Page 2 of Knocked Up by Mr. Grump Lawyer

Drew introduced me to the receptionist, an old woman named Sandy. She gave me a warm smile, reminding me immediately of my grandmother, who’d passed away the previous year. I wish Grams could have seen me working here.

Suddenly, I was being surrounded by men in dark suits who smelled of wealth and intellect. They were of different ages. It was still quite early, and there were no clients around, so I guess it was okay to socialize a bit.

I noticed that most of them were drinking coffee. I was a heavy coffee drinker myself. We probably got that habit from all those sleepless nights in law school.

“I heard you graduated from Harvard?” someone asked. He’d introduced himself as Jim and looked like one of the younger ones.

“Yes,” I replied with a smile.

“Wow, beauty and brains,” he said, grinning. “Just like me!”

We both laughed. He seemed like a comedian, not your typical type of lawyer. I felt comfortable with him already.

“She graduated with honors!” someone else interrupted. This was a woman who was near my father’s age. I think I met her a few years ago, but she wasn’t a lawyer. She was part of the staff. “Arthur couldn’t stop talking about it.”

I beamed at her comment. Some of them cheered, though I was well aware that many of the lawyers here were topnotch students from reputable law schools.

“Then she really belongs to the best firm in the city, right?” Jim said jokingly. The others clapped and agreed.

Suddenly, I noticed two familiar faces waving at me from inside. It was my dad and another senior partner whom I’d known almost all my life — his best friend, Ron.

I excused myself and headed in their direction. I felt flushed and bubbling with joy and excitement.

“Seems like you’ve become the most popular lawyer already on your first day,” Dad remarked teasingly.

I grinned. “Well, I take after you!”

He laughed. “But I’ve warned them that no one’s allowed to flirt with you or to ask you out on a date!”

“Dad! I’m twenty-eight years old, not sixteen!” I protested laughingly.

Ron was also laughing. “Yes, she’s one of us now. Let her do her own thing or you might scare her away.”

“Alright, fine,” Dad gave in with a chuckle, raising his hands up in surrender. “But I get to approve the men you date before you even go out with them.”

“What?” I asked incredulously. Then with a brush of my hand in the air, I simply dismissed the topic. “Well, we don’t have to talk about that, anyway. I have no plans to date anyone here and am not looking for anyone either. My sole aim is to concentrate on advancing my career growth at this moment”.

“That’s my girl!” Dad exclaimed, beaming with pride.

I noticed that some lawyers had returned to their respective work spaces while others filed into a conference room. Drew and Jim volunteered to show me around and bring me to my assigned desk.

Once they were gone and I found myself to be alone in my area, I started fixing my stuff and organizing the space. My office space was beside a large floor-to-ceiling window, giving me a great view of the city below. It was amazing.

After a while, I headed back to Sandy at the reception to ask about my briefing schedule with the law firm owners — Atty. Joshua Lee and Atty. Brandon Emery, both semi-retired already from handling cases but still hands-on with running the office.

“They’ll be here in an hour to meet you, Atty. Brown,” she informed me.

It felt good to be called with that title within the confines of this highly esteemed firm. I had definitely earned it after all my hard work at school and making it to the top ten of the bar exam.

I turned around eagerly to get back to my desk when I almost crashed into a tall, muscular man wearing an immaculate blue suit. I caught a whiff of his lavish perfume and got a glimpse of his extortionate shoes before I even saw his face.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw how gorgeous he was. His gray eyes were intently staring into mine, and the dimple on his left cheek was evident even though he wasn’t smiling. His moist, reddish lips were set in a tight line, and he had a serious but polite look on his face.

I was used to seeing male celebrities who looked like gods and didn’t even seem human. But this man was sort of different, perhaps because of his mysterious but beguiling aura.

“Can I help you, Miss…?” he began courteously. His voice was deep and powerful-sounding, sort of intimidating even. Well, that had its advantages in trials, so I am assuming that he’s a lawyer here too.

“Kayla,” I said. “That’s my name. And you are?”

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