He has the silent treatment down to a science, Sora thought silently as she returned the pot to its silver tray. Suddenly the whole stetting seemed too intimate, too personal to bear… to be sharing coffee with him. Her body throb with an awareness that she’d never felt in her life.

Her eyes feasted on the movements of his long hands as he stirred the steamy liquid with a silver spoon. She lowered her lashes as that hand raised the cup to his mouth to sip the brew.

Still, she stole glances under those lashes, one of those sideway looks that probably told him a great deal about how intolerable she found her present position, how weak and vulnerable she felt.

There was no uncertainty to him. His will was harder than the stone. It was she who was meant to knuckle under. And she had.

His last spoken words echoed repeatedly in her mind. I never repeat a command. He didn’t have to repeat anything when he had the power to enforce his will by sheer mental dominance. Sora ground her teeth. She was seated again. This time closer to him. I’m an idiot! She thought. The stress showed in her behaviour, not in his.

Sora flashed him a hateful look, deeply resenting his intrusion into the wonderful little world of success she’d created for herself. By her reckoning, they should be meeting as equals. Then why did she feel so outclassed and inadequate? Why couldn’t she drag her eyes away from him? Resist watching lean taned fingers touch an inanimate object and subdue the longing that his touch would become personal? Hell, she’ probably jump out of her skin if he sis touch her!

He set this cup down without a single chink of china. “Are you naturally this high-strung and anxious, Miss Kang?”

“Are you asking me if I am type A personality? Praise-oriented, eager to please and overactive?”

“No. I am asking if your anxiety s ruling your behaviour. Can you not relax knowing that you are safe from all harm at this moment?”

“Am I?” Sora asked bluntly. “Am I truly safe here? Can you answer that?”

“Yes, of course I can. Can you be specific in the danger perceive?”

“Well, let me put it this way, I am not worried about bombs falling on my head and blowing me sky-high.”

“I see.” His eyes locked with hers.

“I see.” His eyes locked with hers.

Those black orbs pulled with the strength of an electromagnetic field. She realized at the moment she shied away, she gave more ground than she’d already surrendered. She tried to recapture her advantage with words. “If that is so, then it shouldn’t bother you to leave.”

“You will get used to my presence better if I remain.”

“Why should I? Our association is temporarily. We won’t meet again once this crisis is over.”

“You will not insist to coming to my country when you deliver your next plane, S.R. Kang?

“The deal is off. You just said so and I agreed.”

“What I really said is your plane does not work.”