Enraptured

Chapter 22

"Sir, is there something going on that I don't know about? You've been working since morning without even stopping for lunch."

Lukas peered down at me concerningly with his tablet pressed tightly against his chest and a coffee cup held out in his hand. He set the coffee down on my desk with a worried glance at the stacks of files on either side of me.

I graciously accepted the cup and reassured, "It's nothing. I'm just trying to go home a bit earlier this week."

I've been trying to finish my work faster so I could leave work with Arabelle and go to her house to visit Theo in the evenings. It was something that had quickly become routine since the night Theo asked me to stay with them.

Even though it was just having some home-cooked dinners together, I didn't want to give it up for a bunch of paperwork that could be done at a different time. It just felt much more heart-warming to eat a meal that we cooked together than sitting in my cold office to eat by myself, even though those boxes that she gave me in the past happened to also be her cooking. 

To add on, I had grown much closer to Theo over these last couple of days.

Ever since I noticed his trouble with one of his problem sets from the university-level robotic class and helped show him how to analyze the electrical circuit, he had been willingly coming up to me with different papers and books in his hands after dinner instead of hissing at me from the sidelines like the first time I met him.

In fact, during last night's dinner, he showed me his math work for a miniature rocketship that he worked on by himself as a hobby. He wanted to show me his setup in their little backyard and asked me to pick up some explosives for launching the rocket.

At first, he wanted me to get liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen so he could mimic NASA's setup, which Arabelle then vehemently forbade, but I managed to get him to compromise with the stars that are usually inside normal fireworks.

It was the first time he asked me to do something with him, so I didn't want to miss tonight's dinner for a bunch of lousy paperwork, which was why I had been locked down at my desk since morning.

The overseas branches had been bothering me about getting more funding and were trying to get me to visit their offices to see their accomplishments, but I didn't want to leave for an extended period of time for such a reason. I had just barely started courting Arabelle. And I had less than a month left to convince her to stay with me before she disappeared from my life.

I sighed heavily at the thought and mindlessly sipped the coffee that Lukas had brought in for me.

I cringed at the taste.

Lukas raised an eyebrow, confused by my reaction. "Is it not to your liking?"

"No, no, it's nothing." I quickly set it aside and waved his comment off.

It's just that I had gotten so used to Arabelle's overly sweet coffee that Lukas's coffee now seemed bitter to me even though I used to like it.

"Um... Okay, then..." Lukas shifted awkwardly from side to side. "I actually came in to tell you that someone is asking to see you in the lobby. Should I let them up?"

My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Anyone that I personally knew already had their names placed on the register to be allowed access to my building at any time. It was how Sebastian could constantly pester me during work without any heads-up.

So, who could it be?

"Sir? Should I just tell them to come back later with a pre-arranged meeting instead?"