103 Waiting

Will was at the end of his wits.

All day long, he had been trying to get his PA alone so that he could accomplish his motive behind preponing the entire event in the first place: to spend some time alone with her.

In the morning, there was a meeting with the stakeholders, so there had been no chance to talk to her then.

After that, during lunch, he had dutifully waited in the lobby while Liz went to meet her family.

However, by the time she came back, it was already time for the next meeting, so there was only enough time for him to grab a quick snack before going.

She had apologized profusely for making him wait, and he had said that it was ok.

After that, there were meetings with a few VIPs which he had agreed to handle as a courtesy to his sister.

Again, no alone time.

After that, in the evening, his own sister had foiled his plans.

It didn't make any sense! He had told her why he had preponed the event, but she had still changed sides?!

When he got her alone, she was going to get an earful.

Keren had whisked Liz away somewhere during the one hour break they had in the evening, and he waited again.

Of course, when they came back, again there was no time, and there were again a lot of apologies.

He had tried to drag his sister away to talk to her then, but she had literally ran away and ignored his glares.

By this point, even Will was starting to realize that his actions had been a little childish.

He had done all this so that she would cancel her plan with that guy, and he had hoped that he would be able to spend time with her so that he could get one leg up in the 'competiton'.

However, the competition itself was a farce in the first place.

It couldn't be helped. This sense of competition was something that had been imbibed in him since childhood, and it was one of the reasons why he was so successful.

Still, in this matter, he realized that he might have acted in folly.

Yet, they were here in Seattle, alone, away from others, so he was still going to try and accomplish his objective.

After another meeting during the evening, it was finally time for dinner, and Will assumed that there was no way that she could get out of it now.

However, startlingly, he was stood up in the lobby again.

The reason: a stomach flu.

Of course, Liz had apologized once again, and said that she would come down as soon as she felt better.

Hence, he, the CEO of the larfest tech company in the world, waited for the third time in a single day.

He earned thousands of dollars each minute of each day, so if someone got to know that someone of his stature had been stood up not once, not twice but thrice by a simple PA, they would have been astonished.

However, through all this, Will understood one thing: he didn't know why, but for some reason, he had decided internally that she was worth it.

If it was ANYONE else, he might have gone into a fit of anger by now.

Yet, as it was Liz, he waited while reimagining the few but profound moments when she had amazed him.

Of course, this didn't stop the frustration from setting in.

It was 10 pm, and he had been waiting since an hour.

He was incessantly tapping his foot, and people had even started to point, as he hadn't bothered to hide his face.

Hence, when he saw Liz finally getting off the lift in front of him, he stood up like there were springs in his chair.

She was wearing casual jeans and a short shirt that slightly exposed her midriff, and she seemed to be very comfortable, as was evident from the smile she had on her face.

He, on the other hand, was professionally dressed in a tuxedo, as he had intended to take her out to the best restaurant in Seattle.

Clearly, there was no more going out.

Realizing this, Will sat and looked down.

A few seconds later, he saw that Liz had come and sat in the chair in front of him.

She was smiling at him sweetly, but seeing that she was fine, he coulnd't help but feel that he had been taken for a ride.

He had been lied to and made to wait.

All for what?

A little anger came in him, as he had afforded her more patience than anyone else in his life in the past many years.

However, when she spoke, all thoughts flew out of his head.

"I know you preponed the event to have me cancel my plans and spend time with you. Are you angry with me?"

She knew?!

Will hadn't thought about this, and this was actually uncharacteristic of him, as he was a perfectionist who considered everything.

To think that he had missed something so glaring….what was this girl doing to him?

While this question revolved in his mind, he looked up and saw her two beautiful eyes looking at him, waiting for an answer.

He knew that what he had done was wrong.

Why had he done it anyway?

He didn't have the answer to this question: but one thing appeared in his mind-the shell which he had lived in for the longest time.

It beckoned to him now, when he was hurt and guilty.

Guilty because he knew he shouldn't have done what he did.

Hurt because he had clearly been rejected.

Hence, heeding his call he prepared to go back in.

He even prepared the words to say next.

He would say 'No. But I shouldn't have done this. I'll never do anything like it again. Goodbye.', and then go back to his cold self.

Yet, Liz spoke and interrupted him.

"I'm sorry if I went overboard. But-"

At this, she bent forward and leaned in to the CEO's ear.

As he felt her warm breath on his cheek, his mind went blank again.

But for once, this blankness felt good.

"I just wanted to let you know that you don't need to do such drastic things to spend time with me. Just…ask."

As she left these words and walked back to the lift, he coulnd't help but stare, amazed.

Just like that, she had pulled him back from that shell.