6. At Work

The following day, Lea decided to forget everything about the disastrous blind date and the fact that she had just overlooked a handsome cop. Now, Lea chooses to be more open towards men, not to be consistently aloof and indifferent as she usually portrays. She had heard complaints from Grace that Lea shouldn't keep such a distance from them.

According to Grace, if she wanted to have a relationship, the first thing she needed to do was to improve her attitude. And Lea agreed with her younger sister's advice, who somehow appeared more mature than her.

"Do you understand, sis?" Grace asked her sister as they were having breakfast.

"Yeah, yeah...!" Lea replied half-heartedly, picking at the toast with sausage, lettuce, and corned beef filling in annoyance. It seemed like she was venting her frustration at her food.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Adam looked at his two daughters alternately. They were having breakfast together as a family, sharing stories as usual at the breakfast table.

Mrs. Anna, who was still frying sausages, commented, "Last night, they were like this too. What's going on, Grace? Did your sister cause any trouble last night?"

"Oh, Mom is good at guessing. Sister Lea is indeed the troublemaker," like catching the wind, Grace attacked her sister again.

"Ugh, you just don't know what happened. If you were in my position, would you just let it go if a guy called you clumsy, stiff, and so on? You would protest, too, right?" Lea responded indignantly.

Mrs. Anna looked at her daughter skeptically and replied, "Wait, who said you're clumsy, stiff, and like that? How did he know about your inability to cook, too?"

"Hahaha. See, Mom agrees. Shane was just being honest, Sis. And in return, you insulted him unnecessarily. That's why Mom, Dad, Sister Lea lost her chance with a young and handsome cop." Grace told the whole story to her parents.

"Wow, how did you insult him, Lea?" Mrs. Anna was also curious about the continuation of the story.

"Nothing. I’m just calm; I just said he's a flat-faced ice cold, that's all."

Mrs. Anna and Mr. Adam exchanged glances and shook their heads at Lea's behavior.

"Oh my! How can you be so harsh in judging a guy?"

"Well, he's really like that, Mom. I was just being honest. That's it. And Grace has blamed me because he's a young cop. So what if he's a young cop? Should everyone tolerate his coldness? Should everyone accept all his annoying criticisms without retaliating? No way, it's not fair."

Lea muttered to herself, stuffing pieces of her sandwich with an annoyed expression.

"Oh, enough already, don't argue anymore. Look at the time, you'll be late." Mr. Adam got up from the table because his plate was empty. He preceded his two daughters while saying goodbye to the three lovely women.

Grace hurriedly followed her dad because she had to catch a ride with him to the campus. She preferred to ride with him to ask Freddie for a ride back home later.

Lea remained at the dining table, continuing her breakfast. Her habit was finishing it before leaving any food on the plate.

"Lea, try not to be too harsh next time you're with a guy. Just be a bit gentle, like a typical girl, okay?" Mrs. Anna advised.

"So, Mom is blaming me, too, huh?" Lea protested with a disappointed tone. She expected support from her mom, but it turned out the same as Grace, always finding someone to blame.

"Well, I’m not blaming. I am advising you for the future. It's okay what happened yesterday; the important thing is not to repeat it, okay?" Mrs. Anna tried to persuade Lea. Her daughter was quite hard to advise. Once she felt right, she usually stuck to her opinion and believed she was always right.

Lea got up, bid her mom goodbye, and left for work. She was used to going to work at 6:30 AM. The journey to her office took about thirty minutes from home. She took her mom's right hand, kissed it, and hurriedly left.

Driving her black CRV car, Lea navigated the busy streets of New York, which were surprisingly smooth in the early morning with the traffic flow. During the trip, Lea daydreamed about Shane. Who would have thought that the absurd guy was a cop? It was so irritating to find out there was something special about him while feeling so hurt.

Who could endure being with a guy as cold as him? Her life might become unhappy and threatened with hypertension, cholesterol, and even uric acid because he frequently made her angry, Lea thought to herself.

Arriving at the office, she entered the accounting room without greeting some friends she passed by. Thinking about Shane's bad behavior, her mind was quite messed up that morning.

"Hey! Why is your face all frowned up like that?" Adelle, who was observing Lea, asked as she entered the room. Her cheerful and mischievous demeanor suddenly turned into a frown and gloominess. Adelle was Lea's office mate, along with Bella and Eric. Eric had yet to arrive. He usually arrived just in time for work.

"Ah, it's nothing. Just had a breakfast of bad memories," Lea replied casually.

"Hahaha. You always have something up your sleeve, like having breakfast with an ex?" Bella teased, responding to Lea's ridiculous answer.

"Ugh, she doesn't even have an ex. She has never been in a relationship!" Bella retorted, scoffing.

"Oh, right, hahaha."

Lea shot a piercing look at Adelle and Bella.

"Why are you guys so happy teasing me?" she accused them irritably.

Andelle and Bella continued to laugh cheerfully. They always liked to tease Lea, who never seemed to be seen with a boyfriend or talked about having one.

"Do you know that you guys are so mean, bullying me?" Lea continued to scold her two friends. She was used to being teased just because she was single. However, everything seemed worse that morning, especially with the vivid image of Shane's bad behavior still fresh in her memory.

Lea tried to erase the previous night's memories by being busy that day. She filled her mind with rows of numbers in the financial report book, which had become her daily job at the office. It was good; as long as she was working, she had time to ignore something called a heart.

***