Victoria closed the file she just finished signing and puts in on top of the pile of already finished ones, she stretched her back in her chair and leans back to close her eyes for a minute and then turns her chair around to face the floor to ceiling arched windows that were bordered with Victoria style moldings. She sighs when she saw how dark it was, she would have loved to look out and watch the lush park just across the street of their four story building that now houses Cravings & Co.

The building had belonged to their family for generations; it was one of the few buildings in Seoul with a Victorian architecture. It was once a bank and then it was turned into an art gallery before it housed law firms in the last twenty years. After the lease expired last year, Miranda decided to use it as the headquarters for her new company. The first two floors were used as showrooms and test kitchens with a restaurant on the main floor facing the park while the rest of the second floor is where some of the new products are produced in a small scale. The last two floors are where the offices are located. The roof top was turned into a green space with gazebos surrounded by plants and flowers.

Victoria lets out a slow breath and turns the chair back to face the desk, she still has two more documents to look at before her day was finally over, she was looking forward of dropping by her shop before heading for home. With Miranda overseas, as the COO, she is the boss. Victoria is still not used to being referred to as ‘President’, she is still taken aback each time she is called that title, she smiles at the memory of Miranda turning pale when she was referred to as Chairman Lee.

“President.”

She looks up to see her assistant walk in, she sighs; she can’t seem to make the woman drop the honorifics even when she said it was okay to call her by her first name.

“What is it, Ah Young?” she looks back down and signs the last document.

“Mr. Horvejkul is here.”

Victoria must have looked surprised because her assistant suddenly looked panicked, “He said he is here to pick you up for dinner.”

Victoria looks down at her watch, it read seven o’clock. Damn the man is punctual. “Oh yes, right.” Victoria nods, “I forgot.” She sighs and stands up, “These are done.” she hands the files to the young woman, “Call it a day. I will see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am. Have a good evening.” Ah Young bows and walks out of Victoria’s office.

Victoria smoothes down her hair and went to her washroom to splash water on her face and put on lip gloss, she takes a deep breath when she looks up at the mirror, she psyched herself to calm down and after making sure that she was put together enough she walks out to find Nichkhun in her office peering at a painting over the couch. She stops in her tracks and her hand went up to her chest. He noticed her and grins, “Ready?”

Victoria didn’t trust herself to talk so she just nods, she picks up her coat and purse and walks toward him, she clears , “I wasn’t expecting for you to show up on the dot.” She says as she stops in front of him.

Nichkhun smiles as he looks down at her, “I was able to get out of work earlier than usual,” he shrugs and then offers his arm to her.

“Ah I see.” Victoria replies and takes the offered arm and allows him to guide her out of the office. She greets each and every personnel who bows at the sight of her.

Nichkhun chuckles at the uncomfortable expression Victoria has on her face every time someone bow and greets her, she seems to cringe each time she is called ‘president’, but he was impressed that she knew everyone by name. At the lobby Victoria smiles at the security personnel and wished him a good evening to which the older man did the same to them. He walks her out the building and leads her to his car. She says a polite thank you when he assists her into the passenger seat.

As soon as Nichkhun closed the car door and hurries to the driver side, Victoria closed her eyes and took two deep breathes and prepared for what’s going to happen next. She gave him a small smile as he got on, she buckles her seat belt and sat back, making sure that she had allotted enough space in between them.

“How was work?” he asks as he puts the car into gear and maneuvers the car to join traffic.

“Okay, I was able to finish a lot so it was good.” Victoria says before glancing at him briefly, “I think I am getting used to it, just like what Unnie said, it becomes easier and I am actually enjoying it.” She pulls out her phone when it buzzed, she saw a text message from Krystal telling her that she is going to have dinner at Seohyun’s, she quickly types her reply and sends it before looking up. He was quiet.

“How was yours?” she really didn’t want to ask but she was afraid of silence.

“It was fine,” he says with a sigh, “We had gotten a few contracts for the new store in Ilsan. It was same as usual, tiring but rewarding.” He glanced at her and found that she was looking out of her window, he sighs in frustration. He wants her back, desperately. He wants to talk to her, really talk to her and get her to be involved in his life again. It’s really frustrating for him when he tells her things and all she does is smile that small smile of hers that doesn’t even reach her eyes, or she shrugs her shoulders for nothing left to say. He opens his mouth and almost called her babe, he swallows the near mistake and takes a deep breath, “Are you hungry?” he asks instead.

Victoria nods, “A little bit.” She keeps her hands folded in her lap, “Where are we going?”

He suddenly smiles, “We are going to have Korean tonight, how does grilled meat sound?”

She finally smiles brightly, “Great!” she giggles, “Oh I haven’t had grilled pork belly in a long time!” her eyes danced in excitement. “And lettuce wraps! Yum!”

He laughs, “Well then that’s what we are going to have.”

“Oh! I’m excited!” she clasps her hands together and closed her eyes in pure bliss. Nichkhun risked a glance and smiles at the look in her face, finally he saw her again.

Nicholas was the topic for the evening, Victoria was telling him about his nephew in between bites, he laughs but he was just actually watching her, he nods and smiles and does the necessary reactions but he was actually not hearing all of it, he is guided by the look in her face as she tells him the stories animatedly.

She stops to make another lettuce wrap, her chopsticks hovering at the array of side dishes, “Rachel already decided to move out, she has gotten a lease at an apartment a few blocks away from the shop. We already told her she can stay with us but she wants to have her own place.” She looks up at him and nods, her eyes intense, “I understand her, but we are not really thrilled at the idea of Nicholas not being with us. Krystal begged her non-stop but Rachel was able to cajole her into agreeing in the end. She is really good.” She looks down again and folded her wrap and puts it in and chews. She reached for a napkin and wipes her hand. “Nicky is still going to stay with Naeun and Sulli during the day so he’s not really going to get confused and we made Rachel promise to call us if there was anything she needed help with.” She sips at her drink; she looks up at him to see him staring at her.

Vic