Chapter 2
KYARA COULDN’T BELIEVE she was forcing herself to finish her pasta. This was her favorite dish, and yet here she was, struggling with every forkful like she was being asked to stab herself in the eye.
“What’s wrong?”
Kyara nearly jumped in her seat at Lara’s question. “N-Nothing’s wrong—”
Lara rolled her eyes. “You know you’re bad at lying, so why do you even try?”
Kyara’s shoulders slumped at the words, and Lara had to press her lips together to keep herself from smiling.
Having worked for Lyrius for almost a decade, she had quickly learned to keep her distance from all the new employees because nearly all of them had not lasted.
It was simply the easiest way not to get too attached, and truth be told, she had thought this girl wouldn’t last either.
Obviously, she was wrong about that, and ever since Kyara had gone past the three-month mark, the girl had become like her little sister, and that was why she had even come clean the first time she had invited to Kyara for lunch.
You are the sweetest girl I’ve ever known, so will you forgive me for being such a terrible old witch to you?
And of course, Kyara had very sincerely protested this. You were never like a witch to me!
That was Kyara in a nutshell. Sweet, sincere, and well, just too, too nice overall, and that was why Lara had also taken it upon herself to warn the girl about their mutual boss.
All the girls before you had lasted less than a month, and that was, well, mostly his fault, but at the same time, not his fault either.
Some of them left in tears because of his temper.
The other girls, well, they left in tears, too, but that was because they had confessed their feelings to him, and he had responded by asking H.R. to deal with them.
Lara had hoped her warning would be enough to keep things...peaceful. She had seen the way her boss had reacted to Kyara the first time, and more importantly, Lara had also seen how Kyara, even after all these years, still had a hard time meeting Mr. Havington’s gaze.
Since Lara was no idiot, it was easy adding one and one together, and with the way Kyara was acting now...
“Did Mr. Havington say anything to you?”
Kyara gulped. Lara, like Shayla, was really, really big on telling the truth, but...
“It’s my boyfriend.”
Lara barely managed not to wince. Why oh why did this girl keep insisting on lying when she was so, so bad at it?
“He’s, um, the very jealous sort, but this weekend, Mr. Havington...”
Lara set her own fork down as Kyara told her all about this weekend’s trip in Vegas. Oh no. This was all her fault. She was normally the one who accompanied their boss in all of his trips, but this weekend, her husband was coming back from the Army to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary, and...
“Don’t worry about it,” Lara said finally. “I’m going to tell Mr. Havington you’ve got a thing going on. I’ll go in your place—”
“No, no, no.” Kyara was aghast. She had finally remembered what this weekend meant for Lara, and why Mr. Havington needed to take her in Lara’s stead.
In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she might have overreacted.
She had this crazy idea that their boss had set the whole thing up when in truth he hadn’t any choice.
Lara was unavailable, so of course it was up to her to accompany him!
“Please forget I said anything,” she urged the older woman. “I’m actually okay with this weekend’s trip. In fact, I’m starting to feel a little excited because...because it’s my first time to fly.”
Lara looked at the girl closely. That didn’t sound like a lie, but...
“You honestly haven’t flown anywhere before?”
Kyara couldn’t help but laugh at the dubious look on her colleague’s face. “I wish I was lying about this, but no. I’ve never boarded a plane, not even for a domestic flight. I had a very normal childhood, remember?”
“Oh, you sweet, sweet thing.” Every time Kyara said things like this, Lara always had this urge to hug the girl to her like a stuffed animal. “‘Normal’ isn’t the word I’d use to describe your childhood. But at the same time...this is going to be so exciting!”
Lara’s enthusiasm was contagious as she told Kyara all about the perks of traveling with a billionaire boss like Mr. Havington. By the time they dropped their trays at the return station, Kyara was feeling pretty excited herself, and maybe, just maybe...this might not be as bad as she feared?
Mr. Havington had said they were also going to Vegas, and since Cyrus was going to be there, too...
She should be just as excited about spending time with her unofficial boyfriend, right?
“I need to, um, make a quick call,” she told Lara when they were about to step inside the elevator.
“Sure. I’ll let Mr. Havington know if he asks for you.
” Lara watched the girl go with mixed feelings.
Although Kyara had been sufficiently careful not to let anyone know about the mysterious man she had been dating, the mystery wasn’t as mysterious as the girl assumed.
Lara had known for a while who Kyara’s boyfriend was, and even though she had never really tried to confirm this, she had a feeling that so did their boss.
Kyara checked the time on her phone as she took the stairwell. Cyrus liked to spend the last few minutes of their lunch break vaping at the rooftop, and since it was still ten minutes to one, she should still find him there, and hopefully...
He’d be happy that she’d be in Vegas, and she herself would hopefully be just as happy, and then they’d...play cards happily ever after maybe?
Kyara took her heels off and tucked them under one arm as she climbed another flight of stairs. One last floor to go, and then—
“Oh my gosh! I knew it! I knew it!”
Kyara froze on the landing between five and six.
Was that Lloyda from Marketing? The other woman’s voice was quite distinct. It was half-shrill, half-Texan, and—
“How long have you and Cyrus been dating?”
Kyara was sure this time. That could only be Lloyda and no one else, and did the other woman just say—
“About two months now.”
“But those two months have been nonstop...”
A sound of suggestive giggling followed, and Kyara felt so, so dumb as her fingers tightened involuntarily around the rail. Nonstop what? Because in the past two months, she and Cyrus always had breakfast together, and so...nonstop what?
“When are you going to make it official?”
“We’re going to Vegas tomorrow, darling.”
The endearment had Kyara jerking. There was one woman she knew who loved to call everyone darling. Someone whose name was hovering at the tip of her tongue...
“And you know what everyone does in Vegas, right?”
Kyara could feel the blood draining from her face as the voices faded, followed by the sound of the rooftop door closing before the stairwell went quiet again except for the hum of the building.
Everyone went to Vegas to...what?
Play cards?
Watch a show?
Or...have Elvis Presley pronounce two people as husband and wife?