Shade and Patrick (not real names) got into the lunch room for a drink. Far from them stood Chinedu, Patrick’s friend, making some coffee. Patrick was making some tea for himself and Shade asked for a bag. He handed her the pack and she took one.

“Seems, like me, you don’t take coffee?” Patrick said, trying to start a conversation. “Oh yeah,” Shade replied. “I just can’t stand it. It wrecks my nerves.”

“Exactly,” Patrick replied “And before I know it, I begin to have some palpitations but the aroma is just….” “Unforgettable,” Shade completed the statement. They both started laughing, seeing how on their first meeting, they connected.

Shade was new, a trainee, and Patrick had been in the office for about three years. They soon began exchanging pleasantries, making tea for each other and taking lunch together. Patrick felt obliged to show her the ropes, “for team bonding sake”, he told himself.

Because they were in the same department, they constantly found themselves together. Then they began dating. However, during one of their quarterly appraisal meetings, Patrick got the long end of the stick and his supervisor noted in his appraisal form that he “seems distracted”.

For Shade, it was hard to watch as the boss kept shouting at him, over his “dwindling performance”. She kept her head down. After the meeting, Patrick asked for some time off the relationship and Shade was at a loss over what to do.

She felt guilty and from that day on, each time she dressed for the office, she did so with less enthusiasm than usual.

Managing a romantic relationship with a colleague in the same office could be a tricky one. However, more and more relationships are born in the work place because of the long hours spent there.

“Attraction is a good thing,” says Jerome Onipede, a matchmaker and relationship expert. “When someone is attracted to you, you feel good, you feel loved and wanted, and that is a good feeling. What matters is what you do with the attraction.”