"Sorry…" he texted with one-hand, using the other to hide his face despite the fact that there was no one else in the room but him. "I made things awkward didn't I?"

"Hehe… did u like my reply?"

"..." Julian hesitated typing the next word but still sent it. "Maybe."

"MAYBE?! Not gonna give me a straightforward answer?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes, I liked it."

"..."

"Andddd THIS is why you don't let me type something that represents my feelings,

"I'm gonna just delete that message."

"No,

"Don't."

"Ah… ok."

Gradis looked at the sentence and felt a smile tugging at the ends of her lips. 'Cute.' She stretched her hand upwards towards the ceiling with her phone in them and continued to keep typing.

"Are you still working?"

"Yup."

"Oh no…

"Should I go?"

"NO

"Don't

"PLEASE! I'm going to die of boredom if I don't have some human interaction."

"HAHAHAHA," Gradis typed as she chuckled in real life. "Do you really hate work that much?"

"YESSSS ;-; I seriously can't stand to be cooped up in these four walls any longer,"

"Take a walk then."

"Are you kidding me?"

"What?"

"I'll alert my father that I'm skipping work if I do."

"Hahahaha lol sucks to be you."

"...

"Does that not happen to you?"

"Ah…" Gradis paused wondering if she trusted him enough to continue. "My parents don't need to care about me… since I'm not the head of the multiple companies they own."

"Oh."

"Hmm

"So I'm working really hard to get them to notice me XD."

"I can help!"

"What?"

"When we get married… I want to be there for you and help you through your issues

"When you work too hard, I'll be there beside you to give you another cup of coffee

"And be your pillow when you need to rest."

"Isn't it too early for our vows?"

"Aish! Lemme prepare in peace."

"HAHAHA," Gradis typed. She reread the sentence and laughed again.

"Wutttt don't bully me."

"I'm notttt."

"You liar."

"Hahaha lol XD."

"You're so mean. Can't even appreciate the comment."

"Do I need to act cute to show that I liked the sentence?"

"No…"

"Exactly

"Trust that I liked it besides when you're stuck to me for the rest of your life you'll have lots of moments to throw extra vows at me and see me react to them XD."

"...

"Makes sense lol."

"Good. Now…

"GO WORK!"

"I'VE BEEN WORKING THIS ENTIRE TIME!

"IT'S CALLED MULt.i.tASKING WOMAN!"

Gradis bursts out into laughter, her body numb as she carelessly rolled over the pieces of a broken screen from her phone as she laughed.

"Jeez! You think I don't know what mult.i.tasking is?"

"Hmph, no."

"I just don't need it cuz' I already have everything in order so there's no need for me to mult.i.task."

"Wow… way to demean the hours of my day I put into working."

"Should I call instead?"

"Hmm?"

"Since you're using your fingers to do your work, won't it be better if you can just hear my voice instead?"

"That makes sense."

"Ok then, I'll call now."

"Wai-" Julian texted when a call from Gradis came in. He gave a brief sigh and answered it. There was no way he could deny the call. He couldn't bring himself to.

"Hi…" he greeted softly, slightly nervous

"Was there something you were doing?" Gradis asked, "I saw your text 'wait.'"

"No.. not really, it's just-" Julian began.

"WHO'S THAT?!" a voice exclaimed from the other side.

Gradis flinched, wondering if she had interrupted big. She always hated when someone called in the middle of a meeting or when she was doing something that deserves more attention than the person she was talking to but when it came to Julian, she had completely forgotten. 'Maybe I should hang up…' she thought and almost clicked on the hang-up b.u.t.ton but then realized the voice was that of a kid.

"Hmm?" Julian replied to the kid, "What?"

"DAD WHO'S THAT?!" the child asked.

"Dad?" Gradis replied, prompting Julian for an explanation, "last time I checked, you didn't have a son."