Chapter 12: Play Cupid  

Liam could not help himself and he kept sneaking glances at Lana's direction every once in a while.

For some reason, he was amused to see different expressions come and go on Lana's face as she read each case file and typed something on her laptop.

'She seems to be enjoying her workload…' he thought as he again peeked at her but suddenly froze when Lana also looked in his direction and met his gaze.

Just as he?broke his gaze from her, his intercom buzzed and he heard Lana's voice politely asking, "Do you need something? I noticed you are glancing towards my area every now and then. Please, can you close the blinds and just buzz me if you need anything from me. I hope you do not mind. Thanks."

Liam pursed his lips and defended, "I just wanted to make sure if you are doing your task and you're serious about it."

'If she noticed I'm glancing, that means she's also sneaking glances at me?'?Liam thought.

"So did?you find me playing around? I'm sure you have done enough sneaking since morning to tell that I'm focussed completely on the work and your gazes are distracting me to be honest." Lana was a bit irritated because she did not like being watched like that.

Liam disconnected the intercom with an embarrassed look on his face without any response but the blinds on Lana's direction closed.

"Thank goodness," Lana whispered with a long sigh of satisfaction as soon as the blinds closed. She finally felt that she could normally breath. She grabbed another chair and rested her feet on it comfortably and then continued to read other cases.

She noticed that most of them were pro bono cases. She was aware that the Sy Law firm did accept such cases and were not greedy for money. Also for the name of justice, they did choose cases whereas the clients were innocent and were wrongly accused or were the victims.

She felt satisfied after seeing the big heap of files were all such cases and her notion about the firm was right. She felt proud that she made the right choice in staying here because not all law firms were like Liam's.

How Lana wished, Liam would always bring her with him to the courtroom. She wouldn't mind acting like a fake girlfriend as long as she could see a lot of action in the courtroom being that.

'Just ignore the creepy man and focus on your learning Lana,' Lana encouraged herself.

She was getting weird vibes from this person towards her. The day before, Liam was being a sniffer and now she felt like he was a typical prowl.

Her instincts were very strong and ever since she went into the military she enhanced this skill as it was a part of her training. She had practically even counted the number of times Liam had sneaked a glance at her.

"Such a weird guy," she mumbled as she tried to focus on her reports at the expense of making it perfect so the weird sniffer would know that she was a worthy intern to be trained directly under him.

Meanwhile, Jorge visited Liam's office to check if his cold man was still sneaking at Lana's area and if he had already told the latter about meeting Liam's father this coming weekend.

"What do you want Jorge?" Liam dryly asked.

Jorge grinned and said, "You should tell her as early as now Liam, so she can clear up her schedule and be free."

Jorge tried his best to hide his excitement. "Oh by the way, it's almost lunch… Do you want to go out or should I just buy you something?" Jorge asked before heading back?to his office.

Liam rarely went out of his office to eat except when he was going to court or was in an important meeting outside. But most often than not, he would ask Jorge to just buy him something to eat while he studied his case files in his office.

He wondered if it would be still the same with Lana being around him. It was Jorge's idea to put Lana in the same room with Liam.

Senior Sy was actually aware that the scandal was only a mistake and Liam was not in any relationship with Lana, but the old man was so overwhelmed when he saw him kissing in the viral video that he then tasked Jorge to play cupid between the two in the office while Senior Sy would do the rest.

Jorge shook his head as he waited for Liam's answer. Liam's father was too desperate. He could not accept the possibility for his only son to be a gay though Jorge already reassured that the rumor was not true at all.

Jorge unconsciously giggled recalling the worried face of the old man and his desperation in pairing Liam with Lana. Senior Sy couldn't risk any possibility at all so he wanted Liam to be with a woman as soon as possible.

"Eavesdropping and now laughing on your own. Are you going crazy Jorge?" Liam hissed before he added, "I will eat here…"

"Alright, how about Lana?" Jorge intentionally asked.

With a puckered forehead, Liam asked, "What, what about Lana?"

"I mean, will she not eat with you?" Jorge casually asked, trying hard to not sound as if he was teasing Liam.

"Do we have to act like in a relationship Jorge even when no one is around? Let her be on her own when she's in the office." Liam simply answered.

"Well you can at least ask her if she wants to join you for.." Jorge suggested.

"Jorge... leave... now…" Liam said with rounded eyes.

"Okay fine," Jorge hummed, disappointed as he went out from Liam's office.

But Jorge smirked as he passed by Mian's table. "Dial Lana's direct line," Jorge instructed to Mian as he picked the telephone.

"Yes Mian," Lana enthusiastically greeted, seeing Mian's name flashed at the telephone ID.

"It's me Jorge… I am going to buy Liam's lunch. Do you wanna eat inside the office? I think it would be best if you join Liam and you both can discuss the cases he had handed to you…" Jorge suggested.

"Thanks a lot Jorge, but no. I can just go to the canteen for lunch. I heard your canteen serves good food and I wanted to try that."

"Oh… Okay…that's alright. If you change your mind, well you have my mobile number. I heard the canteen has just changed chefs so I'm not sure if the food served now is as good as before…" Jorge informed, trying to convince Lana but seemed like Lana preferred the canteen over eating with Liam.

"Sir, why not ask us if we want lunch from outside?" Mian asked in a jest as soon as Jorge dropped the telephone.

Jorge pointed his finger towards Mian and her assistant. "You two go out and socialize," he scorned and left the office with a sulky face since he failed in making them eat together.

Liam looked at the clock and then at Lana's door… He stood up to check what she was doing but her door opened before he could even knock.

"I will just have a quick lunch and come back." Lana informed and Liam nodded.

Lana passed by him and started to go out and Liam unconsciously followed but Lana paused and suddenly turned around. "I knew it…" Lana murmured.

"Knew what?" Liam asked innocently.

"You're following again and was about to sniff me!" Lana accused.

"What? What gives you the guts to think that? Don't think too ahead of yourself, and for your kind information I'm heading towards the restroom." Liam answered, pointing to the door not far from the exit door.

Lana followed and saw the door but she was not convinced by him, so she simply handed Liam a small paper. "That's the product I'm using. It's one of the best from our company. I am giving it to you because I thought you'll be curious. But let me mention that all these products are unscented so… What you're smelling is probably my natural scent," Lana nonchalantly explained before turning back to exit from Liam's office.

"Natural scent?" Liam murmured and with a flicker of sadness thought, 'So hers is a natural scent too?'