Office Romance Part XVI

I had a great shock the next morning when reading my email. I was scheduled to travel to China for a business trip together with Jessica and Claire. It was going to be awkward working together so closely with Jessica after what had happened, it was also going to be difficult to make a move on Claire as I had just separated from Jessica. Every single action needed contemplating, I didn’t know whether to sit beside Claire or Jessica. Claire would leave a space beside Jessica(she didn’t know yet that we separated), but at the same time, Jessica would be uncomfortable sitting close to me.

The epitome came when Jessica asked Claire to handle the hotel check in. Claire had asked for 2 rooms as she assumed that I would be sharing a room with Jessica. Neither of us knew how to react to the situation and unwilling to break the ice, we rode the elevator up to our floor. As Jessica started to move her luggage into the first room, I immediately moved mine into the second one, leaving Claire standing outside puzzled.

Claire: It’s okay with me if you want to share the room with her, I wont spread gossip or anything

Me: I think it would be better for both of you girls to sleep together.

Claire: (quickly recovering) not fair, you get the whole room to yourself.

Relieved that I had averted disaster, we proceeded on with our planned program, meeting clients for meetings and checking out and testing certain products. Claire seemed to get the hint, it was less awkward for me now as I now stuck closer to her. We visited a few factories on the first day, mainly to look at the production line and quality controls, and were dead tired by the time we reached the hotel. After a fitful night of sleep, we proceeded on with the meetings and negotiations on the second day. It was rather tough as they were trying to drive a good bargain.

That evening, we continued our negotiation at a night club, even though all three of us did not really drink.(It was considered rude to turn down their invitation) As we could not hold our alcohol, we were getting tipsy rather quickly. Claire was the first to leave as she was not feeling well and proceeded back to the hotel room to get some rest. Jessica, being in charge of the negotiations, wasn’t as lucky and she had to drink much more, to the insistence of the clients.I couldn’t remember much of what happened later, except that one of the bosses sent us back to the hotel, and I vaguely remembered stumbling into my room and collapsing on my bed.

I woke up next morning with Claire snuggling next to me, her small cute little head buried in my chest and her legs curled up towards her stomach.