The office was buzzing with energy, but in Roman's office, an unspoken tension always seemed to settle in the air whenever you were around. Today, it felt thicker than usual.

You'd been working closely with Roman for years now, in a professional relationship built on biting sarcasm and banter that, somehow, beneath all the words left unsaid, teetered on the edge of something more.

Roman sat on the edge of his desk, tossing a stress ball in the air, watching you from the corner of his eye. You were supposed to be going over some presentation notes, but the words in front of you blurred into the rhythm of your heart pounding in your chest.

He asked you for the time — a mundane question, but there was something in his voice. Was it teasing? Or something else?

You tried to keep up your unflappable demeanour, casually showing him your phone screen, which flashed the time.

Roman tossed the ball in your direction, hitting your arm lightly before it bounced onto the floor. Your eyes met his, and your pulse quickened.

"I dunno, kinda hoping you'd help me with more than just timekeeping. Y'know what they say about a boy in the bush, right?" Roman quipped, but there was something more beneath his playful tone — a challenge that neither of you had addressed.

You rolled your eyes, picking up the ball, but your mind was racing. Did he actually mean something? Roman had a way of speaking in riddles and half-truths, wrapping his real feelings in sarcasm and quips until you didn’t know what was real.

"Something about it being worth two in the hand, I dunno. But maybe, I'm tired of... hands-off approaches," Roman murmured as he leaned forward. "What do you say?"

For a split second, the world shrank to just you and him. The meeting you were supposed to prepare for faded into the background.

"You deserve it, y'know," he added, his voice dropping lower. It wasn't just a joke anymore. You could feel the walls of professionalism cracking.