⭐Zachary's POV ⭐

I was fixing up my tie while talking on the phone with Evangeline.

"Yes Eva, I will remember to get that face cream you want." I sandwiched the phone between my ears and shoulder while pouring myself a cup of coffee.

"How long will you be there?" Eva asked for what seemed the umpteenth times.

"A couple of days, Eva. I'll be back as soon as I'm done with my stuff here, alright?"

"But it seemed like an eternity since you left."

I chuckled at Eva's response which was my first laugh in a week. Why? That's because there was some tension between Eva and me after our last argument. Even though we've pact up peacefully, my anger didn't really dissipate until a few days later.

"Eva... We've only been apart for.." I gave my watch a quick glance before doing a mental calculation.

".. 12 hours to be exact." I completed my sentence after working back the time to last night.

"What? It's only been 12 hours? How am I going to survive for another God knows how many hours?" Eva said in a rather dramatic high pitched voice.

Once Eva was done talking, both of us fell into the world of laughter.

"Okay okay, I'll take the first flight home as soon as I can!" I promised Eva and we both hung up before saying our love you to each other.

To be fair, other than Eva's bad spending habit, she has been a wonderful girlfriend. Exclude those weird period of coldness in attitude I received from Eva during my company's financial crisis.

"Mr Davis?" There was a knock on my door before I heard Olivia's voice float in from the other side of my hotel room door.

"Crap," I swore under my breath when I saw the time.

"I'll be out in a minute, Olivia!"

I immediately grab my briefcase and double-checked that the necessary documents are in it. Gulping down the remaining coffee before washing it.

I gave my suit a quick check and straightened it before unlocking the door. Okay, maybe I took slightly more than a minute. Olivia was waiting for me patiently, with her chocolate hair bun up. Olivia has always been very professional and takes pride in her work.

"Mr Davis, we're still able to reach there on time, if we leave now." Olivia greeted me with a file all about the person we are going to meet later.

This guy called me up two nights ago, stating that he is interested to invest in my company. He requested to meet me here, in Seattle. Since I have to be here for a business conference, I did not mind coming here a couple of days earlier.

I skimmed through the information on the potential investor. He's 27, working at a venture capital company. The company he works for has invested in numerous types of businesses. There are even a few which are doing quite well after their investment. Well, that got me thinking on why did they approached me first. As it should be the other way round, seeing that I was struggling to keep my company from going into the reds. According to their success rate, I'm sure lots of small companies would want their help.

"Mr Davis? Mr Davis?"

I snapped out of my daze and find who was calling for me.

"We are here, Mr Davis," Olivia informed me as she assumed I have come back to earth. The truth is, my mind is still quite foggy from the lack of sleep. We arrived in Seattle late last night. I wonder where Olivia found all this energy. I could barely keep my eyes open, let alone meet someone. Yeah right, as if I have a choice.

Olivia knocked on the car window as she noticed I did not move a single inch from my seat.

I buttoned up my blazer and grab my briefcase before getting out of the car.

"Are you alright, Mr Davis?" Olivia's voice was laced with concern as she looked at me like a worried mother.

"Yeah, I'll be even better with another 100 hours of sleep." I joked and that made Olivia frowned at me.

I gave her forearms a small squeeze to reassure that her I am really okay. Without waiting for a response from Olivia, I walked towards the restaurant. I halted my steps as someone's back view caught my eye. Could it be her? I squinted my eyes and stretched out my neck to double-check.

"Hey, what's wrong? Do you want to postpone this meeting?" Olivia's question made me turn to face her.

"No, it's alright." I gave a quick answer before turning around to locate the familiar back view again. To my dismay, she's nowhere to be found. My shoulders dropped a little in disappointment.

Did I really hope that was her?

Olivia still has that worried expression hanging on her face when I turned to give her a small smile.

"I thought I saw my friend earlier on. It's okay, she's gone now and I can't confirm that it was her anyway." I explained while pulling Olivia to the restaurant.

"Good afternoon sir. Table for 2?" The waiter greeted us with an easy-going smile.

"No, we have a reservation under.." I trailed off as I scanned through the file for the guy's name.

"Mr Flint." Olivia helped me complete the sentence.

"Ah yes. This way please, sir." The waiter found Mr Flint's name and guided us to the table.

As we walked past several tables, I could not help but notice one guy who looked especially frustrated. He unbuttoned the top button and loosen his tie. On an impulse, he swallowed down a glass of champagne. Wow. He must have pissed someone off vice versa.

"Good afternoon, Mr Davis." Mr Flint stood up and buttoned up his blazer to shake my hand.

"You too, Mr Flint." I shook his hand and gave his assistant a polite smile.

I helped Olivia pull out a chair and immediately started discussing.

"Pardon my straightforward personality, but why do you want to invest in my company?"

Mr Flint chuckled as he stirred his cup of coffee. I couldn't really explain why, but I have this feeling that I have met him before. I just could not pinpoint when and where.

"Evangeline didn't inform you?" Mr Flint asked and that made me stare at him in disbelief.

"What did she have to tell me? You know her?" Questions are being fired away and I could not stop them.

"Yeah, she's the one who approached me in the first place. Eva filled me in with your situation, and I find that your company has the potential of growing. Therefore, I agreed to her request."

My eyebrows are shot up so high it made my forehead ache.

"Are you a friend of her's?"

"Yes, in fact, you and I met 2 years ago. I was at the event function with Eva."

I vaguely remembered Mr Flint at that event and grinned as I finally know why I find him familiar.

"Oh, so that's where we've met."

Mr Flint nodded and said, "You may call me Ian if you like. Also, if you don't mind I'll call you Zachary instead?"

"Yeah, I'm fine with that." I gave Ian a genuine smile as he seemed like a good guy.

To spare you from the boredom of the dry meeting. The meeting actually went quite well, Ian's company has decided to invest in Connect. The investment definitely helped the dire financial situation of my company. I am extremely grateful for Ian's help and hoped that we could be friends in the future.
*~*~*~*~*~*

"Is that all?" Olivia asked as she scribbled down the things she has to do.

"Yes, and you may have the rest of the day off." Olivia's head snapped up and the corners of her mouth twitched up into a wide smile.

"Thank you so much, Mr Davis!" As soon as Olivia finished her sentence, the car came to a stop, in front of our hotel.

Olivia gave me a nod before unlocking the door and dashed out in excitement. I chuckled at that, she must have been waiting for this moment.

I went up to my room and took a long hot shower. As I was drying up my hair, a familiar ring tone reached my ears.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Zach bro!" Dylan's voice was filled with so much excitement, it made me grin.

"What's up?"

"Heard you're in town? Wanna have a drink?"

"You're in Seattle too?"

"Yeah, been here for the past three days. So, what's your decision?"

"Alright, you know where's The Avenue? I'll be there in twenty."

"Yup, okay." With that Dylan hung up the phone, leaving me saying bye to no one.

Some things never change.

Author's note :
Yo! Apologies for the lack of update! 😅 I've been busy with my semester exams, which are still on going 😔 But, it'll be over by next week! :) Hope you've enjoyed this chapter and I don't mind a vote/comment/share from you ;)