A pair of hands rest themselves upon either sides of me from behind. “I'll take you home.” I hear Zen’s voice and honestly, I'm glad I didn't have to ask. After seeing my father tonight, I don't think a bus ride alone is such a great idea for me.

I can't trust myself with my thoughts when I'm upset, so his offer is a welcomed one.

“Zen?” Yoosung calls out and I turn to see what's wrong. Yoosung nervously rubs his arm. “How am I going to get home.”

“I'll take you, Yoosung. I don't see a better opportunity to talk about your job prospects at the company.”

Job prospects? At this hour?

“My bike's just over there.”

Waving goodbye to everyone, I follow Zen. “Here's one for you.” He says, handing me the spare helmet, while he climbs on and starts the engine.

“Get on.”

And I do, but-

“You do know how to drive this thing, right?”

“Just hold on tight.”

“To what?” Okay, I admit it, I'm purposely playing naive. Of course he's referring to himself.

“Me.” He glances over his shoulder, with a smirk.

“So that's it, huh?” I wrap my arms around him. “If you wanted a hug, you should of just asked.”

He lets out a soft chuckle. “Ready?”

“Yup.”

The engine starts and before I know it, we're zooming through the streets, my hair whipping in the wind.

The night is already so cold, but now it's freezing. I tighten my grip around Zen, hugging him closer, until my head is resting on his back.

I feel him stiff up a bit, “Doing okay back there?”

“It's freezing, Zen.”

Admittedly, the breeze splashing against my skin didn't feel that bad, it's the fact that I'm wearing a dress that makes this more chilling.

Yeah, didn't really think this one through.

“Get closer. I'll protect you from the nasty cold.”

“Dork.”

“But seriously, if you're feeling cold you can hold onto me tighter.”

How much ‘tighter’ does he want me to hug him?

“Uh, Zen?” I wait for like a minute before calling his name out again, a little louder this time. Something just occurred to me and now seems like the perfect time. “Zen.”

“Yeah?”

“Can we stop somewhere before we drop me off?”

“Sure.” Why was I expecting him to decline? “Where to, m'lady?”

~°~

We drove deeper into the night, for a good thirty minutes or so, before, just over the horizon, standing tall amongst the smoky grey clouds,  the Thirty-seven floor building comes into clear view.

This was probably asking a lot from Zen. All he ever is, is caring and considerate. He has his own life to worry about and here I am dragging him into my mess.

But he can be stubborn. He refused to let me take a taxi. Not like I need his permission, but out of courtesy I listened. I listened because he cares and if I learned anything in my life is value and acknowledge the people who bother to care about you. Because you can find that very few actually do.

He parks the bike in front of the building, but doesn't get off. Strange~ or is it? I find myself staring at the building too, wondering how all this could have gone so wrong?

How can something turn out this wrong? Something that was a pleasant surprise to all of us. I wasn't all that thrilled about it. I almost always got what I wanted, what was all this money anyways?

I remember the sweet sweet smell of cinnamon and cooked apples, the dough with the scent of vanilla. Pie. My mom was making a pie. An Apple pie. Actually the best pie I can ever remember having. It was mid afternoon when the doorbell rang and someone knocked the front door. I was organising my pokemon cards and setting up my duel masters deck. Yu-Gi-oh was a thing back then, but I never saw the allure in that game slash anime. Duel masters on the other hand was strangely funny and constant fourth wall breaking. I might have been a weird kid, and I think I haven't changed much. Maybe I'm still weird to some people, but overall we all get really good at hiding it.

Just as I set my sweet vaporeon with the rest of the water types, my mom asks me to check on the door.

Me and my brother check, while Lena; the eldest of us; is busy packing her bags to head back to college later that week.

I remember having my hand on the door knob and asking my brother to check through the glass if it was anyone we knew. It wasn't. It was a lawyer. A man in a swanky suit just showed up at our doorsteps with alarming news. It changed our lives, our living style, but I like to think that it didn't change me.

The money didn't change me, not in the least, but what happened later sadly did. It was terrible.

I was terrible.

So many days I wished I never opened that door. Ignored it. But in actuality there was nothing I could have done to prevent it.

Probably the biggest surprise is finding out that we had a paternal grandparent, who- for all we knew, was dead, until of course we found out that afternoon that his passing was actually more recent.

He left my father the company and gave us a generous amount for; in the words of the will; ‘presents that we're overdue’.

But getting a good look at it now, I dread it. I dread the very existence of it. And I understand why my dad didn't want anything to do with it.

Me and my siblings had speculated why dad never told us about our grandfather. Why we never heard about or from him. Why my dad distanced himself. I see now. It's a curse.

I don't blame my dad, maybe the business itself, but not my dad. Not entirely.

My gaze lowers to look up at Zen. He hasn't said anything and hasn't moved. What's that beautiful head thinking? I see the folds of worry above his brow. Seriously though, what is he thinking?

I hardly notice my arms still wrapped around his mid section of his upper body or that my head still inches close to his back.

My hand reaches to clutch his, I don't know why. “Hey, you okay?” I ask in the softest voice I could muster. The thought of what I'm about to do has me a little shaken, but that's not Zen's fault. He shouldn't have to worry about this and yet, he does and it can only be my fault he is.

He lowers his gaze and with a gentle look in his eyes. “Yeah, of course.” reassuring me. Why does he have to be so perfect? Beats me. I would like to contribute it to one of his bad habits, but it would just be returned to sender and then I'm stuck with this perfect specimen of a man.

Leaving the motorcycle parked nearby we make our way to the revolving door where we're met with the security guard and the big metal detectors.

Placing our, on hand, items to get inspected, we walk through without a beep.

“Nice to see you again, Miss Briar.” The security guard says, handing me back my things.

“And you too.” before I get too ahead of myself and think I'm in the clear, the man reaches for the the receiver of the intercom. “Could you not inform my father I'm here? I want it to be a surprise.”

He stops for a moment. “Unless you've been instructed to do otherwise, in which case I can't stop you.”

“I'm sorry, Miss.” He picks up the receiver- Here comes the rest of the guards. “Hm. That's strange.”

What now?

“The intercom isn't working.” Is it just dumb luck?

No. I see the cord disconnected- Did he do that? - and whether it's intentional or not, his doing or luck is smiling in my favor, he lets us through and I thank him.

It's probably about eight right now and the employees are buzzing all over the place. All engrossed in their work. Which is cool, since no one will be the wiser.

We make our way to the elevator and as I'm about to press the button to call on the elevator-

“Allow me.” the familiar voice isn't Zen's and as I turn,

“Josh?” I can't believe it.

“So you're the gorgeous woman who everyone's murmuring about.” he leans in for a hug, but I take a step back and offer my hand. By the looks of it, that wasn't the reaction he was expecting.

“Word travels fast, huh?”

“You have no idea.” Welp, the elevators going to take a while, might as well catch up a bit. “How've you been?” he asks.

“Me? What are you doing all the way here?”

“It was either join another company or move here and become the chief manager.”

“Wow. That's great.” I mean yeah, of course it's great for him. How long is it going to take? From behind me someone clears their throat and I have a pretty good guess who it is. “Oh, yeah. This is my friend Zen.”

“Hey, yeah. I know you. My sister's a big fan of your music.”

“Well, she has good taste.“

And we're back to me.“Minette, you know, when you're not busy, we should really hang out sometime.”

“Yeah, okay.” I promise I try to sound enthusiastic as him, but I just need the elevator to come, so I can get it over with already. The tension is eating me up inside.

*Ding*

FINALLY!!!

“Well, we gotta go. See ya.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

Without really looking back I pull Zen in the elevator with me and press the button to the top floor. Thankfully it's empty so I don't have to awkwardly stand quiet while we wait. Not that there's anything to talk about anyways.

“You feeling okay?” Zen suddenly asks out of the blue.

“Yeah, why?”

“You're a little jumpy.” I thought he meant it metaphorically, but I am kind of jumping in place and I just notice it now, so I'm gonna stop.

“So, Min. Who was that guy?”

“Just someone I knew in high school. He was in a lot of my classes. We weren't what you'd call ‘friends’, but we knew eachother.”

Some time passes and the atmosphere in that single space gets uneasy. Probably because Zen keeps looking at me with a sympathetic and curious look.

I keep my eyes on the ascending numbers over the door. “Just ask me.”

He doesn't say anything, so again I wait. Two floors pass and-

“Your father-”

And I cut him off right there.

“My father and I don’t see eye to eye anymore. We did before, but…” my words trail as the memory starts building back up. “Not anymore.” I complete my sentence.

“I know this is none of my business, but what are you going to say to him?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know you aren't here for a fight, you're too smart for that. So, what are you going to tell him?”

Bold of you to assume I'm smart.

“I'm not here to tell him anything. I just want him to answer me something.” I debate if I should explain further, or even if I said too much already. “Which might cost me losing him forever.”

“Is knowing that important to you?”

“It actually depends. There isn't an answer I can give except that you have to let the people who love you go, especially if they stopped loving you.”

“But, he's your dad.”

“Believe me, Zen. That fact has dawned on me. Let's just hope it does the same to him.”

The last floor and the the doors slide open. I can't believe this is it.

This place is well engraved in my head. I used to work here after all. I keep a casual stride as I see my father's office door from across the floor. Zen keeps an even pace next to me. Surprisingly, very surprisingly, security hasn't tried to stop us. I mean the people who still work here knows there's tension between me and my father, and as permitted by my mother, they don't get involved, but the new one's I saw on my way up, I'd expect them to at least try and stop me.

But we make it.

We're here.

With my hand on the doorknob.

Now what?

Knock.

Wait I shouldn't.

Should I?

“I'll be right out here if you need me.” I don't know what I did to deserve such an amazing friend, but I'm so grateful. I nod with a smile
“Thank you.”

Back to the problem at hand.

I should definitely knock.

Just knock.

Knock already.

And then it opens.

A moment passes as he looks up from some papers sitting on his desk. “Why did I expect anyone else.” no he isn't serious. It's a rhetorical question, not to get confused with sarcasm. “Have you lost all manners? You couldn't have knocked?”

I guess I didn't knock. Go figures~

“You know what, just leave before I have to call security.”

I close the door behind me.

“I'm here to sign. I'm guessing that, and knowing you, the paper that I burned earlier isn't the last of its kind and you have more.”

“If you think you're being smart and will burn the rest, I can call the police right now and have you arrested.”

“‘Smart’ me? Heavens, dad.” That is actually a good idea. Why didn’t I think of it? “But you know who should be arrested?” I start walking to the front of his desk. “Mr. Windleson. Do me a favor and keep that spineless waste of a man away from me, okay?”

“You're here to sign then?” He asks completely ignoring what I said.

“Yup.”

He pulls out a folder that doesn't look like it'd close properly and places a single sheet in front of me. Then I realize that whole stack is filled with the same papers. “Geez, dad. Do you think you have enough copies?”

He gives me the angry glare. Glares are already pretty bad, but the angry glares are pretty scary.

“I've told you before not to call me that.”

“Okay, father. No more commoner language from now on.” Don't get me wrong. My dad used to hate the word commoner. It's demeaning as it is. But he himself would laugh every time I mentioned it because he knew I wasn't serious when I used it. Like right now. I'm just trying to get him to smile.

“You never listen, do you.” again stating not asking. “and you wonder why it's come to this.” He says handing me a pen.

I lean over the desk and look at the piece of paper in front of me. “About that,” I twist the pen close and straighten my posture “I have one condition.”

“Which is?”

“So glad you asked.” he gives an irritated sigh, but I know he's interested enough to listen. “Give me one good reason, a ‘very’ good explanation that started all this. Why are you doing this? How can you just ask this of me? Why would you?”

“Because I'm your father.”

“I said good reason."

“You're defiant.”

“I wasn't always like this and you know that.”

“ You don't know how, when and where to act.”

“Oh, please. Travis had it coming.” I say defensively. Just knowing it all started with him, but why my father turned against me because of that incident, is what I want to know.

“You broke his nose and ribs.” He reminds me, matter-of-factly. And I'd do it again.

“He had it coming. Plus, that didn't stop him. Just tonight he tried again. And you know I'm right.”

“You punched him again?”

“No. Aiden did. Knocked him out cold.”

“Did you not see what that did to the company's reputation?”

“What would you had me do?”

“You understand you're doing it again, don't you?” He pauses before continuing, leaning back into his chair. “I want to assume that you and that young man you walked in with are just friends, but I see you're having the same effect on him and his work.”

That got me.

When he says it like that.

I didn't have anything else to say.

“Now, for once, Minette. Do as I ask and sign the paper.”

My gaze flickers from my father to the paper on the desk and back. Can I really just sign it? Should I?

“How did- how did I go from being daddy's little girl to being so hated by you?” I ask more aggressively than I would have wanted. “You used to call me you're little sweetie pie.” that's where my voice cracks. “Always had time for me. Always wanted to hear about my day. Always looked forward to those afternoon's when my mom was at her friend’s and we would bake together. Sometimes making monstrosities, but yummy monstrosities. Playing in the backyard with Aiden and me. Painting. Drawing together. And it wasn't only when I was little, because I remember you taking me in the middle of the night for some chocolate and vanilla shakes when you found me crying in my room because my new friends in junior high turned out to be (shit) mean.” all those memories are starting to bother my eyes. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. “How can you just let me go for this? Since when are the big rich people more important than your family? Why are they more important than me? If this is about the money, I don't want it. I don't want any of it.” It's getting harder to speak with the lump firmly set in my throat. “I just want my dad back.” I conclude in the meekest voice.

He doesn't reply. Doesn't look at me. Doesn't do anything for a long while.

“Just go.” He retracts the paper from under my hands. “We'll talk about this later.”

Dad?

“Your signature.” He clarifies in an indifferent manner. “We'll discuss it later. Just leave, Minette.” the look is back. The resentment look, but it seems softer somehow.

So, I leave without a word.

Zen's waiting for me in the hallway. “So, what happened?” He sounds a bit cautious when he spoke.

I purse my lips and actually recall everything. After a moment of thought. “I'm not going to sign the paper.”

“That's a good thing, right?”

I look up at Zen for a good couple of seconds, a smile eventually tugging at my cheeks. “It's very good.”

We make it out of the building and we're back on the road headed back to Celest's place.

“We're almost there.”

“Thank goodness.” I'm exhausted.

“C'mon, don't act like you wouldn't ride with me again.”

“Didn't say that.”

After an eventful evening as this one, I couldn't wait to take a warm shower, get into my jammies and just snuggle in my blanket and watch a movie or something. Maybe even make me some hot chocolate. Wonder if we have any marshmallows?

I start to recognize many of the building from here on and a couple blocks later.

“Well, we're here.” He turns the engine off and puts it on its stand.

“And alive!” I wait for him to gain balance before getting off. After straightening my dress, I hand him back the extra helmet.

He sets both aside and gets off too, walking me up the steps and to the door.

“So, when would you want to go?”

“On another bike ride?”

“On a date.”

Date…?

He is an amazing person, he really is,  as long as I've known him and this might just be because of what went on tonight. So,

“How about tomorrow? There's this movie that just came out that I've been wanting to watch.” I mean we can go on a platonic date, right? He doesn't have to mean a ‘date’ date, does he? Did he?

“A romance?”

“Eh~ no. Action.”

“Fine, but next time, I get to pick.”

“Deal. And aren't you a little too confident there will be a next time.”

He leans in closer, but I don't back down, “One hundred percent.” His voice like a purr and I'm just like - I'm not really sure how it makes me feel now that he wants to go on a date with me. I'm not even sure it's going to go well and here he is so sure about it.

A little too confident there aren't ya, handsome?

“Oh! But can we take the car. Helmet hair is not a flattering look on me.” I tiptoe around the awkwardness either of us created.

“Whatever you want and you're beautiful.”

“I know.”

“And don't you forget it.” he chuckles. “See you tomorrow, okay?”

“Mm-hm.”

Hands in his jacket, he walks down the steps back to his bike.

I begin searching for my keys in my purse but suddenly stop.

I know what he's doing. With all that has happened today, I appreciate it. He doesn't even know how much.

He knows me too well and he's right, right now I don't want to talk about it, but I also don't want him to leave. And since I  have to stay away from him for a while.

“Zen, wait!” I call out and he turns back to look up at me from a couple of flights of stairs down.

He waits for me to say something and I wait to try and figure out what to say.

“Uh, come inside?”

He gives me a puzzled look and strides back up.

“Whatever you want.”

“Stop saying that.”

“Sorry.”

“Hyun.”

“Okay. But you sure you don't want to go somewhere else?”

“Why?”

“Won't it bother Celest to have a guest at this hour?”

“Not at all. Plus, we'll try not to. I mean, we'll be in my room. There's no way we can disturb her from there.”

He raises a brow at me. “What?”

“Nothing.” that's a mischievous grin right there. Best not to acknowledge it, who knows what it can mean.

I finally find my keys and as I place it in the key slot I realize something strange.

“Zen.” I can attest that I just stuttered that out. My heart racing. I feel a sweat slide down my back.

“What's wrong?” He asks concern laced in his words.

Just the thought and I can feel my heart drum against my chest.

“The door's unlocked.” He gives me a look that I'm certain is mimicking my own.

This isn't happening.

◇