Daphne Slept With The CEO?

7. Work, Don't Think

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What you want to avoid will be the one thing you wouldn't be able to.

These are the words that went through Daphne's mind when she saw Alan Conall and his secretary, Matthew Olsen walk over to where the elevators were and the stupid metal box did not arrive.

"Morning, Mr. Conall." Simon mumbled, giving Daphne a side eye when she turned her head to the other side, completely ignoring their boss.

Since Simon was unaware of the history between Daphne and Alan and because he was aware of how much of a moody misanthrope Daphne could be, he took her ignoring Alan for just that - Daphne being Daphne, so he nudged her.

"Be nice." He whispered, bending down to reach her height.

"Just because I was nice to you for a moment, it does not mean that we became chums." She was quick to blurt out.

Anyone else would have taken offense at those words. But not Simon, Simon was not that kind of a person.

"Fine, whatever suits you." He said and finally, the elevator dinged to declare its arrival.

Alan and Daphne ignored each other as if they weren't even aware of each other's existence. Simon mistook the tension for the tiny spat that he had with Daphne. But poor Matt, knowing that something really had gone down between Daphne and Alan the last Friday and they did have some sort of history, had to resign to feeling extreme discomfort of having to stand in the same box as them.

Daphne barged out as soon as the elevator opened at their floor and the one to blow out a sigh of relief was obviously Matthew.

"Matt, get me my coffee."

Matthew wanted to bang his head against a wall as he stayed back in the elevator, watching Alan and Simon walk away. Couldn't he have told him sooner? Why did he wait till they all reached the office floor?

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"Are you really going to ignore me the whole day?"

Sarah looked up from her laptop and over at Daphne and Simon, and she was surprised to find that she was not hearing things - Simon Black really was talking to Daphne. It was not like him to leave his work for chit-chat, and even those who did would not do it for Daphne because she was not the best person to socialize with.

"I did not know that we were best of friends and that I would talk to you non-stop for three business days."

Sarah rolled her eyes. Daphne was pretty asocial and cold, but she was also very immature. And she could be lame at times when she was being her childish self.

"Why are you like this?" Sarah chuckled, grabbing Daphne's hand.

Daphne looked over at her and narrowed her eyes. "Don't make me change my mind about you, Sarah Thomson."

"You are such a child!" Sarah laughed and went back to her work.

Daphne was done. She had never felt so uncomfortable in her workspace before.

She was supposed to listen to what Niall had said. It was just a one-night stand and it meant absolutely nothing. That was what her stand on this was supposed to be. And Alan Conall had made it way too easy for her to get over that one magical night with his non-magical vile words. Then what was her problem? Why was she still stuck in an impasse?

She knew that this was her doing. She was being an i***t and she simply refused to snap out of it. It was embarrassing to even discuss it with anyone else. Then why was she not shaking it off and moving on. She really needed to stop being a stupid teenager.

The day dragged on and on and for the first time in her life, Daphne was not the first person to leave the office. In fact, even as the last of them filed out, they watched her weirdly because Daphne Prescott did not stay a moment after five o'clock if she did not have immediate work to finish but this was already past six o'clock.

"Daphne, it's almost six," Sarah said as she got up from her chair, grabbing her bottle, phone, and bag.

"So?" Daphne didn't bother looking up as she typed away on her laptop. "Is there anything special today?"

"Well, the entire office thinks so because you are still here." Sarah was not shy to admit it.

"I just have a bit of work to finish off from when I used to take off back in the day and I don't want to get in trouble because of it."

"But..." Sarah started but decided to shut up. It was known that all the work from before the takeover had been taken care of and Daphne was the kind of person to finish it off before anyone else.

That was what Daphne was known for - the person who took off the most but still managed to get all of the work.

Sarah had realized in the morning itself that Daphne really was not in the mood today so if she wanted to channel all of her restless energy into work, then she should be left alone to do that. Understanding, Sarah decided to simply squeeze her shoulder, murmur a "Good night." and walk out.

The clock struck seven and then it turned to eight and Daphne Prescott still did not clock out. She sat there typing away at the data sheets, fixing errors, and forwarding notes to concerned employees. She got up from her seat twice, both times she made a trip to the restroom and came back after a stop at the recess room for her beloved machine coffee.

On the second trip, she paused in front of the tray of fortune cookies that Jennifer, one of the other employees, bakes herself every single day.

Daphne took in a deep breath as she stared at the three cookies left over on the tray.

"This is stupid." She told herself. "Seriously Daph, I get that you are unhinged at the moment but that does not mean that you will get reduced to this level."

She wanted to walk away but she couldn't. She was rooted to the spot and she knew that the only way that she could move on is if she tried one of those cookies.

"I have officially gone cuckoo." She muttered to herself as she took one and crushed it open.

Turn your life upside down.

On purpose.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She took a step back, patting away the cookie crumbs and walking back to her cabin. "Why would I turn my own life upside down? Does that even make any sense?"

"Is it asking me to turn my life upside down or is it saying that I have turned my life upside down? Because that seems more plausible!"

"What's going on?"

Daphne screamed, jumping back as she turned to the source of the voice. The source of all her problems.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked, her voice still squeaky. She cleared her throat. Ugh, she hated this day.

"I work here. This is my company." Alan said as he nonchalantly walked over to Daphne's desk. "What are you doing here?" He asked, bending down to see what she was working on. He had decided out of his coat and now wore his white shirt, wrinkled and creased with the top two buttons undone. His tie was loosened and Daphne could see the ink that peaked from under the white fabric.

He was tatted. She did not remember that from her dreams but straining her memory, she realized that he was indeed tatted, except even though she could remember the pattern that danced its way from his chest to his lower abdomen, she could not figure out what the pattern meant. And she had to bite her tongue to not ask him what it meant - they were not exactly in a position where they were cordial with one another.

"This is not due until next week." He said, standing back up straight, his eyes involuntarily racing to her plum lips, the ones which were more swollen than usual because she had spent the day chewing away at them in her restlessness. "Why are you working overtime to finish this?"

"I have other engagements next week." It was not entirely a lie. She did have other engagements next week, engagements she would sacrifice her soul to satan to get out of. But what could she do? Said engagements meant spending time with her parents and there was no way out of it.

"And you need to have monologues with yourself while you are at it?" He asked, the seriousness disappearing to be replaced by what she could decipher to be only amusement.

"Yes. So?" Daphne pushed her nose up, showing him that she was not one to back down. "I don't see how it is any of your business how I do things as long as you get it on your table on time."

Alan raised a brow. He had to admit. This woman did not care the tiniest bit about what others thought about her.

"Did you eat yet?"

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