The exchanges of pleasantries between the reputable men and women at the huge board meeting meant victory at last for Max. He had won that phase of the bout with Kylian. He was sure that Kylian would have any words for him after the board meeting, and he was looking forward to shaking the hands of a sore loser.Max was upstanding, he had shaken Mr. Singh's hands. He loved the satisfactory look on his face. The pendulum was swinging helplessly in his favor, and he intended for it to stay that way for a whileHis eyes sought for Kylian in the midst of the crowd. He was soon unto him. Each step towards him was taken with a calculated measure of confidence."Kincaid," he called out, in a teasing manner, as he put out his hand for a handshake, ready to rub the victory in his face, knowing that Kylian would have to act cool because of the eyes on them. "Hope you enjoyed the presentation."Kylian left his hand hanging for a while, as he stared him in the eye for a few fleeting seconds."Come

"Yesterday's victory had been clinched," Max said, lying on his bed, in a video call with Chloe, "Wished we could be celebrating it together." He still cringed within, as he still withheld the collaboration with Kylian from her. He wasn't sure how long he could keep up with the lie, but he didn't know how she would feel upon hearing about it. The longer it tarried, the more tense it got, as the effect of the consequences amplified."Yeah...me too," Chloe said, from her end. She was taking a walk in the afternoon, through a dazzling scenery, at a park. She seemed to be escorted by a guide through the new grounds she found herself on."You know," Max said, sitting up in bed, "the sunlight just happens to make you prettier than you are, Chloe.""Don't you have anything better to do?" she teased as she continued walking."Luckily for me, the weekend is already here, I can watch your face all I want." Max grinned excitedly, as the early morning sun rays crept in through his window, signali

Sofia was still in doubt about what Diego's intentions were for him. Why was he suddenly nice to her? She had been too weary to question his initial kindness of letting her go and even feeding her, and giving her a place to sleep after all those nights on the hard cold floor of the cell where Alejandro had left her to languish.She was still on her bed, feeling sleepy. It was difficult for her to have any sort of rest, considering the circumstances of her release. She had feared that Diego could sneak into her room at any point in the night and probably take advantage of her in her tired state...but he didn't after all her hours of waiting. Now she was exhausted in the early morning hours.Sitting up in her bed, she wondered how long Diego was going to keep up with setting her free. Was he going to violate Alejandro's orders to keep her in captivity? Was her freedom going to be a short-lived experience of what could have been? She decided to take it all as it came. Her spirit had been

“Okay, thank you,” Anthony said as he hung up, sighing. He had business calls even on weekends. His work seemed to be the only thing that kept him a bit motivated at that point, after what had happened the day before.Anthony’s morning was going a bit slow. It had been a literal struggle to get himself out of bed. He had looked forward to a weekend with Ollie, but his plans had been put on hold after Helen had acted up the day before. He had called and texted to apologize but his mind wasn’t settled yet.He wanted the seemingly dreadful weekend to be over as soon as it had begun, as he sat on his balcony, with his feet up on a stool, peering at the city’s view in the distance. It all felt like an all too familiar sight- he finds a lady, only to have Helen ruin it all. What exactly did she want from them? He was desperately out of ideas of what he would do with his weekend, forcing him to resort to making an unsuccessful attempt at returning to his long-forgotten musical hobbies. He

"Thank you," Kylian said as he took the bags of clothes from the smiling housekeeper. He had done a little online shopping to make up for the clothes he had forgotten in the car."Anytime sir," his English was a bit shaky, but at least understandable. His smiles seemed fabricated, which Kylian believed to be either from the hotel's policy or the huge tip he had gotten from him.Kylian shut the door, as he examined his spoils of war. He hoped that they hadn't gotten his size mixed up with some other inappropriate ones. Even if they did, he hoped it would be some bigger size, as he had a sore displeasure for tight clothes.He stood in front of his mirror, meticulously watching how each piece of clothing fitted on his body, wondering what impression it would leave on Chloe. He grew nervous with each moment as the moment he had been anticipating was drawing closer and closer. He would actually be meeting Chloe, away from all the eyes in New York.The flight had brought him in in the early