Late

Olivia glance at the clock. It's been a long day and she was glad to see the short hand pointing at six.

"I think we can wrap up our meeting for today. We're almost done with the procedure and the rest can be handed over to Carlos. He'll finalized what we've discussed until now."

Gennadi stopped perusing the documents he had been looking through for the unknown time. They had been going back and forth since lunch to reach an agreement, much to Olivia's dismay as observed by him. "Sure. I'll have my assistant contact him later to get the details."

Olivia nodded. She would agree to almost anything to get it done with. They had spent a tad too long to find a middle ground and Olivia was close to just relenting to have it ended. The repeating request was starting to grate on her nerves.

If only he knew how close she was to yield to some of his more obnoxious request.

Or possibly cancelled everything with how hard it was for them to reach an understanding.

Throughout their meeting, Gennadi played it safe by not mentioning his secretary, nor delegating any dealing with Olivia to his secretary. Granted, he had his secretary personally say her apology to Olivia, and Olivia had said that it was 'water under the bridge' but he had best minimize any chance of mistakes happening again.

Olivia honestly thought the secretary would lose her job but when she met the vivacious girl and was offered a fear-fueled apology, she was half amused with the situation.

The both of them got up and head for the door, making small talks on each other's plan afterwards. She stopped just as they reached near her office room, and so did Gennadi.

"Once again, thank you. I really appreciate your understanding, Olivia."

"I hope for your success, Mr Gennadi." Olivia wished sincerely.

It's been over a week since the gala and five days since she extended her offer for Gennadi's once again. She was looking forward to reaping of result of her sowing with him in the long run. She watched as Gennadi walked off and into the elevator, disappearing from her view, before heading into her room.

Instead of going to her desk to continue with her work, she went to stand by the glass window overlooking the traffic-packed road down below. It was something she found relaxing to do, just watching people hustling about their days, when she started to feel her work catching up to her. She was still staring aimlessly down below, lost in her thoughts, when Carlos entered after his signature short and sharp knocking.

"Miss Olivia, there's a document that needs your immediate attention."

"...What is it about?" She asked, not moving from her position.

Carlos explained a summary of what the document entails. "Put it on the desk. I'll see to it in a bit."

Carlos frowned. Olivia seemed rather down-spirited. And he could made a vague guess as the reason for it.

Trent was late, and not just by a few days, but a whole week. And he was quite sure if Trent was any later than he was already, things might be less prettier than any of them would like it, Olivia herself included.

"He wouldn't be late without any reasons," Carlos said, almost not believing that he would one day take up Trent's side. "And I'm quite sure he's as anxious about being late as you're getting impatient to see it. Don't worry too much about it, Miss."

Olivia couldn't help a soft laughter. She wasn't sure which was funnier, the fact that Carlos stiffly try to stand up for Trent or him casually and subtly dissing her. "Oh yes, I know he will. And I hope he's prepared for a little bit of surprise."

Carlos would have pitied the man if it was anyone else that was not Trent Vladislav. He almost snorted out loud in response. He would like to be present when she unveiled the little surprise she got for Trent, which would definitely be too valuable to miss.

"Anything else?" Olivia asked. She turned her head to rest her gazes on Carlos.

Carlos shook his head. "That will be all for your afternoon schedule, Miss Olivia."

After Carlos excused himself out and closed the door behind him, Olivia moved to her desk. She let out a deep breath. Her mind immediately strayed back to Trent, wherever he was. "At least there's one thing to look forward to from him being late."

Settling at her desk comfortably, Olivia shut out thoughts about Trent and focused on her mountain of works before she wrapped it up for the day. She couldn't deny feeling the fatigue building up, what with one after another meeting on top of the paper work, and it was getting tiresome even for her.

Four different meetings to attend in a day might not be as tiring and trying if she didn't have three consecutive days with more or less the same schedules on.

The first thing she said when she decided to stride off her office room was a declaration filled with determination. "We're going home, Carlos."

In a short minute, Carlos was by her, matching her stride as she marched straight to the lobby. There, she stopped walking abruptly, followed by Carlos that trailed slightly behind, because she caught an unexpected visitor in the lobby's waiting area. The nerve the man had, sitting there comfortably as if he wasn't late by a week for their appointment.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here," Olivia smiled, if it could be counted as one. "Hello there, Trent."

Just as she had saw him as soon as she stepped into the lobby, Trent also saw her then. He gracefully stood up from where he took a seat at the waiting area, facing straight at the main elevator, waiting for Olivia's appearance.

"Hello, Olivia."

She would applaud his effort at not pissing her more by not calling her name if she wasn't single mindedly trying not to punch him. Olivia took a few step forward and was met by Trent midway. Even as they stood face to face against each other, Olivia's vision was filled with only a sheepishly smiling Trent.

A sheepishly, smiling, Trent Vladislav.

A small part of her brain still managed to feel amused that Trent could actually look sheepish, because that was not a word anyone would associate to him.

Carlos stood ramrod straight near her, as she crossed her arms waiting for Trent to speak.

"It is nice seeing you again," Trent started gently. And coming from Trent, it meant very gently, with very subtle coaxing people usually gave in to.

Olivia nodded with disinterested that hinted disguised amusement. Her gaze was sharp as it bore a hole on Trent's.

"Well, I was hoping we could find someplace to talk privately." Trent tried to maintain his composure.

Olivia raised a haughty brow. In a dangerously kind tone, she said, "You got guts asking that from me, Trent."

Trent's simple reply was a smile. Without saying a word, Olivia walked past Trent and his men and head straight to the waiting car in front of the building. She could hear Carlos saying something which she guessed was to follow their car.

Once Carlos entered and settled down, the car launched off into the darkness of the night at a comfortable speed.

The ride was silent. Neither Olivia nor Carlos had anything to talk about and they found the silence perfect for them, as each entertained their own thoughts. 20 minutes later, they slowed down to enter the gate of her condominium housing block. Carlos told the gate guards to let the car behind them in since they were Olivia's guests.

The car stopped at the main door to let Olivia down before it was drove off to the basement parking. Olivia didn't wait for Trent. Her only gesture in saying they were not absolutely unwelcomed was her slightly slower pace that didn't simply left Trent to his own.

Trent followed Olivia in silence, as they crossed the ground floor and into the elevator. He saw Carlos entering a code before pressing for the 29th floor.

"Take them to the bar. I'm going to change first."

Carlos nodded and pressed for the 26th floor. Trent swallowed down his rising question and diligently kept himself in check to keep silent as they proceeded to exit the elevator.