Chapter 2
My old stomach trouble flared up again.
I spent the whole night in pain, barely managing to fall asleep in a daze.
When I woke up, Claire was already gone. Like every other morning, she was off to work before I even opened my eyes.
She always got to the office early, while I was the type to show up right on the dot, never a minute sooner.
So even though we worked at the same company, we went our separate ways at work.
When I got to the office, Lucas was standing right in the middle of the hallway, handing out coffee to everyone with a big grin on his face.
He said that since he had just joined the team, he was treating everyone to coffee.
My colleagues were all laughing and teasing him, saying he was not only good-looking but also super generous. They even said they'd work twice as hard today.
When he got to me, Lucas handed over an iced Americano, packed with ice.
"Sorry, you're a little late. This is all that's left," he said, grinning.
Even though I'd popped some painkillers that morning, my stomach was still acting up.
But out of politeness, I thanked him and took the coffee.
I thought I could quietly ditch it when nobody was paying attention.
To be honest, I was still feeling a bit salty. I really didn't want to drink his coffee.
But what I didn't expect was that after handing out all the coffee, Lucas didn't walk away.
Instead, he turned to me with a grin.
He said, "Adam, you've changed so much. I almost didn't recognize you last night.
"You look better-looking than you did in college. I never would've guessed you'd end up working under Claire."
Back in college, Claire and I were in a different department from Lucas. We never even had a single class together.
Honestly, I was a little shocked he actually remembered me.
Lucas looked like he had no intention of leaving anytime soon.
He kept smiling, but maybe I was overthinking things. His eyes kept scanning me up and down, and it made my skin crawl a little.
He added, "By the way, thanks for handing in Claire's group assignment back then. If you hadn't helped out, I would've ended up drenched.
"So, what made you come work here? Was it because Claire works here?"
Honestly, it sounded innocent enough at first.
Working at a company with someone from the same college wasn't anything unusual.
Still, if someone wanted to stir things up, they could totally twist it into something else.
I was about to answer when Claire opened the office door.
"Lucas, come here," she called.
Lucas was parachuted in from headquarters as Claire's personal secretary.
He replied with a cheerful "coming" and finally headed off.
As soon as the office door closed, everyone was buzzing with gossip again.
They started whispering and egging each other on, keeping their voices low.
I found myself staring at the photo of me on my desk, lost in thought.
That picture was taken on my birthday last year. As fate would have it, that was also the day Claire asked if I wanted to marry her.
I reached over and took the photo frame off my desk. Hidden inside was a picture of my younger self, awkwardly flashing a peace sign at the camera.
That was from my college graduation. My roommate took it for me.
He was kind of annoyed, muttering that everyone else got their photos in front of the school logo or the main gate, but I had to pick some old, beat-up classroom building.
I shrugged and told him the lighting was good.
Actually, I lied to him.
Back then, Claire was a few feet behind me.
Right as my roommate hit the shutter, she happened to look up and looked right at the camera.
It was our first and only photo together. Not really a photo together, but it was the closest we ever got.
"Adam, come to the small conference room for a team meeting," someone called out.
I looked up and replied, then casually tucked the photo into a folder on my desk.
They called it a team meeting, but it ended up dragging on for two whole hours.
My stomach kept hurting on and off, and I was sweating bullets the entire time.
When I finally stumbled out of the small conference room, my head still spinning, I spotted several colleagues crowded around my desk, whispering about something.
But as I got closer, my mind suddenly went completely blank.
Lucas was holding up that photo, calmly watching me with a relaxed, almost amused look.
He grinned, "So you liked Claire all along, huh?"