Page 30 of Strictly Against Policy

Lina must’ve realized exactly how that sounded. She started stammering while Andy and Anthony glanced at each other. They wore the same mischievous glint in their bright eyes and a wide, playful grin that almost made them look identical. They glanced at me and then back to Lina, whose failed attempts to explain herself dwindled to incoherent mutters.

Irritation burned in my chest as I watched her become this shy mess in the Hughes twins’ presence—that was a Lina Lee I had never known.

Andy and Anthony just grinned. “Jonathan’s not my type, but yeah—he’s hot,” laughed Anthony.

Andy chuckled with his twin. “We get the appeal, but our types are his sister and cousin.”

They both laughed as I fought the urge to shake my head a second time. Meanwhile, Lina was silent, with her skin still flushed red. I shooed them away to get more boxes. I cleared my throat as I finally leaned over to grab the box she brought, putting it in an orderly stack.

“Ignore them,” I said. “They enjoy teasing like that.”

Lina didn’t respond, simply glancing at me, looking straight into my eyes. There was no hint of hesitation in her gaze, or even a sheepish smile on her face. Then, she turned away and left without another word. I sighed, watching her walk away.

We finished moving all of Lina’s things earlier than expected. She didn’t have much to begin with, which made it all easier. I glanced at her. She sat in the passenger seat as we drove the moving truck to her new place. I offered to drive it last night, after sensing that she was uncomfortable driving such a large vehicle when we talked over the phone.

“Thank you for all of this,” she said, looking out the window.

“You’ve already thanked me enough, Lina,” I replied.

She didn’t say anything for a long time. We were almost at her new apartment when she spoke up.

“Do you do this for all of your employees?” Her voice was firm, but curious.

“Do what?” I glanced at her to find her looking at me.

My cheeks warmed up along with my entire body, making me wish I hadn’t thrown my shirt back on. I fumbled to turn up the air conditioner. She reached over to help me. Her fingers brushed against mine, only making my cheeks burn hotter.

“Help with moving.”

I kept my eyes trained on the road, but I could feel the weight of Lina’s eyes on my skin. “Our team is mostly women; it’s natural for me to ensure everyone is safe in whatever way possible. I prefer to be the first one at the pharmacy so neither you or any of our techs have to open alone in case someone is running late,” I shrugged. “I never leave until the tech I’m closing with has safely left the parking lot either.”

“You’re the only man, so you feel it’s your duty to take care of us?” Her tone was rather accusatory, irritating me.

“Yes and no,” I quipped. “I’m the manager, so I should do my best to take care of the people on our team—whether it’s mostly men or women.”

Lina stayed silent.

I spoke up again after mulling over some thoughts. “I suppose I do worry more about our team because it’s mostly women. My family is just my mom, my older sister, and me. The older I got, the more I realized the world is a scary place for women. There are many men who won’t hesitate to hurt you.”

“Is that why you didn’t hesitate to step in the other day?” I was surprised to hear her speak in such a quiet and soft voice.

“Yes.”

Lina was silent for a moment before her phone started blaring. She took a quick glance at it only to blow out a long breath, silencing the call into a whirling buzz.

“You can go ahead and answer it. I don’t mind,” I said.

“No,” she breathed as the vibrations of the phone stopped. “It’s alright.”

Just as the previous call ended, another one came in again. Like before, Lina sent the call straight to voicemail. She only resorted to calming her dramatically humming phone into silence. I glanced at her phone curiously as a third call buzzed in, catching the one who was calling.

It was her mom.

I was about to tear my eyes away when she caught me being nosy. My cheeks heated as I jerked my gaze away and looked back up at the road. Lina leaned back into her seat as a text sharply buzzed her phone, followed by ten more consecutive texts. Out of the corner of my eyes, her mouth tugged into a deep frown. She finally sighed, turning off her phone entirely as her phone vibrated from a new text.

“S-sorry, that was my mom and sister,” she muttered.

“Did something happen?” I asked.