"Zaria!" He called after her.

This time, she could no longer hold in her annoyance. She tilted her head to glance at him indifferently. "I think your assistant is back. If you need anything, please tell her about it."

His brows knitted. He knew why she was acting this way. He also knew how Desmond had treated her, and he felt guilty to have been the cause of her suffering. "Zaria, I…"

"Mr. Preston, there's nothing for us to talk about." She interrupted coldly.

Seeing as she was suddenly polite with him, he swallowed a gulp and blocked her path. "There is a reason why I had to do that."

"What's the reason?" She stopped to ask, even though she knew that it was going to be a ridiculous one.

Liam glanced at the door to Desmond's office and frowned. "I can't tell you yet."

"Then get out of my way." She was annoyed. She had a lot of things to do and this man's presence was not making it any bearable.

"But I don't want you to be mad at me." He sighed. "Zaria, I promise to tell you the truth when the time is right."

Her lips unhurriedly curled into a sarcastic smile, her eyes full of ridicule. "I guess the so-called 'right time' is when you have managed to cook up a convincing lie, right? Mr. Preston, do you take me for a fool?"

Before he could say anything more, she pushed him out of her way, not caring that she could lose her job by doing so. Heaven knew how badly she wanted to beat him up.

…

For most of the morning, she was able to go on with work as though she had not stayed up almost all night and only slept for less than an hour.

However, when the side effects of the strong coffee she had drunk in large quantities started to kick in, she felt so tired that she was barely holding up.

In the meeting with Ava Sparks, she gave the wrong proposal and received an earful of scolding.

When she delivered the official invitation to Samantha's banquet, he couldn't stand her state anymore.

"Come here." He beckoned her over just as she prepared to leave and gulp down a cup of double espresso.

She paused in her tracks and turned back to him. "Is there something wrong, sir?"

He opened a drawer and took out a pair of keys, then slid it over to her.

She glanced at the keyholder and knew that it was the key to his sleeping chamber. "Would you like your chamber to be cleaned up for you to take a nap?" She guessed, preparing to call someone to do it.

"Go to sleep." He ordered.

She frowned when his words sunk in. "I have a lot of work to do."

"You need to rest too." His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed and glanced at her. "Don't be stubborn. Go ahead."

She looked down at the key then at him. On one hand, she didn't want to be treated like a child. He kept her up the whole night when he wanted to and wanted her to sleep when he felt like she should? Who did he think he was?

On the other hand, she knew that she really couldn't hold on any longer. If she kept drinking coffee to keep herself awake, she would only be much more exhausted when the caffeine effect faded, and she would mess up her work.

In the end, she decided to prioritize the effectiveness of her work. She shrugged and slid the key back to him. "I will sleep in my car, then. There is enough space. If not, I can book a hotel…"

She was yet to say "room" when he gave her a resounding "No." As expected, she only had two choices; to sleep in his chamber or not at all. What a troublesome boss.

She could only grit her teeth and make her way to her boss's sleeping chambers. Why did this feel so wrong? She shrugged at the thought. Whatever. She needed sleep anyway. It didn't matter where she slept.

With that in mind, she closed the curtains and took off her shoes, then climbed onto the white large bed.

Probably because of her tiredness, she felt as though the bed was exceedingly comfortable. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it. The white, fluffy thing had Desmond's scent on it. She held it tightly between her arms and fell asleep with a smile on her face, instantly forgetting about the previous day's ordeal.