'did she miss me?'

if you come here for a heart-wrenching story about someone missing their ex-girlfriend, I'm sorry to tell you, it does not exist.

actually, I'm not sorry. Why should I?

where were we?

ok. so, we will be having gift exchange next month. the usual theme, Secret Santa. will not be a secret by the way. usually, before the day of picking up the names of the Secret Santa, everybody knows theirs already. but whatever. why miss a chance of being surprised once in a while. well apart from myself, that is. because I get surprised every time I see my bank account. of horror, let's be clear on that.

so back to the main story, HR passed the box containing the names for once. I'm half tempted to just put in a tissue in the box just to scare everyone but decided against it. boss was directly behind me, sipping his cocoa (at 3 pm? can you believe that? but it's 9.30 pm somewhere anyways) and I got someone's name. someone new so we know I don't have the slightest idea who that is so yeah...

so the woman beside me, we were chatting. understandably, it's Friday. we are just empty vessels sitting at our desks. we were discussing something important (does eating yogurt makes you fat kind of important?) when I mentioned I have to start looking for gift for a girl. and she asked:

' eh? she didn't come by?'

' wait. maybe she will make her round later.' not realizing that the woman I was talking to did not leave her seat the whole time. it was as if she was covered by an invisible cloak.

' did she miss me? how?' a hint of panic there. the woman can be so sweet. she was afraid that HR will then have to go through who has not picked any name and it will add to the trouble.

' give her a minute' when I saw her peeking from the high wall of her cubicle towards HR,' she's having tea,' she told me over Lync.

' relax. once she completely forgot me when passing around the birthday cards for signing. maybe it's your turn now,' I said. it was meant to be a tongue-in-the-cheek comment but noooooo she went full fledged panic.

' do I go up to see her? do I email her? now?'

' relax. let her finish her shortbread. then email her. but if you want to do it now, I cannot control you.'

you see, for every action there is a reaction. I know it's Newton's Law but unsure which one and too lazy to check anyway.

update: she's just fine. HR came by to give her the box ten minutes later. right around the time I was about to order Xanax online.