Vishnal paced the floor, fretting. Thoughts raced through his mind as he hung around the research department, occasionally looking over the notes and occasionally bothering the other employees with essentially the same questions over and over. Since getting healed by Lest, he had become almost obsessed with the idea of 'love magic' and dedicated nearly every spare second he had to researching it. He wasn't part of the research team, and didn't have access to the inner workings of the facility, but he did read all of the notes when he wasn't being called to do other things.

What he really wanted to know was if love magic actually influenced someone's romantic feelings. Lest had already told him that love magic doesn't actually make people fall in love, but somehow Vishnal couldn't accept that. It was only recently that he started to realise he felt a strong attraction to his boss, and love magic seemed to be the most reasonable explanation he could come up with was he was under a spell.

'That has to be the reason. I didn't have feelings like this for him before.'

Since that day, he had seriously been evaluating his attraction to his boss. He was fully convinced that the attraction he felt was sudden, and that magic had to have been the cause. If magic wasn't the cause, he'd have to come to terms with the truth.

'Maybe it was because he was so dashing using magic and being all heroic.'

The more he thought about it, the more he realised his attraction went back further than that. He couldn't deny that his boss's gentle face was highly appealing, and that he was always impressed by his work ethic and considerate nature. By now he was starting to understand that he was only using the love magic idea as an excuse to cover up his true feelings.

It was all so clear to him at that moment, and he carefully stored the files he was reading and left the research department.

'I can't go on working for him now, there's only one thing I can do.'

Sweat formed as he made his way to his usual location, Lest's office. His boss had no idea what he was planning when he entered, and proceeded as normal.

"Ah Vishnal, would you check the shipping schedule for me?"

"Certainly sir, but before that I have something important to declare."

"Alright, what is it?"

"Sir, I must put in my resignation notice."

Lest stared, dumbfounded at what he just heard. At first he had to convince himself that what he had just heard had actually come from Vishnal, and that was a surprisingly difficult task. It would have been more feasible if Leon jumped in and said that this was actually a robot made to look and sound like Vishnal who he had programmed to say absurd things. After he had rationalized that it was in fact Vishnal who said he was resigning, Lest was left contemplating how they got there and if this was another of Leon's pranks. All attempts to form an articulate his thoughts failed, and all he could say in response was, "What?"

"I believe that it would be inappropriate to continue working for you, after what I found out today. I'm sorry sir, but the nature of this relationship should not be present in a professional setting."

At that, Lest had assumed Leon had told Vishnal about his affections for him, and sighed. "I'm sorry, but I understand." It took all of his willpower to not ask how he found out. "I won't pressure you to stay, but I can assure you that the atmosphere will remain professional. I won't do anything differently, and if my presence makes you uncomfortable, you can tell me." He didn't want to sound desperate, and mostly succeeded. This was all so sudden that he wasn't properly prepared.

"It's not that your presence makes me uncomfortable, well, not really." Vishnal cleared his throat then, in a meek attempt to stall for time. "But sir, you've had to have heard the rumours going around. And if you haven't, the others are saying such slanderous things about you! I don't want to be the cause of that anymore. I know you're not the type of person to give preferential treatment to anyone for reasons unrelated to work. Now that I've finally figured out my own feelings, I can't have that, and I can't continue working for you knowing that I'm the cause of these rumours."

"Err, really? Is that all?" It was apparent that Lest didn't care about that. He was already well aware of the gossip, but if Vishnal didn't care, neither did he.

"Uhm. I don't want to give credence to the rumours. I mean, they may have figured it out before I did, but now that I understand my feelings, I must not be an accessory to such gossip, sir!"

"Riiight." Lest tapped a pen on his desk as he thought about how to approach the topic. "These feelings of yours, I take it they alone are fuelling the rumours?"

"I would think so, sir. So I must resign, it isn't proper to have these feelings for my boss…"

"Hey you know, if you're okay with it, I'm okay with it." He stood then, and made his way over to the other side of the desk. Vishnal watched with wide eyes as Lest took his hand. "I don't know if Leon told you this or not, but I've kind of had an eye on you for a while. I guess I, like you, thought it was an inappropriate relationship to pursue. But I'm the boss so I can't fire myself."

Vishnal held his breath as Lest brought his hand to his mouth.

"I found myself liking you for a while now, and I'll keep you around as my secretary and my lover, if you're okay with it."

"Wha, wait, are you mocking me sir?" The ever flustered Vishnal couldn't fathom what he just heard being the truth. He may have been used to being teased, but not by Lest.

"No, I'm being completely serious. I really love you!"

"I see." He swallowed and appeared to be contemplative. "I will accept your feelings, and return them with my own, sir."

"That's good news. You're going to do it from your desk too, right?"

"I uh, yes, of course." With the tensions rapidly decreasing, Vishnal was left feeling slightly tired. "This is, not exactly how I expected today's events to unfold."

"Join the club. Before just now I fully expected to go on admiring you silently. If we didn't have so much to get through, I'd give everyone the day off tomorrow to celebrate." At that he released Vishnal's hand and moved back to his desk. "Well, anyway, I think we should talk further, after work. You're aware of our packed schedule yeah?"

"Of course! I'll get right on calling our clients and making arrangements!"

Lest only offered a few glances at his ever diligent assistant. Everything seemed normal, as it was before their unconventional confession. Perhaps it was better that way, or perhaps any change in their relationship would develop in the coming days. Either way, it would be interesting for Lest to see how such a relationship would unfold coupled with workplace stress and the judgemental eyes of his other employees.