MARA'S POV
If there were ever a contest for the most embarrassing and most chaotic entrance into a wealthy CEO's office, Mara was sure she would win.
Not just win. Champion. Grand winner. Hall of fame level. The kind where, if she ever told her friends this story one day, she probably would not even get halfway through before they laughed at her for five whole minutes. And she was just as sure that Lara and Mika would never let her live it down once they found out that she had ordered an unbelievably handsome man around in the elevator, only to discover that that man was actually the CEO of the company she had stormed into.
As she stood in the middle of Lucien Alcázar's office, Mara felt like her soul was slowly separating from her body from sheer embarrassment. She wanted to back away. She wanted to take back everything she had said to the bald old man still sitting on the couch, who looked like he was only seconds away from breaking and laughing. She also wanted to go back five minutes into the past, yank her own hair, and say, Mara Cortez, you are a public danger.
But it was too late.
She was already here.
And worse, Lucien was standing by the door, tall, quiet, and so composed that he did not even seem human, but some expensive statue brought to life just to judge her.
"You barged into my office, ignored my secretary, insulted my guest, and lectured me before asking for an appointment."
Every word that left his mouth felt like a careful slice through whatever remained of her dignity. He did not even sound angry. That was the worst part. He was so calm that her stupidity stood out even more because no one was shouting.
"You're the CEO?" That was all that came out of her mouth.
Lucien only raised one eyebrow.
Oh no.
Seriously, oh no.
What she wanted to do was run out, ride a jeepney, transfer schools, and change her name. But because it was in her nature to make the worst decisions at the worst possible time, the first thing that came out of her mouth was, "Well... in my defense, you never said so."
The secretary's eyes widened from the side.
The bald old man looked up at the ceiling as if asking heaven for strength not to laugh.
And Lucien stayed quiet for a few seconds before slowly closing the door behind him. "It seems we need to talk, Miss..."
"Mara," she answered, almost under her breath. "Mara Cortez."
"Miss Cortez," he repeated. "From the beginning."
Before her far greater humiliation could officially begin, the bald old man stood first and straightened his clothes. As he passed by her, he even smiled a little. "Interesting girl," he said softly before finally walking out.
Interesting girl.
Fantastic. So apparently interesting girl was the polite term for walking disaster.
The secretary moved toward the door as well. "Sir, should I call security?"
"Not yet," Lucien answered without taking his eyes off her.
Not yet.
That sounded lovely. Like she was some suspicious package no one was sure would explode or not.
Once the secretary and the older man left, the door closed. The entire office fell silent. It was just the two of them now.
And that only made Mara's heart pound harder.
"Sit," Lucien ordered, pointing to the chair in front of the desk.
She sat down quickly, but because both her hands were still full, her iced coffee nearly tipped over. She gasped and fixed it immediately. "Oh."
Wonderful. If there was a bonus round for embarrassment, apparently it was still ongoing.
Lucien sat behind his desk, neat, calm, and even more intimidating now that his full CEO aura was on display. In the elevator earlier, he had just been handsome and rude. Here in the office, there was power added to the mix, the kind that did not even need to be shown for it to be felt.
Meanwhile, she was still holding the paper bag with fries and a sandwich as if it were her emotional support system in life.
"Name," he said.
"Mara Cortez."
"Course."
"Communication Arts."
"How did you get the sponsorship information?"
She straightened in her seat. "I'm a student from St. Bernadette University. My best friend is the student council president. We found out there was a problem with the sponsor, and then..."
She paused.
And then.
And then she suddenly remembered that she was starving.
Her stomach had been hurting for a while now. This was not the simple kind of hunger she could ignore. It was the kind where, if she did ignore it, she would end up looking even more scattered than her normal level. And because of how nervous she had been earlier, she had not even touched the food she bought outside.
Her grip on the paper bag tightened.
Lucien must have noticed, because his gaze dropped briefly to what she was holding before rising back to her face.
She did not know whether she should feel ashamed or just eat.
In the end, her stomach won.
"Sorry," she murmured as she slowly opened the paper bag. "I just did not get to have lunch."
Lucien said nothing.
He did not stop her either.
And because of that, she took one fry, then another, then a quick sip of iced coffee as if there were no CEO in front of her and she were just sitting in a food court telling a story to a friend.
"Anyway," she said after chewing the fries, "I found out that your company backed out of the sponsorship. So I came here to find out what really happened."
"Without an appointment."
"Yes." She pouted a little from embarrassment. "When you say it like that, it sounds reckless."
"It was reckless."
She frowned a little. It was true. But it still stung hearing someone else say it. She ate another fry while being stabbed in the stomach by embarrassment. Honestly, it felt like her body preferred having something to chew on so that not every stupid thing would come out of her mouth.
"You used a restricted elevator," Lucien added.
"I did not know it was restricted." She took a bite of her sandwich. "If I had known, of course I would not have gotten in."
"Would you have listened if someone told you not to?"
She froze in the middle of a bite.
She thought about it.
Honestly?
No.
She probably would have just thought people in the building were being dramatic and stepped in anyway.
She silently kept chewing while staring at her sandwich, then slowly shook her head. "Okay, fair."
"You ignored my secretary."
"I did not ignore her intentionally. I did see her. It's just..." She paused and looked up. "My thinking really does go straight ahead."
Lucien stared at her for one second.
Oh wow.
Even she knew that explanation was terrible.
"Clearly," he said.
She bit the inside of her cheek. She did not know why it was more nerve wracking when the other person was too calm. She would rather be yelled at. When someone stayed quiet, it felt like they were counting every single one of your mistakes.
"Look, I know I came in the wrong way," she said directly as she put the sandwich down. "Actually, I think I already did every possible thing wrong today. But I did not come here just to cause trouble. I'm here because it's unfair for the student council to work that hard and then suddenly lose support."
The silence stretched.
While Lucien stayed quiet, Mara decided to just keep eating. She took some fries, then drank her iced coffee. She became even more aware of how cold the office was, how perfectly arranged everything looked, and how impossibly clean the desk in front of her was. There was barely any clutter. It was the kind of desk people were probably afraid to even let the wrong paper land on.
That suddenly made her think of her study table at home, which was covered in yellow pad sheets, candy wrappers, uncapped pens, lip tint, chargers she no longer knew still worked or not, and two socks that were still a mystery as to why they were there.
They were completely different.
That was the first thing she noticed.
"The sponsorship was not withdrawn by the company," Lucien said at last.
She stopped. "What?"
"A partial fund release was paused due to a discrepancy in the submitted documents."
The sandwich stayed suspended in her hand. "What discrepancy?"
"The event budget attached to the follow up email did not match the original approved proposal."
She frowned. "Impossible."
"Nothing is impossible, Miss Cortez."
She could not stop herself from pouting. "Please do not say that. Usually when that line gets said in movies, it's a rich person saying it to a poor person right before giving them a life lesson."
Lucien's face remained expressionless.
Three seconds.
Four.
Five.
She slowly lowered her gaze to the sandwich. "Sorry. Inappropriate."
"Very."
"Noted."
She stayed quiet for a while and drank her iced coffee. She was so out of it that her sip came out louder than she intended. Only afterward did she realize how loud it sounded in the dead quiet office.
Her eyes widened.
Dear Lord.
She did not even know how many times she had embarrassed herself that day. It had to be record breaking by now.
But she chose to continue anyway. "So it's not really cancelled?"
"Not officially."
"It's only paused?"
"Yes."
"Because of the wrong documents?"
"Yes."
Her face brightened instantly. "So there's still a chance to fix it?"
Lucien studied her before leaning back slightly in his chair. "That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether the student council can produce corrected documents before the end of the week."
Her excitement disappeared at once. "The end of the week? That's only two days away."
"That is not my problem."
She blinked. Wow. Cold.
But even if she wanted to roll her eyes at him, she knew he had a point. It was not the company's fault if there was something wrong with the papers sent to them. The only problem was, she knew Aira. If there really was a mistake, it definitely was not intentional. Maybe she was tired. Maybe the wrong file got attached. Maybe there had just been confusion. That really happened sometimes.
She took another bite of her sandwich while thinking. Then she spoke. "Can I ask something honestly?"
"Depends on the question."
"If I had not come here and we never found out about that, were you planning to tell the student council right away?"
"An email was sent to the contact person listed in the file."
She let out a quiet breath and leaned back in her chair. "And you assumed that was enough."
"It is the standard process."
"But you're dealing with students." She picked up a fry and even pointed with it in the air while speaking. "Sometimes we're a mess. Sometimes we miss things. Sometimes we don't see them right away."
"Your honesty is not helping your case."
She blinked, then slowly lowered the fry. "Point taken."
A brief silence followed.
Then, because her mouth never really learned, she added, "But not all of us. Just some. Probably mostly me."
This time, she clearly saw it. The corner of Lucien's mouth moved slightly.
Just a little.
Just for a second.
But it was there.
Something twisted in her stomach. Not because she was flustered. No. Of course not. She was just surprised. Because for the first time since meeting him, his face was no longer made up of only coldness and formality.
She reached for another fry, then noticed something cold at the side of her mouth.
Her eyes widened.
Slowly, she touched the corner of her lips with her finger and felt sauce.
Dear Lord.
She had ketchup on her mouth.
She wiped it off immediately with a tissue while her whole face turned red. Of course. Of course she would get sauce on her mouth right in front of the CEO.