There is this boy in my office. I really shouldn't call him a boy given that he is in his mid-twenties, but as he's younger than I am - and it comes across whenever we speak - I can't help but refer to him as a boy, or, as I like to call him when speaking about him to friends, the Lad.

The Lad, as you may have guessed, is English... very much so, but not in the classic, gentlemanly sense that most people take it. He uses words like "summink", "genius" as an adjective and "good good" as a response to questions. So not so much British, but more like a Londoner.

The Lad is also very attractive. When I first met him, I thought he could have stepped straight out of a men's magazine. And while there are times - most noticeably in his photos - that he looks rather too polished and almost narcissistic, when he's in the office, and concentrating on other things, and especially when he smiles, he is absolutely gorgeous. He is vain, no doubt about that, but he's got just the right amount of cockiness to pull it off.

By now, you would be right in thinking that I have a crush on him. And you'd be right. I fancy the pants off him, pardon my French. And that's very bad. Very bad indeed.

I've had crushes on some of my colleagues before but never when they were working in the same office. Everyone knows that inter-office romances are bad. And I'm not willing to risk making a move. Ever. Especially given his proximity to me.

Besides, it would never work out. He and I are diametrically opposed when it comes to certain issues, and he has said - jokingly or not, I don't know - that he wouldn't ever be able to go out with a girl who doesn't take his side on this particular issue. On top of that, he's young, good-looking, and likes to live the good life. He just might be out of my league (although my guy best friend has told me once that no one is ever out of my league, unless I let them). And if you add the fact that he seems to go out with a lot of girls every weekend, he's most likely a player of the highest order.

In spite of all of that, I feel a twinge whenever he talks about his love life. It's a crush that's rather intense, and I fear that it will go the way of Sarah and Karl in Love Actually.

That's why I look forward to the weekends and the breaks from the office; because I get away from seeing him and maybe, just maybe, will be able to find enough to do to just forget this crazy, unfulfillable wish of mine.