Invitation

"You are unbelievable!" Maya shouted over the phone. "Just because he isn't part of your little circle doesn't mean that he is incapable."

"Maya, you know that's not what I meant," Oliver groaned as his overall tone changed.

"I can't believe you'd be so—so—" in her anger Maya forgot the words she wanted to say, instead she dropped the call and slammed her phone on the table.

Nate observed her silently from the other end, giving her the space she needed.

Maya ignored the man that sat across her as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She pinched the space between her eyes and sighed.

"Wine?" Nate offered as he noticed that she had calmed down.

"Please," Maya answered as she leaned back on her seat.

"You know, you didn't have to defend me," Nate said as Maya heard him pushing his seat back, most likely to walk over and comfort her. "Of all people you should hate me."

"I do, Nate," she said as she opened her eyes only to stare back at his captivating green ones.

Nate pulled away as soon as he noticed that Maya felt uneasy.

"You have no idea how many times I wish I could stab you or strangle you or even just slap you," Maya confessed.

"Well, you slapped me a couple of times now," Nate teased, making Maya smile.

When Maya realized that she smiled at his joke she pursed lips, as if she was trying to erase any emotion she showed around Nate.

"I know I fucked up really bad, Maya, there is no denying that," Nate said as he walked back to his seat. "I just hope that someday, I could make it up to you."

Maya nodded as she composed herself.

She didn't understand why for some reason she couldn't form a definite way to act around Nate. It was as if she was once more some giddy teenager meeting him for the first time.

"So," Maya said as she cleared her throat. "What have you been doing the past five years?"

Nate smiled and looked her in the eyes, studying her for a moment.

"Fighting against the people that made me run," Nate answered.

Maya frowned, it seemed to her that Nate was still trying to hide things from her.

"And who were those people, why did you have to run?" Maya asked one question after the other, she was hungry for answers.

She wanted to know that she wasn't abandoned for a shallow reason.

"Maya, do you really want to know?" Nate asked as his expression turned stern and cold, a far cry from the warm and friendly one he normally had on his face. "If I tell you this, I'd be putting you in danger."

Maya bit her lower lip and nodded.

"You make it sound as if you were involved in something illegal," she said with a nervous laugh.

Nate shrugged, leaned back on his seat, and crossed his arms on his chest, all while he kept his eyes trained on Maya.

She felt a chill crawl up her spine with the way he looked.

Something was definitely different about him now, something she couldn't place her finger on.

"I want—" Maya was about to tell Nate that she wanted to know, that she was ready to risk it just to know the truth, when her phone began to ring.

Nate glanced at the phone as she reached out for it.

"It might be important, I think you should answer that," Nate told her.

Indeed he was right, it was her boss.

She found it quite odd that her boss was calling her, he knew that she had the morning off and it wasn't even time for her to return to the office yet.

"Mr. Lee, how can I help you?" Maya asked as she answered the call.

"I need you to come back to the office as soon as possible, there is an emergency," Mr. Lee said in an excited tone.

He didn't even wait for Maya to respond, he just ended the call as soon as he finished delivering his message.

"That sounded urgent," Nate commented as Maya looked blankly at her phone, confused by the conversation.

"He said it was an emergency but he sounded happy, it really is odd," Maya absentmindedly said.

Nate nodded and stayed silent for a while, he could see that Maya was torn between getting the answers she wanted and fulfilling her duties to the company she worked at.

Seeing her distress, nate decided to help her out.

"Maya, it's only my second day back, this won't be the last time we meet. We still have time," he told her.

She raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning look.

"The last time we were together you vanished in the middle of the night," Maya bluntly pointed out.

"So we're together now?" Nate teased, making Maya glare at him.

Nate laughed off her reaction and shook his head.

"I'm not vanishing on you again, I'll never do that again," Nate promised. "I'll call you."

Maya gave him a hesitant look as she stood up and left the room.

She knew better than to make her boss wait, she was surprised when the valet appeared with her car as she exited the restaurant.

'Damn, this place is efficient,' she thought as she thanked the valet and drove off.

Luckily it was less than five minutes from Narra to her office. So when she arrived her boss, Mr. Blaine Lee, was surprised to see her.

"I was at Narra," she nonchalantly mentioned, confusing him even more.

"You said there was an emergency," Maya reminded Mr. Lee.

"Ah right, right," he nodded as he remembered why he wanted her to rush back. "There is a very important charity event tonight."

"We don't do charity events, Mr. Lee," Maya reminded her boss.

"It's not just any event, according to rumors the new CEO of DLR enterprises will be making an appearance," Maya froze at the mention of the new CEO. He was a man she felt she had offended.

"What does that have to do with me?" Maya already had her suspicions on what her boss would ask from her next, but she said nothing.

"Get Oliver to invite you as his date,"