By the time Jia finished her gripping story of the wild redhead woman and the adventures at the burger joint (Lydia's eyes had nearly bugged out of her head at the mention of such an undignified dinner experience), they were both standing in the hallway one door down from the conference room Atlas, Daniel, and Dolly were in. Soundproofed and solid, there was no way to tell if the talks were winding down yet, but that was fine with Jia: she liked talking to Lydia like this.
"And then we came here," she concluded, artfully omitting any mention of her working a night shift and leaving Dolly on her own until the morning. "It was a wild day yesterday. And after all that, she's leaving again this Sunday?"
The blond nodded. "That's how it is most times. Mr. Grayson's clientele are all high-demand, so they lose a great deal of money the longer they remain not working under contract. Ms. Munson's a special case since all her contracts require redrafting, but
Much like a clumsy gardener happily hacking apart the backyard and accidentally puncturing the water line, it was clear that Jia had just struck a nerve. She froze, torn between immediately apologizing and pushing the envelope. She was already neck deep anyway. And it really did grate on her nerves that he called her Ms. Moon, something only customer service representatives and telemarketers called her.And hearing him call Lydia by her given name while addressing her so formally made her uncomfortable too, as if it were drawing a wider divide between the woman and herself. Jia didn't like that, especially not after what had happened yesterday. For the sake of restoring their burgeoning friendship, Jia had to push a little bit. Make it a point to prove that she and Lydia were the same, that Atlas wasn't treating them any differently.(At least not in the way the woman might suspect.)"You call your clients mister and miss such and such," said J
Who knew that standing here motionless for this long could take such a toll on the body? Atlas had the advantage, having only been out here for the last half hour, but Jia had been on her feet ever since she and Lydia had filed out into the hallway far earlier than that. These stilettos were doing a number on her heels. Surely her spine had compressed a few inches by now?And why was Atlas still standing out here as if he expected Dolly to beg him to come back inside any moment now? Jia hadn't known the woman for long yet, but she was confident that even Dolly were on fire inside the room this very moment and Atlas possessed the only fire extinguisher in existence, she would readily reduce herself to cinders and dust.Not too long ago, Jia had had the same opinion of him. Up until last night when she had spent eight hours wondering what exactly her game plan was, going forward. She still disliked him, but if he provided the paychecks, she would give him honest ef
"This is ridiculous.""Ms. Munson, please -""And oh, my God, if anyone calls me that one more time, I swear to God I'll - Jia! Get over here."Jia obeyed, hurrying with a sharp series of clicks as she scuttled over on her stilettos. Amazing how quickly she had become accustomed to brisk-walking in these without breaking her ankles. Didn't mean her toes felt like they were breaking any less."Hello, Dolly," she said cheerily, forcing her voice to sound as sunny as possible. She was complete faking it, of course, but it seemed like the atmosphere could use a little positivity, artificial or otherwise. The look on the redhead's face was abominably irritated, and Jia knew well that that was not a good sign. It was almost time for lunch and Atlas was due back anytime now - it was a miracle that Dolly had lasted this long, honestly."You hear that?" the enraged woman demanded, turning around to glare at Lydia and Daniel who had followed her out of
"And...Dolly? This seat's open."On the other end of the table, the redhead turned her gaze on Jia only to give her a single baleful scowl. "It is open," she agreed. "Doesn't mean I want it." With that, she turned away again and leaned back in her chair, aggressively massaging her own shoulder with an angry look on her face."Aren't you hungry?""I can eat over here."Jia pressed her lips together for a second, and then turned them up in a wide smile. "You look sore. And tired. Why don't you eat and I'll take care of that?" She beckoned her over again with a flap of the hand.Dolly stopped for a moment and threw her a suspicious stare. "Take care of what."Jia didn't miss a beat. She raised her hands to shoulder height and pantomimed giving the woman a massage with a few flicks of the wrist before speaking again. "I'm at your disposal," she said cheerfully. "...If you'd like to join us. But you don't have to if you'd rather
"Mr. Grayson -""Yes?"The sharp response lanced through Jia like a cold knife, and she had to steady herself so that she didn't rock back from the sheer frigidity emanating from Atlas right now. And yet there was a heat in his eyes that made her wonder if perhaps he wasn't about to physically pick her up and hurl her out the nearest window."Ms. Munson hasn't shared anything compromising about you, if that's what you're concerned about, Mr. Grayson."Jia made sure to hold his stare - no matter what! - so that he could see her earnestness. As much as she wanted to keep backing up to put more space between them, that would put her directly against the wall, and she remembered only too well what had happened the last time she'd done that."Then what exactly have you two bonded over? You're not much a drinker as far as I can tell, Ms. Moon."Well - how would he know that? What if she was, in fact, a drunkard on her own time? In truth, she
"You must be kidding."Jia spread her arms a little in a disarming, helpless gesture. "It'll be brief," she said. "I'm just supposed to make sure you're settled in comfortably.""You're babysitting me.""No," she insisted. "Mr. Grayson just wants me to -"Dolly's hand chopped at the air between them, narrowly missing Jia's nose with a swipe. "My God, just call him Atlas. If I hear one more person call him Mr. Grayson again, I'm going to lose it -""Atlas, sorry," she amended immediately. They were alone in the elevator as they dropped down toward the parking garage in the basement level; no one else was around to hear her call her boss so familiarly. If it meant soothing Dolly's aggressive outbursts, then the small sacrifice was more than worth it."So Atlas wants you to make sure I'm not playing with matches or taking candy from strangers -"More like taking candy from babies when it came to Dolly's personality, Jia thought pri
Dolly wasn't even awake when Jia quietly slipped by, letting herself in with the pass code when she received no reply after knocking several times. She swept her eyes around the living room and found the entire place spotless - had the housekeeping team already come by to clean everything up?She tip-toed over to the bedroom and peeked around the doorway to find the woman lying tangled in her sheets and sleeping the wrong way. Well, at least she looked fine. At the very least, she was still breathing, so she hadn't managed to sneak enough alcohol to poison herself in the middle of the night.And that was that. The woman was alive, which meant Jia had the whole rest of the day to herself until the evening when she stopped by again. She checked the time on the digital clock before fleeing the penthouse, legging it back down to the bus stop and then the subway station so that she could make it back to the Bronx in time."Almost there," she panted into the pho
The movie was an A-list blockbuster with at least a dozen distinct explosions, several burning buildings, and plenty of high-octane car chases, one of which involved a tank. In other words, it was exactly the kind of movie the twins would have chosen anyway had Dolly not asserted herself before they ever got the chance."That was sub-par," the woman was complaining as they trailed out of the cinema room. "Every line in that movie made me cringe.""But not as much as when Bale snapped that guy's elbow the wrong way," Jisu quipped. "That was rough."At least he was getting along decently with Dolly, Jia noticed. Jini was as quiet as usual, but judging by how she was glancing around and taking in the sights instead of dragging a sullen glare over the floor, she was in a better mood than usual too. Maybe this wasn't an awful mistake after all, Jia thought, especially since the other woman hadn't asked a single question about the twins yet."So are you a