Trivial Pursuits Ch. 02

Alessa looked up to the smiling young woman who seemed to have boundless pep and charisma. Her first day on the job, Lou, who informed her that her full name was Louisa Rachel, but nobody called her that, had introduced herself between swearing at the espresso machine in the employee lounge. Within five minutes Alessa had unwittingly learned; not only her full name, but that she was from the U.K.; she didn't want to be a lawyer; moving to the states had been her only form of protest against her over-controlling parents; her father was black and her mother Indian; she had no religious affiliation; she was dating a skinny rocker who lived in Oakland; she had two cats, though one was possibly dying from cat diabetes; and she had a blog for fashion and hair, but really couldn't find the time to keep it as up-to-date as she would like given her heavy work schedule, which she charmingly pronounced as shed-ule. Her easy and open demeanor had been hard to dislike or ignore, as Alessa usually preferred, and so she instead begrudgingly tolerated the pretty sprite.

Alessa had been at first reluctant to be companions with one who wasn't interested in her own law career, but she quickly discovered that despite any profession of disinterest, Lou was cunning and actually enjoyed drafting some of the best contracts Alessa had ever read. She was also influenced by the Brit-tongued girl's encouragement of her own career, openly celebrating every small accolade Alessa received for her work. She found her cheerleading style almost disconcerting, given it was contrary to the intensely competitive nature of law school, but Lou's genuine, sweet personality overrode any mistrust that may have formed.

Alessa had already begun to suspect that her above-average performance was not going unnoticed, and with Lou's announcement that she was to join an actual team, she was quietly thrilled that the nature of her work was quickly being upgraded. "That's fantastic," she responded, keeping her enthusiasm strictly checked.

Lou gave her a comical, disbelieving look. "You could be a little excited. Hell, I remember I didn't do anything but research and memo writing my first six months here. It's a big deal Denny assigned you to this team."

At the mention of his name, Alessa sat up straighter, adjusting her position to take in information. "Mr. Ashbury? This is one of his clients? What sort of company is Mingo?"

"Oh, heavy equipment. You know, like construction equipment. They're based out of Lincoln-"

"Nebraska?"

"That's the one, but they're expanding big time, at least trying to, pushing to be a multinational company. They have offices in L.A., Munich, and now in Seoul. I think their goal is to compete with Caterpillar and Kubota," she offered nonchalantly as she gazed down at the orderly desk. It was clear to see that Alessa was heavily entrenched in her work, but that she operated in a clean and efficient manner; it was a stark contrast to Lou's own desk, which was piled high with numerous files and documents scattered haphazardly about. "I can't believe you get any work done," she commented with a tinge of disgust.

Alessa followed her gaze to her desk top. "What do you mean?"

"Only that my desk ever looked like this one time. And that was my first day here. Since then it's been buried under all my paperwork. I wouldn't be surprised if it went on vacation and didn't come back and I just haven't noticed," she joked.

"I don't know how you can get any work done with such a messy desk," Alessa countered, knowing her mind would be just as scattered as her environment if she didn't keep it tightly reined in. "I can't think straight when there's clutter. I have this unavoidable compulsion to clean it."

Lou gave a very unfeminine chortle at that. "At any rate, I came over to see if you fancied going out for lunch? Or did you pack your veggies again?" she asked coyly.

"Yes, I brought my own food. Not only am I on a budget but I save an hour of my life if I can work right through lunch," Alessa confessed, returning her attention to the computer to refresh her tasks list as if to confirm she had indeed been recruited for the Mingo team. As Lou had said, there she found three tasks and two new roles assigned to her, one being as official translator for anything Korean. She bit her lip as she tried to hide her smile while Lou still sat there.

"Yes, but what are you saving your life for if you never use it?" Lou quipped. But when Alessa just looked at her confused, Lou gave a shrug of her shoulder. "Fine, be that way. I don't know why I like you," she pouted, standing up, "you are such a stick in the mud."

Alessa gave a self-deprecating, half grin and sigh. "Yes, I've been called that before."

"I don't doubt it. Alright, later, then," she called in parting.

With her gone, Alessa attempted to turn back to her work, anxious to finish the project at hand so she could reevaluate her priorities and perhaps move on to Mr. Ashbury's assignments. She struggled against the spinning nervous tingles in her stomach, her excitement and subsequent anger wrestling against one another. She didn't care for her response to the prospect of working with him.

In the first weeks of her time there, she found she could avoid thinking about him if she propelled herself deeply enough into her work. Her endeavor was aided by the fact that they infrequently had need to speak to one another, and in those spaces of hours and days when they didn't interact, she hummed along, putting away her feelings of attraction, driven by the unconscious hunger to impress him. But then she would spy him from across a room, and when she realized she had paused to watch him, all her self-delusion that she could be indifferent to him would crumble.

And now, with an actual project that would repeatedly force her into his presence, apprehension over her uncontrollable, burgeoning attraction put her stomach in knots. And this was only the beginning. She had years to work with this man. Would her response to him ever even out? Would she ever see him as just another man she could ignore like all the rest?

She rubbed her temples and then returned to her work, eventually becoming absorbed enough to make some head way on her to-do list. At six, she closed her work down, grateful to have a reason for detaching herself from the grating of her mind. As usual, she gathered her things and headed toward the elevators.

"Oh, Alessa, I'd like for you to meet someone," Denny said as they met on their way to leave. Alessa stopped, noticing the man next to him. "This is Hyun-Joong Park. He's CEO of Kyohan Technologies. Hyun-Joong, this is Alessa Allen, our newest associate and one of our brightest assets," Denny said, his eyes washing over her warmly.

Alessa was tempted to give a traditional Korean greeting, but Denny had introduced them in English, and it seemed smug to do it now. "Hello, nice to meet you."

Hyun-Joong took her hand and shook it, smiling broadly. "And it's a pleasure to meet you," he returned in English and accent free.

Alessa smiled. Hyun-Joong was not quite as tall as Denny, but taller than most Koreans she knew. He was very good looking, and he had an air about him that said all American, making her wonder about his back ground beyond the business realm. "Of course I know you by reputation. You successfully merged three smaller technologies companies here and in Seoul to create Kyohan."

"Aw, well, I definitely had the drive, but Denny here was the real mastermind behind the mergers. I couldn't have done it without him," he bragged as he slapped a hand on Denny's shoulder and hung his arm there.

Alessa's eyes shifted to Denny who was smiling rather boastfully at her. "Ah, yes, I recall reading that when I did my research on you," she murmured, reluctant to brag on him. "You were fortunate you knew such an entrepreneurial friend, then," she remarked, not certain if she was digging at him or simply stating a fact.

Denny narrowed his eyes at her, a small smirk on his lips. "I like to think I make my own luck."

Hyun-Joong chuckled at them. "Well, as much as I enjoy chatting, I am starving, and Denny here has promised to take me for dinner. Why don't you join us?" he offered.

Alessa turned her gaze back to Denny who nodded. "Yeah, you can come if you want," interested if she would break her habit of distancing herself if a client was involved.

There was a moment of teetering before Alessa made a decision. "As lovely as that sounds, I really can't. I have a prior engagement and then I need to get back here to the office. I have several more hours of work ahead of me."

"Are you sure?" Hyun-Joong prodded, but then relented when he saw Alessa would not. "Okay, well it was very nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you, especially if you're as bright as Denny says."

"I would like that, too," Alessa replied as the three began making their way toward the elevator.

Alessa pushed the down arrow, and as they stood there waiting, Hyun-Joong continued their conversation. "So how long have you been with Wiles?" he asked casually.

"Just a few weeks now."

"Just graduate?"

"No, I graduated a few years ago, but have been working over at the Asian Museum."

"Aw," he intoned as if very interested. "Like Asian cultures?"

She nodded with a smile and then added, "Korean especially," smiling brightly at the implication.

He smiled in return. "Speak it?"

"As a matter of fact I do."

"Where did you learn it?"

Denny noticed it appeared as though she were about to give an answer and then changed her mind quickly, offering instead, "College."

"And where did you graduate?"

"Berkeley. Boalt Hall."

"Oh yeah? So you're from around here?"

"Uh, yeah, in Walnut Creek," she answered, hoping he knew where that was.

"Oh, okay. Been out there a few times. Hiking's decent out around there."

"It can be," she agreed with a smile.

"Do you still live there?"

She gave a small shake of her head. "No, here in the city."

"Cool." They reached the ground floor and the door dinged open. "Well, it was nice meeting you," he said again, shaking her hand once more.

Alessa nodded and then her eyes slid to Denny, feeling the need to slip from his presence as quickly as possible. He was watching her intently, and the force of his eyes made endless eddies roll in her stomach. She nodded once in his direction and quickly split from the two, walking south toward Market. Denny stood there watching her quickly flee.

"Denny, your car's here," Hyun-Joong called.

Reluctantly, he tore his gaze from her and got in the waiting car. Over dinner, Hyun-Joong continued to ask questions about Alessa, discovering all he could about the pretty woman. He noted something in Denny's voice as he answered his questions, something of pride and admiration, as well as desire. But he chose not to breach the topic.

The next evening, Denny was ready to uncover her secret, having already positioned himself in the lobby, leaning against a pillar. Just after six, Alessa emerged from the elevator and strode across the marble floor and out the doors. He waited a second before following her, knowing it wasn't yet quite dark enough to go unseen if he chanced to get too close. As predicted, she had turned south toward Market again. Denny darted across the street to follow from the other side. At first he counted himself lucky that there were so many people about, filing out of the various buildings to head home for the evening, the crowded street providing ample cover. However, when they nearly reached Market and she turned right and out of his sight, all the people that had acted as cover now stymied his progress. Before he could reach the corner, the light had changed and he was stalled as endless traffic came down Montgomery and turned onto Market. When he at last had the light and dashed back across Montgomery, he had lost her.

The light was now too dim for him to easily see, and he couldn't find her amidst all the bobbing heads before him. His pace sped, until he was pushing past people in an attempt to catch up with her. He went two blocks before he stopped, realizing she was gone. Perhaps she had caught a bus, or had gone underground to get on the BART, or maybe had slipped into one of the dozens of buildings now looming over him. In any case, she had vanished.

Denny stood on the smooth, maroon brick of the sidewalk, his hands on his hips as he attempted to catch his breath. He scanned repeatedly, giving a last look for any signs of her, but with no luck. And then as he turned to head back to the office, he stopped. Across the street, he spotted her in a second-story window. When traffic was clear, he jogged across and then slowly walked to where he could spy her easily. She stood visible in the high, floor-to-ceiling, corner window of a gym. She was on a treadmill, looking down at her phone. He could just make out the white earphones dangling from her ears. He watched as she seemed happy with whatever she had done to her phone, tucking it onto her arm band, and then turning her attention to the machine she stood on. Before long her legs were moving, gradually picking up speed until she was jogging. Her dark hair swung in rhythm with her legs.

Denny stood on the street, staring up at the lit window, oblivious to pedestrians passing by him; to the sounds of the city; to the other gym-goers visible in the large window. He watched entranced by the figure now running in place, a peace washing over him, somewhere in the back of his mind recalling how she would come to their political science course after she had run and that in her file it reported she had been on the track team at Berkeley in undergrad. It all made sense now, his panic that she had been perhaps meeting someone now dissolving in the reality of those fast swinging legs.

Eventually, he turned his attention back to the street and made his way back to the office. One mystery solved, and so many more to come.