8. Love Triangle

"Yeah, sorry, I forgot," Eric answered casually.

"What do you want to do if it's like this? You apologize to Ms. Vivian. She's embarrassed that no one from her division came, and no one asked for permission," Lea pointed out, blaming Eric's negligence.

"Yes, it's easy. After all, you never want to be invited!" Eric turned to point a finger at Lea.

"I already told you I had something to do last night; I promised to accompany my sister out." Lea defended herself.

"Besides, I usually always come to events," she added while pursing her lips.

"Yes, but never with me, right? Every time I come you don't." Eric cursed again.

Bella suddenly kicked the chair in front of her. Her three friends turned to the girl and asked what was wrong. Adelle threw a code with a glance at Lea, who immediately understood that her friend was expressing her jealousy.

Lea immediately took quick action by saying goodbye to the restroom to at least stop Eric's babbling, which made her feel bad for Bella. Tsk, poor Bella. She chased after Eric, who didn't have her heart. Ironically, Eric is trying to attract her attention when she doesn't like it.

On the way, Lea met Ms. Vivian. She was forced to explain the miscommunication in their team so that no one was present to represent the Accounting division at the company event last night.

"Yes, that's so, Ma'am. I apologize once again. It was all out of our control." Lea tried to explain as best she could. She also covered up about Eric. She revealed that while each of them thought the other was coming, it turned out that they were not.

"Don't repeat it. From now on, at least before the event, someone has to report to me who is fixed to attend. You guys are making me feel bad for the Director."

"He asked about our existence, Ma'am?" Lea asked in shock, not expecting the problem to be that serious.

"No, but the marketing manager at the time asked where my people were. And I couldn't answer because none of you showed up."

"And the director heard the question, Ma'am?"

"Yes. We were chatting with the three of us at first."

"Oh my! Then what was his response?"

"Nothing, just stayed silent. And I'd rather he get angry or protest than stay like that, leaving us not knowing what he's thinking," Ms. Vivian complained and walked away, leaving Lea to continue to the restroom.

Upon Lea's return from the restroom, the atmosphere in the study was already warmer. Adelle was chatting with Bella, and Eric was busy with the laptop in front of him, even ignoring Lea, who entered the room.

"I met Ms. Vivian just now. I've apologized and we have a new rule. One of us must report to her if there will be more events, about who is fixed to come to represent. Don't let the same incident happen again," she commanded.

"Yes, Madam!" Adelle joked.

"She had no problem, anyway. But last night, Mr. Director accidentally found out we weren't coming. And that makes Ms. Vivian feel bad like she can't manage her people." Lea explained why.

They then went back to their busy schedules. Working on daily tasks, and so on. When lunchtime came, Eric always offered Lea to eat out with him. As Lea remembers, she has always answered firmly rejected it. How persistent is Eric, Lea thought to herself.

Lea chose to eat in the cafeteria with Adelle. Meanwhile, Bella was nowhere to be seen. That girl always seemed to eat out. Whether alone or with whom, Lea didn't know. What was clear was that she had never eaten in the cafeteria once.

"It's really bad in the room, huh? Did Eric pretend not to know or did he intentionally make Bella hurt and jealous?" Adelle expressed her frustration at Eric's attitude, which she thought was outrageous.

"Yes, I think if you don't know, it's too much. Now it looks like Bella has a big crush on him. But if you're intentionally hurting her, that's too bad." Lea responded. Moreover, she also felt bad for Bella. Eric created the impression that Lea was the one Eric liked.

"Even though Eric approached me the most, it was just to show Bella that he openly rejected Bella," Lea continued to complain about her awkward position.

"Besides, Bella too. Many other guys in the office are cooler than Eric. Why is it so easy for her to have a crush on someone who ignores her? I can't figure it out," Adelle commented later.

They ate together in the canteen. While eating the contents of their plates, the chatter about their coworkers continued until it spread to Adelle's boyfriend, who used to be chased by his coworkers. Adelle had to come to her boyfriend's office and emphasize that he was about to get engaged to her. She also warned her boyfriend's coworker that she would not hesitate to communicate with the girl if he still approached her.

"Wow, you're bad. You're so fierce that you'd bump into someone in his office, you know." Lea laughed at the thought of that soap opera-like scene.

"Well, I'm annoyed you know. My boyfriend told me he already has a girlfriend, but he still chats with me in an unimportant way and pretends to give me attention. That's annoying, isn't it!" cursed Adelle.

Lea remembered what happened last night. Adelle was about to get engaged to her boyfriend. In terms of age, she was the same age as Lea. But she always needs to get acquainted.

A thought passed through Lea's mind. Should she give Eric a chance to get close to her? Who knows the longer she can like Eric? she thought thoughtfully.

But what about Bella's feelings? She certainly hurt her coworker's heart. Moreover, Bella's jeralous is maximum. She thought there could be a riot like that, weighing all the possibilities. She could not let the love triangle scandal escalate by using Eric to investigate her feelings, whether they could be anchored to Eric or not.

Lea then pushed the crazy idea out of her head. It was inappropriate to do that. Even though she was immediately attracted to Shane yesterday when she first met him. The ice block's attitude made her hurt all last night.

***