3 A Fish Out Of Water

Hannah's POV

I'm awoken by the sound of my phone ringing. Confused, I snuck a glance at my bedside clock only to find it was 5:50 am – that's ten whole minutes before I had to get up.

Wondering who would be stupid enough to call me at such a righteous hour, I angrily snatched my phone and answered without checking the ID. 

"Who the fuck is this?"

"I never knew I raised a potty mouth."

"Mummy?" 

I cursed internally as I realised it was my mother on the line. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was you. Why are you calling me this early? It's ten minutes to six here in New York."

She sighed disappointedly on the other side. "It's ten minutes to six in the morning and you're still sleeping? New York has made you lazy. You should come back to Nigeria."

Rolling my eyes, I mentally made a note to visit my home country soon. It had been a while and there was only so long a girl could go without real pounded yam and afang soup.

"Momsy, you still haven't told me why you're calling me?"

"I have some good news, dear. Do you remember Tobi, the handsome pilot from Lagos? The one whose father owns Danko Oil and Gas?" I hummed in agreement before she continued. 

"He has expressed interest in marrying you! Isn't that wonderful?"

Completely irritated by the rubbish reason my beauty sleep was disturbed, I let out an annoyed groan. "Mummy, what are you saying? I've asked you several times to leave my personal life alone!"

"Stop being stubborn, missy!" she said with a firm tone. "He is such a lovely boy. In fact, you should talk to him yourself. He's here with me."

Before I could object to my mother's horrid suggestion, a deep male voice came on the line. "Good morning, beautiful. Sorry to awaken you from your slumber like this but my heart couldn't wait a second longer to hear your voice."

You've got to be kidding me.

It took everything in me to not vomit violently at his ridiculous attempt at flirting. What made it worse was that I could hear my mom cooing in the background. 

Talk about traumatizing.

I literally wanted to hang up, but an idea popped into my head. Playing along, I giggled into my phone. "Oh please, you're making me blush!"

"You shouldn't feel flustered at all," he confidently said, "I'm sure you look beautiful when you blush."

"Oh, thank you!" I feigned giddiness as I heard him chuckle on the other side. "Your father said the exact same thing when he and I were dating! You're his carbon copy!"

His chuckle instantly died. "What?"

Smiling mischievously, I continued. 

"Oh, my mom didn't tell you? I used to date your dad back in university. But don't worry, I won't let it come between us. I'm certain the sex will be much better with you. You're dad's a bit-"

I'm cut short by the dial tone – the dude hung up on me.

Bursting into a fit of laughter, I mentally patted myself on the back. I can only imagine my poor mom's confusion when he withdraws his proposal. She'd definitely be disappointed but it serves her right for meddling. She should know better.

Feeling pleased with myself, I got out of bed and headed into the shower – a minute before my alarm went off.

I have a feeling today is going to be wonderful.

-

Riding on my high from earlier in the morning, I strutted into my office wearing a smile.

Well, it isn't a smile per se, because when I'm at work I always keep friendly behavior to a minimum. I don't want my coworkers to think I'm approachable and then try befriending me at their own peril, so it was more of an unnoticeable smirk.

I was happy nonetheless.

In fact, I was so happy I even hummed a tune as I sat at my desk and checked my schedule for the day. It was hard to believe I'd been working here for a week now – felt like longer. 

I was already used to everything. 

Not that I was complaining though; my office was beautiful, my colleagues were intimidated by me and I was doing great so far with work.

My life had never been better.

Refocusing on my schedule, I realised that I didn't have much to do. The highlight of the day would be my first ever board meeting and it was later in the afternoon by 3:00 pm. 

To say I was excited was an understatement.

Deciding on what to do till then was tough, but I settled for reading a non-fiction novel.

3:00 pm couldn't come quick enough.

-

Hwan's POV

Today was my first day working as Dr Terrence's personal assistant and so far, it had been pretty okay. Just regular assistant stuff like doing paperwork, scheduling, taking phone calls, carrying her purse and making coffee.

 To say I was overpaid was an understatement.

"What's on your mind, dear?" Dr Terrence's concerned voice cut through my thoughts. "You seem lost."

"It's nothing. You have a meeting in five minutes, by the way."

"I know. Please carry my things for me. Don't forget my purse."

I nodded in acknowledgement and began to pack all the necessary folders. After packing her purse as well, we both made our way to the boardroom. When we arrived, the room was almost full, except for a few empty chairs. 

Dr Terrence took her seat at the head of the table and everyone else took their places around it. I wasn't seated at the table though, but on a chair in the corner that gave me a great view of the entire room.

A few more people walked in and among them was Miss Oba, sashaying in like she wasn't almost late. She looked as beautiful as the last time I saw her and just as immaculately dressed. She was wearing straight-cut jeans and a printed off-shoulder blouse coupled with black lace-up boots. 

She looked more like a model than a data analyst.

Not like she couldn't be both.

Feeling my eyes on her, she turned to meet my gaze and my stomach literally dropped.

Her brown eyes scrutinized every inch of me, painfully slow as they raked my body. I felt small under the intensity of her gaze which was ironic because I was taller than her. 

Her gaze ever so slowly returned to my eyes causing my heart rate to double, and I felt like all breath had been knocked out of me. Yet for some reason, I couldn't look away. 

I didn't want to look away.

What was wrong with me?

Her eyes narrowed into slits and she shot me a cold glare before looking away. Letting out the breath I didn't realize I was holding, my cheeks immediately grew warm. Unable to look up out of embarrassment, I decided to admire the lovely carpet under my feet.

Who knew carpets could be such interesting pieces of art?

Dr Terrence got up and opened the meeting. Reading the agenda, she set up her presentation slide before proceeding to introduce new members of staff – Miss Oba being among them. 

Finally, she introduced me as her new PA and about twenty pairs of eyes turned to me. 

But only one particular pair had me fidgeting in my seat.

Greeting them with an awkward "hello", I sighed in relief when they all looked away.

The meeting carried on, and I let my eyes wander around the room in boredom. I glanced at the faces of everyone present, being careful to avoid a certain dark-skinned girl despite my growing desire to do the opposite. 

But eventually, the urge to look at her overrode my self-control and I cast her a quick glance.

Luckily, she didn't seem to notice as she wrote something down in her notebook.

Tempting fate, I looked at her again. I was not so fortunate this time as she immediately looked up and caught me staring. Scrunching her nose in disgust, she turned away, and I mentally reprimanded myself for being a total creep.

Now she probably thinks I'm one of those creepy dudes online that sends dick pics to teenage girls.

Determined to redeem myself, I tried my best to avoid catching her eyes for the rest of the meeting. 

The keyword is tried.

Despite my efforts, I found myself locking gazes with the dark-skinned girl more often than not. Each time she would glare and I'd quickly look away, but then I'd go right back to staring at her like an idiot.

Maybe all the coffee I'd consumed this morning was making me crazy. Or maybe I was actually going crazy on my own.

Whatever it was, hopefully, it would fade away soon.

Hopefully.

-

I stood by Dr. Terrence as she conversed with the stakeholders at the end of the meeting. They were discussing something I didn't care about, so all I could do was stand there and awkwardly fidget with my shirt.

Just then, Miss Oba walked up to us and joined the conversation. Though I didn't understand what she was saying, I could tell she was quite intelligent, judging from the way everyone stopped to listen to her.

Her deep, velvety voice coupled with her perfect diction made it impossible to not pay attention to her. She really was something.

I think I might be developing a crush on-

"What do you think, Hwan? Should we?"

I was brought back to reality by Dr. Terrence's voice. Everyone was looking at me, expecting my answer to a question I didn't even hear fully. Miss Oba was also looking at me, her steely gaze more questioning than hateful. 

It was also very distracting.

Not sure what exactly the question was, I went with the universally right answer. "Yes. I totally agree."

Dr Terrence's face lit up at that and I knew I'd made the right choice. "It's settled then. Tomorrow night is our first-ever company hangout at The Ace Club! Attendance is mandatory!"

Wait, we're going clubbing? 

I can't go clubbing!

I absolutely despised clubs and all other unnecessary social gatherings. This was going to be torturous because clubs were not my scene. I'd literally be a fish out of water.

And it's mandatory!

What the hell have I gotten myself into?