7. Workaholic

"Good morning, Lea," Eric greeted as the tall, curly-haired man entered the room, looking cheerful.

"Why? Why are you so happy?" Lea asked her colleague, who approached her desk with a big smile.

"Oh, just happy to see you every morning, hehe," Eric said, chuckling at his joke.

"Ugh, are you guys deliberately annoying?" Lea grumbled.

"What's up?" Eric asked, needing clarification about Lea's change of attitude.

"Being unfaithful friends, I'm upset, and instead of comforting me or buying me snacks, you two bully and one prank. So annoying, seriously." Lea's complaints continued.

Eric scratched his head, not understanding Lea's behavior. He glanced at his two office mates, Adelle and Bella, silently asking what was happening with Lea.

"Come on, get to work!" Bella ordered Eric, pointing to the round-the-clock on one side of the 8x6-meter room.

Eric obeyed. He didn't know what was going on with the two girls. Lea and Bella seemed to be equally upset for some reason. He no longer dared to continue his flirtatious teasing towards Lea.

He then sat at his desk, facing Lea, grateful for being close to the girl he had admired for quite a while.

The four of them were part of the Accounting department at Bisco Corps. They deal with the company's financial data, from capital, profit, financing, and everything related to money. Eric looked at Lea from his chair. There was a hint of sadness in the girl's expression. Why, he wondered. Unaware of being observed, Lea was focused on her work, entering data from the financial report book into the monthly journal.

Meanwhile, Bella struggled to contain her irritation and jealousy on the other side of the room as Eric stared at Lea. It wasn't enjoyable for her to be in her current position – liking Eric, who paid much more attention to Lea than her.

"I seem to have missed some news. I come in, and Lea scolds me. Life is not exciting anymore," Eric said again, curious about Lea's behavior.

"Enough, let's just work! After finishing, Lea will answer our questions herself. Right, Lea?" Adelle reprimanded Eric, who still hadn't started working even though it was already eight in the morning, their office hours.

Lea didn't respond. She was still focused on her work. Who would want to talk about the issue with Shane? Irritating! she grumbled inwardly.

The room fell silent again; only fingers tapping the keyboard could be heard. The four people in the room were busy working at their respective desks.

Eric's thoughts drifted back to when he welcomed Lea as an accounting staff like him. Eric, twenty-seven years old, was instantly captivated by her sweet demeanor. Her thick, black, wavy hair tied in a ponytail made her look very efficient at work.

And indeed, the girl was highly loyal. She was the only one who never took her vacation quota at all. Because for Lea, work was a healing activity. No matter how hurt or disappointed she was in life, she would pour it all out by working with enthusiasm.

Yes, a good demeanor, indeed. That's why, instead of becoming a burden, she was so grateful when one of the accounting staff had to take leave for a few days for some reason. Lea, a workaholic, would be the first to volunteer to take over the tasks left behind.

That was how Adelle, Bella, and even Eric became fond and respectful of Lea. Eric, in particular, seemed overly caring, often praising or openly flirting with her in the room. Lea never paid any attention to the behavior of the only man in the room. She thought it was just one of Eric's ridiculous antics.

Meanwhile, another person who became emotionally affected by Lea was Bella. The short-haired girl who always wore various models of bandanas seemed to turn cynical when the fact about Eric paying more attention to Lea surfaced. It seemed like she was jealous of Lea.

Adelle eventually became the mediator between her three colleagues. She was tasked with ensuring that the atmosphere in their room was as conducive as possible so that their internal conflicts wouldn't affect their team's work.

Adelle always remained impartial, not taking sides with anyone because all three of them were her colleagues and work friends. She tried to be fair to them. Although in her heart, she was a little worried that Lea, who was not very observant, didn't know about the internal issues. She felt that Lea, who was quite indifferent, was not interested in Eric, who seemed to be doing his best to get close to her in various ways.

"Oh, Adelle, why did Ms. Vivian ask me why no one from our division attended the company's weekend event? Did none of you attend?" Lea suddenly remembered her conversation with their division head, who called her last Saturday night.

"Well? Hahaha, I forgot," Adelle replied, laughing.

Lea threw a reproachful look at the cheerful girl, who was the most mature among them, although they were all of the same age except for Eric, who was a year older.

"What about you, Bella and Eric? Why didn't any of you come?" Lea shifted her question to Eric and Bella.

"I didn't have anyone to go with. When I contacted Eric, he said he was going with you, so I felt left out and decided not to come," Bella revealed the surprising truth.

"What? I didn't make plans with Eric, though?" Now, Lea was ready to confront Eric, who seemed to be the source of the problem that led to the missed communication.

Eric grinned with a slightly guilty expression.

"Sorry, I planned to pick you up afterward, but you couldn't. What should I do?"

"Huuu... it's not nice that no one from our division attended. We'll probably get scolded again by other divisions." Adelle mocked Eric's behavior, which always seemed to neglect long-term consequences.

"Besides, you should have contacted Bella again if you didn't go with me so you two could go together!" Lea scolded again. Eric's recent strange behaviors were starting to make her irritated.

The guy often made her uncomfortable with his excessive attention, which also seemed to affect Lea's relationship with Bella, which was getting a little tense. It was already an open secret that Bella initially had a crush on Eric. Eric's attitude made Bella keep her distance and seem to ignore Lea, whom she had known longer than Eric, the new employee.

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