Amber

"Berryyyy" a seemingly drunken Gabriella greets as she rudely opens my office door, smiling too widely that I'm actually intrigued if it'll split her face open.

"It's too early to be drunk, Gabby." her  body freezes, literally freezes. She stays there, posing. Her hand on the door handle, arm pushing it open while the other grabs the post steadying her, smile still evident that I'm starting to grow some concern for her mental health.

"Gab? Hello?" she doesn't move and I'm getting creeped out by her smile. So naturally, I grabbed my stapler and aimed it in the middle of her stomach, launching it with more force than intended.

"Ow! The fuck, that hurt" I sigh in relief. I'm not too late.

"Well if you stopped smiling like Jack the Ripper, I wouldn't have done that." she gasps and rubbed her palms on her cheeks.

"Don't do that, you know I scare easily." she rubs her arms as she shivers, making me grin.

"Precisely." she mockingly laughs while raising her middle finger.

"Keep raising that and I'll make you regret it." I threaten and I could practically see the wheels in her head turn.

"Make me" she challenges, although I can see her faltering immediately as those words left her mouth when her hand is trembling slightly.

I lean back on my chair, beaconing her with my finger but she shakes her head no.

"No no no I take it back." she immediately says after, putting her hand away and behind her.

"Good girl." she gasps, shocked at what I said and I laugh, loud.

"You looked like a fish out of water, gasping." she frowns at the comparison but soon joins me.

"Someone's in a good mood, eh. Something happened last night? Did you finally got some!? How was it?" she was asking one too many questions and my thoughts immediately went to a certain brunette's lips, then my mood dampens.

"No and stop insisting on that Gabriella. Anyway, what happened to you. You look like you're on drugs which, if you are, you're fired." she puts a hand on her chest, offended.

"Okay first of all, don't deflect the question, second, I would never and finally" she sighs dreamily, eyes gleaming "I think I found my match" I raise an eyebrow.

"Your what?" she groans and plops down on one of the chairs.

"My match, you know." she gestures her hands encouragingly at me, I shrug and she rolls her eyes.

"Anyway, this woman is just...something. She's so god damn charismatic, flirty, maybe a bit of a tease but who doesn't love that. She's so irresistibly charming that I can't help but be drawn to her." as her mouth keep running, I zone further out.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure which is why I'm here. So can I?" I blink.

"What?" she scoffs.

"Were you even listening?" I shake my head no.

"I asked if I can be a buddy-"

"No" she raises a hand, stopping me.

"Only for Estasia Carter." I rub the pad of my finger under my lip.

"And why should I? Remember, you're still on probation and it just started." she clasps her hands together pleadingly.

"Please Berry, it's only for her and, I hope this won't be true, she may rarely book an appointment...or none at all" her eyelids flutter while her bottom lip juts out.

"I told you that, that doesn't look good on you." her face drops, serious but hands remain in place.

"Please for me?" I sigh and nod yes. She springs to life and engulfs me into a tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squeezes too tight so I slap her arm hard repeatedly till she lets go.

"I don't even care that you hurt me even more with those rings on your fingers. Thank you bestie, you won't regret this"

"Yeah yeah, get back to work" I wave her off as she nods excitedly, and for once it's for paperwork.

"You got it, boss!" she gives a salute before leaving me alone.

Once she left, I'm alone with my thoughts again. I was actually doing a good job ignoring last night's events but that idiot had to remind me. Pushing my chair back, I rest my head against the soft cushion, closing my eyes as I remember what happened this morning.

Flashback

I awaken to the sound of a blender, specially a coffee blender and although I love the beverage with all my being, it's too early for all this ruckus. Wanting to know and hoping that it's too early so that I can get some shut-eye, I checked my phone.

7:27am huh, I could still sleep a bit more. I tossed the device beside me and closed my eyes, only for a knock to interrupt my journey to slumber. I ignored it, thinking they'll go away but to that, I was wrong. They kept knocking and knocking that I have no choice but to get up.

"Yes?" I say, sleep still evident in my voice. To my surprise, it was Ms. Kingsley, fresh out of the shower with her damp hair and slightly flushed complexion. Her eyes looked anywhere but mine, and I suppose I'm used to that.

"Um dad wants us downstairs for breakfast." not waiting for my reply, she speed walks towards the kitchen. I groan, wanting nothing to do with the no doubt awkward breakfast. I gather myself, making sure I was presentable and headed down.

In the kitchen, I see Mr. Kingsley offer me a kind smile to which I nod in return, glancing towards his daughter, who finds the cutlery more interesting than anything else.

"Good morning, Ms. Williams." he lifts his coffee mug, sipping gently as it was freshly made.

"Good morning sir." I say, looking at him as I sit down opposite to her, her father sitting at the head of the table.

"Oh don't call me sir, makes me feel old" I hear a snicker in front of me and I caught her smiling.

"Call me Arthur" I simply nod at that then looked at the table, surprised by the variety of food.

"Wow... this is quite a spread" he seemed pleased by my reaction. "How'd you manage to cook all these, I mean you must be tired." he smiles and shakes his head.

"Just a tad, but I heard that we had company so I took the liberty of preparing this for both of you." he then gestures me to eat and the first thing that I took was two pieces of pancakes, then some bacon and an egg.

"By the way, what happened to Estasia, Cat? I originally asked her to stay with you." she rolls her eyes before speaking.

"I have no idea, she only informed me that um Amber.." it was as if she was testing my name out and it only ever occurred to me that it's the first time she called me by my first name.

"was going to be accompanying me for two nights, after she had already arrived." she emphasized on the word after.

"Well, she must have been busy. Though she didn't sound like it when I called her, oh well, things still worked out."

This man has got to be the coolest father I have ever known.

"I hope you didn't have a hard time last night." he reaches forward and places his hand on top of her in a caring manner.

"It was not that bad" she looks up at me through her lashes before looking back at her father "I had some help." she flashes him a reassuring smile.

"And it's a good thing that you were available for the night." he says to me and I give I tight-lipped smile.

"Right." he clasps his hands together and allowed us to start breakfast. I reach for some butter, spreading it around my pancake then the maple syrup, adding just enough.

"Estasia was right to book you for tonight again though." I look up at him as I slice a piece before taking a bite, humming internally at the softness, accompanied by the sweetness of the syrup creating a mouthwatering fluff.

"Are you busy again, dad?" I could tell a hint of anxiousness in her voice. The thought of me causing that makes my shoulders slump.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, and I don't know if you've seen the news but there's a storm. It just entered our area last night." I observed her demeanor, her grip on her utensils seems to have tighten, so much so that her knuckles are turning white.

"How long is it here for before it passes?" I queried, chewing on a strip of bacon after speaking.

"Well they said it'll be here ranging from five days to a week." I hear a clang across from me and I see her crossing her arms, deep in thought.

"Don't worry dear, I'll make sure to schedule my time offs during those days." she huffs out a sigh.

"But what if they need you again like yesterday, you're their go-to-guy." his face shows sympathy before thinking things over. He seemingly brightens up as if he's got an idea.

"Well how about Estasia? I'm sure she'd like a sleepover, I'm sure she misses you dearly. And she knows you so well and about...your situation." he hesitated on that last part.

"Yeah, so much so that she ditched me for a stranger." she mumbles, it was more to herself but I caught it. I stopped chewing and looked at her, she must've felt me stare so she looks up. I didn't know what expression I held but seeing her immediately look away tells me it wasn't exactly bright.

"I'm going to go, I can't afford to be late again."

"Again?" he asks.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it." he looks at my plate, only seeing half a pancake left, some bacon bits and an egg.

"You didn't even finish your meal."

Yes, and I regret leaving such a delicious meal. But to me, she seems to be uncomfortable in my presence.

"I'm really sorry and thank you so much for the meal, Arthur. It was delicious." I offer a smile and headed out, grabbing my purse on the way out. Though I could feel two pairs of eyes on the back of my head, one lingering longer than the other.

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Happy Valentines day, my lovelies!