Part 11- Our engagement goes public

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written about The King and Me, so feel free to catch up here.

After the initial shock of the engagement wore off, reality began to set in.  We called our family and close friends to let them know the news.  Then Jon and I talked about what this would mean for our workplace, especially since we spent so much time and effort convincing everyone that nothing was going on between us.  What would we say?  How would we announce it?  Would we announce it?  Are our friends going to feel betrayed by our lies?  But it was late so we decided to deal with it in the morning.

The next day at work was nerve wrecking.  I didn’t want to lie even more by not wearing the ring, but I also didn’t want to shove it in anyone’s face.  We told Laura and Nate about the engagement in the morning because they already knew that we were dating, so it would be less of a shock.  They were excited but a bit surprised by our short time line.  The rest of the morning flew by without anyone noticing, yet my heart was beating out of my chest the entire time.

Finally, at lunch, I relaxed a bit, thinking that the day was half over and no one had said a thing.  It was routine for our offices (by this point we had 2) to call each other during lunch time to catch up at least once a week.  A group of us gathered in the conference room with our lunches and dialed the other office.  The energy was high, everyone was excited to hear the voices of those that moved away after our training sessions and we were all talking at once.  Suddenly, I noticed one of our co-workers, Matt, staring at me with a perplexed expression across the conference room table.  I followed his gaze to my ring finger and instinctively covered it with my other hand (and I’m sure blushed about 40 shades or red).  This only set Matt off further.  “Is that what I think that is?” he practically yelled across the room, causing everyone in our office to stop talking and turn to stare at me.  I thought I would die in my seat.  I glanced at Jon for comfort, but he looked just as spooked and was trying to make himself as small as possible in his corner.  I saw a couple of eyes dart at him and then at my now exposed ring finger.  I nodded.  The other office continued to talk to no one, barely realizing that no one was listening any more.  Our office had gathered around us, grilling us with details.  I may have passed out a time or two, or at least wished I did so that it would end.

Once the inquisition winded down, Jon and I sneaked outside to formulate a game plan.  It would be a matter of minutes before this spread throughout the rest of the company and we had to inform our bosses on our own terms.  Jon decided to talk to his boss, while I talked to mine.

Jon’s conversation seemed to go off without a hitch.  His boss smirked and said he had an inkling that we weren’t as platonic as we pretended, but he was excited for us.  My conversation went more like this, “Just roommates my ass!”  My boss has a way with words.  But it was finally over, we had told everyone in our office and we both still had jobs.  In fact, once the initial news settled in, most of our coworkers said that they either knew that something was going on and/or that they were really happy to see us together.  We made it through the first day as an engaged couple.

Now we just had to plan a wedding.