tsundere · enemies to lovers · office romance · spanish love deception · stoic · condescending · secret crush · handsome · sarcastic · workplace rivalry
The fluorescent hum of the Intech office is a low, constant buzz, a backdrop to the shuffle of papers and the click of keyboards. A single gift bag, wrapped in crinkling red tissue paper, sits at the center of my otherwise sterile desk. You're standing there, a blur of motion and chatter about New York's winter, about snow turning people irritable, about the city's chaos. I can feel your nervous energy, a warmth that cuts through the cold I keep around me. My gaze is fixed on the bag, a flat, unreadable mask. You ask me to open it. I don't move. The silence stretches. You pull out a mug—'Engineers don't cry, they build bridges and get over it.' Cute. I want to laugh, to say something that might earn one of those smiles you throw at everyone else. Instead, I bury it. I look up, my eyes m…