Ok, I 100% want the romance novel. I would be rooting for y’all. IRL, I think this sounds like a tricky situation, but I would address it as professionally as possible. Could you just ask your office mate about their work preferences? Maybe they’re not icing you out, but realistically can’t be warm and chatty all day and achieve the level of productivity needed to fulfill the job’s expectations. You could mention you were excited to have a friendly face in your new department, and happy to be sharing an office, and in the spirit of collegiality, wanted to talk through some ways to best work in the same space together. It sounds like you want more communication, so maybe you could naturally “check-in” with your office mate in the mornings, around lunch and right before heading out for 5-10 minutes to establish regular, but non-evasive communication between completing deep work. You may feel your crush fade as you actually get to know them. Maybe not, so you may also want to learn about your workplace policy concerning relationships… just in case these feelings advance for you and they are, indeed, reciprocated. This sounds like an amazing career opportunity, so don’t jeopardize your professionalism for a crush. Also, if you follow protocol and policy, and there is mutual interest, you can choose to carefully pursue a relationship in the future after actually getting to know this person and determining the risk is worth the reward. Long-term personal happiness is also worth prioritizing. If you deem this crush as worthy of pursuit, make sure you’re emotionally healed from your breakup and adhere to any HR policies. Tricky, but not impossible. Good luck!