6

"You're crazy." Wynn concluded with a straight face. "You're *extremely* insane." 

Ethan blinked. 

"If I even *see* you within ten feet of me, you're a dead man, Ethan Sterling." She bit out, shooting a stunned Ethan one last glare before storming off. 

Ethan stared after her, noticing how her feet seemed to cause a mini earthquake with every step, her fists held stiffly at her sides. He swore he could see smoke coming out the top of her head, and he snickered. 

"Ten feet, huh?" He said under his breath, a small smirk growing on his lips before he retreated into his apartment. 

The second Wynn slammed her door shut, she let out a scoff. His offer replayed in her head for what felt like the thousand time, and she scoffed even louder. 

"What are they feeding Billionaires these days? I mean, the audacity of that jerk!"

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. 

"Ten years ago, he treated me like trash, and now he's suddenly prince charming?" 

She looked at her ceiling with a glare. "One more wrong move, Ethan Sterling, and I'll gladly rock a jail suit."

•••

Wynn's eye twitched at the innocent grin painted across Ethan's unnecessarily pretty face, and she clenched her fists to stop herself from throwing him a punch.

He sat on the Sofa in his office, and she stood approximately ten feet from him. 

Ethan gestured to the swivel chair beside her. 

"Please, sit."

Wynn slowly inhaled, then exhaled through her nose. 

"What's this about? I have work to do." 

"This *is* about work." Ethan crossed his fingers. "So go ahead and sit, Miss Mayfield."

Wynn narrowed her eyes, then sat down. 

 "How are the designs for the Redford hospital and Greenstone hotel going?"

Wynn furrowed her brows. They got those projects yesterday, what sort of progress was he looking for? 

[Haha.] She laughed dryly. [He's trying to get on my last nerves, isn't he?]

"The design department are working on it as we speak, Mr. Sterling." She replied, graciously, calmly. 

[You can do this, Wynn. You can get through this without choking him to death.]

Ethan nodded. "That's good. Do you have a favourite food?"

Wynn paused. "What?"

"A favourite food. Something you particularly enjoy and prefer eating over other foods?" He rose his brows. 

"How is this about work, Ethan?"

"Oh, I'm not 'Mr. Sterling' anymore?" He smirked. 

"Don't test me." She warned, forcing a smile. "If you have nothing serious to talk about, I'll simply be on my way."

"I'm not done, Miss Mayfield. You're joining me for a construction site visit." 

Wynn fought back the urge to let out a heavy sigh. 

[I'll regret this, won't I?]

•••

[I regret it.]

"For appetizers, we'll have the grilled Lobster and foie gras, and for our main course, Wagyu beef and truffle risotto. Oh and, give us a bottle of your best and sweetest wine."

"Yes sir."

Wynn's gaze stayed on an annoyingly unbothered Ethan as the Waiter walked out of the private room. 

They sat at a table ten feet long -she on one end, and he on the other. 

"This isn't a construction site." She stated. 

"What do you mean? This building was constructed by Shelterline company two years ago, no? I wanted to get a good look at it -and what better way to do that than this?"

"That's it." Wynn stood to her feet to leave. 

"I don't have to make it clear to you that this is technically a business dinner, Miss Mayfield. Storming out of here would be an act of disrespect." 

"Forcing me into this is an act of abuse." She bit back. "Staying here would be no different from ten years ago!"

Ethan's eyes went wide, and he immediately shot to his feet. "That's not my intention, Wynn-"

"THEN STOP!"

There was silence, one so loud it was almost deafening. 

"Do you have any idea how cruel you're being?" Her eyes brimmed with tears, "That year with you in highschool was *hell*. I felt so suffocated at home, but school was much worse because I dared to confess my feelings. You were my first love, Ethan."

Ethan's heart sank to his stomach, and his eyes broadened. 

"To get treated that way after one innocent and *hard* confession, imagine how much damage that did to me. And now you're back, bringing all of the memories I tried so hard to forget to the surface. How dare you? Why are you so cruel?"

Ethan couldn't say a word. His eyes were fixed on her, the expression on her face a bullet to his heart. 

His mind was blank. What could he say? What could he do to show her that he was being genuine? To wipe the memory of eighteen year old Ethan from her mind, treating her like she deserved to be treated. 

He couldn't say a word, but he wanted to try. He wanted to do everything he could to show how sorry he was, to have her in his life again. 

Even if he ended up looking pathetic, he was willing to make her happy. 

"Wynn," He started, reducing their distance to five feet. Then, he fell to his knees and looked at the floor. 

"You may not believe me, but a week before your confession, I found out that my mother who had left to find a job to take care of me...got married and started a family of her own. She barely spent two months away from me and my grandma before she stopped calling and ended all contact with us. The last words she said to me were 'I love you'."

He looked at Wynn, his expression soft. "And when you said those exact words to me, I felt so angry. I used you to blow off steam, and I am so, so sorry about that, Wynn. When I found out that you worked at Shelterline, my original plan to move far away and live my own life instantly changed. I knew that I had- no- I *needed* to see you."

Wynn tore her gaze away from his, then wiped her tears. 

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, but that doesn't change anything."

"It doesn't, but I want to do better."

"How? By lying about your feelings and playing prince charming?" 

"I didn't lie."

"Well *now* I know you're lying. How am I supposed to believe you have feelings for me?"

"Wynn," Ethan breathed, a flicker of an emotion she couldn't understand crossing his eyes, "I have loved you since high school."

Wynn's eyes went wide. "...what?"

"You're my first love."