With security posted right outside his door, I waited patiently as I heard some movements from inside the apartment. I subconsciously lean closer to the door to try and make out the movements or what he's doing inside, but catching myself, I step back as I cross my arms over my chest.

Eyeing the door, my eyes landed on the peephole right in front of me, considering that it's been a few seconds of me standing out here, and hearing movements inside. I would assume that Chopard is looking through the peephole and seeing that it's me.

And he's most likely stalling. Trying to make me impatient.

And it's working.

Suddenly, time speeds up as the door's handle twists and turns as the door slowly opens.

All of a sudden, my hands started to sweat badly as a cold chill ran throughout my body, making me shiver. Suddenly, I want to turn back around and run for the elevator and get back into the car.

But I can't, for two or three reasons. One, my feet are planted into the ground, I can't move, it's like I'm paralyzed and my body is doing everything it can not to leave. Even though I'm internally screaming that I want to.

Two, even if I don't want to do this anymore, I can't leave—Not at this point anyways. There is a huge reason why I'm here, and I have to keep reminding myself of what that is.

I have to get this problem taken care of and no matter what happens from here on out, everything has to work in my favor. No matter what.

And third, and the most obvious reason, I can't just leave, not when people have already saw me in the building and plus, there is a few second time frame from when I will be face to face with Chopard—

I don't know why I'm overthinking, especially when I'm the one who knock on the—

And Chopard is standing right in front of me. Face to face, I'm on the outside and he's inside and yet, I see no difference.

All I see in front of me is the guy that I kissed on my desk.

He was obviously taken aback, eye widening as he slightly jumps, almost like in a scared way, he is holding a towel in his hand as he doesn't know what to do with it, or like he forgot what he was using it for.

"Ms.—Ms. Cantrell" he stuttered, forgetting his words, "Umm—I–" He doesn't know what to say anymore, it's as if he completely forgot the English language and is trying to make up words on the spot.

I guess he doesn't look through the peephole to see who it was. That is a strange and dumb move.

Tuning out his struggles for words, I observe his outfit, or what he put together, at least.

He's wearing pajama pants, paired with a blue sweatshirt. And once again...he has damp hair, its slick back slightly, giving the image of a Calvin Klein advertisement.

It's ridiculously hot for some reason now, I noticed, as I uncrossed my arms. 

As I look back up to his face, he's still trying to say something, unlike him, I have no more patience for that. It's like watching a baby trying to pronounce a word correctly and failing miserably.

So, instead of waiting for what he's going to say, I instead walked right past him, ignoring him as I walked into his apartment.

I might have been rude but I have to remember why I'm here, I'm not here to check up on him or anything like that. I'm here to talk things out with him about this whole situation and that is all.

As I turn to face Liam, he's still at the door frozen, almost like he doesn't understand what is going on. But I think he knows, he knows why I'm here, it's obvious.

Perhaps, you should have been expecting this, I thought. I bet that's why he called off work today, because he's scared of what will happen, but now he can't escape this, even though I don't want to face this situation either.

It's either this or nothing.

Still at the door, Chopard looked around the hall outside, other than my security being outside, I don't know what he's looking for.

Finally, Chopard steps inside, closing the door behind him slowly, like a horror movie, but instead of a serial killer, I think he's scared of what I'm about to say.

But the funny thing is—I don't know where to start with this conversation, but I'm going to make it right in the end.

Crossing my arms against my chest again, as I wait for Liam, my mind wonders as I look around his apartment. I know I shouldn't be in here considering that it's high risk because of the high risk of the relationship between us.

Even though I am his boss and everyone's boss within the company, I could still get in trouble for this, hopefully Chopard wouldn't know that I'm breaking the rules of a boss visiting an employee, even though it's legal.

It may be legal in the eyes of the law, but certainly not legal in the people's eyes, they will suspect something and call it as they see fit. It could damage both of us extremely.

So I need to make this fast and sweet.

Continuing to look around, there is definitely something I notice the moment I stepped into this apartment. It's a luxury apartment, which I'm not surprised of, considering that he grew up within the rich side of life.

Most of my employees don't have this kind of apartment or home, hell, this apartment could even be considered a house according to the amount of spare rooms it has, or what I assume based on the amount of doors I see straight off the bat whilst standing here.

One thing that is clear about Chopard: Is that he is way out of the average person's tax brackets.

As I continued looking around, not paying attention to Chopard anymore, then I heard someone clearly their throat.

Finally, I thought as I turned around to face him, not giving him a general smile or anything. Even with my stance and the lack of comfort, this will let him know right off the bat that I didn't come here to be friendly or anything like that.

Chopard then looks around the living room, as he says something under his breath, having no shame to not hide. Like he wanted me to know that he has something to say. But he's too cowardly to say something.

So I question him, "What?" I said firmly, not sparing him an ounce of happiness with my tone.

He suddenly looks up quickly as he clarify his mumbling, holding his hands up in a defensive mode, "I mean–It would be nice to say hello or something" He then become confrontation, "And you can't just barge in here, that has to against the rules or law or something–"

I cut him off, "Sit down and quit talking" I demanded, pointing towards the couch.

I don't know what he expected though, the fact that he actually thought he was going to tell me off about my manners and about the rules is ridiculous. This just shows that he has in fact gotten too comfortable with me.

I think that Liam had an idea in his head, that he would confront me about entering his house without permission, and I would listen. But when I wouldn't listen to his bullshit, his brain fell through and couldn't think of anything.

Because within a second, he practically runs to the couch like the floor is lava, I could see on his face that he's questioning himself right now. He suddenly thinks the rug near the couch is interesting to look at.

While he's distracted with that, I can finally think about what I'm about to say. I need to think carefully about this though, the next few sentences could go south for the both of us.

Deciding on my two options so far, which are to take the direct approach and threaten him in any kind of way, just in case he leaks this whole situation to anyone. If I do that, then he would learn to stay silent and not say anything to anyone. But then again, he would act weird towards me and most people would be suspicious.

But adding to that, I could also fire him, but then I would have to give a eligible reason to, and I can't just say 'Oh yeah, I kissed my assistant and I'm scared that he will open his mouth and it would tank the company's sales and lead to my reputation ruin'

That sounds fucking irrational.

Or the other option, which is more calming but can backfire, that is we can talk this through and figure out how we are going to be normal after this, and things would be fine. But there is something else to it–Chopard could see this option as me being weak and he could use it against me, and blindsiding me, and tricking me at the end of the day.

Making me look like a fool.

Which I hate with the bottom of my heart.

All while I'm thinking about what my options are and which one I would choose, my back is facing Chopard as I don't give him any attention.

As I thought, Okay, maybe I could go with the second option, it doesn't sound that bad–plus I–

"I'm sorry, Ms. Cantrell"

My thoughts are interrupted by the sudden apology, I turn back around as I lock eyes with Chopard, he has longing eyes like he actually means it.

Suddenly, looking into his eyes made me forget all my thoughts, those thoughts now becoming useless and not a priority. As I'm still standing up, I can't take my eyes off Liam, not even for a second.

He continues, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything. I didn't even know what came over me that day–I guess it was just the workload and I was feeling overwhelmed, and not to put any blame on you, because it's not fair but I guess whenever you told me to stay late, I guess I just snapped"

As he takes a moment to pause and catch his breath, I take the opportunity to think about the things he was saying, particularly the part where he was feeling overwhelmed about the workload I was giving him.

Which was totally my fault to be clear, I knew it was a lot, even for one person. I didn't exactly know why I did it, all I knew was that I was upset about the hotel situation and wanted to distract him for the time being.

"And this is embarrassing to tell someone, especially to my boss, but when I snapped, I just did what I wanted to do for a long time" He scratches the back on his head in embarrassment, no longer looking at me, "I know this is crazy because of the scenario of being boss and employee, but in truth–"

He paused, taking a deep breath in before confessing, "I admired you so much, probably more than normal and I wanted to be near you even if I didn't show it. And I was actually excited to go to work because of you, even if it's for a second, it doesn't matter, as long I knew you were in the same building as me"

No longer able to face him, I looked away as my cheeks felt sour and sore from the unwanted blushing, his words sticking to me like glue and now it's forever in my head, every other thought that doesn't relate to what's happening now disappearing within a millisecond, replacing it with his confession.

I don't know how to react to this, even if I could, I'm stuck in my position, stuck with the same wandering thoughts in my head ever since his first apology.

'How long has he felt this way?'

Before I could explore that question, Chopard explained further, I finally looked at him.

"After the kiss, I came to the realization that I fucked up, big time, I'm not going to say that I don't regret it because I didn't–I still don't. But I knew there would be consequences after that and what I did"

"Chopard–" I said, not knowing what I am about to say next but he cut my nonexistent sentence short.

"Ms. Cantrell" he said, cutting me off and I let him,"I just wanted to explain myself to you before you fire me for the obvious reason" He laughed awkwardly, trying to play it off. But that laugh soon dies off, I assume, due to the thick tension in the room right now.

He then waits for me to say something, but I don't. I don't have anything to say, what can I say? This is the first of a first, this is outside my comfort zone, and I don't know how to navigate my way through this.

As I don't say anything to this, he takes action, moving towards his kitchen as I stand there, in the living room. He comes back with his laptop, jogging as if he urgently wants to show me something, like a little kid to its parents.

He sat back down on the couch, as he turned his laptop towards me, showing me a list on Indeed, the list consists of many jobs that he has saved in his profile and they all date yesterday and today.

That means that after he got home after what happened, and probably this morning, he was just saving these jobs just in case I fired him. I didn't want to admit this but, my heart broke a little bit, not only for what is happening but the conclusion that he thinks is going to happen to him.

I know I shouldn't feel bad for the events unfolding, in fact, I should be jumping for joy, right at this very moment. Part of me is thinking about the problem solved itself and now all you have to focus on is keeping him quiet for the time being.

But the other part of me feels as though I totally screwed over Chopard, he had this much fear in him that he avoided work all together, completely giving up and throwing in the towel. Even though I pushed him towards that breaking point and I went along with it.

I shake my head as Chopard is still doing the laptop in his hands, he then says, "I been applying and I did find some jobs on here that would really suit my preferences, but I don't know how long they would get back to me, considering the job market and–"

I shook my head again as I had enough–Reaching over, I quickly closed the laptop in his hands, gently grabbing it as I placed it on the coffee table between us. I then rounded the glass table as I sat right down next to Liam.

As he's clearly confused and nervous, which is clear from his body language, he's avoiding my eyes as his whole body is not even facing me.

But I expect this, because this is about to make me a nervous mess. I'm surprised that I can even think about doing this.

I breathe out, calming myself down as I am about to owe up to something that I've been feeling ever since.

Taking the leap of faith, I finally opened my mouth, "Liam" I said, his name slipping out of my mouth so naturally, "I–I loved the kiss and to be honest, I was and still am disappointed with the way you left"

I don't know what I'm saying anymore, in what order or whatever, but at the same time, I know what is going to come out of my mouth. All I know is that I have to put it out there.

I guess I chose the second option.

Chopard–Liam finally looks at me with widened eyes, like he's surprised by my response, which I would be too. This is so rare of me, expressing my feelings and emotions like this, especially to someone who works for me. All my employees only see one side of me, including Ruby.

The only people that have seen me emotional at any point of my life are my mother, Daphne and Akako.

Of course, my heart is beating out of my chest rapidly, so violently that I could feel and hear it in my ears.

But I persist, pushing through my nervous shaking hands as I tucked away in the pockets of my suit jacket, "I have been feeling a certain way about you and I didn't know how to take it or what to do about it. I didn't know how to deal with the emotions I was feeling so I wanted it to go away"

I breathe out as Liam still stays silent, but I would prefer it that way. The silence helps me collect my thoughts and make sure that the words coming out of my mouth are right and careful, especially in a situation like this.

As I came to terms with myself, I finally thought to myself, I can't run away from this anymore, no matter how hard I try, no matter how much paperwork I get myself into, at the end of the night, I think about Chopard.

Liam. I think about Liam.

I accepted these feelings, right in this moment, as time slowed down between us–All I want to do is make sure he knows that this is reality for me.

I take my hands out from the pockets of my jacket, my hands still shaking and hesitating, but I push forward, even though I'm scared of what I'm about to do next.

Carefully slipping my hands into Liam, his eyes widen even more, so much more that I thought they were going to pop out of his eye socket, the only places he's looking right now is between me and our joined hands.

He has a late reaction to this. But when he does react, his eyes relax, softening, as he squeezes my hands as he doesn't look away from me anymore. He leans in closer, but I continue, because there is much more that needs to be said.

"Listen Chopard, I'm so sorry about what was happening after the New York thing, I just wanted to make things harder for you by giving you a huge load of work–And I guess I wanted to see if you would break"

Liam then smiles as he quickly looks down then back up at me, his smile almost turning into a laughter of some sort as he fidgets with our joined hands, like he's testing me to see if I'm going to let go or move my hands away, but I don't, I let him play around with them.

"Well–" Liam says, his smile almost giving it away that he's about to crack a joke or something, "You kind of did make me break"

It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about, or what he's referring to, but when I figured it out, I looked away as he joked about our kiss in the office and how it led up to that.

I tried to hide my laughter but some of it slipped out, forcing me to cover my mouth as I don't want to give Liam the satisfaction of making me laugh.     

Then thinking about this new come confession, even though this is new and exciting, there are many factors that can prevent this whole thing from happening.

Even if I have hardly been in a relationship with anyone before, I do want things to work out with Chopard but the situation that we're in right now and the relationship dynamics currently is going to get in between that.

I say, "Liam, if–if we were to be together" I wave my hands between us, indicating everything, the possible connections, the confession that we both displayed for each other and everything else, "This whole thing would raise suspicious, with everyone"

Investors would definitely be confused about this, they would probably think this is calculated. In my opinion, they would most likely think that I got him the job just because of this.

Employees would think that Chopard is going to be getting special treatment if they find out about this and decide to make the connection public.

And even though I don't care about the public's opinion of me, I care about him and what they would say about him, and the many situations that could arise from this.

They would probably find it weird that a boss is dating or seeing her assistant from work. They would harass him and possibly his family, trying to get the story about this.

And that's the last thing I want to happen, Liam getting harassed because of me.

"Hey, hey, hey–" Liam said as he grabbed my attention once more, "It'll be fine, there's nothing to worry about" he said as he's trying to convince me about this whole thing.

But I shake my head as I said, "Chopard, this would be very risky of us"

Unfortunately, I know more about the public opinion and how powerful it is, once they paint an image on you, it's either going to make you or break you. Fortunately, it made me. But I can't say the same for if we do go public.

If the public doesn't like this and the whole arrangement, then everything would fall into shit, the public would not support either of us, HR would probably fire Liam, and because of the public image surrounding us,. He probably won't get a job and my business will fall into bankruptcy–

Stop overthinking, I thought, trying to shake the thoughts out of my head.

As I got through with my overthinking, I look towards Liam as he looks like he's deep in thought, his eyes not on me, but instead focusing on the coffee table in front of us, like he's staring out into space.

Then, in a split second, he looks towards me as he grabs the hand that was used to cover my laughter, now holding both of my hands close toward him. I look down at them as I take in the roughness but the softness as well.

He uttered, in a pleading way almost, "I just want to be near you, Hailey" Carefully using my name as he continues, "This doesn't have to be something you don't want, I just–" He paused, collecting the words that seem to escape him, "I just don't want to lose you yet"

I sigh, as I thought about how tight my hands are right now, not Chopard, but meteorically, but I persist, "Okay, but as long as no one finds out about this, at least not for a while"

Chopard smiled but as he was about to say anything, I stood up, letting go of both of his hands as I quickly leaned over him on the couch, pushing on his chest his back is pressed against the arm rest as I grabbed his face and said, "If you so much think about telling anyone about this whole thing, then I will make sure your life is ruin"

Instead of the usually scared face I expect him to make, he insteads smiles. He actually smiles, as though he likes getting threatened, he then softly takes my hand away from his face as he brings it to his lips, kissing it.

"You have my word" he says as he relaxes on the couch, not daring to break eye contact.

Change is coming and I'm loving it, but loving the gentleman material of Chopard.

-Summer Roe