Steven walked into his office and found Mr. Seh waiting for him. Without a greeting, he took his seat behind his desk and faced the older man, “How did you get in and why are you here?” he asked snidely.

Mr. Seh ignored Steven’s behavior and coolly said, “We still have unfinished business to discuss and I’m not the kind of person to stall.”

Steven knew what that unfinished business was and said, “It’s about Charmaine and Raymond isn’t it?” He saw the slight nod of Mr. Seh’s head and asked, “You want me to keep my mouth shut don’t you?”

Mr. Seh smiled in answer and said placately, “Telling them the truth is useless now so why bring it up at all.”

Steven stared at Mr. Seh as he slowly said, “It won’t be useless if they still have feelings for each other, which I think they do.”

Mr. Seh looked at Steven with beady eyes and declared roughly, “Charmaine does not have feelings for him! She never did! She was young and naïve and played right into his hands.”

“Is that what you want to believe?” Steven asked calmly. “You would rather hurt your daughter than to let her be with someone who you feel is not good enough for her or who you don’t like. Why do you hate him so much?”

Mr. Seh was silent for a moment. Dismissing Steven’s latter question, he said, “If you tell them it won’t do you any good either.”

Steven shook his head and said soflty, “It will ease my conscience. What you did to Charmaine was horrible and I regret taking part in it. I’ve been regretting it every single day. What makes me feel worse is that after the way I treated him in the past, Raymond is willing to let bygones be bygones and still offer his help to me.” He looked accusingly at Mr. Seh, “What did you do? You turned your back on me!”

Mr. Seh stood up to look directly at Steven, “Let me remind you of something: Raymond is not someone you want as an enemy. If you tell Raymond the truth, do you really think he would continue to support you and your company and not get back at us for what we did?”

Steven realized the truth in Mr. Seh’s words and now had doubts on whether telling the truth is a good idea after all. He had read many articles on Raymond throughout the years and they all claim one thing about him: that he was ruthless and can be hateful at times. With that in mind, Steven debated on what to do now.

Mr. Seh saw the hesitancy on Steven’s face and knew that he had succeeded in coercing him to keep quiet. He didn’t care if Raymond knew, it was Charmaine he was concerned about. If she ever found out what he did to her and her baby, she would never forgive him. He walked towards the door then turned to look at Steven, “Think about what I said,” he said firmly, already knowing that Steven would not reveal the truth.

Steven didn’t say a word as he watched Mr. Seh leave his office. He slumped down on his chair, torn between doing the right thing and saving himself.

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Charmaine walked out of the elevator of her office building and was surprised to see Kevin, with his hands behind his back, standing by the revolving doors. He smiled gleefully when he saw her and waited for her to approach him. “Are you waiting for me?” she asked.

Kevin nodded vigorously then brought his hands forward to extend a bouquet of red roses to her, “I bought these for you,” he said shyly.

Charmaine was pleasantly surprised by the gift, “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

Again, Kevin smiled, his face turning a dark shade of pink. He fidgeted with his fingers as he looked at her, “I-I was wondering if y-you’re available to have dinner with me tonight?” He saw the puzzlement on her face and quickly said, “Kenneth has a business meeting tonight and you’re the only other person that I know here.”

Charmaine heard the loneliness in his voice and decided to accept. Besides, he was very nice and she did enjoy his company the last time. “I’m free and starving. Where do you want to go?”

Kevin’s face lit up with joy at her answer, “I found this cute Japanese Restaurant,” he said as he turned around and took a step and accidently banged his head against the glass walls of the building.

“Are you alright?” Charmaine rushed to his side and asked as she placed a hand on his now red forehead.

He flinched at her touch and brought his own hand up to his forehead, “I’m sorry for being so clumsy,” he said shyly, rubbing softly at the injury.

Charmaine giggled then looked at him with a big warm smile, “Why are you apologizing?”

Kevin’s shuffled his feet as he looked down, “I-I don’t know.”

“Does it still hurt?” she asked as she peered closely at the bruise, her face only a few inches from his.

Kevin inhaled the fresh scent of her and felt his face heat up by their close proximity. With his heart thundering loudly against his chest, he said awkwardly, “N-no. It doesn’t hurt anymore. Shall we go?”

Charmaine gave him another warm smile and teased, “Only if you promise to watch where you’re going.”

Kevin chuckled at her quip, then with polite courtesy stepped aside for her to proceed him, “After you.”