The Royal Contract

He had been watching her for several minutes since he approached her table, finding her fascinating as she seriously worked on her table. She was so engrossed in her task that she failed to notice his presence.

She occasionally stretched her body before letting her fingers worked on her keyboard once again. But her eyes never wavered, focusing only on the screen before her.

His phone vibrated, indicating an incoming message. "Where are you?" It texted. He immediately replied that he would be back soon. When he looked away from his phone, he was surprised at what he saw next.

She suddenly smiled at something she probably saw on the monitor as she clicked on the mouse in her hand. Her earlier serious face transformed in an instant.

He was suddenly intrigued by the cause of her delight as she continued to stare at the screen with a dreamy expression. Sadly, he could not see her screen at his current position.

"Hi!" He lightly tapped his knuckles on her table to finally catch her attention.

He did not want to startle her since she appeared to be unaware of her current surrounding. But he needed something from her, and it could not wait. He had to do it now while he was already in the vicinity.

"Yes," She slightly turned her face but never actually looked at him. Still maintaining that goofy smile plastered on her face, she entertained the visitor who dared to disturb her busy day.

She had to retain her professionalism in dealing with their clients, despite feeling annoyed with the intrusion. But she promised when she woke up early that morning, there was nothing that could ruin her already perfect day.

"Hi, Jacky." He repeated, hoping that she would finally look and recognize him.

Because it would seem that she was still dazed by whatever she was doing a few seconds ago. She did not even realize who was standing in front of her desk.

He waved his hand, and it was the only time she finally saw his face. The shocked look on her expression made him wonder if there was something wrong with him.

"Lance, what are you doing here?" She finally answered, with some form of panic in her voice. 

She looked at him and down on her screen, slowly realizing what was happening. It was like chaos broke loose at her table as she had no idea what to do.

She started scrambling in her place, tapping on her computer, and knocking down several of the objects on her desk. Some toppled out of their place, and some went sliding down on the floor in her haste. 

She found herself torn between going after the things that fell off her desk or just throwing the monitor on the floor when she saw what was still on display on its screen.

"Let me help you with that." Lance moved around the table and knelt on the floor beside her.

Everything happened so fast that she was unable to process everything. She suddenly saw Lance looking at the screen and realized he just saw what she was trying to keep from him.

She suddenly remembered to push the off button on the monitor to hide what she was doing. But she wondered if that was even necessary when he had already seen it anyway.

"Thanks," Jacky finally found her voice, but unable to say anything else as her mind thought of what he might think of what he saw.

He just saw her ogling his picture on the screen. Now, what should she do? What could be her excuse? She could not say that it suddenly popped up on the screen without her intervention.

She could not even look him in the face, feeling embarrassed with her action. Why did he have to visit just in time when she was fantasizing about him? She had been busy the entire day with actual work. Why not visit during that time, and why now?

"I came by to discuss something with Evans and decided to drop by," Lance explained his presence, trying to avoid the earlier scene.

All her efforts to hide what was on her screen were futile. Lance already saw a reflection of what she was doing earlier on the glass behind her. 

It was an article written about him with a picture of him in his prince attire. It was old news, maybe a year or two ago. But what was she doing with it? Then, it occurred to him.

"Oh!" Jacky knew she needed to say something more, but she had difficulty dealing with her current predicament. 

She was busy working on transcribing one of Dani's cases when a pop-up appeared on her screen. Distracted by an incoming email, her mind wandered somewhere else. 

She ended up typing a name on the search button. She only wanted to see his face, to relieve some of her exhaustion. Now, he caught her fantasizing about him.

"Anyway, I came by to ask if you wanted to go out with me tonight." He asked her, noticing the pink tinge that covered her face.

He was conflicted if he should ask her about what he saw or just let it go. He felt that talking about it might embarrass her further. But he did not like her to feel uncomfortable around him just because of that.

"You don't have to come here for that." She said as she rearranged her things on top of her desk. "You can have text or call instead." She finally looked up to him as he continued to stand in front of her. Well, as usual, he was impeccable as ever. He wore a suit tailored to perfection as if he just came out of a magazine.

How could she ever think that someone like her could ever fit in his world? It was precisely why she only dreamed about him because reality was, she had no business being with a man like him.

"But I called and texted you last night and this morning, but you have yet to reply." He finally confronted her. "After you invited me to be your date at the charity event, you seem to be avoiding me."

He knew there was something wrong with the way she was acting around him. Now, he had a clear idea why. Was he so dense not to realize it before?

Jacky genuinely liked him, and he was stupid enough to think that they could stay on a friendly level. Honestly, he was also interested in her. But there was a problem.

"My phone was broken." She started, but she realized her mistake when she noticed her phone was directly in his line of sight. When he raised his brow, staring at her phone, she knew it was a terrible lie. 

She quickly grabbed the phone and wiggled it in the air. "You see, it is not receiving any messages and calls." Shoving the damn object inside her drawer.

But the stupid thing started ringing inside her desk as if mocking her for lying. She quickly grabbed the phone again and turned it off this time. 

"As you were saying." Lance decided to lean on her desk, putting his arms across his chest as he waited for her to continue. 

He could not stop the amusement from showing on his face by the blatant lie she kept telling him. He could understand her predicament and enjoyed every minute of it.

He could not wait to see how she planned to get away with it. What possible excuse that she had left in her bag of tricks? For sure, she would have a few more that she could come up with in that creative mind of hers.

"I meant to answer you, but last night and this morning had been pretty chaotic. I might have forgotten about it." She knew that was a poor justification for her failure to reply, but she had nothing else on her mind. She could not come up with a better lie.

"Is that so? Then, it was a good thing that I came personally instead. So, tonight? I'll pick you up at seven at your place." He was not giving her another chance to make an excuse. He grabbed her hand on the table and planted a gentle kiss on it. "See you later."

"But." By the time she was able to answer him, he was already walking away. She should have said something, like no. 

She regretted asking him out at that charity event. She knew she was setting herself to more heartache. Now, she was burying herself in the grave she dug for herself. Could she still crawl out of it?

Or she could stop overthinking about it and let the matter take its course.. Be Cinderella for the night and enjoy her prince until midnight.