Forbidden Love - Part I

Ok - I admit - I have been reading soppy romance books lately - enough to prompt me to invent one. Here is part one of the forbidden Office romance - even the title is soppy...

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If true love comes your way after the die of commitment has been cast, what are you to do? Should you just stand aside and watch it pass by, like a prisoner in the cell, condemned to watching the magical summer dissolve away? Should you dare to experience it, maybe extend your hand and touch it, feel its satin touch, taste its honey sweetness, just that once? Should you risk it all, leave all that is known; abandon all your commitments for this love which may turn out to be as transient as a desert bloom? Thoughts swirled in her brain as she listlessly drove the well trodden path back home. Her straight forward, practical personality that had brought her this far in life was anguished over these thoughts. Her soft, usually pliant features looked tortured. This soap opera episode can't be part of her life, thought Jane. She smiled at the irony of it all - even her name was an antithesis of dramatic - "Plain Jane" as the kids would tease her when she was little.

Life in a telecommunications lab in the New Jersey suburb had always been far from dramatic. Jane had always prided herself for her expertise in the field - working on algorithms that visualized the IP and data communications flowing through multitudes of routers and switches and hubs through New York City. Her love of gardening, cooking and family rounded off the professional accomplishments. Could life be any more perfect than this?

When she least expected it, a wrinkle in life crept in. Professional discussions on technical merits of data collection at random interval versus regular interval would stretch into theoretical discussions about software design and then morph into philosophical discussion about life in general. Sometimes in large group, and sometimes in one on one setting, as these conversations continued, she started finding him vaguely interesting in a non-romantic way. There was so much in common between them - books, music, movies, TV shows, thoughts, and life experiences. Jane remembered wistfully of the innocent early days of their friendship - the shared morning smiles of greeting, the glow of joy upon seeing his face. A sad smile tugged at her lips as she remembered the guiltless, harmless stage of their relationship that allowed her faithful heart to cultivate the friendship without guile and honor her commitment to her husband. Soon, it was all to change.