Chapter 2 UNSPOKEN GLANCES

It began with a pattern. It wasn't deliberate, not even acknowledged at first. But Elijah couldn't unsee what he has already noticed

Sofia showed up more often.

At first, it was once every few weeks. She would drop by the office, sitting quietly in Mark's glass-walled corner office, waiting with a book in her lap or skimming through her phone. She didn't speak much to anyone, just smiled politely, always understated. Then it became weekly; Then several times a week. Sometimes she'd sit outside Mark's office without him even present.

And on the days she came, Elijah noticed the rhythm of the building changed. Conversations grew more careful. Some employees postured a little more, Others watched her curiously like she was a painting that might become alive if you looked at it long enough.

But Elijah wasn't curious about her beauty as that part was obvious.

He was drawn to the gentle way she occupied a room with her presence, like there was no need for her to perform. As though she was once loud and vibrant but had grown tired of offering too much to people who gave too little in return.

That was what pulled at him.

And she noticed him too,

Not in the overt, dangerous way, But in those soft glances, the kind that took some seconds.

Once, she passed him in the hall entrance, their arms brushed. It could have meant nothing,

But it did.

"Morning," she said.

He paused. "You remember my name?"

"I remember gentle people," she replied, in a low voice.

Then she was gone, her heels clicking softly against the marble, leaving the scent of something clean and floral behind her.

Elijah stood there for a moment.

Charlie, his loyal dog and friend who sometimes followed him to the office, stared up at him as if to say, You okay?

---

Elijah started arriving at the office earlier than he used to, from fifteen minutes earlier at first, to thirty. Sometimes she came before him, as she would be seated at the café counter near the window, sipping tea while she scrolled through her phone.

One morning, he got coffee from the canteen downstairs and walked past her without having no plans to stop.

But she looked up and smiled.

And he stopped.

"You're early," she said.

"So are you."

She pointed to the empty seat beside her. "Feel free to join me?"

He hesitated only a second before sitting.

"Coffee okay?" she asked.

"It's necessary."

"Tea's better," she said with a mock grimace.

"Loyalist?"

"Addict."

They both smiled, and a silence arose between them.

Sofia took a stare from the window. "I like this time of morning. The world hasn't asked anything of you yet."

He looked at her. "Do you usually wait here for Mark?"

"Not always, Sometimes I just... sit."

That answer told him more than she meant it to.

But he didn't press.

She turned back to him. "Seems you always bring your dog to work?"

"When I can. He's quieter than most people."

"And better company?"

He shrugged. "Some days."

Charlie padded over from under the receptionist's desk and sat at her feet again, just like he did the last time.

"He likes you," Elijah said.

"He has good taste."

She bent to scratch Charlie's ears, as Elijah watched her, trying to ignore the way something tried to stir in his chest.

She was someone's wife, His boss's wife.

But he liked the way her smile was always just slightly delayed, like it came from someplace real.

---

Later that afternoon, Elijah had a meeting with Mark-strategy updates, client briefs, deadlines. Mark was in good spirits, praising Elijah's proposals, nodding along as he outlined upcoming campaign ideas.

But Elijah noticed his eyes kept going to the glass wall behind him. Sofia was there again, seated on the conference room couch, flipping through a magazine.

Mark's attention drifted,

"She's been coming around more lately," Mark muttered, almost to himself.

Elijah didn't respond.

"You know what I mean?" Mark added, looking directly at him.

Elijah panicked, while he kept his voice on neutral. "I should."

"She gets bored at home, She has nothing to do. She used to work in a publishing company, resigned when we moved back."

There was no affection in his voice,

"She's smart," Elijah said carefully.

Mark gave a tight smile. "Too smart, sometimes."

Elijah swallowed the discomfort trying to rise in his throat

---

The days continued, and the glances grew much; Not bolder, never inappropriate, but infused with meaning neither of them could define.

Sometimes, she passed by his office door and paused.

Sometimes, he found himself watching the elevators, waiting for her reflection in the polished chrome.

One evening, well past office hours, Elijah stayed back finishing reports. Everyone had already gone, while Charlie laid under his desk, half-asleep.

Then came the knock.

Sofia stood in the door with a plastic bag in her hand.

"I brought you food," she said. "Mark got pulled into a dinner downtown, I figured you'd still be here."

Elijah blinked, "I am."

"Hungry?"

He was.

They sat in the break room under a dull fluorescent lighting, as she passed the food across the table, It should have felt mundane.

But it didn't.

"Do you like working here?" she asked as he ate.

"It's manageable."

"That's not a good answer."

He sighed. "It's stable, after everything, stability matters."

"Everything?"

He hesitated. "Just, past things."

She nodded. Didn't push.

Then, softly, "You don't talk like other men I know."

"Is that a good thing?"

"It's rare. People talk to be heard, You speak to understand."

He wasn't used to being seen like that,

And it terrified him.

---

The next morning, she wasn't there,

He didn't realize how much he'd been hoping for her until she wasn't around.

By the third day, he tried to convince himself that whatever had been building between them wasn't real, maybe it had all been imagined or a moment of loneliness dressed up as connection.

Then came Friday.

He stepped into the lobby and saw her leaning against the window again, tea in her hand.

She looked up,

Their eyes met,

And she smiled, not the polite smile of strangers,

The one that knew, that remembered, that missed.