Hold My Tear, I’m Getting My Wife Back!

"You're taking the trick I use to make you happy and using it to please someone else? Could you be any more clueless?"

Joy didn't need anyone to make her happy, but it was rare for someone to actually go out of their way to do so.

Without Austin saying it, she hadn't even realized that him bringing back a meticulously wrapped vintage lamp from his trip was his way of winning her over. Maybe the whole "Austin making her happy" thing was a game-changer in their relationship, making Joy feel somewhat odd.

Her attention drifted from the lamp, and she turned to look at him.

Austin's face turned towards her as well.

The light danced across his nose, his cheekbones, those focused and deep eyes making Joy feel like she was being seen in a way she hadn't before.

As Austin slowly moved closer, the air around them seemed to thin, making her instinctively swallow. In the shadow he cast over her, she heard her heartbeat skip a beat.

Her robot vacuum bumped into Austin's foot with a clang, stopping him in his tracks. He burst out laughing, "Seems like your robot isn't too fond of me."

He redirected the robot and laid back down, the beautiful light returning to Joy's view.

They didn't kiss, leaving a hint of regret, but also a strange, new feeling filled her chest.

So this is what flirting feels like. No wonder everyone's into it.

...

For Joy, the flirtation with Austin started that day.

It was a peculiar feeling, as if she and Austin were sharing a secret.

This secret lived in their increasingly frequent text exchanges, in Joy's ears perking up every time a colleague mentioned Mr. Austin, in the fleeting glances exchanged in meeting rooms, by the water cooler, in the hallways.

Austin took to bringing her coffee under the guise of treating the whole office, placing a cup on her desk himself.

After Joy threw away her cup, she received a text from him: "Pick that cup back up."

"Collecting trash now, are we?"

Austin replied, "Aren't those two things above your nose for seeing?"

Grumbling, Joy retrieved the cup, only to find he had left a doodle on it.

A cartoon girl with a topknot, slouching in a chair, her belly slightly protruding. With just a few strokes, he had captured Joy's lazy essence.

Joy instinctively sucked in her stomach. She wasn't that chubby, was she?

Touching the little bit of belly she had, Joy realized she had been indulging a bit too much lately...

The thought of Austin sneakily

OfAusCòntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

watching her at the office suddenly made her self-conscious, dropping her usual casual demeanor. She sat

in,

up straight, chest ouache

ton

even her typing fingers were more elegant.

Her tone softened when speaking to colleagues, "Sure thing!"

Her team leader looked at her as if he'd seen a ghost, "What's up, you possessed by Mia or something?"

Joy was speechless. "...Buzz off!"

So much for keeping up appearances.

Coffee cups, sticky notes inside folders, private chats under the watchful eyes of coworkers... Austin often used these methods for their secret communications.

Joy hadn't known he could draw so

well, capturing her in different moods

whether she was frowning

at her computer or praying for patience. What he chose to draw depended on her mood that day Joy never admitted that every time she pressed her hands together, she was actually cursing him.

Since the flirtation began, her curses became more like wishing his instant noodles came without a flavor-packet or his fries without ketchup, lest she accidentally jinx herself too.

Sometimes Austin's messages were simple. "Did you like the coffee?" "What do you want to eat tomorrow?" or "Wait for me after work".