(Requested by meow4liv)

INTJ (male) x ESTP (female)

It was love at first sight for her. Upon joining the marketing team for the upcoming event that will be held in seven months, she immediately fell for their mysteriously charming team leader, Bill.

He's a tall man with broad shoulders and well-toned arms that look like they could carry her with ease. His fixed jet black hair always showed such order and professionalism exuding off him. And his smooth sonorous voice could make Carlotta swoon even if the topic of conversation for the team was about operations- or logistics-related.

But outside of work, the way he talks to her is something that she just cannot change about him. 

"What are you doing wasting your time again, Carlotta?" He grunts, throwing the woman standing in front of his desk a glance before mapping out the design board for their upcoming event. “You have some canvassing to do for potential floral providers.”

Carlotta gulps down a lump in her throat and fiddles with the hem of her blouse behind her back. "I-Um...I’m actually almost done with that-”

“Then why are you here? I don’t like that answer. Tell me when you’re finally done with it,” he huffs out, not hiding his growing annoyance for he knows that his team needs to get things done immediately and surely. Carlotta is a walking onset of a headache. She’s been sneaking small packs of gummy worms, his favorite snack, on his desk for the past weeks of working together. He knows that she likes him but he has no time to entertain such ideas of a relationship, so he turned her down in the third week and told her to look for someone else to like. 

“I won’t accept any of these,” he utters, handing her back all the packets of gummy worms she has been leaving on his desk. The woman reluctantly takes them from him, her heart falling as she does so. “Go back to work.”

And this is why Carlotta is back. She is going to redeem herself and backing down is not an option. “I’m here to offer you my company,” she replies.

“Carlotta, I already told you to find someone else.”

“Yeah, I know, but we can be friends.”

Bill pauses in his actions. Furrowing his eyebrows, his head flies up to throw the woman an incredulous look. “Excuse me?”

“And you’re excused,” she utters like the cheerful chirp of a bird. She flashes a smile at Bill, but he could only stare at her in disbelief.

“I...see,” he manages to sputter. He clears his throat and pushes himself off his desk to stand. His height towers over the woman but Carlotta does not deter. Instead, she smiles more widely at him. “And, uh, and why are you doing this?”

Carlotta nonchalantly shrugs and breaks off into soft chuckles. “I think that we can be friends. There’s nothing wrong with that. You look like someone who would be happy with my company."

Bill purses his lips then chuckles ruefully. "I don't have time for the company of a friend-"

"Well, I insist," she interjects. This time standing taller, finally gaining the confidence she needs. "Come on, Bill. Aside from being a great worker, I can be a good friend as well. You just have to let loose once in a while." 

Bill decided to not bring the topic any further and complied with what Carlotta wanted, but he found spending extra time with her a chore.

He never knew that the woman loved to drink different kinds of tea to pass time. When he was invited to join an Eastern tea ceremony in the morning and spent afternoon tea with her until dinner time, Bill never thought that his stomach would be full solely because of tea. Oolong and Jasmine tea in the morning, then Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea in the afternoon - the woman never had plans of stopping.

“Come on,” she kept on telling him, “how else would you get to relax when everything you do reminds you of the event that we need to finish?" 

And frankly enough, she does have a valid point. He has been focused too much on work and making sure that the event goes as planned that he finds it hard to sleep at night. His head has been filled with the problems that could happen which could completely destroy what his team has been working hard on. The thoughts have become too overwhelming that the single thought of creating this new pasta dish he found on the internet or putting together a new 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle seems connected to everything he does for the upcoming event. 

Maybe he's been too harsh on Carlotta. Hanging out with her during their shared free times allowed him to see a different side of her. The side that seemed plastic to him, but apparently was actually who she really was. Carlotta may seem a bit too energetic for him, but she is always a good listener aside from being one of the most helpful and resourceful people on the team. Bill is blessed to have her, and he's starting to realize and accept that now. 

“You know what, Bill?” Carlotta starts after licking her peanut butter-flavored ice cream from her teaspoon. For the first time, it was Bill who offered to take her out for ice cream at one of his favorite ice cream parlors in the city. It was near their office building and not a lot of people visited the place, so there were a lot of free tables they could take. 

“What?” Bill asks while placing his teaspoon on the bowl of his vanilla ice cream. At first, Carlotta told him that it was such a plain flavor, but when he made her try it - she suddenly developed the love of a new flavor. Apparently, the vanilla-flavored ice cream of this parlor is what makes it Bill's favorite. 

She smiles at him, noticing that there's a spot of vanilla ice cream residue on the corner of his mouth. Instead of having the urge to wipe it off with her finger, she grabs a paper napkin from the stash on the table and hands it over to him. "You got ice cream at the side of your mouth." 

"Oh, shoot." Bill takes the paper napkin from her and immediately wipes his mouth with it. "I thought you were going to say something else-" 

"Actually I was about to, but I know that you like to keep yourself proper so I made sure that you looked nice before I continued." 

Bill quietly thanks her from his side and rolls up the used paper napkin to place it on the table. “What was it that you wanted to say?”

“Nothing much really,” Carlotta shrugs then continues with pure sincerity laced in her voice, “I’d just like to say that you’re a great leader.”

This causes Bill to snort out loud, "Yeah, right." He shakes his head and coughs out a laugh, finding her words delusional. “I know that you like to play, Carlotta.”

“No, no, I’m really serious!” she clarifies, “Like you should see how well you lead and map out everything that needs to be done. You got great foresight.”

“Yeah, but it gets into my head most of the time. You know that I get overwhelmed," he admits, looking down at his ice cream, playing with the teaspoon by scooping up some bits of melted ice cream in his bowl. 

She sighs silently, watching him feel dejected. Smiling softly at him, she reaches out a hand and places it over his. Bill looks up in surprise with the sudden action, his eyes meeting Carlotta’s gentle gaze on him. "Don't we all. That's why you have us, you have me,” she finishes in a singsong, causing the man sitting across her to genuinely laugh. 

“Thank you, Carlotta.”

“You do know that you can just call me Carlo, right? Everyone in the office calls me Carlo, except you.”

He grimaces and comments, “That’s a masculine name.”

"I know,” she gushes then titters, “and that's why I love seeing the reactions of people when they find out that I'm a woman." 

He questions her out of pure curiosity, "And you're not bothered by that?" 

"Why would I be." She scoffs playfully, "It's just a name." 

"Even then, I’d like to stick with calling you Carlotta."

She sharply tilts her head to the side. "Why?"

With a certain glint in his eyes, Bill says with a smirk, "So that you'll know that it's me who's calling you and no one else.” And the oh-so-clever guy ends with a wink directed right at the now blushing woman. 

"You are starting to become a sneaky man."

"Maybe it's because I'm learning from a great woman."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for requesting and waiting! ♡

I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)

I also hope you like the new cover! Wyllad made it! ♡

Some traits of INTJ: unconventional, innovative, ambitious

Some traits of ESTP: outgoing, action-oriented, dramatic