Earth Is Round

"Did you leave the hotel before me?"

"Ah-huh...," Ayan hummed as he started the car.

Can't he at least say it properly?

Kiera was irritated. Extremely irritated. Always being the one who got unwanted attention, this kind of feeling of getting no attention from a certain someone was a little unfamiliar to her. This guy, is he ignoring her?

Except for Kiera, it didn't look like he was ignoring her. Ayan woke up earlier than Kiera, freshened up, picked up a car from his brother's garage just to have a chance to drive her to her workplace. About leaving the hotel, he just can't tell that he didn't sleep there last night. He had to drive back home late at night for some reason. He never got to use the bed of the suite. That was the reason why the room looked this clean.

"Where is your office?" Ayan tried to change the topic,

"I told you I don't work here," Kiera answered, being all sulky.

"I know, but you have a meeting today, I guess. At least give me the address so I can drop you there."

"You are just gonna drop me, huh? Nothing else?"

"What else can I do?" Ayan sounded helpless.

Kiera doesn't even know why she is behaving like this. Since when she became so desperate about meeting a stranger again? He was already polite enough to offer her a ride to the office. What else can he do for her?

Kiera thought she was ignored by him. But only Ayan could tell how he was feeling. What her name is, where she lives, what she likes, what she doesn't like; he knows nothing about all these. All he knows is that he likes her. Yes, he does for sure. Ayan never had this kind of feeling that strongly towards any woman before. He never liked this much and felt this hard for someone. His first felt somewhat sweet and was hard for him at the same time.

Suddenly he felt angry. Why is she tormenting him by hitting on his wound over and over when he is this helpless thinking about the possibility of never meeting her? All he wanted was Abby to make a path for him towards her heart. He is not someone who is into forcing things.

There was a suffocating silence inside the car. Kiera was restless. She felt so uncomfortable inside the car that she decided to go to the KIV on her own. In the spur of the moment, she forgot it completely that she was a person who can't find a single location in the unknown with the help of the GPS.

"Stop the car!"

Kiera's voice was loud enough for him to hear but Ayan pretended as if it didn't reach his ears.

"I said stop the car, Ayan!" Kiera shouted again. His name, she spelled it, making Ayan skip a beat. It was the first time he heard his name from her lips. He stepped on the break which made the car halt with a loud screech.

The feeling of being called out by her for the first time was something else. It was amazing. And here he was thinking a while ago, maybe she has already forgotten what his name was by now as she always addressed him with 'hey' whenever she called him out before. But still, she just spelled his name because of anger towards him. if she was sober, she wouldn't do it, no matter what. After all, he came to know a little about her behavior yesterday. She is a composed person, but when something triggers her, she becomes very furious.

"You hate the idea of me dropping you so much, huh?"

Kiera didn't answer. She unbuckled her safety belt and pushed the car door though it didn't move a single inch.

"Unlock the door, Ayan." She said sternly.

"At least let me drop you off at the subway station," Ayan said, still keeping his eyes in front.

"No," Kiera refused.

This is it. Ayan couldn't keep his cool anymore. He was patient but everything has a limit. Ayan wasn't someone to lose his control so soon. But it was about the girl he came to like the day before yesterday after all. He can do anything but depart in this way.

"What do you want Abby? Should I request you to stay here now? Or should I act a happy goodbye scene for you? Will you stay if I ask you to? No, right? Then why are you acting as if we have any kind of relation to interact like that?" This time he said these words staring at her.

Ayan didn't want to say those hateful things. But his anger made him blabber uselessly. He really wanted to know what was going on inside her brain right now.

What is it? Why does her expression look so hurt? These words can't make this much impact on her, right? Then why does she look like this? As if, she was greatly hurt by his words. He was just a nobody to her. His suddenly meeting her on a busy road sitting inside a cab, her helping him by giving him a lift, her taking his niece in her arms, her shutting him up whenever he started blabbering for no reason, her following him as they walked on the road – all these were nothing to her but was everything to him. then why is she looking more affected by it than him?

Kiera was speechless. She didn't know what to say to that. She just stared at him with awe as if she was trying to know the answers to these questions herself. Then she stared down at her feet. It was her old habit to stare at her feet whenever she was scolded by someone for doing something bad which was, of course, an unknown fact to Ayan.

Ayan moved his eyes from her to the road and started the car again. The car was stopped at the subway. He unlocked the Bugatti's door so she could get out. But she didn't move an inch and just stayed just like that.

"Drop me in front of the KIV building," Kiera spoke out all of a sudden.

KIV? Is her meeting going to be held there? What kind of company is she working under? Is it a modeling company? Maybe it was a pure coincidence but still, Ayan couldn't help but hope a little more to meet her again.

**** **** **** ****

Kiera took a long breath to calm herself properly as she was already exhausted before starting the day properly. She was full of vigor a while ago before leaving the hotel. But now, she looked kinda tired, tired by the whole conversation which happened inside Ayan's car. He dropped her at KIV and just took off without uttering a single word to her. That's it. And here she was thinking to bid him goodbye in a proper manner.

What an excellent goodbye it was!

Kiera entered the elevator hurriedly as there were only ten minutes left for the meeting to start. It was the first in her whole career to arrive this late for a meeting. She was always very strict about time. But unfortunately, her record was broken by a certain someone. She should have refused to get into his car from the start. The reason she got into his car was also left unaccomplished.

Two men wearing business suits also entered the elevator with her in a busy manner. One of the guys was continuously checking the time on his wristwatch and the other was facing his back in front of her.

As the 16th floor came, three of them got out of the elevator and soon she realized those two were also walking in the same direction as her. Are they going to join the meeting also? But she didn't remember seeing them in previous meetings. Who are they actually?

Kiera saw her colleagues waiting for her as she entered the conference door. They were so surprised to see the most punctual one, Kiera Simmons, their project leader, was the one who came last today. How can they ignore such a juicy topic? The tyrantess director of their company was late in a meeting for the first time. Moreover, it was the meeting of the very deal they were working hard for a month and flew to Korea to secure it.

It was something worthy of gossiping among the co-workers. But they didn't dare to do that knowing the temperament of their team leader and also, they were a little scared to make any ruckus inside of the KIV. After all, there was a rumor about the president and the CEO here being more tyrannical than their mighty director and team leader. After all, KIV is one of the companies in the entertainment industry every modeling company in the world wants to offer their partnership to. Though their own company was a prestigious one, still they respected the reputation of KIV. After all, this is the first policy of business to respect someone of the same level.

The attention of the co-workers of Kiera soon got diverted from her to somewhere else as those two men entered the room.

"President," all the staff stood up from their chairs as one of the directors of the company spoke looking at the man behind her. She couldn't get to see his face earlier. So, he is the CEO of KIV?

Kiera turned to greet the president but as soon as she saw the face, she was stunned. The other person had the same expression on their face.

Eh? How can this be possible? This doesn't even make any sense. But judging by their reaction, it was clear that she was right.

The earth is round after all.

Chapter end