The 4 A.M. Call.

Adrian sat in the living room, half-watching the morning coverage of the company's ongoing food project scroll across the international news. An ad break cut in.

"This early morning, I told them to mind the scheduling," he muttered, and flicked the channel over to something else—an animal documentary, as it turned out, about apes.

The word alone was enough to set something off in him. It circled back, unbidden, to Chloe's parting remark the night before.

"Freaking ape, my foot."

He pressed his palms into his face, exhaled hard, then reached for his phone and dialed her number without giving himself time to reconsider.

Chloe was fast asleep. The ringing dragged her halfway out of it, and she fumbled for her phone before pressing it to her ear.

"Hello?" she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep. "Ms. Stephanie?"

"What's she saying? Why is anyone prank-calling at this hour?" Adrian asked, not realizing she'd mistaken him for someone else.

"It's not a prank call," he said. "Are you still half-asleep, Ms. Stephanie?"

"I'm not Steph—"

Chloe stopped mid-sentence. The voice registered a beat too late.

Adrian.

She cleared her throat, trying to shake the sleep from her voice.

"Sorry... you startled me. Why are you calling?"

"Just making sure you hadn't changed your number to cut me off. That's all."

And with that, he hung up.

"Okay," Chloe said to a line that had already gone dead. She lowered the phone and stared at it in disbelief.

"It's four in the morning. Has he lost his mind? What is wrong with him? Now I'm wide awake. Is he insane? He is so annoying. Genuinely so annoying."

She flopped back onto the bed, pulled the blanket over herself, and tried to force herself back to sleep.

Across town, Adrian was just as awake.

"An ape," he muttered to himself as he headed toward his bedroom. "I hope she has a terrible night's sleep."

Chloe arrived at her department the next morning, yawning so widely she could barely keep her eyes open as she pushed through the door.

"Chloe, didn't sleep well?" Ms. Victoria, her department manager, caught her mid-yawn and eyed her curiously.

"Just some trouble getting comfortable," Chloe replied, waving it off as she dropped into her seat, already fighting another yawn.

"Okay," Ms. Victoria said, letting it go.

Chloe had barely settled in when a male colleague came barreling over, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Have you two heard? Wait... I might be the only one who's heard this. Apparently President Adrian went on a blind date. Everyone's talking about it!"

Chloe, who had been resting her head on her desk, shot upright, her face frozen somewhere between shock and panic.

Ms. Victoria didn't even look up.

"And? What's the big deal? It has nothing to do with us."

Chloe smiled immediately, relief washing across her face.

"There you go again," the colleague said. "You have to see the bigger picture. It has everything to do with us. Rich people always stick together. There could be a merger. Something like that would send the stock price through the roof."

"You barely own a handful of company shares," Ms. Victoria shot back with pure disdain. "Why are you acting like some major shareholder?"

He laughed.

"I've got a grand total of fifty shares. It all adds up, you know."

"Anyway," Ms. Victoria said, steering the conversation elsewhere, "enough about President Adrian. He may run this company, but people like us will probably never cross paths with him."

"Exactly," Chloe replied a little too quickly. "Please... let's keep it that way. I never want to cross paths with him. Dear God."

She clasped her hands together beneath the desk and silently prayed.

Please don't let anyone find out it was me.