MARA'S POV
Lucien stayed silent, but she noticed his gaze drop briefly to the tissue before returning to her eyes.
"Sorry," she muttered. "I really do eat messily sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Lucien asked.
She looked at him. There was a slight note of disbelief in his tone. "You really do not have to judge me like that."
"I did not say anything."
"But I heard it in your tone."
"Interesting."
She closed her eyes for a second. She did not know why part of her wanted to get annoyed while another part wanted to laugh. People like him were irritating because it was so easy to answer them back, but impossible to get truly mad at because they stayed calm all the time.
"Then can you at least tell me exactly what needs to be corrected?" she asked while carefully placing a tissue on her lap, as if that could somehow save her dignity. "So when I get back to school, we can fix it right away."
Lucien looked at the paper bag, then at her. "You brought food to a confrontation."
She fell quiet for a moment. "I get hungry when I'm stressed."
She did not know why, but she felt there was a slight shift in his eyes. It was tiny. Almost impossible to notice. Like a trace of amusement passed through and disappeared just as fast.
You imagined that, her mind told her. Don't assume things.
"Luz will give you a copy of the flagged items," he said. "If your student council can revise and resubmit today, I can have the file reviewed by tomorrow morning."
Her eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yes."
She nearly jumped up in excitement, but she also almost dropped her iced coffee. She gasped and caught it quickly. "Oh my gosh."
Lucien only watched her.
Once she fixed herself again, she smiled widely. "Thank you."
"Do not thank me yet. The review can still fail."
"You're so negative."
"It is called being realistic."
"Your realism is a little depressing."
"Yet here you are asking for it."
Mara's mouth shut. Fair again. It really was annoying when the person you were talking to always had a point.
She studied Lucien for a few seconds. She still did not fully get him. Her first impression of him in the elevator had been rude and arrogant. Even now, the rude part still felt true. But there was something else too. He was not the kind who was simply angry for no reason. He also was not some flashy rich guy who loved showing off his power. He was just quiet, controlled, and somehow always one step away from everyone else's emotions.
And maybe that was what made him even more irritating.
Because while her embarrassment, stress, panic, and ketchup stain were all on full display, he looked like he did not get touched by any of the mess around him at all.
"Can I ask one last thing?" she asked.
He leaned back slightly. "You have already asked several last things."
She pouted a little. "Okay, one more actual last thing."
He only looked at her, which was probably his version of go ahead.
"Earlier in the elevator, why didn't you tell me right away that it was private?"
"Would you have listened?"
Her mouth opened, then closed again.
No.
Probably not.
Because if he had told her it was a private elevator, she likely would have thought he was just showing off and might even have answered rudely. She remembered jutting her chin at the button earlier, her tone, and the way she had looked at him like he was her assistant. She shut her eyes for a second from sheer embarrassment.
"Ouch," she whispered. "I really was mean."
"You said it."
Her eyes flew open. "You heard that?"
"Yes."
"Can we pretend you didn't?"
"No."
She wanted to complain, but there was a small laugh trying to escape her throat. She held it back and instead took another bite of her sandwich. But because she was still so out of it, she took too big a bite and filled her mouth. She could not answer right away. She closed her eyes while chewing, then quickly drank some iced coffee.
And because she was Mara, of course a little sauce splashed onto her finger.
She squeezed her eyes shut hard. She wanted to lie down on the floor.
She quietly wiped her finger with a tissue. She could no longer count how many embarrassing moments she had already had since entering the building.
"Sorry," she said once she could speak properly at last. "For the elevator. For barging in. For shouting at the wrong person. And for..." She looked at the sandwich in her hand, then at the tissue, then at him. "For being... like this."
She gave a slight shrug, like she no longer had any decent term left to describe herself.
Lucien did not answer right away.
And because she was uncomfortable with too much silence, she was just about to add another explanation when he suddenly spoke.
"Accepted."
That was all.
One word.
But she could not explain why it made her feel a little lighter.
"Really?"
"Do not make me change my mind."
"Yes, sir." There was already a small smile on her lips. "I'll be quiet."
And of course, right after saying she would be quiet, she was the one who spoke again.
"Actually, not totally quiet. Thank you too, really. Even if you are a little terrifying."
One of Lucien's eyebrows lifted. "Terrifying?"
"Professionally," she added quickly. "Like in a CEO way. Not as a serial killer. I mean, I don't know that, but you do look like someone who doesn't kill people."
Her own eyes widened.
Dear Lord.
Seriously, dear Lord.
If she could have slapped her own mouth without making it obvious, she would have done it.
A few more seconds of silence passed, and then for the first time, she saw it more clearly. The slight lift of the corner of Lucien's mouth.
A smile.
She blinked.
It was real.
It happened so quickly and disappeared just as fast, but she saw it.
And for some reason she could not explain, it made her feel even more out of it.
She was not flustered.
Probably.
There was just something strange about it.
"You should go," he said.
Ah.
There it was.
She was being dismissed.
She stood up at once, but nearly left one of the paper bags on her lap. She grabbed it quickly. "Right. I'll go now."
When she reached the door, she stopped for a moment and looked back. She did not know why. Maybe she just wanted to make sure it had really happened. That she had not simply dreamed of embarrassing herself in front of a CEO, talking to him while eating fries and a sandwich like they were in a food court, and somehow still getting a chance to fix the student council's problem.
"Sir?"
Lucien looked up from the papers he had pulled onto his desk.
"Thank you," she said again, this time simpler and more sincere.
He did not smile, but his face was not as cold as it had been earlier. "Miss Cortez."
"Yes?"
"Use the public elevator this time."
Her eyes widened before she let out a soft laugh. Right. That too. She had already forgotten again.
"Oh, right," she said with a nod. "Noted."
When she stepped out of the office, Luz was already there holding a folder. Her face was still professional, but no longer as stiff as before. Probably because Mara was no longer yelling.
"These are the items that need correction," she said.
Mara accepted them right away. "Thank you. And I'm really sorry about earlier."
Luz's gaze dropped briefly to the half eaten sandwich in her hand. "Next time, Miss Cortez, perhaps make an appointment before bringing snacks into an executive office."
Mara turned red. "Yes, ma'am."
As she walked away, she could not stop herself from looking at her reflection in the glass panel along the hallway. Her hair was a little messy now. Some strands had already fallen loose at the sides of her face. And she was still holding the food bag as if her identity would not be complete without carrying food while humiliating herself.
When she stepped into the public elevator, that was when she finally let out the breath she had been holding in for so long.
"What was that?" she whispered to herself.
She looked at her reflection in the elevator mirror. She was holding the folder as though it were the most important thing in the world. In her other hand was the iced coffee that had almost spilled several times and yet had somehow survived until now.
Little by little, she smiled.
It had not gone perfectly, but she had gotten something.
There was hope.
There was still a chance to fix the papers.
And most of all, she had a story that would shock the entire student council once she got back.
Aira would probably yell at her. Josh would probably say she truly had no fear for her own life. Lara and Mika would definitely laugh when they found out she had ordered the CEO around in his own elevator. And they would absolutely lose it once they heard that she had talked to him while eating fries and nearly getting sauce everywhere right in front of him.
She blinked.
Wait.
Why was she still thinking about Lucien's face?
She immediately shook her head. Don't be like that, Mara. He's just a CEO. A rude CEO. An intimidating CEO. A CEO who looked so clean and polished that he probably had an allergy to clutter and sauce stains. There was no reason for her to keep thinking about him.
But no matter what she told herself, his eyes were still clear in her mind. The way he looked straight at her. The way it felt like he could read her even when she said nothing. And most of all, that tiny smile she had almost missed.
How annoying.
When the elevator opened in the lobby, she stepped out quickly and headed straight for the doors. Outside the building, the air was hot and the street was noisy. More familiar. More normal. Easier for her to move in.
She took a deep breath and hugged the folder to her chest. "Okay," she told herself. "Mission sort of successful."
After that, she quickly flagged down a ride back to campus.
What Mara did not know was that high above in the building she had just left, a man stood in front of the floor to ceiling office window, quietly watching a student walk away, a student who had used a private elevator, stormed into his office without permission, eaten fries while talking to him, and left behind a strange kind of noise in a day that should have been quiet.
And Mara Cortez knew even less that by the time she got back to campus, she would be facing more than just a problem with documents.
Because sometimes, messy days do not end with just one humiliation.
Sometimes, that is only where they begin.