I WAS RUNNING late for the meeting and the taxi from the taxi company was nowhere in sight. Repeatedly, I checked my wrist watch.

7:25a.m.

I was twenty five minutes late. Philip was definitely going to get my neck for this one. What made things worse was the fact that there was a meeting of the board of trustees by nine this morning and I was yet to complete some paperwork before them.

My phone rang from an unidentified caller.

"Who am I unto?"

"You're late." A raspy voice spoke. Philip was mad, I knew it.

"There's no single taxi in sight. I don't-"

"Text me your location." He hung up the phone leaving me stunned but my fingers flew over my keypad randomly and I sent my address to him.

In a few minutes,  a Cadillac Escalade Platinum stopped in front of me. The window rolled down and Philip stared right at me. He opened the front door for me and I entered his car, admiring the neat cream-coloured interior.

"Nice car." I commented.

He smiled. "Thanks."

I bet that smile of his had knocked a lot of ladies off balance but not me.

Not yet.

True, maybe I was a bit fickle-minded and my greatest weakness was handsome guys but my biggest turnoff in a guy would be if he was rude, inconsiderate and bossy. And Philip here met all those qualities, so, no.

"I'd appreciate if this doesn't repeat itself again."

I nodded. "Yes sir."

Of course, what else was I expecting him to say? Compliment my attire?

"Don't say yes if you don't mean it." He took his eyes briefly off the road to meet my gaze.

The meeting was at another building not to far from Nicholas Corporation.

As we walked in through the doors, Philip ignored the male receptionist's greetings and I just responded for the two of us.

In the conference room, some men and women were seated around a round tables, laptops and papers in front of them. Philip went straight to his seat and gestured for me to sit in the one beside him.

"Don't forget to take a comprehensive note of every single thing." He told me.

I noticed the emphasis on 'comprehensive'. With a wan smile, I opened my official laptop and checked for the previous minutes I had typed on it.

All set.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We may proceed with the meeting." Said a woman that stood at the head of the table.

She picked a laser pen and pointed at the projector behind her. There were charts, graphs and figures on it.

"Listed here are is our assets, expenditures and projects for this year-"

While she spoke, I typed. Occasionally, Philip glanced at my work but he never made a comment about it, the blank expression on his face unchanging.

During the meeting, my eyes spotted a lady who wouldn't stop looking at my boss like he was candy to be devoured.

I made a face at her and when she met my gaze, she diverted her gaze.

Women.

"Stock prices are falling and this month, we've realised less than fifty percent of our usual income." The woman explained, pointing at a bar chart.

My eyes wandered to Philip's notepad and I realized he was doodling stick images on his notepad.

What the heck?

I wanted to laugh but this wasn't the time or the place. The most I let out was a snicker and I earned myself a glare from my boss,  in addition to a slight colouration of his cheek.

When the meeting ended, I waited for Philip to shake hands with the women and men present at the meeting. That weird lady was among the first persons to engage my boss in a conversation.

Tired of standing I sat back down and let my eyes settle on the Californian skyline.

Getting a taxi to go home was always a battle during the rush hour. It was war. Occasionally, some crazy driver drove in my direction and I had to jump away in time. Some bold pedestrians bumped into me and spewed cuss words at me. Poor me.

A Rangerover stopped very close to me and when the window went down, I saw Peter in there, smiling brightly at me.

"Crazy traffic huh?" He gave me access into his car.

His suit jacket was somewhere at the back seat, his tie wasn't around his neck and his the sleeves of his shirt was rolled up to his elbow.

"Life in Cali is tough." I responded.

"Have you met New York?"

I laughed. "I don't think I'd ever get used to life in New York. Not that I'm planning to move there."

"Did you have a great day?"He skillfully weaved through the heavy traffic.

"I definitely did. I'm stressed out but in the end I get paid for the stress. It's totally worth the effort. I don't remeber seeing you at the board meeting."

"My brother and I can't suffer being in the same room. It's an unbroken tradition."

I snickered. "He's insufferable."

"Where do you live?" Peter asked.

After reading out my address to him, I let him drive and drifted into a world of my own.

"We're here." Peter's voice scattered my thoughts into thin air.

Looking out through the window, I spotted my house.

No one was inside the house as expected. Tossing my shoes aside, I walked barefooted into the kitchen, and poured myself a glass of water, at the same time warming the leftovers from breakfast.

I saw a sticky note on the refrigerator from Tamara.

You and mum shouldn't wait up for me. I'll be sleeping over at Michael's.

-T-

Ripping off the note, I tossed it into the trash can.

Great! I had the house alone to myself till nine this night.

I was in my room watching a documentary on my phone when mom let herself into my room and sidled into my bed. 

"Welcome home, mom." I unplugged my earphones from my ears.

She pressed a kiss on my forehead. "Thanks baby. How was your day at work?"

"Good. My boss wasn't much of a jerk today."

Mom smiled. "What do you say? One of these days I should come over to your workplace and have a nice chat with Philip."

I laughed. "That won't be necessary mom. I'm a big girl. There's some food in the kitchen."

"I ate at the office. Where's my other daughter?"

"It seems like she'll be sleeping over at Michael's." I replied.

Mom smirked. "I hope it's not what I'm thinking."

I gave mom a look. "What are you thinking?"

She shrugged. "Don't mind me, I probably need to rest my head. Good night baby."

I carried out a major reconstruction on this chapter. I hope it's equally as good as the other that got deleted. Are there are any loop holes?