AIDEN


    With a bit of amusement and a sense of loss, I watched Ana run out the door the moment the elevator door opened. She ran past the puzzled men and up the stairs, her footsteps echoing in the stairwell. We all watched until she disappeared from our view.


    I knew with everything in me that I''d have stopped her from fleeing like that if I knew she would do that. But I hadn''t seen iting. By the time I closed my hand around hers, she slipped out of my reach. My hand remained curled in a soft fist as I desperately tried to preserve the lingering sensation of her touch. The warmth of her skin and the softness of her hand-it all felt like a fleeting dream now. In fact, if these men were not here or staring at me like I was some deer in headlights, I would have closed my eyes and breathed in her scent, trying tomit every detail of our brief encounter to memory.


    I stepped out of the elevator and stopped before the men, my mind still partly focused on Ana. That was when their eyes lit up in recognition, widening as they realized who I was. They bowed deeply and greeted me with jumbled words.


    "Good morning sir, we deeply apologize for the inconvenience. We had no idea you were stuck there. Forgive us."


    A part of me wanted to tell them: Maybe you should have taken a bit longer before you came? But I kept that thought to myself; it wasn''t their fault.


    Despite the inconvenience there, I was still satisfaction with that shared moment. The closeness and the intimacy of the situation, it had stirred something in me that I thought was long buried. And the fact that had been enjoying the moment, content in that position that we were in as silence bathed us made me feel kind of guilty. She was in a dilemma and I was reveling in it.


    Well, I didn''t revel in it. When I touched her, she seemed to calm down a bit and I was transported back to those years when she would curl around me in bed like her life depended on it whenever the lights went


    off.


    A small smile touched my lips.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    "We are very sorry, sir. All issues will be fixed immediately."


    I turned my attention to the men who were still sincerely tendering their apologies


    I nodded. "It''s okay. I''m sure you didn''t mean for this to happen." They bobbed their heads vigorously. Ensure you fix the issue promptly. We don''t want others getting stuck in such a situation again." "It will never repeat itself again."


    "It shouldn''t."


    I didn''t want Anastasia getting stuck in the elevator alone or ever again, even if it would be the only time. she would rx a little bit and allow me to touch her.


    -After listening to more apologies and inquiring about what caused it and how long it would take to get it


    fixed, I left them to their job.


    Instead of returning to my office, I headed out of the building to the parking lot. The stuffy confines of the


    172


    elevator, and I took a deep breath.


    Pressing the car remote and hearing its sound amongst the several others parked, I caught the sight of a man exiting a car. My forehead squeezed into a brow as I briefly watched him walk towards thepany''s building.


    A client or a business partner? I wondered.


    Something about the man striked me as familiar. I couldn''t quite ce my finger on how and why he was familiar so I concluded that he was probably a partner of thepany. His picture was probably one of the business partners'' that I had seen when I had been briefed about all of Taste Tech innovations"


    partners.


    So it was easier to shake off the thought and drive off to the destination I had in mind.


    Around me, the grand meeting hall buzzed non stop with discussions about phnthropic partnerships as I flipped through the rundown of the discussions that would be held in today''s meeting and also the goals for the charity events that would be held in theing weeks and months. I shook my head, impressed at the hospital''s support ns, foundation coborations and several uing charity events. I looked up and tuned back into what the speaker was saying.


    There was a smile on his face; a satisfying and joy-filled one that I could rte to as he talked in detail about the discussions that had been summarized in the sheets of papers that we were handed earlier as we took our seats.


    He exined the ns for hospital support, foundation coborations, and several uing charity events. I was impressed at the choice of hospitals that had been chosen to coborate with.