Ernest looked at me, and I could feel his nerves all tangled up. It seemed he was feeling guilty. As expected, no man was generous about the woman he loved., Seeing Ernest try to hide his nervousness, I secretly smirked, though I made sure to keep my face straight., I stood before him, silent., Ernest's lips moved as if he wanted to say something but seemed to wrestle with whether or not he should. The straightforward man, hesitating, reminded me of a kid who'd done something wrong and didn't know what to do next., Seeing him like this, I couldn't hold back my laughter. My laughter only confused him more.,

"Licia...

", I reached out to take the glass of milk he'd prepared for me and tiptoed to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks.

", After that, I headed out and instructed him,

"Grab my bag, will you?

", Ernest followed me all the way downstairs., He seemed much more relaxed when we got to the car. Instead of heading for the driver's seat as usual, I walked to the passenger side., I tossed the car keys to Ernest.

"You drive.

", With Ernest driving and me in the passenger seat, I leisurely sipped the milk he'd made, listening to music, feeling an unprecedented sense of ease and comfort., Ernest suddenly pulled over by a bus stop as we neared the company.,

"What's up?

" I asked.,

"You said we can't let the others at work know about us, right? I should get off here to dodge any misunderstandings.

" Ernest mentioned something I had almost forgotten. Wasn't this the kind of thing he was supposed to forget? Yet, he was reminding me! What did that mean?, Suddenly, I remembered how the girls at the office had admired Ernest when he dealt with Jimmy and felt a twinge of discomfort.,

"Ernest, you're worried being with me will keep the girls away at the office, huh?

" I accused, perhaps unfairly.,

"No!

" Ernest denied it immediately., I unbuckled his seatbelt, saying unhappily,

"Mr. Collins, please get out.

", Ernest caught my hand.

"Licia, let's be reasonable here.

", Deep down, I knew I was being unreasonable. I was the one who wanted Ernest to keep our relationship under wraps at work, and now that he was doing just that, I was upset. Women could be such complicated creatures, and even I recognized that.,

"I don't want anyone else but you,

" Ernest said as he moved my hand away. He restarted the car, heading to the office., I stayed silent until we arrived. To save face, I threw one last comment at Ernest,

"Mr. Collins, we're just colleagues.

" Ernest smiled helplessly.

"Okay.

", That was one good thing about Ernest. He could tell when I meant it and joked, and he didn't get mad over the little things., But Conrad couldn't tell. I rarely joked with him because he'd take everything to heart, even when he knew I was kidding. It could get pretty annoying., Lately, I kept comparing Conrad to Ernest, which was inevitable since both had been significant in my life., But as they said,

"Ignorance is bliss.

", Seeing Ernest and Conrad side by side, I understood the difference between men and that we could approach love in not just one way.,

"Good morning, Mr. Collins!

",

"Morning, Director Hudson!

", Ernest and I exited the elevator together, and our colleagues greeted us., We nodded and politely responded,

"Morning.

", We went to our respective offices to start our day., What was the big deal about dating someone from the same company? We knew where to draw the line., After wrapping up a morning meeting with my team, Grant showed up at my office,

"Director Hudson, could you go over your current workload?

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