Dinners with ICSI people are always a riot. Toggling between light banter and sarcastic jibes gives us all a kick until we're all laughing like hyenas. Topics range from weight gain/loss, PMS, female body parts, make-up and boys, to the detriment (but perhabs advantage) of Balbie, our only male officemate whom we call baldiva, balbina, bhalbie, balbhie, balbieeh or bossing.

When you find yourself "clicking" with colleagues, it's easy to get very comfortable talking about anything. And even though you're together in the office 8 hours a day, 5 days (sometimes 6) a week, you still have to go to some kind of gimmick just because they're good company and it's fun. Friendships in the workplace is a tricky thing though. Amid the wackiness and sometimes the juicy-ness of the conversations, there are still some things left unsaid. People skirt over personal issues unless information is voluntarily supplied. The curiosity is palpable. It is like the microscopic dust you see when a beam of light strikes through space. It's there but only when you look closely enough.

Forksfull of mudpie, oreo and cheesecake and tiramisu later, my apettite was fully satiated but my curiosity wasn't. I dismissed lingering questions though and concentrated walking to my house. It was a long slow walk and in the middle of it all, since chocolate makes me melancholic, I got myself into wondering when will the time come when somebody walks me home. Just as I shove the thought aside, I see someone waving at me and I smile. It's always nice to see Lemony Snickets. There's this easiness about him and I never feel shy or threatened talking with him although we were only in the same class for a sem. I remember one time when I was sitting on a table alone in KFC and he asked if he could join me. See, I was with a bunch of AtSCA friends who were in the counter placing their orders. No matter, I said sure because there was still an extra seat. I imagined him to be uncomfy learning that I was not, afterall, alone. But he was a hit among my friends. He pulled the potentially embarassing situation off and that's what made me admire him.

Anyway, we chatted down the steps and it's amazing how different he looks in his shorts and trainers with his hair tied up. But what's even more amazing is that our conversations take off from where we leave them no matter how far the interval of our seeing each other may be. And then he did the most heart-warming thing and walked me to my gate even if it meant walking eight houses past his. I am not in love with Lemony Snickets. I don't think I even fancy him just one bit. I never thought it would be possible for someone to make me quite happy just by some inconsequential smalltalk. But he did. Somehow, my plummeting spirits were lifted. And it felt nice that somebody walked me home even if it were only a friendly gesture.