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“Hey you know what, this may take a while. So if you want to leave, you can.”

“Oh good, ‘coz I have a bunch of friends waiting for me for lunch. So… just call me when you are done!”

“Sure… Bye.”

Minutes later, he heard a familiar phrase.

“Dunder Mifflin this is Grace”.

Only that it felt a little different in the sense that Pam wasn’t the one saying these lines and therefore it wasn’t as soothing to his heart as this phrase was to him back in Scranton.

In that moment, he let his mind wander and think about what Pam would be doing right now. Is she really being more honest these days as she had indicated during the beach games? Did she really like my haircut? If she really is being so honest, then did she only miss having fun with me? He didn’t even say proper goodbye to her, you know, in case he got the job.

The job! He realized he had wandered too far off and jerked these thoughts out of his head.

“Focus, Jim”. He said to himself before going back to the Dunder Mifflin magazine.

**

“Oh hey, do you have your quarterly numbers?”

“Oh yeah”

And from the quarterly reports, there dropped a note.

“Jim –

Don’t forget us when you’re famous! - Pam”

“Sorry to make you do that, we have a very irritating HR guy here, he is the only person you probably won’t like.”

“Oh no problem”.

“What’s that, oh New York” the cars, the buildings, the places that remain open past 8 – he vaguely remembered saying something like this to David.

He couldn’t pay attention to David after this. The only thing he was able to do was, to read Pam’s note over and over again.  “Don’t forget us when you’re famous.” He read these lines over and over again. “forget us” – Forget who, Pam?

“So, long haul. Where do you see yourself in ten years.”

If he was being completely honest with himself, in ten years, he didn’t know where he would be. Married? Kids? Top salesman at Dunder Mifflin? Who knows. So, in that moment, he started to imagine his life ten years down the line. Top salesman at Dunder Mifflin? Yes, totally! Between Andy, Dwight and him, he could easily be the top salesman at Dunder Mifflin! Married, well yes. To Karen? Hmm. She is nice, I like her. And then something clicked in him.

Married, well yes. To Pam? Oh my God! Yes!!

And suddenly, the floodgates of feelings he was so desperately trying to avoid during his wait at the reception came back to him. He finally had the answer to this question. In ten years, he saw himself marrying Pam, at Niagara Falls, on a boat. In ten years, he saw Pam giving him two beautiful kids. In ten years, he saw himself fall in love with his boring job, with Pam sitting right next to him in the office. In ten years, no matter where he was, he saw himself walking hand in hand with Pam.

“In ten years, I see myself enjoying my job, and my life, with my best friend!”, he said to David with a small smile on his face.

He knew David was not convinced with his answer. But he didn’t care. He finally was convinced.

“I’m sorry David, I guess I didn’t think through fully what this job would entail for me. And I don’t think I am ready for this as of yet. I would like to remove myself from consideration, if that’s okay with you.”

David was out of words at this request. He personally was rooting for Jim to take Jan’s job. Oh well, maybe the job was made for somebody else. And on this note, he let Jim go.

Jim, lost in his thoughts, stepped out of David’s office and down the stairs in the main gateway into the corporate office.

He didn’t realize when his train of thoughts about this entire situation led him to think about his conversation with Pam during the beach games. About how Pam, with hope in her eyes, said to him, “Well... I wish you would.”

One thing after another, his thoughts now took him to Phyllis’s wedding.

“Hypothetically, if you thought Pam was into you….”

At that time, in his opinion, he had very smartly avoided this question. But coming to think of it, he realized, if Pam was into him, then that’s all he had wanted ever since he met her! If she was really into him, then it would be his absolute honor and privilege to make her his wife. If she was really into him, then he would never let her go! If there was even a teeny tiny chance that Pam could be more than friends with him, then he would bet his life on this chance.

“Don’t forget us when you’re famous!”

He wondered what Pam would have thought while leaving this note for him. Did she really think he would forget her when he got the job? Or was it just not a big proclamation of her love, but small ways of telling him she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him as well.

“No big reason, just a bunch of small reasons.” He recalled Pam saying about not going for art course.

No big proclamation of love. Just Pam’s face dropping when he refused to take his gift during the benihana Christmas.

No big proclamation of love. Just the glow in her eyes when he set out the top secret mission for Dwight.

No big proclamation of love. Just Pam looking at him and Karen during Phyllis’s wedding.

No big proclamation of love. Just Pam getting defensive and saying to Ryan, “Hey Ryan, I am totally ready to meet one of your friends in business school.”

No big proclamation of love. Just Pam saying to him “I’m sorry, really” after breaking up with Roy.

No big proclamation of love. Just Pam’s little outburst during the beach games.

No big proclamation of love. Just “Well… I wish you would.”

No big proclamation of love. Just “Don’t forget us when you’re famous.”

And suddenly, he knew.

The next time he meets Pam, it would be a date!