Chapter 2

The next morning, I got to the company as usual.

When I pushed open the glass door, the girl at the front desk glanced at me with a strange expression.

I knew something was wrong.

My phone buzzed. It was a SnapChat message from Kyle in accounting: [Bro, have you seen the group chat?]

He sent me another photo Wendy had posted on Instagram of her eating breakfast with someone, though it was impossible to tell who.

I opened the company group chat.

There were already 999+ messages.

I scrolled up and found a message from 7:13 this morning.

Someone in the company chat had asked Wendy, “Did Jason make breakfast for you?”

She deliberately replied in a vague way, “No, no, stop making stuff up.”

The company chat exploded.

[Holy crap, Wendy’s amazing!]

[Hahahahaha, you two are living together?]

[Does this count as an official announcement?]

[Marry her! Marry her! Marry her!]

[Wendy, dinner’s on you! Celebrate being single no more!]

Everyone was teasing and cheering.

I watched for a while, then left the chat.

The moment I got back to my desk, I saw a keyboard I had once posted about on Instagram and really wanted, beautifully packaged, with a card beside it that read, To the best of you.

I put the keyboard on the floor, planning to return it to her when I got off work.

That was probably not what Wendy expected.

She thought I would blush, hesitate, and reluctantly accept it.

But I didn’t say a single word to her.

Close to noon, she sent me a SnapChat message: [I’ll just put the keyboard in your car later. I’m afraid you’ll forget. Want to have lunch together?]

I glanced at it, turned off my phone, and didn’t reply.

Fifteen minutes later, she couldn’t sit still anymore.

She came over to my desk, braced both hands on my partition, and leaned down with a condescending attitude.

“Jason, I’m serious.”

I kept typing and didn’t look up.

She laughed. “You don’t need to be shy. I know you’ve had a crush on me for a long time. I noticed it from the last team outing, when you helped me get some water.”

The last team outing? Get some water?

I remembered.

That was three months ago, when the company went out of town for team-building training.

It was 100 degrees out that summer day, and she was standing in the sun talking to someone.

When I passed by, I casually handed her a bottle of water because the case was right next to me, and I was already grabbing one for myself, so I just took an extra one and passed it to the nearest person, which happened to be her.

That was all.

I stopped typing and finally looked at her.

“Wendy, you really don’t need to buy me anything. If you really want to thank me, stay away from me. Thanks.”

Her expression froze for a second.

“Why are you being so polite with me? I know you’re shy. It’s fine. I’ll give you time.”

She patted my divider and walked away.

I sat there, watching her back, and the more I looked, the more ridiculous she seemed.

Sure enough, after that, Wendy really did launch a full-on pursuit campaign against me.