My secretary of five years just fingered me.
On my desk. My mahogany desk. I do my paper there.

We're dating too.

Just for clarification, not me and my desk me and my secretary.

I also apparently traveled eight months into the future with no clue or recollection on how it happened other than the fact that I entered a building elevator on March 23rd and came out on the same floor to find it was November 23rd in a matter of seconds.

Oh and I have a dog now. That's important too.

Now that that's all out there, time to respond accordingly in a calm and orderly manner.

"Oh look, she finally moved." Harry's voice snapped me back from my little internal breakdown, my eyes blinking until Harry, his dog Bruno that was in his arms with its tongue out, and a handful of my employees in front of me all came into focus.

They all curiously leaned in in unison as I continued to sit on my desk and stare back at them while they watched me in concern.

"Someone touch her to see if she'll move again." Someone stupidly advised in a cowardly whisper.

It was Harry.

"Why don't you touch her. She's looking at you after all." Another employee shot back.

"No she's not." Harry snapped.

My dead eyes shifted towards him causing him to freeze momentarily.

"Look what you did Marshall." Harry hissed in irritation, trying to avoid my glare and mask his terror by turning to Marshall who simply ignored him as he checked his newly manicured nails.

I glared at every head in the room before speaking.

"Get out of my office." I demanded in a low, irritated voice, as if just waking up from an interrupted nap, not even speaking to anyone in specific.

"Okay guys, she's good. Just a malfunction, she's fine." Harry announced back to the rest of the employees with raised arms before the herd of them cleared the room like some kind of plague was lurking in the air.

All of them immediately rushing out the door without another word before I spotted a head of dark brown curls in the midst of the chaos.

"Except you two." I made sure to stop Harry in his tracks, his whole body freezing along with his dog Bruno as the two stood rigidly right at the door before slowly turning their heads to look at me in unison.

I continued to sit on my desk, rubbing my face in exhaustion before looking back at them as the patiently and silently waited for my orders.

"Why." I gave him a look, shrugging my shoulders referring to the hoard of employees that were all cramped in my office as Harry innocently played with the end of his tie, rocking on his heels.

"After I told you how long we've been dating you kind of just blanked out and sat on your desk with a really faraway look in your eyes...." He began to explain with an inquiring look, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"So then I called Dennis from accounting to see what was up with you and then when Dennis didn't know he called Shiela from the front desk who got Marco the coffee guy-"

"So you invited the whole office." I quickly summed up, squinting at my secretary with furrowed brows before he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck in a tense manner.

"Well, I mean, not the whole office..." Harry trailed off. "No one invited Jerry."

The door suddenly opened, causing both Harry and I's heads to turn at the sound as Jerry peeked his excited face inside, holding his phone.

"I heard the boss malfunctioned, I wanted to record-" Jerry began with a more than eager tone before my vexed eyes met his widened ones.

"Get back to work Jerry."

"Y-yes ma'm." He quickly lowered his gaze along with his head, nodding solemnly before he shot Harry a glare at the side.

"You're such a liar." Jerry mouthed in offense before he backed out of the room like a wounded animal.

With the door closed Harry, his dog, and I were left alone in silence as I looked at my secretary.

It seemed more practicable to believe that him and the rest of my employees were just lying to me rather than consider the possibility that I somehow managed to travel to the future.

But the thing is, Harry wouldn't lie to me.

He never has and if they were just small excuses I could tell whether he was telling the truth or not in the little, unconscious habits he did, like fiddling with the end of his tie, or the slight ruffling of his brown head of hair whenever he got nervous.

I gave Harry one more look before I patted the pockets of my blazer, retrieving my iPhone and checking the date on the screen.

November 23rd.

My phone had been in my pocket since this morning, no one else had touched it but me.

Without another word I got off my desk, passing two confused puppies, Harry's dog and Harry himself who looked just as lost and vulnerable as he tilted his head a bit, the two of them watching me leave the room in a rush.

I grabbed the first employee I saw.

"What's the date today?"

"Uh- N-November 23rd." The startled man replied.

I snapped my head towards another employee fearfully gawking at the side.

"You!" I pointed at her.

"M-me?" She cowered, gesturing to herself before frantically looking around, as if beckoning for help from her fellow co-workers.

"What's the date today!" I demanded

"November 23rd!" She screamed back at me in a panic, two blinks away from probably bawling her eyes out.

"You! The date! Now!" I yelled.

"Boss! Boss," I was suddenly grabbed from behind, my secretary quickly restraining me and pulling me back as I blinked, realizing who I had just yelled at.

"Boss, you're yelling at a kid." Harry said, his lips close to my ear as he held me back while I gawked at the small seven year old who stared at me in horror, big blue eyes watering and bottom lip quivering with terror.

"Oh- oh...." I covered my gaping mouth with my hand, immediately regretting the little, public breakdown as one of my employees who I remembered was named Carl quickly shielded his sobbing son away from me, gawking at me like the rest of everyone else in the office.

"What is wrong with you." Carl squinted his eyes at me in disgust as I was dragged back into my office with a slack jaw.

"I didn't even know you had a son- I'm sorry- I didn't even know he had a son." I began in a soft, disoriented voice, the heels of my shoes dragging across the floor and Harry's arms slung under mine from behind before he kicked my office door closed once we were back inside, blocking out any more scrutinizing glares.

Harry plopped me down in my big leather chair, my slumped, shocked body feeling too small for all the suddenly large looking furniture around me as my mind became overwhelmed with everything that has happened in the past hour.

Or I guess in my case, past eight months.

"So." His deep voice began while my chair was suddenly reclined back, Harry's face coming into view above me as I was leaned back while he peered down at me, steadying the chair.

"I know you like making kids cry and kicking puppies, but save that for your weekend hobbies, kay boss." He advised with a small smirk, small portions of his brown hair falling over his face before he playfully pinched my nose as I closed my eyes and swatted his hand away in irritation.

"Cool it Styles." I quickly warned, feeling some type of normalcy knowing how my secretary had always joked about me making babies cry or kicking puppies and keeping doors open when people tell me to close it as my leisurely activities.

At least some things didn't change.

"Now that," His large hands squished my face, forcing my lips to pucker and my nose to become squished between my cheeks as he looked down at me.

"Sounds more like you."

"I can't breathe." I squeaked with angered eyes, Harry continuing to squish and pinch my face.

"Sucks." He smiled.

I shoved his hands away from me, almost falling back in my seat in the process before Harry quickly put me back upright with an amused chuckle.

"I thought we're dating now. Aren't you supposed to be -I don't know- nicer to me." I snapped with narrowed eyes, watching Harry lean back against my desk in front of me with amusement as he crossed his arms over his chest and sent me a look, raising his brow.

Harry seemed to be a lot more relaxed and playful around me, even flirty as I noticed his casual, sly remarks and moves.

How brave.

"Me, be nicer to you," He scoffed, pointing at himself then at me as I sat there in my chair with a grumpy expression.

Harry let out another chuckle when he realized I was being serious, looking away at nothing in particular for a moment to release a small sigh before he turned his attention back to me.

"You do know you bully me more as my girlfriend then you ever did when you were just my boss right?" He tilted his head to the side as I made a face.

He said it.

He said the 'G' word.

This was just too weird and I never had a history of bullying or teasing my past boyfriends. Any relationship I had would never be playful or teasing since most of the men I dated could never take my "harsh" banter.

Something about hurting their masculine pride or whatever.

"Just the other day Bruno pissed on me while I was watering our plants on the balcony and all you did was laugh at me." Harry mentioned with a raise of his pointer finger before we both looked over at the dog in the far corner of the room, rapidly chasing its tail until it just looked like a large fidget spinner in the back of my office.

"That proves nothing, I would've laughed and done nothing regardless if I was just your boss or more." I shrugged.

Harry considered my words for a moment, opening his mouth to protest before running his ring clad fingers over his tightly pressed lips in thought.

"True, very true." He then agreed with a slight nod.

"You know, you've been staring at me a lot lately and it's not the usual 'I'm gonna murder you' look or the 'take me on my desk' look either." He observed with an inquiring look as I tilted my head at his words, making a face.

"Is there ever an in between?" I was hesitant to ask making a small smile spread across his lips, his dimples appearing at the side of his cheeks.

Harry then placed his hands on each of the arms of my chair, leaning down to be eye level with me.

"Never." He then said in amusement in a soft voice, staring at me in such a loving way I almost.....

I almost...

Wanted to scream and call 911 for my secretary intruding on my personal space and bubble.

I mean, not like I said that when he was eating me out or anything but...

It was now that I saw the way he looked at me that just freaked me out.

"So..." I gently moved him back away from me with my pointer finger pressed over his chest as he raised a brow, smirking and looking at my hand then back at me.

"When exactly did you fall for me." I wanted to know.

He blinked.

"Uh... what?" Harry blinked again with a lost look.

"You know," I shrugged, casually readjusting my blazer and dusting off some dust from my pencil skirt before I got comfortable in my chair.

"When did you fall for me. When did you ask me out, confess you're undying love and unavoidable attraction for me." I further explained with pursed lips.

Harry continued to just look at me with a confused expression, brows creased and lips slightly parted as if he didn't know what to say.

"Go ahead you can tell me," I continued, resting on my arm chair as I tucked my chin in the palm of my hand.

"Umm..."

"Frankly I'm kind of disappointed in you. I mean really the whole secretary having a secret relationship with the CEO- we are a secret right?" I paused to quickly check in worth.

"Oh yeah, yeah we are but-"

"Okay good, I mean could you imagine what people would say if they found out. I didn't even know what to say when I found out-"

"Boss."

"No but really, how and when did you ask me out. Or rather, how long did you have a crush on me?"

"Boss."

"Was it a cute crush or was it those kind of creepy crushes where you kept a hidden shrine of me with off guard shots of me in the lower right drawer of your desk-"

"Noelle!" Harry snapped, making me immediately shut up in shock, never hearing my own secretary address me in such a way before I met his heavy gaze.

"You're the one who asked me out." He said.

His words rang in the tense air between us as I froze, body rigid and hands unconsciously clutching to my arms of my chair as I gasped up at him.

"I'm sorry, it almost sounded like you said I was the one who asked you out-"

"That's cause I did."

"See, you're doing it again."

"Doing what-"

"That thing where your mouth moves and says things I don't like." I awkwardly explained in a dazed voice, still baffled before Harry leaned forward, placing one hand on the back of my chair near my head causing me to lean back in my seat to meet his gaze as he peered down at me.

"I think you should be the one asking yourself here how exactly you fell for me." Harry mused, completely entertained with this whole situation while I was on the brink of yet another mental breakdown.

"Yeah..." I trailed off, looking up at him with wide eyes as I tried to process everything.

"I'd like to know that too."

AN: this took me like a month to fucking write cuz I'd go back and forth and then I'd stop writing then I'd go back to it and this is a short chapter compared to my others. It was going to be longer (4K words as per usual) but I needed to let ya'll have something. I'm also gonna be publishing a lot of stories like the first chapters of them so sorry if that will be overwhelming, just tryna figure out which books I'll continue with cuz I have a lot of ideas.

I'm also on vacation rn in japan but I'm still trying to write. They will be Harry fics btw! So yay for that! Thank you for being patienttttt!

Btw this story will not be taken in the future the whole time, her being stuck solely in the future is too bland. Have faith in me.