Getting close to your first maxed Affection score.

Jan's watchful eye follows you and Hana as you leave the office, heading in the direction of the courtyard. Faith gives you a friendly wave as you pass her desk. She's on the phone so you don't stop to talk. Your eyes flick towards Hana's affection score floating above her head as she walks. You've barely interacted with her so far today but it seems a bit stuck. Only ten points away.

For the third lunch in a row, the two of you find yourselves on the now familiar bench in the courtyard. Hana seems a bit quiet. There's only one thing that could be on her mind.

Before taking a bite of your sandwich, you clear your throat and say, "I hate that things are awkward now. I'm really sorry about yesterday, Hana."

She bows her head, "You don't have to apologize. You had to think quickly. I'm just glad that Jan didn't catch you. I don't know if I could have saved you."

"Do you think she would have fired me on the spot?"

She chuckles a bit, which makes you feel a bit better.

"That would have been the best case scenario. She's... not a fan of you, Frank."

"She will be soon."

Hana looks sideways at you, an incredulous look on her face, and says, "How can you be so confident about that?"

"Call it gut instinct."

You remember the brief snippet of conversation you overheard yesterday between Jan and Hana.

"Has she said anything about me?"

"She thinks that I should be careful around you."

"I'd never hurt you, Hana. I know that we've gotten exceptionally close the past few days. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that."

Her score ticks up a point to 91. There's a minute or so of silence. You eat on your sandwich while Hana munches on some almonds.

Breaking the long silence, Hana groans loudly, "Still awkward!"

Laughing, you reply, "Hey, at least you were able to maintain some modesty."

"I did not! I was... spilling out all over the place!"

It's true. Hard to cover curves like that.

"Next time you slither across the floor like some kind of slug and see how much more awkward it is."

Hana covers her mouth with a hand and starts cracking up, "Frank, oh my god... when your... you know... got caught and..."

"Yeah... not the best time to have an erection."

Hana slaps your shoulder as if saying the word erection was too far.

"There's no way that Jan didn't hear the slapping noise. Frank, the more I think about it, I think she might have actually killed you right there."

"Well, then I'm glad I had you to save me even if it meant baring it all..."

"At least I know what I'm going to be working with now."

You're caught a bit off guard.

"Erm..."

Her eyes go wide.

"Your body, Frank! Training you in the gym. Not your..."

You burst out laughing while she blushes a deep shade of crimson.

Fighting back tears, you ask, "So, what do you think?"

"Your BODY could use a lot of work. You've got a total dad bod."

"Good to know that I at least look good where it counts."

She slaps your shoulder again.

"I did not say that!"

You laugh, "But it was implied!"

Face all red but not really mad, Hana turns to you and confesses, "Fine! You look good... there!"

You notice that her score is now a 93.

"Thanks for the complement. Some of us can't look good all over, Hana."

She rolls her eyes.

With a hint of edge in her voice, she says, "I'm glad that I know you're a horny bastard now."

"Blame that one on the lack of attention from my wife."

She groans, "Too much information!"

The two of you realize that you need to actually do some eating. Hopeful that now a lot of the awkwardness is broken, you steer the topic of conversation to Friday night. As the lunch hour nears it's end, you grow frustrated that her Affection score seems stuck on 96. You're out of time and have **** but to head back to the office. Hana seems like she's back to her normal self, even giving you a playful shove as you head for the stairs.

Passing the receptionist desk, you decide to check on Faith. You'd like to introduce her to Hana but she's already heading for her desk. The new secretary waves excitedly as you head in her direction, a green 22 above her head.

"Hey Frank! Who was that you just walked in with?"

"Oh that's my desk mate, Hana. We usually eat lunch together. I'll introduce you two sometime."

"Sounds great! I'm always down to make more friends."

You laugh, "So I can see. How's the day going so far? Handling everything alright?"

She frowns, "It's kind of slow, to be honest. I feel like there's more that I should be doing but..."

You wave your hand dismissively, "There's going to be down time. I don't think the office gets very many calls. If it makes you feel better, you can always pretend to work."

She laughs, "I can only look over Jan's schedule so many times. I think I have it memorized already."

"Well, maybe the best thing you can do is just sit there and be nice to everybody. We can be a gloomy bunch so it's nice to have someone as cheery as you are around."

Her score ticks up to green 25.

"Awww... thanks, Frank!"

"Jan up to anything? I might pop in and say hi."

"She's on a conference call so that's probably not a good idea. There's some meeting in Los Angeles this weekend."

"Oh? She going on a trip?"

You're beginning to realize that Faith might be a valuable source of information.

"Her plane leaves on Friday at 6:05 pm. See? Everything memorized."

No Jan getting in the way after work on Friday...

You turn and glance towards Jan's office. She's watching you. Is she ever not?

"Faith, do you like coffee?"

"Umm... sure! My mom always says that I don't need it but I don't listen."

"Well then I might just have to bring you one tomorrow!"

"Frank! You don't have to do that!"

Green 31.

"Well you're my favorite receptionist so I think that I do."

"You're such a sweetheart Frank. You've been the nicest person here by far."

"Just trying to make you feel welcome. I'd love to chit chat all day but I really should get going. Jan gets annoyed when I don't get enough work done."

She whispers, "Right... and I should probably pretend to work."

Faith beams at you as you walk away, a green 35 hovering above her head. You notice Jeremy watching you so you decide to drop by. Bellatrix is focused on her computer, a small smile on her face.

Sounding less than enthused, he says, "Hey Frank..."

"Something wrong?"

Bellatrix snorts back laughter, "He's been staring at the new secretary all morning."

"Oh? Have you gone and talked to her yet?"

Bellatrix finds this really funny.

Jeremy grumbles, "No... she seems to like you better anyway."

You give him an incredulous look, "How can you say that when you haven't even introduced yourself?"

Bellatrix spins in her chair and gives Jeremy's a push with her foot, "Go! You massive pussy!"

He stands up and grumbles, "Fine... Fine..."

You and Bellatrix watch as Jeremy awkwardly walks towards the receptionist desk. Faith looks up and greets him in her normal cheery manner. You can't hear what they're saying from here. Good thing, too. Jeremy looks incredibly nervous.

"I take it that he's not great when it comes to talking with girls?"

She replies sarcastically, "Oh? What gave it away?"

"He seems to do really well around you."

"Well, yeah, but that's different."

"How so?"

"Because he knows me. The guy would hardly make eye contact with me when he first started here."

"Are the two of you..."

She cuts you off, "Jeremy and I? No. We're too different."

You study her for a moment. Her score is now a 10.

"Different isn't a bad thing. Keeps things interesting."

She laughs, "Frank, he's not my type."

"That's a shame. You two make quite the duo."

She doesn't immediately respond. You think she was a bit quick to dismiss the possibility of something being there. You can sense there's more to this under the surface but now doesn't seem like the time or place to press things. After all, you're still getting to know each other.

Bellatrix muses out loud, "Jan sure does know how to pick them."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that every female she hires tends to be young and attractive."

"Bit overcomplimentary of yourself, don't ya think?"

"Ha. Good one, grandpa. I was here before Jan anyway."

"Maybe you should go talk to Faith next."

"Oh so you just assume that I'm into that?"

"Are you not?"

She pauses and narrows her eyes. You notice the score above her head is now 11.

You smirk back, "Thought so."

She crosses her arms, "You're a sassy little bitch, aren't ya?"

"When I need to be."

"To be honest, Faith really isn't my type either. You know what is? Slightly overweight and balding middle aged men."

Playing along, you reply, "Really? That's awfully specific. I think I might know a guy..."

"Well send him my way."

Wrapped up in your own conversation, the two of you are caught off guard by the return of Jeremy. He looks exhausted.

He sighs loudly, "That didn't go well. I think I might have started sweating through my shirt."

He seems to notice the tension between you and Bellatrix.

"Why are you two acting weird? What did I miss?"

You answer with a chuckle, "Oh? We were just flirting. Trading a few jabs."

She scoffs loudly, "Is that what you were doing?"

You clap Jeremy on the back, "Well, it was worth a shot."

He looks between you and Bellatrix, a conflicted look on his face. You almost feel bad for him. With the Affection Multiplier in your pocket, he doesn't stand a chance.

"I should get back to work. Jan's bound to notice me slacking off sooner or later."

Note from the author: The next chapter will be posted in a week on February 22nd. If you wish to read it early, it will be available soon on my Patreon. There's also now a summary of the upcoming perk system.