Secret Santa

☃︎Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Tᴡᴏ☃︎

Pippa steps inside the warm office building, shivering as the heat makes its way into her chilly bones. She pulls off her coat, hanging it on a hook by the door. Pippa halts at the reception desk.

"Good morning! Do I have any voicemails, Mary?" She asks the almost slumbering receptionist, offering her a small smile. Mary jerks her head up, blinking blearily up at Pippa.

Mary clears her throat.

"One second."

Mary presses a button on the phone, listening to the voicemails. When they finish, Mary pulls out a slip of paper and writes out the names of those who left Pippa voicemails. Mary hands the slip of paper to Pippa, propping her head on her right hand. Pippa thanks her quietly, going to her desk.

Pippa pauses when she spots a vase of lilacs sitting innocently on the corner of her desk. With a raised eyebrow, she looks around, seeking out anyone who may be observing her.

Only Mark, Scarlett, Mary, Jasper, Donahue, Rhys from HR, and Tina from Customer Service are there.

Slowly, Pippa sits in her chair, pulling out the bottom drawer of her desk and putting her purse inside. She glances up hastily, looking around, but no one is acting out of the ordinary.

Pippa scoots closet to her desk, the edge pushing into her stomach almost. Curiously, she observes Jasper, who is filling out his time sheet on his computer.

"Hey, Jas?"

Jasper hums in acknowledgment, offering Pippa a brief glance before returning to his screen. Pippa furrows her eyebrows. "Do you know about this?"

Jasper pauses furrowing his brows as he looks around, then raising his eyebrows when he realises what Pippa's talking about.

"Those?" He asks, pointing to the lilacs, "No. They were on your desk when I got here." He returns to his time sheet, leaving Pippa to her thoughts.

She sighs, shaking her head to clear her mind.

Then, something dawns on her.

"Jas? How'd the prank go? Has Scarlett noticed yet?"

Jasper looks up from his computer and casts a glance to Scarlett, then looks back to Pippa.

"She found the cat taped to her chair," he says, an air of mischief filling his voice as he offers Pippa an evil grin. Pippa mirrors his expression, steepling her fingers together on top of her desk.

"Only 59 more to go." Jasper nods slowly. His gaze falls to Pippa's flowers once more.

"You know, I think I see a card in your flowers," Jasper announces, reaching with his long arm and plucking a small, cream-coloured card from the bouquet. He tosses it onto Pippa's desk.

Pippa eyes the card warily, all mischief erasing from her features. She tenses her shoulders, bracing herself for what could be written inside. She peels the small envelope apart, slowly pulling the card out.

It's a simple white card with gold swirls in the shapes of flowers decorating its side, framing the neat lines and italicised text.

Pippa furrows her brows as she reads the lines of text:

Victoria's Floral Shoppe
Recipient: A Miss Pippa Peck
Sent By: Secret Santa
Message: A Lilac is a flower which means 'first emotion of love'.

Pippa releases the card from her grip, leaning back in her chair.

"It's too early for this," she mutters quietly.

Jasper observes her carefully, raising a brow.

"What's it say?" He asks, reaching out for the card. He snatches it up and reads over it quickly and letting out a huff of laughter. "Wow. That's...a little weird."

Jasper plops the card on Pippa's desk again, leaning back in his chair to observe Pippa's face. He finds that Pippa's been observing him as well.

"What do you think about it, Pip?" Jasper asks softly, searching her eyes for any sign of...anything. Pippa sighs, propping her head on her left hand.

"I don't know. It's kind of sweet, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with it," she says softly. Jasper nods. "Maybe if I had an inkling as to who it could be, I would feel better about it, but since it could be someone like Mark or even—God forbid—Rhys or Ewan, I don't know."

Jasper nods in understanding, swivelling in his chair.

"I get it."

Pippa sighs out in relief, offering Jasper a small smile.

Secretly, she hoped Jasper had given her the flowers. But she knew she couldn't dwell on that hope. With her luck, Rhys of all people would be her Secret Santa.

But she would hold onto that hope anyway.