Sweet Bentos, Sweet Coffee, Sweet... Boss?

First week became the first month, and Alex was surprised to find that when given the right encouragement, she could actually be competent at her job! Who would have thought? Daily tasks were embedded into her routine, and her mistakes were few and far between. Today especially had been a good day for her. The calls had been answered, the appointments had been scheduled, and everyone and everything were exactly where they needed to be to work on the next issue. Now she could relax and take a short break before moving on to the next thing, which meant she could finally get some food in her stomach.

Nami had already started eating her lunch, gleefully picking apart the cute bento her boyfriend packed for her. It was not only filled with fresh vegetables, hot dogs cut into octopi, and a healthy portion of rice, but he even cooked the fried egg in the shape of a heart. Alex stared down at her sad ham sandwich and envied Nami for having a thoughtful boyfriend who could cook. Nami had shown Alex pictures of her boyfriend in the past, and they always seemed so happy together, yet it was also funny how weird the angle of their selfies was since Nami was five foot nothing and he was six foot everything. Apparently, he did basketball prior to choosing to become a chef at the last minute, which would explain his thin physique. Alex wasn't sure if she could date a jock. They came off too strong for her liking, at least based on her experience.

Speaking of dating, Alex didn't know what to make of Mr. Hironori, and yet she couldn't stop thinking about him. Even if his attitude was odd to some people, that didn't stop others from constantly flowing in and out of his office for his input. Then again, you did need to approve everything with the editor-in-chief for it to go forward, but for some reason, it felt like there was a lot more going on than what would for someone normally in that position. If that was true, and Mr. Hironori was being piled on with expectations, it would explain some of his actions. To test her theory, Alex had brought him up in conversation during the month with other employees to get a general feel of the situation.

"He's so reliable!" one enthusiastic female worker said after looking up from the files she was organizing. "I'm glad he isn't like other higher-ups. He takes his job seriously."

"He's a little intimidating," said another shy female worker as she highlighted a typo in a draft. "But he never once rose his voice or spoke down to anyone. I think he respects everyone."

"Huh? I don't know," said a tired male worker while he was standing around waiting for the fax to print out a sheet. "I mean... it'd be nice if he was more flexible, but the issues do sell and readers are loving it. So hey, if he knows what he's doing, I'll just follow orders like a good little drone."

"I am worried," said another concerned male worker, specifically one of the designers that wore outlandish clothing. Alex had to turn away from the blindingly neon colors as he spoke to her. "I don't think he wants to take any risks. Yet risks are the foundation of creativity! Otherwise, the readers are going to get bored. He's smart, genius even, but sometimes you have to think outside the box. I'm sure he'd be such a sweetheart if he listened a little more."

Opinions like this painted an interesting picture, and while helpful still made Mr. Hironori seem very mysterious. Since the disaster of a meeting, Alex herself had only interacted with him once. It was when she had to drop off a file for Nami at his office. Most of the time, important papers could be sent and exchanged quickly through the power of emails and hosting sites, yet some documents such as sign forms were still handled in person. Alex had wondered why they didn't just do electronic signatures to save time, but she would find her answer soon enough.

When she had entered his office, he was in the middle of typing away at his computer, likely related to the stack of papers beside him. The office was as clean and neat as one would expect, but it was also plain without any personality to it, as if it came straight out of a stock photo. Since she didn't want to be rude by interrupting, she simply placed the file on his desk to go over when he had a moment.

"Hello, sir. This is from Nami," she said while trying to hide her nervousness. The desk space apart from him was the closest they had ever been and realizing that inconvenient fact caused her heart to start pounding in her chest. She hoped her clammy hands didn't sweat all over the file. "She needs you to sign it when you get the chance."

The man paused whatever it was he was doing on his computer and picked up the file, scanning over its contents. Alex stood frozen in place while she waited as instructed, finding herself gazing at how sharp and refined he seemed when focused. While it would appear his face was etched in stone, Alex could spot the little things that gave it cracks, such as the small crinkle in his brow, the slight squint in one eye, or even how his pale lips spread upwards by a degree or two.

"Is... it that interesting?" she asked, accidentally stating her conclusion out loud.

His dark eyes shifted their attention to her, locking in with such an unexpected intensity that nearly stopped her breathing. Panic broke out inside her body like a terrible rash. Had she said the wrong thing? Did he actually hate it? Did she mess up by talking while he was reading?

After what felt like an eternity, he said very calmly, "Yes. The proposal is very interesting."

Alex sighed with relief, glad that she had the right idea, then watched as Mr. Hironori pulled out a small, metal box from his suit pocket. He opened it to reveal a stamp with a patch of red ink ready beside it. Alex recognized the stamp. It was a hanko, presumably made with the characters of his last name. To see someone use it here truly showed how Yorkyo City was a hybrid of east and west traditions. Being an uncultured, western yankee, even something this simple fascinated her. After he stamped the paper, he returned the file to Alex, and she thanked him before bolting out of there.

While she hadn't seen him much since that day, Alex took it as a positive. If she wanted to move up in the world, she needed to get as friendly as possible with him, even if it was just a tiny amount. Now if she could stop having fuzzy feelings for him too while she was at it, that would be great.

As lunch was wrapping up, Nami rotated her chair towards Alex and asked, "Can you be a dear and get me a coffee, please? Vanilla, sweet cream, no sugar? I didn't have time to stop for one this morning, and I'm really starting to feel it."

Sounded like an intern thing to do, but they didn't have interns. An unfortunate cutback due to certain complications, which meant Alex had to jump through a lot of hoops to even get this job. She did have a lot of experience as an intern though, so she was used to these kinds of requests even if she wasn't exactly required to do it anymore.

"Sure, no problem!" Alex cheerfully replied as she stood up, planning on tossing her trash over by the break room anyway. She had a bad habit of letting trash accumulate if she didn't pay attention, even when given a little bin to hold her over, so she always tried to dispose of it as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Nami had the luxury of packing up her pink, floral bento box to wash when she got home, letting her go right back to work.

The break room was small and didn't even have any doors, but it was nice. It had black, marbled floors, two metal tables with four chairs each, a white fridge next to the sink, and two very clean counters. Alex had noticed the same person would sign the clipboard for cleaning the place, and she silently thanked the unknown man for his service. The mere memory of her previous job's disgusting break room churned her stomach, and she tried to shake the thought of moldy pizza, weird stains, and crunchy chairs out of her mind. This wasn't the time for that. She had an opponent to face, and its name was... something in German. Alex couldn't begin to try and pronounce it.

Regardless, this was the one device separating Alex from being fully part of the work environment. It was a fancy coffeemaker that had a touchscreen and several options to customize your drink order, yet every time Alex tried to use it, it ended in failure. Maybe she was missing something, but she didn't want to experiment and mess around with it for fear of breaking it. Being resourceful as she is, she had searched for a video on how to use it, but even when she attempted to follow the steps the machine didn't match up with the video. This exact model didn't have a tutorial online, which was insane in this day and age.

Alex wasn't going to let that stop her though. Today was the day she would conquer this machine! She grabbed the vanilla coffee pod from the rack, then flipped the lid to put the pod inside.

There was no hole to put the pod in.

Not to worry. She heard something clunking around when she opened the lid. That must have been someone else's pod, which means there is a hole somewhere. Last time, she thoroughly checked the bottom and sides, which didn't get her anywhere. Could it be behind the machine? She debated on whether she should move the machine around to check, and it was because she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice someone approaching her from behind.

"Are you having trouble?"

She squeaked, immediately recognizing that voice, and she slowly looked over her shoulder to see it was precisely who she thought it was. Mr. Hironori was right there, in the flesh, witnessing her failure to complete the first step of something as simple as making a cup of coffee. Well, her life is over. Time to admit defeat.

"Y-Yeah, I can't find where to put in the pod," she said.

Mr. Hironori hummed a bit and nodded, understanding the issue. He then stepped in front of her, forcing her to move back to let him help her out. He closed the lid, gently jiggled the machine, then opened it once more. Inside was the hole for the pod, right where it was supposed to be.

"When it throws out the previous pod, it can get stuck," he explained. "So when you opened it, it was flipped the wrong way. That's why you couldn't find the hole."

Alex mentally facepalmed when she realized the solution was that simple. She should have noticed this when checking the video. Once again, she was overthinking things and now he definitely thinks she's an idiot.

"Thank you so much," she said. "Um... did you want to go first? Since you already have it set up."

He shook his head. "You were here first. I can wait."

She went ahead and proceeded to make the cup of coffee, pausing briefly when it dawned on her that Nami didn't tell her what size she wanted, but decided she'd wasted enough time and went with the eight-ounce. Mr. Hironori simply stared at the coffeemaker and watched, blank and unmoving. This was much closer than last time, and her body was about as hot as her coffee as it was being poured out. She scooted over when it was done to let Mr. Hironori have his turn. He grabbed the hazelnut coffee pod and set it up with zero issues.

"My dad likes that flavor," she said while stirring in the cream to make small talk.

"Is that so?"

"Yep! If anyone in the house wanted coffee in the morning, that's all we got. It was more his thing really."

"Is he well?"

"He is."

"Oh, good. You were speaking in the past tense, so I wasn't sure..."

"No, no! I moved out a while ago, that's all. Both of my parents are bright and healthy!"

"I see. That's very fortunate."

As strange as this casual conversation was, it let Alex relax and be more like her normal self. He helped himself to some sweet cream as well when the coffee was finished.

"How are your parents?" Alex asked, knowing this might be a bad question, yet she was too curious not to ask.

"Fine," he replied after taking a small sip of his coffee. "Bright and healthy like yours."

Alex couldn't help but smile at that response. "Good! Glad to hear it. Do they live far?"

"No. They're a short drive outside the city."

"That must be nice."

"It is."

Alex then realized the coffee was going to go cold at this rate. So as much as she was enjoying herself, she had to get back to Nami.

"Cool, cool! Well, thanks for the help!"

"You're welcome."

Putting a spring in her step, Alex skipped out of the break room and back to where she needed to be, mindful not to spill the coffee along the way. By the time she returned to her desk, she couldn't stop giggling and blushing from the sheer joy fluttering in her chest. This was the innocent high school girl experience she missed out on in high school. Getting to talk to the guy you like, learning about his family, finding out what kind of coffee he's into. Oh no, she was going to develop a crush at this rate! What was she going to do? She still had work to do, so she tried to put it aside for the moment to focus on it, though occasionally her mind would drift and she'd giggle again.

Nami rolled her eyes knowingly as she sipped her coffee, ignoring the lukewarm temperature.