Sam follows Kris as the walk silently down the hall and waits at the elevator. Sam shuffles awkwardly, is she supposed to say something? Strike up a conversation? But what is she supposed to say? It’s not as if she can just chat to the mafia about the weather, but then again when she was with Jackson, he didn’t give her time to worry about things like this. This can’t go on she gives herself a small prep talk before opening to say something. At the same time Kris cleared his throat. “I forgot to ask,” He says looking Sam in her eyes, “Did you enjoy your drink?”

It takes Sam a few seconds to remember what he was referring to, the drink that he brought her the first time they crossed path. Sam nods awkwardly, murmuring a soft thank you. A silence falls as they get into the elevator. A few moments later Sam works up the courage to find her voice, “Why did you do that?” She blurts out, the surprised look on his face makes her panic as she quickly explains, and “I mean buy me the drink…”

A few moments of silence passes.

“I don’t know…” He says softly his eyes looking a bit confused as if he was trying to grasp the concept, “why did I do that?” he says softly, more to himself than anything else.

“I saw you standing outside, and I just had a feeling that I should.”

What Kris didn’t mention is how he felt a instant feeling of familiarly that he never felt before, like finding a piece of a puzzle you didn’t know you were missing.

Suddenly feeling exposed and embarrassed, he changed back to his usual demeanor of the power business man that he is.

“What are you expecting?” he asks after observing Sam shuffling awkwardly from one foot to another.

When Sam doesn’t answer, Kris repeats his question.

“What do you think we are going to be doing?”
“A mafia meeting?” Sam finally says, “Maybe…” she adds as an afterthought.

Kris burst out laughing< “Well then, you’re in for a real treat.” he says adding a wink that confused Sam, it was kind of lame but at the same time, made him a little less intimidating a maybe a little… cute?

In some ways they did go to a gathering of sorts, not in any way like the meeting she expected from people from the mafia. They all looked like rich people dresses in formal wear standing around looking somewhat important? This was the complete opposite of what Sam feels, although she has to admit she looks like she would fit in thanks to her dress and heels. She could feel a couple of gazes her way, but it was always someone new that she didn’t recognize. This new attention made Sam want to crawl into a little hole, but seeing as there was no hole currently available, she had to make do with hiding behind Kris’s tall lanky figure which wasn’t ideal but it worked will enough.

A few people came up to Kris to greet him and Sam was forced to adjust her posture and made sure to put on her best smile despite the circumstances. When Sam came out of her little self adjustment, she noticed that everyone was looking at her expectantly. She turns to Kris for help trying to convey with her eyes as Sam feels the internal panic raising. What did I miss she thought in her mind willing her message to be sent to Kris.

“Sam, this is Mr. Chen, the owner of the news broadcast station, CBX.”

Sam smiled pleasantly as they exchanged greetings, secretly wondering if CBX was a secret codename for their mafia group, like the way Wu corporations is a formal front for Kris’ business as Jackson had explained to her earlier in the day.

A few more people introduced themselves before Kris told her to wait for him, as he went to go and greet the owner of the event venue. Sam secretly thought if this was just another code for the big boss, I mean, why else would she not be allowed to go with when she was already introduced to so many other members of mafia, all members of some or other fancy company with strange names.

Sam felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to see a young man dressed in a smart suit, his face seemed vaguely familiar, maybe they were introduced earlier, there were too many faces to really remember. “Hello…” Sam says, not wanting to reveal that she actually had no clue who this person was.

“Blake, my name is Blake.” OK, Sam thought, she definitely didn’t meet him earlier, plus, I would have remembered his face Sam thought to herself now that she had more time to look at his features, that are definitely on the more perfect side. “You must be Sam who everyone is talking about, the girl who came with Kris. Blake leans in closely, “for the record, Kris never brings a girl.” he says lowly, almost like a whisper. He seems to study her face for a little while before a little tinkle in his eye sparked out of nowhere. “I can see why though…”

The two stands in silence with Blake still a little too close for comfort and Sam trying to get out of the situation.

“I’m Kris’ younger brother, Nice to meet you. I am sure we will be seeing each other quite often.”

After Blake left, Sam was left standing there alone once again with nothing much do until she spotted a familiar face, Jackson along with Leo.

“Sam!” Jackson says loudly, while Leo just silent acknowledges her with a nod. “I was looking all over for you.”
Sam could literally see Leo roll his eyes in his mind while his face remained expressionless, “Kris told us where exactly to find you.”

Jackson and Leo bring Sam up some stairs and away from the party. Jackson chatting loudly to everyone, while Sam was thankful that Jackson was filling up the silence, she also felt some sort of calm with Leo; who, like her, just listened to Jackson speak and giving the appropriate.

Sam kept walking mindlessly until she realized she was the only one still walking up she turned back to see Jackson and Leo walking away

“Wait in the room, Kris will come find you soon.”

This has got to be the wrong room, was Sam’s first thought when SAM walked into the room

Candles lit the dim room to just the right brightness that Sam could see but not enough to light every corner of the room. Rose petals on the plush carpet led toward one of the darkened corners that could only lead to one thing.

Author Note: ;)