❇ Rachel's POV ❇

As usual, I did a quick check around my apartment before leaving for work. Locking the door behind me, I double-checked the handle to make sure no one could get in.

I stepped into the elevator as soon as it slide open. As I was about to press on the 'close' button, I heard someone shouted, "Wait for me!"

Instinctively, my finger moved over to the 'open' button and press on it. After realising that 'someone' was the selfish neighbour who purposely chose not to stop the elevator door from closing when I was running late on my first day of work. Honestly, I was tempted to do the same thing to her. But, I decided to be the bigger person and wait for her.

My neighbour practically ran into the elevator and appeared to be somewhat surprised when her gaze landed on me.

"Thank you," my neighbour said in a bored tone, as if she was forced to do it.

I held back an eyeroll and ignored the growing annoyance for my neighbour. I had no idea what did I do to deserve such treatment from her. She'd been like that ever since I moved here. I wasn't sure if she was naturally unfriendly or have taken an instant dislike to me. The elevator dinged as it reached the lobby and my neighbour quickly walked out.

"Fine, dislike me all you want," I muttered under my breath.

Early in morning the artistic golden sun got up like a baby and started painting the dark black sky into a bright blue sky. The bright looking milky clouds got up from sleep and started travelling around the sky visiting the wonderful environment.

Every time I walked past the shops along the way to the bus stop, I would greet the owners with a smile. This habit started as soon as I moved here. They welcomed me warmly and have always treated me with kindness. I'm really grateful for them, as it made adapting to this new environment much easier.

The morning traffic was lighter than usual, which resulted in me arriving at my workplace slightly earlier.

The building's security guard and I exchanged nods as I entered the buidling. Since I was early, there wasn't much people waiting for the lift.

"Good morning, Rachel."

"Good morning, Mrs Wright," I said with a smile.

"Have you had your breakfast?" Mrs Wright asked which earned a nod from me.

"Well I haven't and there's something I need to discuss with you, so how about I buy you a coffee?"

Before I could answer Mrs Wright, the elevator door slide open and both of us stepped inside. I pressed on the button that would bring us to level 5 where Beany Business is located. It is the only café that's open right now.

The moment we entered the café we were greeted by the bitter, yet invitingly warm smell of coffee. The usual gentle murmur of voices could be heard above the harsh churning sound of the coffee machine as it struggled to produce the hot steaming liquid beloved of the customers.

The café was softly lit and only a handful of the square tables with glass tops were occupied. Christmas music was playing from speakers hidden in the walls and ceiling. Small vases of yellow carnation flowers were placed on each table. Mrs Wright went over to the counter and order her breakfast while I picked out a table next to a large window.

"Hey, I forgot to ask what coffee you want, so I ordered you a cuppacino. You okay with it?" Mrs Wright questioned as she returned with a tray of tuna sandwich and 2 cups of cuppacino.

"Yeap, I'm fine with anything."

"So, I'm sure you've heard that Mr. Alsace from Accounting Department is planning to retire by the end of January," Mrs Wright said and started to munch into her sandwich.

"Yeah.."

"The managing director intends to find an internal replacement for the Accounting Manager position."

I nodded with a bemused smile, unsure of why Mrs Wright is telling me about this.

"I've recommended you for the position, and the internal interview is scheduled to be on the first week of January," Mrs Wright said as she took a sip of her cuppacino. "Only if you want to though," she added.

"Oh wow," I stared at Mrs Wright, my mouth gaping open. In my mind I was like, what the hell did I just hear? Accounting Manager? Me? I seriously couldn't believe my ears.

"Uh, why did you reccomend me?" Despite having a thousand and one questions begging to be asked, I chose to ask this instead.

"You don't have to be this surprise. You've proven to us time and time again of your capabilities, Rachel. You are way better than you think you are." A small smile was tugging to the corner of her lips.

"I.. I really didn't expect this.. But wouldn't they choose someone from that department?"

"They have shortlisted 2 potential candidates. But as I said, the managing director agreed to my recommendation all because of your hard work."

Sensing my hesitation, Mrs Wright continued, "Listen, I know that's a lot of information to digest. Don't rush to make a decision now, go back and think about it. I mean it. Opportunity knocks only once. You never know if you'll get another opportunity."

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Rach? Hey?"

I saw someone snapping their fingers in front of my eyes and for a moment I had no idea where I was or what I was doing.

"Are you okay?" Someone asked in a voice laced with concern. My gaze finally focused on the person sitting in front of me.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Finally snapping out of my reverie, I asked Zachary with a sheepish smile.

"Are you alright? You seem to be lost in some other world and you look a little pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about something my boss told me this morning," I responded with a small shrug.

"And what did she tell you?" Zachary leaned back in his chair and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"She recommended me for the Accounting Manager position."

"That's amazing, Rach!" Zachary exclaimed, a huge grin lighting up his handsome face.

"It is," I murmured and worked up a smile.

"Are you worried that you won't be able to do a good job or something along those lines?"

"Not only those, Zach.. It's like those 2 who were shortlisted probably have been working here longer than me."

"So?"

"So they.. They.." I tried to think of an answer. "I don't even know why I'm worrying so much," I gave up and rubbed my temples in frustration.

"Exactly! It's just an interview, you don't have to think too much. And I'm sure you'll ace it." Zachary ended his sentence with a cheeky wink. I shook my head with a small laugh as the both of us took out our wallets.

"Hey, keep that in your bag, it's my treat today."

"We've agreed not to do that right?"

Zachary nodded and took my wallet away from me. Before I could voice my protest, he held up a hand and said, "It's not like you get the chance to be promoted everyday, relax it's just a dinner."

"Fine then, it'll be my treat the next time we meet," I lifted my chin as I said it, daring him to disagree.

"Woah okay okay," he chuckled as we made our way out of the diner. "Anyways, are you in a rush to go home?"

"Nope, why?"

"Just wanna bring you somewhere."

"Where?"

"You'll see," he replied with an irritating smirk plastered on his face.

"Lame." I pursed my lips and allowed my eyelids to slowly open and close. Much like a mother would to a child. 

"I heard that!"

My eyes rolled up in response but couldn't stop the smile that lifted the corners of my lips. Once Zachary was behind the wheel, he start up the car and pulled out of the lot.

"Are you serious about being this secretive?" I posed a question to break the growing silence between us. Zachary gave me a sideways glance and arched a 'What do you think?' eyebrow.

"Okay fine," I muttered under my breath.

Zachary became really quiet since we drove away from the diner. It was kind of weird as he'd been extremely chatty the whole evening. It almost seemed like he was nervous. At least that was what I've noticed before I zoned out. My gaze drifted to Zachary to find him rubbing his chin. It was a habit of his whenever he's anxious about something.

I was about to doze off after a couple of failed attempts to get Zachary to talk when the sign of Los Angeles Zoo came into our line of sight.

"Why are we at the zoo?" I turned to look at Zachary who was pulling into a parking space.

"You're the one who wanted to see the L.A. Zoo Lights," he pointed out.

"I didn't.." I started to argue but stopped myself when I remembered about casually mentioning it the last time we'd met.

"You actually remembered," I said to no one because he was already out of the car. "Please tell me you've bought the tickets in advance. My gosh, look at the queue."

Zachary looked at me for a moment and gave me a lopsided smile. He didn't even bother to answer me and carried on walking. I stopped in my tracks and glared at the back of his head. Something is definitey wrong here.

"C'mon, Rach! Do you want to wait till the crowd gets bigger?"

When we stepped into the zoo, I was dazzled by the sparkling and magnificent lights surrounding us. I couldn't stop taking photos of the beautiful displays. Zachary volunteered to be my photographer but refused to let me take any photos of him with the cute animal displays.

The both of us had an incredible time at the L.A. Zoo Lights but we were also pretty exhausted after all the walking. Once we spotted 2 empty seats, we practically ran for it. It was challenging to find a resting spot with the amount of visitors.

"Hey, Rach?"

"Hmm?" I briefly glanced up at Zachary then back down at the photos I've taken.

"Lately, I've been thinking a lot about you and us," Zachary said, "I was hoping you'd give me a chance to prove that this time, I will never leave you."

My head snapped up in surprise to see Zachary staring at me expectantly. After the shocking announcement from Mrs Wright this morning didn't really help me in preparing for this kind of surprise.

I blinked my eyes several times to make sure that I wasn't dreaming and Zachary was really asking me to be his girlfriend. It's like déjà vu all over again.

"Rach, you don't have to give me an answer right now. I know you've got a lot to th-" Zachary couldn't finish his sentence because I grabbed him by the collar and planted a kiss upon his lips.

Don't ask me why I did that, because I don't have a clue. But I'm glad I did it.

Author's note:

In Time can't possibly hit 26.2K reads without all of you lovely people! 😘 I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far! Here's wishing all of you a Merry Christmas ⛄🎄 and a Happy New Year 🎉🎊 in advance! 😊