100 Keren

It was Keren.

Wearing a knee-length gown with a mink coat, she looked more elegant than ever with her hair tied into a bun.

Liz had initially smiled when she heard the familiar voice, but comprehending its contents, she blushed.

Thankfully, Keren had left out the actual word.

She had been talking about her breasts when she said 'You actually have some…'

And Liz knew this fact because the woman had pressed her chest onto hers during the hug, which was, of course, not visible to Will who was standing nearby.

"Any reason for changing your plans? I thought we would meet you in Seattle."

"Oh, I'm not the old only who changes plans though, aren't I?"

"Keren-"

"Relax, I'm kidding! I wanted to fly with Liz, not you! You can mind your own business. The both of us have some talking to do."

Will looked like he was going to say something, but he closed his fist with slight frustration and walked to the plane waiting on the tarmac.

It was actually funny seeing the calm CEO unsettled every time he talked to his sister, and Liz felt like laughing.

She would have done so if she wasn't puzzled about the conversation they had just had.

She felt like asking Keren, but then wondered whether they were close enough.

This woman clearly didn't have any boundaries, from the way she had just commented on her breasts.

Now that she thought about it, it was a breath of fresh air when compared to all the uptight people that Liz usually met, and she liked her.

However, she didn't know if she could be the same.

Hence, holding her tongue, she smiled sweetly at Keren who had just turned around after making sure that they were out of Will's earshot.

She wanted to find out whether the CEO had intentionally done something to make sure she missed the picnic, even though it sounded ridiculous and even childish.

Just as she was started plan how she was going to bring up the topic, Keren leaned forward and said, "My dumb brother is super intelligent in business matters, but he is clearly out of his depth here. He changed the date of the casino opening to this weekend because he wants to spend some time with you. There was also something about some competitor, but I'll be expecting to hear about that from you. I can see you are affected by this, so I'll give you some alone time first. Think, sort your feelings, then we can talk. But don't lash out at Will, he has only the most honest intentions. Ok, I'll go now. Happy thinking."

What the…hell?

This woman had just told her everything without even her needing to ask!

And now, she was supposed to think about it?

By the time Liz came to her senses and managed to look around, she noticed that she was alone on the tarmac.

Keren was walking to the plane's door, and the attendant who was waiting at the plane was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to come.

First things first: she had to get on the plane.

Taking a deep breath, Liz listed her emotions into questions and started walking to the plane.

She had two minutes, so she started to assess the chaos in her brain while making sure not to trip and fall on the hard ground.

Luke's suspicion had been right; the CEO had indeed pulled strings to make sure that she would miss the picnic.

And, he had called Luke a competitor?

A competitor in what?

Love?

'Whoa, whoa, aren't you jumping the gun here, Nancy Drew?'

With the return of her inner voice which always arrived to help her out in sticky situations, Liz clung to it.

'What else can there be a competition in?'

'Anything else, duh. What were they doing throughout the dinner?'

'Nothing special….except making Derek happy, which made me happy, and then talking to me, and then giving me food which I loved and again, made me happy.'

'Exactly. You can be slow sometimes, but at least you get to the finish line. So, genius, what could the competition be about?'

'Making me…happy? But what could that mean?'

'Any number of things, which do not include love. Have you considered that both of them just like spending time with you? Hey, maybe they find you pleasant, unlike me.'

'Wh-but you're my inner voice!'

'You try making sense of your thoughts, and tell me it's not irritating.'

It had a point.

By this point, Liz was almost at the plane.

She had established one thing: the CEO wanted to spend time with her, and there was no reason to jump to conclusions.

What was she going to do? Allow him to do what he wanted after disingenuously canceling her picnic?

At this, a small smile came on the corner of Liz's lips.

No, it wasn't going to be so easy.

If he wanted to spend time with her, he was going to have to work for it.