Okay! White Guy At The Office A Little Too Excited to Talk About Sudoku With Me

It’s just numbers David. Relax.

August 9, 2021

By: Julia Zhen

It’s 9:45am, and we’re having our usual 15 minute daily team huddle. Things go down as usual, but this time I can see Charles in the corner of my eye going to town on the NYT crossword, and then swiftly making his mark on the sudoku. I see him raise his head, turn to me. I quickly divert eye contact. But I can feel his eyes’ gaze burn through my skin. 

The meeting ends, and I quickly make a bee-line for the door, but to no success. I was too slow. In slow motion, I see Charles swiftly cut me off. He turns his whole body with such force I can hear the smell of Polo Ralph Lauren cologne hit me in the face. His grin is like the Cheshire cat. His eyes are dark pits with no drip of life nor any semblance of common sense. He opens his mouth. 

“Oh my god, hey Jasmine! You’ll never guess what I was doing just now… SUDOKU! Haha. You probably are so good at it. I knew that I was just some dumb guy trying out a new puzzle, but you’re the expert. You should give it a stab. Did you know Sudoku was actually developed by a Swiss mathematician, but the name is Japanese? So weird right! Haha anyway, do you want to go out with me on Friday?” The white beads of saliva accumulated at the corners of his mouth as his thin, chapped lips pulled back into a sneer, “I have a reservation for Suki’s Kitchen.”