meeting

It was one of those mornings where waking up took more effort than usual. He had hardly noticed falling asleep, and the alarm clock jarred him awake without him even realizing that he had fallen asleep. The drive to work was far busier than usual, slow cars and meandering bikes getting in the way of a smooth journey. Putting on the parking brake, he took a deep breath and stretched in his seat, relieved that the trip was over. He looked in dismay at the clock. It was 5 past the hour, and she had most probably left.
He thumped the steering wheel in frustration, got out and slammed the door. He hung over the door, elbows on the roof. And he took a deep breath, gathered himself and walked to the lift.
Just as his luck had been, the lift chose to stop at every single floor. He looked at the watch on his wrist over and over, wishing that things would speed up. He breathed a Sigh of relief as the elevator chimed at his floor.
The door parted, and there she stood, trolley suitcase in tow as she stepped into the lift. She gave a surprised gasp as she saw him.
"Hi!" she said as they both squeezed past each other at the lift door.
He stood straddling the lift doorway as she pressed the lift button to hold the door open.
They exchanged pleasantries for a while, being formal colleagues. He fought the urge to throw his arms around her. There was an awkward silence as both ran out of things to say.
He reached out and touched her arms and quickly withdrew as he saw her eyes look around in case someone was watching. He looked down to the floor and struggled to say how he was feeling.
"I'm glad I caught you," she said, as if reading his mind,"I'm gonna miss you this weekend." She took his hand and gave a squeeze. "You take care of yourself".
He wanted to respond with a "sure, you too!" and his trademark grin but it stuck in his throat when he looked up into her eyes. Tears were beginning to form in the corner of her eyes. He pulled her near and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I'm gonna miss you, too," he whispered into her ear, "a lot." He stepped back, held her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I love you".
He stepped away from the lift and watched as the door close in front of him.He took a deep breath, composed himself, turned on his heel and walked towards his office as his mobile phone buzzed with an incoming message.
"I love you too, sayang. I always have."