"What luck…" Matthew sighed heavily, his eyes traveled across the enclosed space they were stuck in. Soon, even the lights inside turned off which made her arms around him tighten.
As he felt her warmth around him, Matthew looked down briefly while Zoey buried her face in his chest. 'She acts tough, can race well and take risks, but gets scared easily..?' He wondered internally, shaking his head lightly as he let her cling onto him as if her life depended on it.
Little did he know, Zoey's expression wasn't what he expected in mind. In reality, she was smiling with her eyes closed while his signature scent wafted into her nose. 'So good…' She whispered inwardly, feeling giddy that she could use this situation to her advantage.
"Right…" After a minute of silence, Matthew's eyes lit up as if he had an idea in mind. "Wait, I— hey," As he retracted his hand away from the elevator handle, he was about to fish his phone out. However, since she was glued to him, he couldn't get to his phone inside his suit pocket.
"I'm scared, Mister…" Zoey murmured, prepared with her teary puppy eyes as she looked up. "I have a fear of close spaces." She lied shamelessly, her tone cracked midway as she expressed her lie.
"Then why do you use this in the first place?" In a matter-of-fact tone, Matthew rebutted as he raised his right brow in suspicion. Not that he guessed she was lying, he was merely intrigued if she was just acting heedlessly.
"I was distracted…" Zoey pulled out her ultimate card: her pout. "You kept clinging onto me, I didn't think so I forgot…" Her words trailed off upon seeing his skeptical gaze cemented across his face.
Right, she was so confident earlier when talking if this elevator malfunctioned. Hence, Zoey immediately thought of an excuse to counter the truth with her lies. "Well, this elevator malfunctions but I was never inside it when it happened. I didn't really think this would happen now." As if the whole world had wronged her, Zoey reluctantly drew away from him, pulling her hands from his chest as she hung her head low.
Before Zoey could take one more step back, Matthew's hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. In a fraction of a second, Zoey bumped her nose against his solid chest before she looked up in confusion. "Stay close if you're scared then." He coldly advised, taking his phone out and shifted his focus to his phone.
The light from the phone shone upon his solemn face, causing her eyes to glitter in awe. 'So handsome…' she adored internally without blinking her eyes.
From her point of view, with the tips of his hair slightly dangling down to his eyelids, the shadow of his eyelashes granted her the illusion that they were longer, his hawk nose and sharp jaw. To be fair, not that Zoey wasn't surprised by how perfect he appeared to be, but rather, she was more surprised that the thirty-year-old and younger version of Matthew gave her a different vibe and look -- a bit of his personality too if she may add.
"Try contacting your people too," Without moving his eyes away from his phone, Matthew suggested. After all, her employees were already inside the establishment. In other words, they could ask for help easier as they seemed to have faced the same problem in the past.
"Oh…" Zoey snapped from her daydreaming, her hand groped in her back pocket while her other hand still clung onto him. Matthew, who noticed this, shot her hand that was holding onto the hem of his suit then towards her.
Unknowingly, his eyes stared at her longer than he realized. He only snapped when she looked back up again while slowly placing her phone in front of her ear. When their eyes met, he could see Zoey's eyes bearing puzzlement regarding his intense stare before she heard the call being connected on the other side.
"Boss Zhou!" As usual, Melanie's energy was high, evident by the tone of her voice. "Are you going to the office today? Do you know that there's a new owner of the building? The landlord sold it without informing his tenants! We might get kicked out if the new owner wants to renovate the place!" Without letting Zoey to speak, Melanie spouted endlessly, panicking at the abrupt news she received today.
As far as Melanie knew, Zoey hadn't signed a contract with the previous landlord -- all agreements were verbal since Zoey was that sketchy. Therefore, even if the new landlord decided to renovate the place to make it commercial, Zoey wouldn't have the voice to speak of her injustices.
Moreover, the previous landlord already fled! How could Zoey chase after him if they heard the news late? Not to mention, the fact that the company which had bought the building was said to be a huge one. They would surely make use of the place to generate money.
"Mhmm…" Unlike what Melanie expected, her boss was calm despite the news.
"But boss--"
"I'm stuck inside the lift. Get someone to fix it so I can get out." Without further ado, Zoey instructed, halting whatever nonsense Melanie would say. "Got it?" She added, arching her right brow.
"Oh, okay?" For some reason, Melanie was a little confused at the situation. Still, she listened before the line was cut short.
After the call, Zoey instinctively looked up and saw that he was still staring at her. "What?" She asked, curious why he had been staring at her since this morning.
"Were you lying to me, Miss Zhou?" Out of nowhere, these questions escaped his lips as the dead air grew eerie.
"Huh?" Yet, this sudden change of air confused Zoey. Her brows knitted together as she cocked her head to the side. However, seconds later, Matthew strode forward, which made her step back out of instinct.
One…
Two…
Three…
And four…
They only took four steps before Zoey's back reached the metallic wall of the lift. In that very second, his right palm slammed against the wall on her right, causing her head to turn to its direction. Slowly, her eyes widened as she gulped. Zoey then returned her gaze back at that menacing pair of russet, dark eyes looking back at her.
"You're not really afraid of close spaces, aren you?" Deep and chilling, Matthew's eyes glinted. He noticed that Zoey was calm and collected while on the phone. If she was truly scared, her hands should be unconsciously trembling, but they weren't.
Her mouth might be full of lies, but her body language says otherwise. The reason Matthew was a little displeased as he hated liars more than anyone in this world.. "Are you desperate for me? Was your refusal a few nights ago just an act?" He added, his eyes never left hers, startling her for an inexplicable reason his eyes were trying to tell her.