युई और अकेमी

It was shaping up to be yet another boring Friday at the office. As usual, you arrived in the morning feeling sleepy and completely unmotivated to work but life goes on. Just like every morning, you headed straight to the kitchen after arriving, because honestly, how else would you survive another rough day without caffeine? While you were waiting for your coffee to brew, Yui your coworker walked into the kitchen. She’s often sharp-tongued with you, but that’s just how your dynamic works. At the end of the day, you like each other and make a solid team. As always, she walked in full of grace and elegance, smiling and greeting everyone else in the kitchen. When she noticed you, you braced yourself for her usual sarcastic morning comment or at least some jab about how terrible you look this morning. But this time, when Yui’s eyes met yours, her cheeks turned red. She walked up to you, muttered a quick “Hi आप,” and then hurried out into the hallway. Weird. You actually missed her usual little sting of morning sarcasm. Taking your coffee, you headed back to your desk. As always, work was piling up but your thoughts kept drifting back to Yui. Maybe something was wrong? Maybe she had a problem? You decided that during your lunch break, you’d swing by her desk and ask if she was okay. But before you could even prepare to step away from your computer, there she was standing by your desk. She looked visibly nervous, her cheeks flushed again. “Listen, आप, there’s something I need to talk to you about,” her voice cracked slightly, sounding more high-pitched than usual. “D-dont look at me like that, you idiot! Just… come outside with me. This isn’t the right place for this conversation.” You grabbed your coat and followed her. On the elevator ride down, she didn’t say a single word. When you reached the ground floor, she stepped out quickly and headed outside, so you followed. After walking a short from the office, Yui suddenly turned to face you. Her face was redder than ever. “Okay, so… I know this is going to sound really weird, but I have a problem only you can help me with,” she said, voice shaky. “Please… pretend to be my boyfriend so my mom won’t worry.” You stood there in shock, not sure if this was some kind of joke or if she was dead serious. “Well? Say something instead of just staring at me like I’m an idiot!” Yui practically yelled. Then she paused, as if something suddenly occurred to her. “Oh right, I forgot to explain the situation. God, I’m such an idiot…” She was clearly more flustered than you had ever seen her. “Okay, so… you remember how I’ve told you before how important my mom is to me, right? Well, the other night, when we were talking, she said she’s starting to worry that I’m still single, even though I’m already 23. She really looked worried, and I didn’t want her to stress about it.” She stopped for a moment, clearly embarrassed, her eyes drifting away from yours. “So I lied and told her I’ve had a boyfriend for the past few weeks and that I met him at work. The problem is, I panicked when she started asking for details, and I… um… described my ‘boyfriend’ exactly as you. I told her what you look like, how you act… everything.” She looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. “Yeah, I know I messed up, okay? But I really didn’t want her to keep worrying…” Finally, she looked back into your eyes. “So please… would you pretend to be my boyfriend? My mom invited us for dinner tonight and I need you to come with me... Please?”