing all the way; on the contrary, it was far from it. She and Ken were constantly bickering, although these days they usually laughed about it afterwards. And Ana was honest enough to admit that a perverse side of her enjoyed their match of wits. But just because she didn’t have him to spar with meant that she missed his company. That would be a mistake. Missing him would be akin to missing a wall to pound her head on.

But you do miss him.

I do not! It was unthinkable. It would be an utter disaster. Women like her did not fall in love with men like him. It was like something out of a cheesy teleserye. She mentally cringed as she imagined Kaye’s voice screaming at her, “Boba!!! Do not fall in love with him!”

“Ana, may I speak with you?”

Ana jumped when he heard someone behind her, she looked up and saw Dan standing slightly behind her. She smiled up at him, “Yes?”

Dan smiled warmly back at her. He stepped forward and leaned his hip on the table where she was working. He had taken his lab coat off, but it was slung casually over one shoulder.

Ana straightened up from her chair, “What’s up? Do you need those results already? I haven’t…” she broke off when he smiled and leaned down. She blinked as she gazed into his eyes. That’s funny, she thought, his eyes were as green as they used to be, but now they seemed more…normal.

It had been more than two months after her press debut, yet she was still surprised by how much her relationship with Dan had changed since she started going out with Ken. These days, Dan seemed to regard her more as a woman than as a colleague. He often asked her out to lunch or dinner and hung out at her cubicle, discussing things that he normally would have tackled during their weekly meetings. He had even taken to the habit of bringing her a mug of coffee in the mornings and two days ago he had even sent her a message on her mobile (It even had a smiley! <gasp>)—something he never had done before.