"Um..." Cassidy's voice had the other girl glancing away from whatever she was staring at, and Cassidy pointed to the paper cup. "It's, er..."
"Oh my God."
While the girl quickly started mopping the sticky mess on her table, Cassidy couldn't help checking out who exactly the girl was staring at.
The janitor?
Mm...not unless the girl had a thing for dudes pashing past fifties.
Maybe the med student with the multiple ear studs—-
Cassidy heard the girl sigh just as she caught sight of a figure striding out of the cafeteria, a can of iced coffee in his hand.
Gotcha!
Cassidy's instincts had never failed her, and right now her guts were telling her that the girl (like most other female employees of Stanhope) had a crush on Dr. Konstantin Manolis.
And when she glanced back at the girl—-
"Wishful thinking, right?" The other girl's voice held a wistful note that the closet hopeless romantic in Cassidy couldn't resist, and she quickly grabbed her tray to join Ms. Wishful Thinking in her table.
"I'm Cassidy, by the way—-"
"I know," the other girl said with a shy smile. "I don't think anyone working here doesn't know who you are."
"Most likely out of fear," Cassidy said honestly, "rather than popularity."
"Um...no comment?"
"Wise answer," Cassidy said with a grin. "And you, on the other hand..." She checked the girl's name plate. "Eve from...mm...lemme guess." Cassidy gave the other girl a thoughtful look. "Accounting?"
"Payroll to be specific." Eve was wide-eyed. "How did you know?"
Easy, Cassidy thought. Eve was quite cute in a bookish sort of way, and girls like her were often found either in Accounting or I.T.
But since she didn't think saying that out loud would do any good...
"Never mind that," she said breezily. "I want to know more about you and Dr. Konstantin instead. So spill."
Eve started blushing right away. "There's nothing to know. I just have a crush on him, that's all."
"For how long?"
"Since I started working here..."
"Which was?"
"Well, um...about..." Eve's voice grew increasingly faint until it was barely audible. "Two years?"
Cassidy's jaw almost dropped. Two years? Seriously?
Eve sighed. "Stupid, right?"
"What makes him so special?" Cassidy couldn't help asking.
"Well..." The other girl's expression turned dreamy. "It was my first week on the job, and my supervisor back then..."
"Harvey," Cassidy recalled right away. "The guy fired for sexual misconduct."
Eve nodded. "Dr. Manolis caught him saying all sorts of stuff to me - not the kind that would get him fired, but it was still..."
"It made your skin crawl."
"Exactly. And Dr. Manolis, he kept his gaze pinned at Harvey while telling me to approach him if Harvey acted inappropriately again."
"Which he never did, of course."
Eve shook her head. "Never with me again, but he was still inappropriate with other girls..."
"Good riddance to that pig," Cassidy said firmly, "and that's the last time we'll ever dirty our minds with thoughts of him. Now, back to your knight in white coat..."
A choked laugh escaped Eve. "I've never thought of him that way..."
"That's a surprise," Cassidy deadpanned, "since clearly, all you do is just think of him and nothing else."
Eve lifted her shoulders in a helpless shrug. "Because I know he's out of my league—-"
"You don't actually know that, and you won't know until—-"
"If you're suggesting that I ask him out—-"
Cassidy winced at the way the mere thought had the other girl looking like she was about to throw up. "Chill, Eve. It was just a suggestion. We can totally try something else, like, um, maybe...find another way to approach him?"
Eve appeared cautiously hopeful. "Such as?"
"How about parking your car next to his," Cassidy suggested, "then pretending you have a flat and asking for his help when he shows up?"
"That could work...if I had a car."
"Oh." Cassidy's forehead creased. "How about..." Her face brightened. "I got it! How about getting his secretary to schedule you for a consultation, and you can pretend something's wrong with you, and you need his professional opinion?"
"But—-"
"If you're worried about the legalities, don't be. As long as you indicate in your appointment that you're taking advantage of Stanhope's free consultation program for employees, the part where doctors can't date their patients can't and won't apply to your case. Instead, you're just two employees working together—-"
"I'm really glad to hear that," Eve interrupted, "but that actually wasn't my concern.'
"Then..."
"Dr. Manolis is a neurosurgeon, so...am I supposed to pretend something's wrong with my brain?"
"Why not?" This had the other girl looking horrified, and Cassidy burst into laughter. "I was just kidding," she told Eve. "Well, maybe half-joking. I was actually thinking about the fact that Dr. Manolis also has a background in gynecology..."
Eve blinked in surprise. "I didn't know that."
"His mom is one of the best in the field," Cassidy shared, "and when she accepted a medical mission in Africa, she requested that he join her for a year, which he did. Naturally." Cassidy gave the other girl a meaningful look. "Few people know this about him, so in case I need to spell it out..."
Eve squirmed in her seat.
"I'm giving you an advantage over the other girls," Cassidy stressed, "but it's entirely up to you what to do with it."
Eve started gnawing at her lip. "I appreciate it, really, but..."
"I think you already know Dr. Konstantin is extremely popular with the ladies," Cassidy said bluntly. "That guy won't be single forever. You should make a move soon...before someone else does."
NOTHING MUCH SURPRISED Konstantin these days, but when the broodingly handsome Greek surgeon studied his list of appointments for the next day, one particular booking caused a frown to crease his forehead and question his eyesight.
Picking up the receiver, he asked for Agnes to come in his office, and his secretary, a stern-looking widow in her fifties, showed up on his doorway a moment later.
"Yes, Doctor?"
"There's a consultation you penciled in for tomorrow..."
"Ah yes. That's Eve from payroll."
So it was her.
That shy little brunette he had saved from getting sexually harrassed by her former supervisor, and who had then foolishly imagined herself in love with him afterwards.
That girl actually scheduled a consultation with him about...hyperphilia?
Konstantin was amused...and more than a little impressed. Never would he have seen this coming, and he would still probably refuse to believe it even if his own ancestors rose from their graves to deliver such a prophecy.