I was staring at Jude, who seemed not to spare me a glance at all. "Wait, Jude. Weren't we supposed to meet at three? I was waiting for you at the café for two hours with the corrections ready—"

She frowned as soon as I said this, and shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, Salander. You see, that. Isn't. Possible," Turner dragged slowly. "Jude is supposed to submit the report at three, which I reminded her in the morning, and she has, indeed, met the requirement!" He emphasized yet again.

Speechless, I turned to Jude and soon realized that she was probably not going to say anything else regarding the matter.

I should have contacted her in the morning. I should have gotten other ways of contacting her. I should have done so many other things—this was worse than a misunderstanding. Mr. Turner's assistant had probably forgotten that the deadline was at three, not five which she told me yesterday and today, when Mr. Turner reminded her, she was forced to finish it up last minute. She probably didn't even have time to inform me about it.

But that would mean that I would have to take the blame...

"Assuming this is the case," Blake continued without blinking, "then surely, Miss Jude would at least bother contacting my secretary about the submission of the report without the necessary corrections? I believe it is basic courtesy to inform the coordinating company am I right Turner?"

I could see ahead, a harsh lecture from the higher ups. Either that, or a straight one-time-only chance in which I would be fired for making this mistake.

Naturally, Jude's refusal to admit had this factored in as well. She wouldn't want to be fired too—after all, she was just...lying to save herself. Could I forgive her?

"Indeed. I admit that it is. Why did you not contact his secretary, Jude?"

His assistant shook her head. "I did. I tried to, at least. He was not at his desk." So that's it. She had everything covered. Could I forgive her?

"I'm sure I didn't hear the reception say anything about missed calls, Miss Jude. My secretary on the other hand, has been trying to get to you since three in the afternoon, and you did not pick up."

"I-I was not at my desk. There was a meeting after the submission, there was no way I'd—"

"There must be some mistake here, Mason," Turner interrupted his assistant, holding out a hand as a sign for her to stop. "There's no reason for Jude to lie about the deadline," he frowned shortly after a small laugh. "Aren't we taking this a little too far? I might say we just drop the matter; you wouldn't be pleased if we pursued it, I mean it is thanks to your secretary that the corrections were not made after all and that was the reason you came to see me, am I right?"

No.

No, I could not.

It was freezing inside. Forgiving was hard. I was human enough to understand that at least and certainly, in this world, surely—no human would be so kind to forgive a lie that saved another and harmed oneself. Only an angel.

"Not entirely, Turner, no," Blake corrected. "That was not the reason I came. The issue here, Turner, is regarding the honesty and courtesy of your assistant which I believe is, both, at stake in this situation." He frowned, turning to Jude. "I'm sure she knows what I mean."

Turner's assistant refused to return his gaze, impolitely fixing her eyes on her superior.

The tension in the room was pulling taut and I myself was beginning to feel like dropping the matter would be the better option. Besides, it wouldn't do Blake or the company well if he actually pursued it and we might get blacklisted, missing business opportunities with Turner—even worse, Blake was going to have to face the wrath of the higher-ups back in the office. Xander's father was not going to be happy.

"Mason, look," Turner sighed. "I am not going to tolerate any insults directed at a member of our company and I am responsible for my own assistant. If you have any complaints, just let me know and I will exercise my right to decide whether or not my staff deserves to be punished. I would like you to leave, now, if we are done here."

Of course, I wasn't the only one silently resenting the entire world; Blake's ire was concealed behind a collected composure, otherwise revealed through the look in his eyes.

"Of course, Turner. I trust you will make the right decision," Blake stared at his assistant who was looking out of the window. "After all, you've been a long-time partner of ours and I'm sure your strong sense of judgement will not be clouded by something as minor as this." He nodded in greeting and turned, a sign for me to follow.

There was nothing more for me to say; a cruel disappointment wrapped itself around my mind and weighed down the heart. It was hard to take a single step, no less give his assistant a second glance.

I was tired—

So...tired.

*

We entered the elevator in silence, and waited for the ground floor.

I stood to the far right, leaning away from him and closing my eyes as the day's events weighed themselves on my shoulders. There was a brief moment of blank thoughts, in which I couldn't seem to register anything—anything at all, before the short realization, the possibly of getting fired, hit me hard.

I glanced at Blake, who was doing the same, closing his eyes to somehow contain his anger or disappointment in me, I didn't know. Most probably the latter. I mean, after hearing what Turner and his assistant had said, it could have been so possible that I was the one who made the mistake of noting down the wrong time.

For some reason, it didn't seem to matter that I was going to get fired anymore. Blake's disappointment was the real thing—the thing that mattered the most and I certainly...did not want to disappoint him in any manner.

"I really, really don't know what happened back there. She said to meet at three. Really, I swear, and she even said that she was to submit it at five, not three, I just—"

"I know," Blake sighed shortly, shifting to look at me. His seemed just as exhausted. "Fucking liar she is."

I blinked, stunned.

"You...believe me?"

"Yeah I believe you."

There was no reason for Blake to put his complete trust in me with such ease. In fact, it made everything feel worse. He placed everything on me and I disappointed.

I let him down.

"But how? Why? I...it could have been a mistake. I don't know—maybe I heard it wrongly; I should have recorded that call, I should have double confirmed it or something, I should have gotten her phone number so that I could still contact her on-the-go; why didn't I think of that? There were so many things I could have done...so many things that went wrong, I'm so sorry—"

"Shut up."

He leaned forward, tilting his head and effectively...shut me up.

_________________________

A/N: Ok so they kissed :> YIPPIEEEEE hahahaha I guess this preview is actually just for those who want to know how their relationship is progressing so far /.\ and well the long story short for what happened above all that is someone placing the consequences of their mistake on Ace instead of bearing it themselves. 

Jude forgot that she was supposed to submit the report by 3 and she arranged to meet Ace for the corrections at 3 exactly. Her boss, Turner, reminded her in the morning that it was to be submitted by 3 but since she was doing it last minute had no time to contact Ace to tell him that she had to meet earlier. Since Ace thought that the corrections were supposed to be done at 3 and submitted by 5, he was stood up at the cafe which he was waiting at for Jude. Jude used this to blame the lack of corrections on her report and said that Ace was late to their meeting and therefore she couldn't submit the one with the report. 

Yes, that's the long story short phew!! 

Well in all honesty this happened to Cuppie as well, back when I was working at a bookstore, and got a hell of a scolding thanks to someone else ._. but that's alright, I tanked it all because there's no use for more hatred in this world and more sadness. For some reason, when Secret Santa came around, I drew her name as well, and got her this notebook she said was really pretty once. 

Forgiving is hard, but I suppose a foolish heart is sometimes nice in a world too clever for its own good. :) 

-Cuppiecake.