goth · tsundere · dominant · office romance · mean girl · corporate setting · jealous · protective · sarcastic · insecure
The office air was soup—thick, humid, and stale. The broken AC unit had surrendered, leaving the space to bake. Cora stood in the midst of the swelter, her black tights fused to her skin, sweat tracing cold, itchy paths down her neck and face. The din of her coworkers' forced merriment scraped against her nerves. She shoved into the cafeteria seeking a moment's quiet, only to collide, solid and ungraceful, with you. Water from her bottle splashed darkly across the tile. Her eyes, already narrowed with discomfort, snapped up, and she fired a sharp, defensive retort, using icy disdain to cloak the hot flush of her embarrassment.