Next day,
Arabella woke before dawn, the memory of yesterday's office moments still fluttering at the edges of her mind. She dressed quickly in a simple blouse and skirt, then made herself toast and a cup of warm milk. As she sipped, she replayed Damon's voice—soothing, teasing—and felt her pulse quicken. She shook her head, forcing her thoughts back to the day ahead.
On the bus, she sat by the window, watching streetlights fade into morning. Her fingers drummed lightly against her bag's strap. By the time she reached the office, she'd managed to compose herself.
"Morning, Aru," Lydia greeted in a low voice as Arabella settled in her seat, offering a quick wink. Arabella nodded and mumbled a morning, while settling into her days'work.
Half an hour later, Mr. Caldwell rounded the corner. He was holding a stack of printed schematics. "Ms. Arabella, can you send these to print? I need copies for publishing this afternoon."
"Certainly, Mr. Caldwell." She gathered the papers and stood.
The print room hummed with the steady drone of machines. Arabella fed in the schematics, her mind already ticking through the next steps. She pressed "Start" and waited, glancing at the progress bar.
"Arabella?"
She jumped slightly at the voice and looked back. Adrian stood in the doorway, hands tucked into his jacket pockets, a smile on his face.
"Hey, Adrian," she said, voice soft. "Good morning."
"Morning, I didn't expect to see you here," he admitted. "I'm grabbing brochures for my team—marketing's running a pitch later."
She nodded, folding her arms. "It's a different world up here. Lots of precision."
He stepped inside, lowering his voice. "How are you settling in here? All good at Tech floor?"
She assured, "It's good. I'm learning gradually."
He grinned. "That's good to hear. The work environment is quiet good here at Kingsley Group."
She smiled faintly. "Yeah", and turned to manage the printed sheets.
A silence followed.
She was not good with small talks so she did not know how to start a new conversation and and as it had been a while since she last saw Adrian, they did not have any common grounds to discuss, thus she just continued focussing on the sheets.
A lull followed as the printer finished. Arabella retrieved the sheets, straightening them in her hands.
Adrian's eyes followed her movements and suddenly said, "You remember the rec room at Crestfield? Mrs. Thatcher used to lock us all in when we stayed up too late."
Arabella's lips twitched. "How could I forget? We even learned to pick the locks with hairpin, but we never actually succeeded."
They laughed quietly, and Arabella started to feel at ease.
Then, they contiued sharing some funny incident from the Orphanage and reminiscing about their childhood.
Arabella shared some stories after Adrian had been adopted about their common friends.
Outside the glass door, Damon passed with some clients. As they walked by printing floor, his eyes caught sight of Arabella, laughing on something. He paused and watched her. As he took in her face features, his expression softened and smiled lightly.
But then he noticed the man standing close to her, who apparently was saying something to her and also laughing with her.
His jaw tightened slightly. An uncomfortable fewling settled in his chest as he watched their exchange.
Suddenly he took a step forward in their direction, but stopped when his client asked a question. With one last fleeting glance at Arabella's laughing profile, Damon turned and continued down the hall.
In the print room, Arabella did not notice Damon. After sometime, Adrian straightened and suggested, "Hey, how about we meet up someday for catching up properly. Maybe on this weekend?"
Arabella blinked, startled by the sudden invitation. She folded the papers, amd hesitatantly responded, "I… I'll think about it."
He smiled, and said,"All right. Let me know."
She managed a small nod and stepped out, with files in hand. At Mr. Caldwell's desk, she laid them down. "Here you go, Mr. Caldwell."
"Thank you, Ms. Arabella." he said, eyes on the schematics. Then, Arabella returned to her own desk continuing on the pending work, while her mind was working for reasons about how to refuse the invitation on the weekend as she actually was not much of an outgoing person.