THE OFFICE HAS become a haven to the trio whenever it's lunch break.

While the rest of the office like to spend their time dining outside and take a breather from all the work they're doing, these three amigos would rather eat in, because something about it screams comfy. Besides, they don't have to walk a lot, because once lunch is over, they just have to take five steps before they're back to their desks.

It may not be that great, but with them, it's good enough.

Connor clears his throat, lowering his hand from his mouth after eating a piece of his Big Mac. "So—"

"Don't talk while chewing," Louise tells, her face twisting into a small grimace. "Don't you have some manners?"

The corners of his chink eyes crinkles as he smiles sheepishly. When he swallows, he says, "Sorry. I was just really excited when a question just popped into my head."

Mel scoffs, a smile playing at her lips. "It better be a good one, because ninety nine percent of those 'pop up questions' of yours are ridiculous."

He gasps, and then defends himself, "No, they're not."

Louise raises an eyebrow. "You asked us whether we believed dinosaurs ever existed or not. Yesterday."

"Well, sorry for trying to make an interesting conversation," he says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I love asking questions, and getting to know people. Especially you two."

"Why?" she asks, suddenly curious.

He gives a one shoulder shrug, staring down at his burger. "I don't know. I mean, you're pretty interesting, you know? And Mel, you're nice to talk to. I like the way you think."

Louise gives him the beginning of a smile, bringing up her own burger to her mouth, just holding it up as she says, "That's nice." Then she takes a bite.

He makes a sound at the back of his throat. "Finally flattered, huh?" he jokes. "Looks like all those compliments and pick up lines about your beauty doesn't work on you."

Mel scoffs. "It doesn't work on anyone."

"Yeah," Louise agrees, nodding once. "It's all about brains than beauty these days. So yes, being called interesting is kinda nice."

"Note taken. Thank you, wingladies."

Louise's smile grows, and she hides it by tipping her head down, causing her hair to cover her face. Then, she hears his voice again. "Since we're on this topic, have you scored with anyone yet, Lou?"

Taken aback, she resists the urge to choke on her double cheeseburger, and slowly swallows it down instead. She looks back up at her friends, and mumbles, "Score?"

With a cheeky smile, he nods. "Well, you're a single woman. Completely free. I bet you're one of those librarian types—"

"Connor," she cuts him off, blood rushing to her cheeks in confusion and embarrassment. "I'm not scoring anybody."

Mel tilts her head to the side. "Are you a virgin?"

She rolls her bottom lip in, and chews on it. What do they think? "Yeah."

To her surprise, they both react normally. Mel only nods understandably, while Connor hums thoughtfully. She expected her to bombard her with questions, and him to gasp or stare at her dramatically. However, it looks like it's no big deal. She sighs in relief inwardly.

"So am I, my friend," Connor drawls, staring at the wall behind Mel as if he's in his own imagination. "So am I."

"Why am I not surprised?" Mel teases before sipping on her drink, coke.

He scowls at her playfully. "Shut up. At least I don't have to worry about getting infected or something."

"Mel, how old are you?" Louise asks, furrowing her eyebrows. She guesses that she's around her age, but maybe a year or two older. Mel doesn't look old at all with her bright eyes and face free from wrinkles and acne. She's blessed with clear skin. I wonder if she's naturally like that or if she has a dermatologist to help her.

"Twenty six," she answers casually. "Why?"

Connor's eyes widen as Louise share a similar reaction, raising her eyebrows in surprise. She calculates the difference between their ages in her mind, and realizes that she's actually five years older.

"Whoa, you're two years older than me?" Connor says incredulously. "But you look . . . you look younger."

Mel's lips curve into a bold smile, and she props her elbow on her desk, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. "You really think so?"

"That probably explains why you're not a virgin," he teases. "Many guys must be after you."

She scoffs, bringing her hand up to show a glittering ring on her ring finger. "I'm engaged."

"With who?" Louise asks, excitement surging through her. Having feelings may not be her thing, but hearing stories about other people's love life gives her warmth and hope for some reason. She's still human after all.

With a warm smile, Mel replies, "James. You can say that he's my high school sweetheart."

She tilts her head to the side. "High school?"

When Louise thinks of high school, she can't make out the blurry images properly, but it's enough to know that she was quite a bright student, had sufficient amount of close friends, and a great experience joining a lot of extra curricular activities such as the debate team as well as taking part in a lot of math and science competitions. She may not remember taking the quizzes, or tests and exam papers stacked in her room somewhere in the corner along with the rest of her pre-amnesiac junk, but most of them show a big red 'A', and sometimes a 'B'.

Alison showed their pictures before from school and with other friends as well. Luckily, she somehow has short memories of them—Paolo and Ajay, close friends from the circle—but that's all who she can recognize clearly.

However, no matter how close they were—all four of them did seem pretty close judging from the pictures and few memories she has—it doesn't seem to matter now, because she never sees them anymore. Perhaps they don't even know that she got into an accident. But then again, it happened right after graduation. That's the time friends drift apart, and lose touch. That's when you realize who's there to stay in your life longer, and who's only temporary.

It was then she realized that it was probably for the best. Maybe the accident saved her the trouble from going through that phase of separation of her loved ones. And as for Jerome, she met him after her incident in college so she definitely knows him.

"That's nice," Connor comments genuinely, bringing Louise back to reality. "I mean, you know, long lasting relationships. Must be nice marrying someone who's basically your best friend."

Mel purses her lips, casting her gaze down. "It wasn't exactly easy. I mean, we drifted apart for a while, but he came back." She huffs out a chuckle, shaking her head to herself. "And to think that the first time I saw him again was on the day of my wedding with another guy."

"Huh?"

She shakes her head again. "Never mind. Long story. But I'm glad he came back. Otherwise I would've made one of the worst decisions of my life."

He snorts a laughter. "What about you, Louise? Is your high school love story cheesy like hers?" Mel playfully sends him a glare, but then looks intently back at Louise to listen as well.

Caught off guard, Louise widens her eyes a little. Without even a warning, her mind flashes back to literally nothing, just darkness. She momentarily shuts her eyes, and forces herself to at least remember something significant. It's not like she never tried before, but it's just that, she's given up after countless of failed attempts.

To make life easier, she asked Alison once, and she replied with, "You had a few hook ups here and there, but nothing serious." Louise doesn't think she's a hook up type of person, but she doesn't question further. Who knows, maybe she changed.

Suddenly, something unlocks in her brain so easily and it passes by so fast that she could've missed it if she wasn't concentrating enough.

They're still fuzzy figments, but it's still something. She sees two hands, fingers interlocking. One bigger than the other. And as if the smaller hand is hers, she feels her fingers touching something cold and playing with it by twisting it around the other person's finger. It's a silver ring, plain, but with gold strings lined on the edges, which gives an elegant look. Her fingers then stop playing with it, and then rubs her thumb across an imprint in the object. It's a word for sure, but there's no way she can read it.

All she can do is feel, feel feel.

Instantly, the scene changes, showing two people wrapped in each other's arms. One boy, who has his head covered in a beanie and face buried in a girl's shoulder, who's not tall enough to hug him completely that she has to stand on her toes. Louise resists the urge to gasp when she recognizes the girl's straight, black hair as her own. And that old, abandoned sweater she's glanced at way too many times somewhere deep down in her closet.

Who are you? She speaks in her mind desperately, hoping that the guy in her vision would reply. Then, without thinking twice, she murmurs, "I don't know."

"Huh?" Connor repeats, his eyebrows knitting in confusion.

When she realizes what she just blurted, she flickers her eyes open, and gapes. "I meant . . . I was just—"

A sudden swish of their office door interrupts her sentence, which causes him and Mel to glance away from her. She then releases a sigh of relief, being saved from the trouble of explaining herself. She twists in her seat, now facing a bunch of co-workers who just got back from lunch.

Mel releases a huff of breath. "I don't wanna do this anymore."

"I don't wanna be the reason why," Connor sings with a grin, continuing the lyrics of Rihanna's song, Unfaithful.

Louise rolls her eyes, packing up her rubbish and stuffing it into the paper bag. "You're ruining the song."

He sighs. "And she's back to herself."

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"Hey, Lou! Wait up."

She stops walking; right before stepping out of the building. Recognizing Uriah's voice, a confused look dawns upon her face, and she twists around to see him striding towards her. Of course, he wouldn't be jogging. Not in front of all these people here. He's gotta look good in public, doesn't he? When he's only a few steps away from her, she turns back to the exit and walks out, not forgetting to bow her head slightly at the doorman.

Now staring abroad at the dim night sky, she gives it a small smile, and exhales contentedly. There's something about the night skies that awaken the aesthetics in her.

All of a sudden, Uriah falls into step with her quietly. She glances at him the same time he grins down at her. He asks, "Where are you going?"

"Home. Where else?"

He shrugs. "Hang out with friends?"

"Uh, no." She shakes her head, heading towards the sidewalk where she can hail a cab. "They're probably busy working."

"I can drop you home," he suggests, shrugging nonchalantly. "It's no problem, really."

She cocks an eyebrow, watching him curiously. "You're not running late for anything?"

The corners of his lips tugs upwards, and he tilts his head to the side. The look of amusement shared on both of their faces. "I may be a businessman, but that doesn't mean all I do in life is work."

"Really?" she teases.

"That would be my dad."

She laughs.

He grins.

A week ago, Louise forgave him for his misunderstanding. And now, she feels a lot more comfortable around him. Even though it isn't a long period of time, she feels like she knows a lot about him already. Not as an intern and her boss, but something else; something more. Sure, they talk about different, random things in his office after she goes up to follow his orders such as giving him certain important files, or photocopies.

But she ignores it, because it's a feeling she's familiar with. It's what she gets when she meets someone familiar. When that person doesn't feel like a complete stranger to her. The thing is, why does she still feel the same way even when Uriah has already confirmed that they never knew each other?

But then again, Louise Santiago isn't gullible; she's clever. Who can explain why Alison hesitates every time she's around Uriah, or why she looked tense and confused when she saw Uriah for the first time out in the pool? Did Uriah really mistaken her for someone else? Someone who he knows can't swim, and drinks their hot chocolate the same as usual?

Sounds like bullshit to her, honestly. She doesn't even know who to trust anymore. Alison and Uriah, or herself?

Looking up at him, she realizes that he's still waiting for an answer. A small smile curves her lips. "Well, what are you waiting for? Christmas?"

For now, she chooses her feelings.

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"Dad, are you home?" Louise shouts, her voice slicing through the eerie silence in her house like a knife.

No reply.

And she wonders, just like always, why does she even try when she already knows.

Releasing a sigh, she walks towards the kitchen counter and tosses her bag towards the couch across in the living room. Along with that, she also takes off her scarf and coat, throwing it in the same direction. As soon as she plops herself onto the seat, she reaches for her favorite mug. It was given by Jerome a year ago as a Christmas present. On the black and white cup, it says 'I like big mugs, and I cannot lie.' She sprinkles chocolate powder into it, knowing exactly what she wants.

Hot chocolate has always been her favorite drink since birth. She rarely drinks soft drinks, because of a habit she formed in college. It was when Alison wanted to go on soda-free diet, and asked Louise to join, because she didn't want to be the only one. She agreed, and eventually, Louise got used to it. Now, she's not even interested in drinking soft drinks ever again.

Tea, she can live with. Coffee? Acceptable, but seriously prefers not to drink it as well.

Just as she's pouring milk into the mug, the doorbell rings.

She places the carton down, and trots towards the front door. It must be dad. As soon as she reaches it, she twists the doorknob and pulls the door open. Uriah is revealed, and he's holding her purple purse up with a tight-lipped smile. "You forgot something."

Surprised, she raises her eyebrows. "Oh. I didn't even realize it."

He chuckles. "I'm not surprised."

She tilts her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows. She very well knows that he made a slip up, but acts like she doesn't get it. "Why?"

He opens his mouth to say something, but then freezes as if he just realized what he said. Then, he shakes his head, and so does his brown curls that falls a little over the side of his forehead. Now, she registers the fact that she's never seen his hair down. She didn't even know he had curls. His hair has been always kept up, and it's probably because it's a cleaner look for the office, which is obviously much preferred than letting it down and messy.

She has the urge to extend her arm, and move those curls away from his face. But before she can do anything, his voice interrupts her thoughts. "Nothing. I just said . . . is that chocolate I smell?"

"Yes."

"Can I come in?"

"No."

"But I have your wallet."

She snatches her belonging as quick as she could without blinking, and smiles in triumph when Uriah widens his eyes at his slow reflex. "Not anymore, you don't."

He wrinkles his nose. "Okay, fine, just this time."

She scoffs. "Goodnight, boss." Without even giving him time to reply, she's already shutting the door in his face. As a few seconds pass by, she bites her lower lip, contemplating on what she's done.

She didn't even thank him.

Was she a little too rude? Or did she do the right thing? Is it even okay to invite your boss into your house for non-business reasons? Like, what is he even gonna do? But he's also kinda her friend, right?

Yeah, but at least thank him, will you?

She groans inwardly before opening the door once again. She's about to run towards his car, but stops herself when she sees him still standing in front of her. He's leaning onto the doorway in a relaxed stance. A grin on his face along with a look of accomplishment like he knew she wouldn't leave him out in the cold.

He knows her pretty well, doesn't he?

And just like that, she lets him in without the need to say anything. Because, somehow, she knows that he gets it. He gets her.

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"Spill it," Louise says as she lowers herself onto the couch carefully while attempting not to spill her hot chocolate all over—no pun intended, by the way.

Uriah snaps his neck towards her, getting comfy on the sofa by putting his legs up, which is kinda hard to do since he's still in his suit. So he settles with crossing his ankle up on his knee. "Your house looks boring."

She rolls her eyes. "If you're looking for a Christmas decorated house, go to my next door neighbor. God, I swear I hear the song Jingle Bells every time I go to sleep."

He snickers. "At least they're feeling the Christmas spirit. Don't you? I mean it's already halfway through December."

"Do I look like I am?" she deadpans.

He exhales. "Nah."

"Hm," she replies, sipping the hot liquid.

"Which is why I'm going to change that."

She quickly swallows down her drink, trying not to choke. "What?"

"You heard me. We're going to decorate your dull looking house. Seriously, how can you even—I mean, there's no one at home, no bright lights, no inspiration quotes hanging on the wall, no Christmas tree to stare at when you're bored, no nothing."

"Well, my dad will be back home any time now so . . ."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind. He loves Christmas." He pauses, and then blinks. "I mean, who doesn't?"

She stares at him, speechless. She can't imagine why he'd want to help her out with this—not that she even needed it in the first place. But the way his words jumble over each other when he's speaking in excitement, and his eyes glistening with anticipation, it seems like Christmas means so much to him.

She never would've guessed it, honestly.

But he's not wrong either. Her dad wouldn't mind putting up Christmas decorations, and a tree, because she knows how much he loves Christmas as well. It basically runs in her family since they're Filipinos, and celebrate every year due to their religion.

What went wrong was they simply didn't find any reason to celebrate the festival anymore, because her mom no longer comes back home at this important time of the year. It just doesn't feel the same anymore without her.

She brings the rim of her mug to her lips, staring blankly ahead. "I don't," she says before taking her last gulp of hot chocolate. 

- - - - - - - - - -

i've finally decided an update schedule for this story and it's every saturday bc it's already november and christmas is right next month!! ARENT U EXCITED