The thick faux leather chair had grown too warm for Hunter. While he typically thought of it as comfortable, a welcome addition to protect his back as he sat behind a desk all day, it had begun to feel sweaty and stuffy to sit in. Hunter shifted continuously in his seat, trying to get comfortable but finding it impossible with the persistent heat. 

He debated getting up from his chair to sit on one of two pale, gray couches meant to break up his large office, but he didn’t want to rest. He wanted to work and that could only be done behind his thick mahogany bureau.

Eventually, he found his layers to be unbearable too, peeling off his suit jacket to free his wide chest and rolling his dress shirt sleeves right above his elbows. As the hours passed, even his tie became too restrictive. Hunter hooked a finger into the top, dragging down the knot with a practiced ease and releasing a deep sigh.

The white man should have been used to long work days and hours behind his desk, but he was distracted today. Or to be more accurate, he’d been distracted for the past few weeks. A vibration in his pants pocket alerted Hunter of the incoming call. He pulled the device out, ready to upkeep a cool, professional tone when a booming voice came through the other line.

“Oh, Hunter, this new sign of yours is working wonders. We have so many new customers coming in every day!”

He immediately regretted ever bringing the phone up to his ear. Quickly switching it to speaker, Hunter rubbed at his abused ear.

“Hey, Anna,” He greeted, trying (but failing miserably) to make himself sound energetic. “I’m glad the sign is helping.”

A couple months ago when Hunter first got the idea to create the new logo for Anna, he did worry that she wouldn’t like the design. Anna was an older woman, a family friend Hunter had known since he was a kid, and she enjoyed her traditions. While spending hours perfecting the logo, sign, and animation for Anna to use for her bakery, Hunter worried she would reject the entire thing. Luckily, she was beyond ecstatic when Hunter revealed the design to her two weeks ago and was already enjoying the free sign Hunter got made to hang above the bakery as well.

“It’s doing more than ‘help.’ We now have so many trendy teens coming in to order. They keep asking for Bob to drink.”

“Bob?” Hunter asked, his brows drawing inward in confusion. “I’ve never heard of that drink before.”

“Bob, babe, b-b-bobbi, I think?” Anna huffed, growing increasingly frustrated with her own memory. “Maybe Bob-eye?”

A laugh barricaded its way out of Hunter’s chest as he held both hands over his mouth, trying (and failing) to hold it back.

“Boba? You’re talking about Boba?”

“Oh yes, that! What a strange thing to name a drink.”

Anna further distracted Hunter from his work, having ceaseless stories to tell him about the bakery and changes her employees were inspired to make after getting the free sign and logo. When she turned the conversation to him, Hunter answered in the way everyone expected him to. 

Work was great. The company was expanding. So many clients they’re excited to work with. 

He did this because he couldn’t explain the other development that was creating a bigger and bigger impact on his life.

Hunter’s craving for alcohol had grown, but only in relation to the cute bartender he knew would be serving it every Friday night. 

What first started as a simple curiosity and attraction seemed to be taking up more and more space in his mind. He wanted to get to know him, see more of him, show River why he should get to know Hunter better too. Time he typically spent obsessing over the next big move for his company was instead being filled with the next big step in their relationship. Which was crazy considering that what they had could barely be called that. It was simply a few words and pleasantries shared across an occasionally sticky bar, but those words were growing to mean more to Hunter every day.

His life had definitely become too lonely. The possibility of a brief conversation in the middle of someone’s shift now seemed more compelling than the riveting work he completed on a daily basis. But trying to logic himself out of it didn’t work. Hunter was very much smitten by a man he barely knew.

It made him restless these days. He grew less satisfied in his hours turned days turned weeks behind his desk. It all seemed to take away from the time he spent trying to see behind River’s impenetrable mask. A savior complex Hunter didn’t realize he had was working overtime, pushing him to go back each and every week. How long has this been going on? A month? Counting on his fingers the number of times Hunter went back to Adonis, he realized that was accurate. Sweet old Anna was still outlining the bakery’s plan to expand their soup line but Hunter was checked out, already deciding to pay Adonis another visit tonight.

“The pumpkin soup would be such a nice addition, no?”

“No- I mean, yes. That soup would be great, Anna.”

A woman with as much life experience as her definitely knew when a man was not paying attention but she satisfied herself with the response anyway, releasing a pleased hum as the contemplated her new pumpkin soup recipe.

Hunter’s eyes continually strayed to the time lit up in the bottom corner of his screen. As he got closer and closer to the end of the day, time seemed to slow down just to torture him. And his work was definitely suffering for it. The eloquence and detail he usually invested into his emails was slowly condensed into bare bones. People were lucky if they even got three sentences out of Hunter who was far more concerned about finishing so he could leave than anything else.

Finally, the clock struck 5:30 pm and Hunter couldn’t get out of his seat fast enough. As Hunter was locking up his office door, he turned to find his PA, Josh, staring at him with wide eyes. Josh was a dark-skinned black man smaller than Hunter in just about every way. He was half a head shorter and his metabolism didn’t allow him to keep even 1 extra pound of fat on his thin frame. But he styled himself like he was ten feet tall, all crisp long lines in a business casual that looked a lot more approachable than Hunter’s uptight suits. Thinking of that now, Hunter could see why the man was so shocked. Hunter’s suit was in complete disarray, his jacket off, his sleeves pushed up, and his tie embarrassingly disheveled.

“Are you okay?” Josh asked, his jaw still slack.

“I’m fine. I just felt a bit hot inside my office-”

“No, I mean is there a family emergency or something? Why are you leaving on time?” He clarified, clearly trying to tease the taller white man. 

“You always leave right after the rooster crows to wake people up. You basically live here on most nights and treat 5:30 like a suggestion. But look,” he pulled up his watch “you’re right on time.”

“Shut up,” Hunter groaned, not caring how unprofessional he sounded. “It’s not a crime to want to go home.”

“I agree. Which is why I’ve been trying to convince you to leave on time for years,” Josh shot back. Hunter kept his mouth shut since he did remember several conversations along those lines. Josh reached behind his desk, grabbing his bag and racing to follow the taller man.

“Seriously, what’s changed?” 

The elevator arrived but Josh didn’t drop the question. Instead, Josh threw out ideas and guesses as the elevator doors closed and it didn’t take long for him to stumble across the broad category of ‘love’. This got Hunter’s face going from paper white to tomato red in seconds.

“So it’s a crush!” Josh exclaimed excitedly, not reducing his tone even as they heard the ding of the elevator before the doors slid open. Their seal of privacy was broken but Josh didn’t falter for 1 second. “Who is the amazing person that caught your eye-”

Josh stopped speaking, getting drowned out by the noise of several conversations happening all at the same time. They both turned to look ahead and Hunter’s eyes went wide seeing the floor in front of him in a complete mess.

Several people were walking around and yelling at once, their voices blending together in an angry blur. There was a man off to the side, his head hung and eyes misty as if he was on the verge of tears. But emerging from the fray was Kellie, coming toward the elevator with such haste that her long braids flew away from her round cheeks. She stopped her pursuit when her eyes fell upon Hunter and the look of relief that passed over her face was intense.

What just happened?