Date: March 8, 2025

  I thought this week was going to be normal. I really did. Just a simple stretch of days filled with debugging, endless

  Slack notifications, and maybe, if I was lucky, a decent coffee break where I wasn’t the target of one of Leo’s ridiculous pranks.

  Instead, people were acting weird.

  Monday: Trouble in the Break Room

  The week kicked off with what should have been a routine coffee run.

  I walked into the break room and Leo and Ethan were both there.

  Leo was leaning against the counter, idly stirring his coffee, while Ethan stood by the machine, silently fixing his own.

  “Morning, Watanabe,” Leo greeted me with a smirk. “How’s the recovery from your big basketball debut?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I touched the ball twice, and one of those times was when I got hit in the face.”

  Leo chuckled. “Yeah, but your defense was solid. Almost took my friend out of the game permanently.”

  Across the room, Ethan stilled for a fraction of a second, his casual posture shifting ever so slightly. He glanced at Leo, then at me.

  “You two hang out over the weekend?” Priya’s voice cut in as she entered, glancing between me and Leo with an expression I couldn’t quite place.

  “Ran into each other,” Leo answered easily, not missing a beat. “Spoon Girl here crashed my game.”

  “Bold of you to assume I’d choose to be there,” I said.

  Ethan exhaled a small, quiet laugh—so small I almost missed it. But something about the way he was watching me felt different.

  “Anyway,” he said, setting his coffee down with a little more force than necessary, “Hannah’s waiting.”

  Leo flashed a lazy grin. “See you in the trenches, Spoon Girl.”

  I left the break room feeling like I’d missed something, but I chalked it up to morning brain fog and moved on with my day.

  Wednesday: Sending Leo Running

  The day had been chaotic—last-minute changes, Ethan correcting my SQL formatting (again), Priya bulldozing through a meeting. By the time I got back to my desk, I was two seconds away from face-planting onto my keyboard.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  That’s when Leo materialized next to me.

  “Move,” he said, nudging my chair slightly.

  I blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “You’re missing a closing bracket,” he said, already leaning over me, hands on my keyboard.

  I was too tired to fight him, so I let him do his thing. He clicked a few keys, fixed the bug in record time, and then—for no reason whatsoever—brushed his hand lightly against the back of my chair as he straightened up.

  “There,” he said, voice lower than usual.

  Something about the subtle drop in his tone caught my attention, and before I could stop myself, I glanced up at him.

  The second our eyes met, time seemed to stutter, then slow, like the world had shifted just slightly out of sync.

  Leo wasn’t smirking, wasn’t cracking a joke. His expression was steady and unreadable, but impossibly intense. It wasn’t just the usual teasing amusement I was used to. It was deeper, like he was seeing something in me I didn’t even realize was there.

  And I couldn’t look away.

  A strange pressure built in my chest, my breath catching for just a fraction of a second too long.

  Then, just as quickly as it happened, Leo’s eyes flickered, like he’d suddenly become aware of himself, of how close we were, of the air between us that felt too charged with something neither of us had expected.

  His usual grin nearly snapped back into place, but there was a split second, so fleeting I could have imagined it, where he looked disarmed.

  Then, as if physically resetting himself, he rocked back onto his heels, rubbing the back of his neck with a casualness that was just a bit too practiced.

  “See? Fixed,” he said, voice light, but his eyes lingered on me for a moment longer than necessary before he turned away, coughing pointedly.

  I exhaled, blinking, like I’d just snapped out of some kind of daze.

  Was I really that rattled by a missing bracket, or Leo’s sudden closeness?

  Priya, who had somehow appeared at the absolute worst moment, leaned against my desk with a knowing smirk.

  “Leo,” she said, sing-song, “are you flirting with Ada?”

  Leo froze for half a second. Not enough for most people to notice, but just enough for Priya to have a field day with it.

  Then he shrugged, palms raised in mock surrender. “Hey, HR says I’ve gotta cut it out.”

  People laughed. I rolled my eyes and went back to my work.

  But as Leo slumped back into his seat, I thought I noticed him pulling his hoodie up around himself just a little tighter than usual, as if he was trying to shrink into it.

  Friday: The Office Outing That Shouldn’t Have Been a Big Deal (But Somehow Was)

  Samantha dragged us all to a rooftop bar for one of her “team bonding” outings. It was nice—good drinks, good food, fairy lights strung overhead. The kind of night that felt a little surreal, like a scene out of a movie.

  At some point, the conversation veered toward basketball (again), because Leo clearly wasn’t going to let me live it down.

  “I still can’t believe Ada nearly took out my friend,” he said, grinning. “Might have to recruit her full-time.”

  Ethan, who had been swirling his drink idly, suddenly spoke.

  “You seem awfully invested in Ada’s basketball career,” he said, his tone light but his eyes sharp.

  Leo cocked his head to one side and smiled smugly. “Maybe I just like seeing her outside of work.”

  Ethan didn’t react immediately, but I noticed his posture shift ever so slightly, like he was processing something he didn’t particularly like. He took a slow sip of his drink.

  “Right,” he said.

  Priya, sitting across from me, tilted her head slightly like she was watching something unfold.

  I had no idea what was happening. But whatever it was, it seemed to amuse her. I, on the other hand, didn't really feel like focussing on the stupid basketball game anymore, and changed the subject.

  Evening Reflections

  This week was… fine? I guess?

  People just seemed to be acting oddly.

  Leo was in a weirdly good mood. Ethan was slightly more sarcastic than usual (if that was even possible). Priya seemed way too entertained by everything.

  Maybe I was just imagining it.

  But I couldn’t shake the feeling that come Monday, things might escalate in a way I wasn’t ready for.

  I stretched, letting Mochi sprawl across my lap as I reached for my tea.

  It had been a long week, and I wasn’t about to waste time overthinking things that probably didn’t mean anything.

  Probably.

  Until next time,

  Ada W.