Chapter 49

I could hear Hunter getting ready upstairs as I was making breakfast. I had the habit of waking up early most days and it made me feel useful to at least make sure he got something decent to eat. How a grown man that had to be as fit as him for his work could live off fast food, I would never understand. I heard him jog down the stairs.

“Good morning,” Hunter said and gave me a kiss. He smelled of his body wash and he looked good enough to eat in a dark grey suit. I felt underdressed in my tights and oversized t-shirt.

“Good morning,” I said as we drew apart. “I made breakfast mini-quiches with bacon, tomatoes and leeks,” I then told him and placed four of them into a brown paper bag together with the last of the cupcakes we had made.

“You spoil me,” he told me as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. “I would be fine with eating breakfast with you, you know,” he added.

“Is that why you were in such a hurry coming downstairs?” I asked with amusement.

“Today is a bad example, because I am running a little late,” he confessed. I giggled and handed him the brown paper bag and a travelling mug with fresh coffee. He looked at the mug. “Didn’t know I had one of those,” he said.

“It’s amazing what you can find if you just open your kitchen cabinets,” I told him. “Now off you go. We can have breakfast some other day. I texted you Wictor’s phone number, please don't forget to give it to Anthony.”

“I won’t,” he promised as he walked towards the dor. “Thank you for the food, sorry that I’m in a hurry and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have to put your things away when you are done for the day. It’s okay to leave your laptop on my desk. I don’t mind,” he told me.

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Have a good day at work. I will be home around the same time as yesterday if nothing happens. But I will text you if the plans change,” he told me.

“You too. I’ll be here so don’t rush on my account,” I said. He stopped and walked back to me. Before I knew it, he had pulled me into him and was kissing me.

“You are the only reason why I rush home,” he told me and was out of the door before I had a chance to collect myself and think of a good reply. I switched on the cameras in the elevator and watched Hunter open the paper bag, take out one of the quiches, take it between his teeth and wave at the camera as he walked out into the garage. I smiled and plated my own breakfast and made a large mug of coffee to take into Hunter’s office. I felt a little like an intruder, the office was the one place in the apartment where Hunter had made his presence known. At the same time, I liked working here for the same reason. I took my time setting up my computer and having my breakfast. It was still early and I didn’t need to log on to the phone and chat for another half an hour. I went through my emails and read there was a new routine in place for issues that affect all users of a software or functionality. The new routine stated that information of issues like that should be sent to the head of each affected department. It made sense to me and reminded me of all the calls we had regarding the new HR-system. Many of them could have been avoided if the users had got information of the known issues. The day continued as usual. The IT-department seemed to have fixed most issues with the HR-system and users had got used to the new interface. It lowered the workload on our team and we had time to work on improving our knowledge base. As I was making a bowl of noodles for lunch, I got a text from Hunter.

H: Hi, sweetness. I’m going to be about an hour late. A meeting has come up that I need to attend. I’m sorry.

Me: That’s okay. I’ll make sure to not start dinner until you let me know you’re on your way home.

H: Or I could pick something up?

Me: We need to eat the food we bought or it will go bad. I will cook, I don’t mind.

H: Okay. I’ll let you know when I’m leaving the office.

H: Did it sound like I don’t like you cooking?

H: Because I do.

H: Like your cooking that is. Not not like it, because that I don’t.

H: Fuck. I like your cooking, you're an amazing cook. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to do it.

At this point I was laughing so hard tears rolled down my face.

Me: It’s okay. I don’t think that, and it didn’t sound like you didn’t like my cooking. But thank you for telling me you like it. Just don’t worry about it okay?

H: Okay, good.

H: How probable is it that I can make you delete those four messages and forget all about them?

Me: Very unlikely.

H: What do you want for never showing them to Jason?

Me: Let me think about my price and I’ll let you know by the time you get home.

H: Deal. Have a nice day, I miss you.

Me: I miss you too.

I was still chuckling as I ate my noodles and headed back to work. I was having a really good day and smiled when I picked up what I assumed would be one of my last calls for the day.

“DCF’s helpline. You are talking with Hana, how can I help you today?”

“Hello. It’s you again, I was hoping it would be,” the man on the other end said. His voice sounded a little familiar. But I talked with too many people on a regular basis for me to be able to make the connection.

“Well that’s always nice to hear. How can I help you today, sir?” I asked.

“Your help with the attestation was most helpful and I think I need some guidance today as well. Which is a little embarrassing to admit.” That’s when it clicked. He was the nice man that had called as he couldn’t find where to attest an expense in the new system. I relaxed, knowing it wasn’t some kind of weirdo.

“You don’t have to feel like that. DCF is a big company and it uses a lot of different systems,” I told him.

“True, and I find myself in need to learn a new one. The system for conference calls in the meeting rooms. My assistant usually sets it all up for me, but he has the week off but told me it was an easy thing to do. Clearly I have a liar as an assistant, because this makes no sense. He also told me there was a ‘How to’ guide, but I can’t find it when I search through our interweb,” the man said.

“Everything can be a bit confusing when you do it for the first time, sir. But I can guide you through it, or I can send you the link to the self help guide,” I offered.

“So there is a guide?” he asked.

“Yes, sir. DCF has an amazing library of self-help articles for most of its systems. They are a little tricky to find. But when you get there, it’s a gold mine,” I informed him.

“Shouldn’t something like that be easily accessible? We must have some sort of overview page of important links?” he asked.

“No, sir. I don’t think the company has one of those, but I can check with my colleagues,” I offered.

“No, that is okay. I don’t want to give you more work just because I’m curious. Could you just guide me through it for now? I don’t want to miss the meeting?” I guided him how to access the menu in the meeting room and how to log into the call from it. We then hung up and I felt even better that my last call for the day had been such a positive one. I liked my job, most of the people I talked to were nice and grateful for the help. But there were always the odd ones that were never happy or took their stress out on you. I tried not to let those calls get to me, but they were never fun. When I logged off for the day, after finishing logging all my calls, I knew I had a while before Hunter was heading home. I sat back and went through some of my favourite inspiration accounts for food. I wanted to do something fun as I had plenty of time. I saw a clip of one of my favourite Ticktockers making fried chicken and I knew I had to make fried chicken and waffles. Not the healthiest of meals, but once I got the idea into my head it stuck there. After doing an inventory I found we had most things I needed. I just had to order buttermilk and some hot sauce.