Below zero

With a chuckle Jenny sent Jason a one word message reading, 'STOP!' before writing what she had intended to send him after his first message. 'You didn't forget silly. Why are you apologizing before you even know if you have committed the crime? I just finished my classes and wanted to ask you if you wanted to have dinner together. I am near the office right now and there is a new place I have been meaning to try out. So, I thought I should go and pick something up from there and meet you after your meeting has finished. How does that sound?'

In the time between Jenny's first and second message the temperature of the air in the room where they were holding the meeting dropped till below zero. They could see Jason's hand turning white from clenching his phone so hard and his clenched jaw made his face seem stern. The speaker at the front started to stutter as he tried to finish his presentation. Wondering if he had something wrong to cause their soon to be vice president to be upset with him. Everyone in the room was looking in his direction anxiously, except for Stephen who was simply looking because he was wondering what had gotten into his son all of a sudden. After Stephen gave the speaker a reassuring nod, allowing him to continue his presentation a bit more normally, and turned his attention away from Jason, Jason received his second message.

Jason thought that Jenny had been rejecting his apology causing him to grow more and more upset with each second that passed between her first and second message. But seeing her follow-up words, his stern expression lit up almost immediately. With a chuckle of his own over his own behaviour and Jenny's message, he replied with a short 'Sounds great!' before returning his focus to the presentation regarding the progress of a number of their departments. When he did, the people who had been stealing glances in his direction, instantly turned their eyes away. Pretending they hadn't been staring at him in the first place. Though this created somewhat of a confusion on Jason's side, a message from his father helped clear that right up. 'Now that my daughter-in-law has cheered you back up, start focusing on the meeting.' Jason put his phone away as he started paying proper attention again but not after telling himself, 'I really need to train myself. My emotions can be read like an open book.'

The meeting, lasting over an hour, was almost finished. In the meantime Jenny had done what she had told Jason on the phone. With a warm meal in hand and the paper in her bag, she had made her way to the company building. After greeting the people behind the front desk and the guards by the doors, she went to his floor. When the elevator doors opened, she saw the doors to the meeting room opening in the distance. She quickly pressed the button to close the door back up and pressed the button for a floor lower. As Jenny bit the nail of her thumb, she spoke to herself. "Shit! His meeting lasted longer than I thought. I hope he didn't see me." For Jenny's plan to have the intended effect, she needed Jason to be in his office when she came. With their meeting running out, she had almost ran into Jason before she had a chance to prepare the final details. After, the elevator doors opened again, on the floor below Jason's office, she headed straight for the stairs. Thinking that walking back up to his floor should buy her the time needed for Jason to enter his office and for her to make her arrival.

The fourteen step walk hadn't done the trick. Though the others had all left towards their own offices or desks, Jason had not. When Jenny peered towards the meeting room from behind the wall she was at, she could see that Jason and her father-in-law were still in the room talking privately behind closed doors. Though it wasn't like she had practiced in her mind, Jenny thought to herself 'This might work too.' as she bolted towards the desk of Jason's assistant that had already returned to start working on the notes of today's meeting. When the assistant spotted her walking towards him, he smiled and lifted his hand to greet her. Though he expected Jenny to go straight towards his boss's office after returning his greeting, he saw that she was heading towards his desk. While he was wondering what the reason was for her to come talk to him instead of going into the office like usual, he answered Jenny's questions patiently while curiously observing her behaviour.

With a nervous expression and while glancing back and forth between the assistant and the meeting room, Jenny asked him what she needed after some quick pleasantries. "As you probably already guessed, I am here to have dinner with Jason. Since I know you don't like to disturb us when we are in there I thought I should ask you if you have any files Jason needs to look over or sign before I head in his office. I could take them in for you and save you the trouble. I am sure you are busy enough with typing out the notes from the meeting." Feeling more confused than ever by Jenny's question, he stammeringly replied to her offer with an "O-okay. Sure. If you want to help, then these three files need to be looked over and signed for approval. Thank you."

Jenny took the files from his hands and smiled as she said, "No problem!" and headed into Jason's office. She had just put the food she had gotten out onto plates and slipped her own paper in between the stack of papers from his assistant, when Jason, who had been reprimanded for his behaviour during the meeting by his father, entered the office as well.