The Royal Contract

It was already late, and she was still in her office. She had been working as a machine since she got back. She needed a distraction, and her piles of papers were what she needed in the meantime.

She avoided confrontation as much as possible unless it had something to do with the law. However, when it was personal, she hated being in a fight.

"Hey, Dani. You are still here." He acted surprised to see her, but in truth, he had been observing her office since he stepped on her floor.

He had a meeting that just recently concluded just on the other side of her office. It had a slight view of her office.

"Hi, Gerald. What are you doing here?" Dani asked, curious of his presence. 

"I just finished a meeting in the other room. I noticed that your light is still on. Are you up for a deadline? Maybe I can be of assistance." He offered, but not wanting to sound too eager. "That is if you need any help."

"No need. I just finished it. I am just going to clear this up. Then, I am on my way home." She did not know why she wanted to drown herself in her work when some of what she did were not even due until a few days.

Maybe subconsciously, she was waiting for Alex to pick her up. She would like to apologize for their misunderstanding to be over. She believed she had overreacted to the situation. He was trying to help.

"Dani, are you ok? You seem to be in deep thought." He could sense that something was weighing heavily on her. He wondered if it had to do with her fiancé.

"What?" Her mind was thinking of what she should do to remedy the situation. She had forgotten that she still had company.

"It doesn't matter." He knew that she would not answer him anyway, even if he tried to pry to her affairs. "Anyway, maybe you would like to grab some dinner," Gerald asked casually, acting chill and relaxed around her.

It was late, but she might be hungry. Gerald did not see Alex around, concluding that she might be driving herself home. He could see that it was his opportunity to be alone with her.

"I'm sorry, maybe next time. I am tired and only want to go home." She sweetly declined his offer, finding his friendliness comforting.

She had barely eaten anything earlier. Jacky did bring her some food, but her appetite deserted her. She ended up throwing most of her meal into the trash.

"That's fine. Can I at least walk you to your car?" He offered, wanting to keep the time with her a little bit longer.

"Sure." She did not mind, thinking that he was probably on his way home too.

She would rather have some company on the dimmed hallway and elevator, remembering her previous experience on this floor. Although the likelihood that it would happen again was slim, she preferred not to relive that again.

He waited for her at the door until she had fixed her things. She moved towards the door and walked alongside him in the hallway to the elevators. She felt more at ease with someone she knew beside her.

"You know that I can be more than your boss." He stated when the doors closed on them. "I can also be your friend." He added, hoping that she would reconsider telling him what was bothering her.

He did notice that her concentration was elsewhere as her eyes kept going blank. He rarely saw her like this unless she was deeply in thought of a case. 

He was sure it could be something else. It was far from what was swirling in Dani's mind. There was a look in her expression that was different from what he usually saw in her.

"Oh!" She was surprised by his statement. She was not expecting that from him. She was almost panicky when she heard what he said first before realizing that he meant something else.

She would never consider going out with her boss, even if she was not in a relationship right now. It was one of the conditions she had set for herself. An ethical dilemma that she did not want to include in her already messy life.

She did feel a bit uncomfortable at first being confined in the small space they were in tonight. However, she felt a bit of relief after Gerald rephrased his words.

"I did not mean to scare you off. I believed I have to work on my people skills." He made a joke of the situation, not wanting her to feel awkward around him.

But he did it on purpose, checking out her reaction to his revelation. But he quickly retracted, seeing the way she retreated, and almost ran away from him.

"No, you did not. I just misinterpreted your statement. I jumped to a conclusion which I should not." She felt slightly embarrassed by her behavior.

She did not want the complication of his boss by putting romantic nonsense in their working relationship. Although, she was doubtful because she had so much respect for the man.

She believed that he would not jeopardize his long-standing career and reputation for a romantic office romance, especially when everyone knew that she was already getting married.

"Then, can we start over again?" He attempted to salvage the rest of their few minutes left. "It would be better for our working relationship if we can at least be friends." 

He did not want to push his luck as he smiled at him and nodded. It would seem that Dani agreed to his terms. "Do we have a deal?" He wanted a confirmation, not by just her action but with words.

"I think there is nothing wrong with it. Besides, we will probably be working on a lot more cases together." She finally accepted his suggestion.. After all, she did not see a problem with an office friendship.