If I hadn't been paying attention during my Science class in grade school, I would have probably believed that the oceans of the world were made of coffee. That would be the perfect explanation for the eighth cup of coffee that I refused today.

Everywhere I go, there was an abundance of coffee.

It was that calming, addictive scent of instant coffee that woke me up from my few hours of sleep. Even as I walked out of our old apartment, the old lady living next door invited me to share a cup with her.

The clock had barely struck eight o'clock when I received the third invitation for a cup of coffee. As soon as I entered the office, Sally, who was still munching a sandwich, offered to prepare a cup for me. I never really understood why she always offers me coffee when she knew all along that I would (politely) refuse everytime.

Then there were the various meetings, set barely minutes apart, which I had to attend in place of Ms. Amanda, whose busy schedule only allowed her to be only in selected places at certain times. I had always looked forward for a glass of water but the first thing that they always offered was the cup of that dark liquid whose scent I loved as much as I disliked its bitter taste.

By the time I was back at the House of Representatives for a technical discussion on certain house bills, I was already offered eight cups of coffee.

I was taking notes on the discussion when a tall transparent cup filled with light brown beverage landed in front of the stack of papers precariously perched on my knees. I resisted the urge to close my eyes and groan.

"Relax, it's tea," he quipped. I looked up to see Ryan in his pinstriped shirt, carefully tucked beneath his pressed slacks, looking at me with an amused smile on his face.

He took the papers on my lap and thrusted the chilled cup of milk tea on my left hand which I caught clumsily.

I hadn't noticed that his boss, Representative Monteagudo had come in. He was already shaking hands and sharing small talks with some of the government officers and personnel from other offices when one of the staff informed the Chairman of his arrival. The house committee acknowledged the presence of Rep. Monteagudo who comfortably sat on the empty chair beside Ms. Amanda.

I regarded the cup on my hand with uncertainty. Unlike coffee, I was unfamiliar with milk teas. The only 'tea' I knew was the iced tea that was always served in restaurants. Judging from the numerous milk tea junctions sprouting on the metro like wild mushrooms, milk tea was the latest craze in beverages, and it was something new to my palate.

"Drink up. You look thirsty," he said.

I was about to ask him how he knew how thirsty I was when I caught him gazing on my lips - which were probably either dry or pale from the chapped lipstick, maybe both. I immediately diverted my attention to something behind his back to hold back the traitorous blush that was threatening to color my cheeks.

I knew I should not have put any meaning into that gaze. It could have been an obvious indicator how parched I was. Besides, Ryan was like this with everyone. But no, Sally made it clear that Ryan had a thing for me which meant that him looking at me and my lips meant something more.

"Thanks," I said as I took a sip of the alien beverage, still focused on the point behind him.

"Anytime," Ryan turned to where I was looking and saw several faces from the crowd who waved at him. I recognized some of them as fellow EAs or Ryan's classmates in law school. He waved back before turning back to me and said, "So, has the guy with coffee called you again?"

"Who?" I asked, completely perplexed. "I was offered coffee eight times today, half of which were offered by men. Which one of them?" I laughed at him.

"The guy at the office last week. Mr. Sol, was it?"

He was still waving and nodding at various people he probably knew which is a good thing considering how I was taken aback at his simple question. I sipped at my drink but it was as if the straw was suddenly lodged with something that blocked the fluid from passing through. I hadn't noticed that I bit the straw in surprise at the mention of Mr. Sol.

"No, Mr. Sol hasn't called Ms. Amanda's office since," I answered, emphasizing that it was Ms. Amanda whom Mr. Sol was calling and not me.

He did say we will be seeing each other again and the prospect of seeing him somewhat excited me in different ways. I was thrilled at the idea that I can redeem myself by showing that arrogant man how wrong he was but a part of me was also excited to seehim for reasons so ridiculously shallow that I wanted to bury away those thoughts at the deepest part of the ocean.

Then, there's the thing that Ryan somehow knew that Mr. Sol would call again. Sally could've told him but his curiosity over Mr. Sol gave me an unsettling feeling. I knew I shouldn't be overthinking about his query. It was a simple question. Ryan was only curious with the guy who riled me up last week. There wasn't anything more than his innocent question. What was I even thinking that the gaze and the question are somehow connected?

Darn those rumors! Ryan hadn't even expressly asserted that the rumors were indeed true.

"But he didn't deny it either. Besides, his actions imply it," Sally's voice resounded in my head. She always said that whenever I push away those thoughts that there might indeed be something with how Ryan treated me. And it was a really good something that always made me giddy.

I looked at him through my peripheral. He hadn't said anything after my response and was currently preoccupied by the man who approached him, asking him several questions.

Ryan Andrew Garcia was my lifesaver. He had been my savior since the day I made my first blunder as Ms. Amanda's EA. My boss never found out how I almost unintentionally gave official statements to the devious and intimidating reporter for a press release which my boss never unauthorized. Since then, Ryan taught me how everything goes at the House of Representatives.

I honestly never thought the seat of Congress not only houses the most influential young individuals. It also happened to be, in my opinion, the house of the best selection of young bachelors and bachelorettes. And Ryan was among the top selection.

I was indeed lucky to have him as a friend.

I sipped on my tea when that sucking sound of air against the bottom of a cup filled with ice broke my musing. Ryan turned around at the noise. It was fortunate that the man he was talking to had left at that moment.

"That was fast. I never knew you're that thirsty," he laughed teasingly showing the tiny dimples on his cheeks. The young ladies at Congress loved it when he smiles. It made him look younger, even younger than I am considering he was two years ahead of me.

"Well the last glass of water I had was hours ago," I defended

He continued laughing silently as I scowl at him. I seized my papers from him to resume the notes I was taking and held my chin in defiance, resolved to ignore him for teasing me.

"Wait," he grabbed a napkin, wiped something on the corner of my mouth, and winked. Just like that, he knew how to get my attention. "I knew you'd like tea over coffee."

My eyebrows slightly creased at his remark. I stared at the melting ice that was pooling at the bottom of my cup. I had drunk the entire cup of milk tea without having really tasted it. I didn't even know whether I like it or not.

"I guess so," I replied, trying to hide the uncertainty in my voice.

"You know, milk tea is rising drastically as a major coffee competitor," Ryan stated. He was looking at me carefully.

"So I've heard," I frowned.

Representative Monteagudo's voice boomed in the speakers, indicating his turn to interpellate. Ryan quickly turned his attention to his boss.

My hand was still scribbling on the notes I was recording for later reference. However, my mind drifted to Ryan's last remark.

Milk tea is rising drastically as a major coffee competitor

If he was speaking about the business, I knew that his remark meant that milk tea was creating ripples in the ocean of coffee. But somehow, I felt there was more to that remark - and I'm pretty sure it didn't mean that I'd soon be offered more than eight cups of milk tea rather than coffee.