Chapter 3

The two stared at each other, unable to voice a single word as the air in the room grew tense.

Ezra's hand began to tremble as he thought back to the day that he last saw the woman in front of him, ten years prior. 

Her form was exquisitely more sculpted than the last time he saw her, but many other aspects of her appearance had changed. Her hair was longer and she was wearing glasses.

He took a bitter breath and turned away.  The last time he saw her was ten

 years ago back in his hometown on a chilly Friday. She had insisted on going ghost hunting in a deserted cave with some classmates.

She was completely obsessed with the need to blend in with her popular classmates and was always trying to attract the attention of the popular boys at school. 

The caves were very unstable and dangerous. People were not allowed to go in them, he had tried to make her understand but she refused to hear him out.

However, he had a crush on her and thought it was his responsibility to keep her safe, so he foolishly tagged along. Hell broke when the Cave caved in and Sarah fell inside and in an attempt to save her, Ezra fell in too and the other students only succeeded in rescuing Sarah. And because the cave was collapsing, they chose to leave Ezra trapped.

Sarah also left with them when she was the very reason he was there in the first place or fell.  She abandoned him in a chilly, scary cave to die. And as a result of that injury, he was living the remainder of his pitiful life in a wheelchair.

He closed his eyes in the hopes that it was a nightmare and that, if he opened them, she would vanish. However, she was still there when he opened his eyes.

"Ezra..." Sarah said in a low voice.

He was her childhood best friend, the one she had been looking for but had never had the chance to apologize to.

Even though he was fully grown, he looked considerably different from the joyful boy who often made her laugh.

She wanted him to address her by her name because she wasn't certain he was the same youngster who used to follow her around. The boy who risked his life to save her and ended up in a wheelchair because of her stupidity.

His mother made sure she never laid her eyes on him after the accident and relocated him out of town. She never got the chance to express regret or gratitude to him. She spent ten years looking around his old house in the hopes that he would come home, but he never did.

The irony was that she had just signed a stupid contract with his brother to spy on him, which made the reunion worse. She couldn't help but laugh since she felt like fate was tricking her and playing a joke on her.

Ezra was startled out of his reverie by her chuckle.

"Sorry… I didn't intend for…," Sarah tried to explain but his deathly look only served to freeze her.

Ezra picked up his phone with heavy hands and dialed security.

"This is Erza Klein; I need security in my office." The heavy words escaped his mouth as he placed the phone down.

"Ezra… No, listen, I can explain," Sarah finally moved away from the doorway.

"Stay back!" Ezra yelled, trying to push his tears away.

He seldom experienced emotion, but seeing Sarah's face brought back a lot of memories that kept him up at night.

"Ezra…"

"The door opened and two security guards entered.

 "Get this trespasser out of my office!" Ezra ordered and got back to his laptop.

Sarah turned to face the security personnel, then turned to face Ezra.

"You must be kidding, right?" She asked.

One of the security guards said, "Ma'am, we will have to carry you out of the building if you do not leave on your own."

"This is my new place of work! I was employed by his brother," she retorted.

"Get her out of my office right away!" Ezra hit his desk hard in his rage. Given that he had already provided explicit instructions to the inept officers, he did not expect them to begin negotiating with her.

Sarah resisted an attempt by one of the officers to take her hand.

She continued to threaten him as a result, which led the second security guard to seize her and force her out of the office.

The other officer picked up her things, scooped her up, and they forced her into the elevator, forcing her to the ground floor while cautioning her not to go upstairs.

The workers' glares and whispers caused Sarah to fall to the ground as she grabbed her things in an effort to stand back up.

Her long, blond hair, which she had tied behind her, was all over her face, and her skirt was facing the wrong way.

All the workers were staring at her as if she were some crazy person who had forgotten to take her medication and wandered into the wrong building, 

She swallowed hard; her job interview just turned into a nightmare. She had prepared herself for the scenario where she failed her interview but not where she was being thrown out of the building like some criminal or meeting the best friend she wronged as her new boss or signing a stupid contract to betray that best friend. 

She put her skirt in order, she needed to call the brother, but she did not have his number, and she could not recall his name.

With her head hurting, she paused, trying to think. She was a jumbled mess within. It was time to rewind. She stumbled outside with what little self-respect she was left with, knowing that a blast of fresh air would reset her back.

Upstairs, Ezra finally exhaled, he was almost nearly bursting into flames. He loosened his tie. Somehow, the office space became less airy because of her presence.

He always wondered how she would react once she finally saw his face and the pitiful condition in which she had left him. To his dismay, she did exactly as his mother had predicted; she laughed at him rather than apologizing, and to make matters worse, she was his damn secretary.

"Liam!" He sputtered. Most likely, the little moron hired her specifically to enrage him because he knew who she was.

He swiftly wheeled himself out of the office to his own elevator, where he descended one floor to Liam's office.

He stormed into the office without knocking and found Liam on the phone.

"What did I tell you about hiring a stupid secretary for me?"

"Hello brother, hope you were nice to Sarah?" Liam asked, putting the phone down.

"Where did you get that girl?" Ezra yelled.

"From eBay," Liam joked, further frustrating Ezra as he wheeled himself to Liam's side of the desk, ready to bash him.

Liam quickly got up, shocked.

"I posted a vacant position on our website, and she applied," he yelled.

Ezra paused, breathing heavily. "Fire her, I do not want to see her stupid face!" Ezra yelled.

Liam analyzed him, a little confused by his outburst. Sarah was the fifth secretary he was hiring within a month for his brother, but not once did Ezra storm his office.

It was the opposite, the secretaries were the ones running into his office, quitting because of his brother's rude treatment.

He smiled and asked where Sarah was.

"The security guards threw her out of my building!" Ezra replied.

"Half my building, point of correction!" Liam moved the chair and stood in front of him. 

"I will bring Sarah back, and you will apologize," he added, trying to grab his phone.

"Call that girl back, and it will be the last administrative duty you will do!" Ezra warned.

Liam smirked, "I dare you!" He warned as the two brothers glared and sized each other up.