DANAI

Patrick sat outside of Danai’s office, waiting patiently as she finished collecting herself enough to leave the walls of the building. She still felt a bit distracted by what had happened not even ten minutes earlier, but she pushed it down enough to look as calm as she could when she opened her door to see her assistant there.

“Sorry,” she apologised as she secured her office door. “I feel like you’ve been sitting out here for years.”

Danai relaxed slightly when Patrick smiled, waving off her unnecessary concern, “it has not been that long. I had some texts to send and notifications to check, anyway. If anything, you did me a favour.”

He stood up then and led the way to the elevator down the hall, carrying an over the shoulder bag now, which Danai thought suited him. As she followed behind Patrick, she was able to get a better look at the bite mark she’d seen earlier on the nape of his neck. Though she still felt it was a little too soon to ask, she’d try to steer the conversation that way. 

“Maybe he’ll bring it up...” She thought to herself.

Not even ten minutes later, they’d arrived at the tea shop. It was cozy, yet modern, and the two of them had managed to grab a comfy booth in one of the quieter corners of the place once they’d arrived. 

“One of us should probably stay here and hold the table,” Patrick whispered to Danai as he took his bag off. He said it more like a friendly suggestion, and Danai got the feeling that he still wanted to treat her like his boss, even outside of work. She smiled, taking her jacket off and placing it on the table in front of them.

“Maybe not.” She shrugged, “I doubt anyone will be bold enough to steal a table with jackets on it.”

Patrick considered the idea, but didn’t seem totally convinced. His eyes went to the cashier’s counter, and it was like he was measuring the distance between there and the table they’d secured.

“It’s not that far,” Danai assured, surprising Patrick slightly.

He got up, peeled off his coat, then placed it on the seat under him. Before leaving, he grabbed his bag then whispered, “just in case,” which made Dani smile. Even though they spent a lot of time together at work, she felt like she was learning much more about him in this time outside of their office.

They went to stand in line together, behind two other pairs of people, and Danai took the chance to ask Pat, “what’s your favourite flavour?”

“Hmm?” He asked, distracted as he tried to sneak glances back at their lonely table. She gave his side a gentle nudge, followed by a “sorry” when he jumped more than she’d expected him to.

Danai couldn’t help but chuckle at him a bit, “I asked what your favourite bubble tea flavour is.”

Patrick flushed slightly, not expecting Danai to have been paying enough attention to notice his weariness about their table. He cleared his throat and smiled before he said, "Thai tea."

"Really?" Danai asked, surprised. She'd always associated the seriousness of someone like Patrick with a taste for bitter and bland things. Thai tea wasn't like that at all, and it was even a bit too sweet for her. She grinned at her assistant, "I did not expect that."

He frowned slightly, "what did you expect?"

Danai laughed, "I didn't mean that in a-"

"I can take your order next!" Patrick and Danai looked over at the cashier who'd interrupted their conversation. 

The two of them walked up and made their orders. Unsurprisingly, Patrick ordered a large Thai boba tea, and Danai ordered a large matcha boba tea. Even though Danai said it was her treat, Patrick still tried to pay for his own drink. Danai noticed the barista giggling as they fought to give her each of their cards. 

"Hey, I think that's one of the producers," Danai said, which distracted Patrick long enough for her to pay, and leave a nice tip. 

They walked back to their table, and Danai poked Pat with her elbow. "I told you it was my treat."

He took a sip of his drink then shrugged, "I've never been the best at accepting gifts." Patrick looked at the window then, and seemed to smile to himself as he said, "it used to bug the hell out of my mate."

Danai started to get excited at his mention of the person in his life. She didn't expect it to have been this easy to get him to say something about them. One of the most surprising parts of it all was that she didn't make him do anything. All she'd done was buy him tea. 

She tilted her head to the side slightly and furrowed her brows, the best fake-confused look she could produce. 

Patrick noticed and added, "Raine, my mate. I’ve never mentioned him?"

Danai grinned, "you have never told me about him. And you don't have to. But I'm happy to hear as many details as you'll give me."

He looked down at his drink and Danai figured he was thinking about her offer. They'd known each other for a little while now, and she kept her word. Patrick seemed to prefer to keep a tight circle, and Danai didn’t hear about his private life from anyone at work. They all agreed that he was a mostly private person, but she waited and hoped that he’d be willing to share more with her.

Once he looked up, he was met with the kind, eager eyes of his boss. She waited patiently for him to say something.

"This stays between us," he asked her. 

Danai nodded, "of course."

"Well," Patrick started, "he's a few years older than me, and a little taller than me for one."

Danai took a few sips of her drink, and tried to use the info she'd gotten to create an image of this guy. Taller than Patrick was tall, and she knew this guy had to be at least 6'2. 

"Like Everitt," a thought popped up in her mind, which instantly made her warmer than a few seconds prior. Dani groaned, shoving the thoughts of the beautiful man out of her head. He was the last thing she wanted to think about. 

At least, that's what she told herself. 

“What else,” she asked Patrick, leaning forward as her interest piqued even more. Patrick smiled, seeming to appreciate the interest Danai had in his personal life, especially considering this had nothing to do with their work.

“Well,” Patrick continued, “we actually met at a party. Which is a cliche, I know. The weird thing about it is that I wasn’t even supposed to be there.”

“What do you mean?”

He flushed slightly, and the shade of pink went from his cheeks to his ears, “I actually had a blind date I was going to with someone else. But, my friend sent me the wrong address. I might’ve known it was the wrong address if I wasn’t supposed to be meeting her at my friend’s friend’s house, which I’d never been to. He thought it’d be a good idea to have our first meeting at this dinner party.”

Danai giggled, “that sounds like a mess.”

Pat rolled his eyes and laughed, and Danai felt like it was the first time she saw him put those two expressions together. “Mess is an understatement. I got to the door of this house, knocked, and was pulled in by some girls as soon as the door opened. I don’t think they were sober, because they didn’t seem to realise that we didn’t know each other.”

“How late was this?” She asked him.

“It was only a bit after 9 pm. Some people are just built differently I guess,” he shrugged, gazing out of the window next to them. “Anyway, I realised I was probably in the wrong place after a few minutes, so I went to text my friend. As I’m making my way to a quieter corner, I bump into this guy and almost knock him over. Long story short, we have this instant connection, and have been together ever since.”

When he looked back at Danai, she was smiling like an idiot as she wiped some tears from her eyes. Patrick gasped, quickly grabbing a few napkins and shoving them toward her, “what’s wrong?!”

Danai laughed, “I’m sorry. I’m just a sucker for a good romance. Especially the non-fiction variety. I give it a ten out of ten.” She shook his hand as though she was congratulating him for winning a valuable award.

“It’s nothing remarkable,” Pat whispered, waving off her compliment.

She smiled, “you are wrong about that.”

******