Two weeks had gone by and working for Pierce became easier for me. He was smiling more and I could finally start a conversation with him.

I found him an apartment suite just a few blocks from the office. It was a penthouse suite that was located in a 20-storey building. I hadn't checked with a real estate broker regarding the interior of the place but I already suggested it to Pierce via e-mail. He probably had visited the site over the weekend since he told me that he loved it. He told me that he had already signed the papers to own the apartment suite. He was scheduled to move within this week or the next week.

When Friday morning came, I woke up early to the smell of greasy bacon. I hurried out my bedroom door and saw Hugh stirring some eggs on the pan.

"Good morning, birthday girl!" he greeted excitedly.

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Hugh, my birthday is not until tomorrow. But I'm not complaining." I grinned as I took a seat on our kitchen counter. I was already full of energy with Hugh's effort to make me breakfast. He was the best in baking moist dark chocolate cake. Every year, he would make one for me. I was turning twenty-four tomorrow yet I still love the idea of birthdays and cakes.

"Vee, what's your plan for tomorrow?" Hugh asked as he served me a plate. I dug my fork onto the scrambled eggs and took a bite off some crispy bacon strips.

I slowly chewed on my food as I thought. "Hmm. I want to help you bake that cake for me. I'm not sure what to do after. Probably stay indoors and watch a movie."

Hugh rolled his eyes. "So typical of you. It's not going to happen. I'm taking you out."

"I don't want you to take me to a club," I groaned.

"You're going to have fun with me whether you like it or not." He smiled mischievously. I wasn't really fond of Hugh making plans for me. I was sure he would take me out to a club, like what happened last year. It was dark, noisy and people were sweating all over.

"Just take me to Disneyland, please," I begged him. It was after all every child's dream to go there.

He snorted. "Not going to happen. I'm taking you out to dinner and maybe get a few drinks after then go home. Deal?"

"Fine." I let out a sigh. I couldn't say no to my best friend. He was really trying. In fact, he was the only one that kept me from rotting inside this apartment.

He squealed a little too loudly. "Great! I have an outfit that you could borrow. It would go great for tomorrow night." I was too tired to argue with Hugh so I just smiled and sincerely thanked him.

I got ready for work and headed out. I was on time when I arrived at Alexander Corporation. Bob greeted me at the door. He had the morning shift this month so I hadn't had the time to catch up with him.

"Ms. Bailey!" someone called out from somewhere. I turned to my left and saw the receptionist, Brenda, waving at me. She signaled me to come closer to the reception desk.

"Hey, Brenda. Good morning." I smiled at her.

She smiled back and said, "Hi. I just want to let you know that there is a meeting at eight o'clock today."

I checked the wall clock that was above Brenda and saw that it was almost eight o'clock. Nobody told me about a meeting and it wasn't scheduled on my planner. Pierce must have called an emergency meeting—but I should have been informed first since I was his assistant! I was in a jumbled state. I just thanked Brenda and hurried my steps to the elevator.

I came to the elevator, pressed the button to the fortieth floor and then entered the lounge. Nobody was even waiting around and the area was quiet. I went inside my office and settled my things down. I prepared my planner, a pad of paper and a pen. It was for me to take down notes during the meeting.

As I entered the conference room, it was pitch black. Huh, I guess nobody was really here yet. I reached for the light switch and when the light was turned on, people jumped up at the same time and yelled, "SURPRISE!"

I yelped in shock but I was glued to my spot. Everyone who had become a friend or an acquaintance in this company through the years was here to surprise and celebrate with me. They sang me a happy birthday song and presented me a cake frosted with whipped cream and topped with fresh berries. On the cake was a lighted candle that would be for me to make a wish.

I beamed at everyone then proceeded to close my eyes as I thought hard for a wish. I came up with nothing. I just told the grantor of wishes that I was just really thankful for everything despite the instances that I had gone through. I lost a number of people in my life. Yet, I gained a lot through my experiences. It taught me on how to survive on my own and it made me stronger.

I opened my eyes and blew on the candle. Everyone clapped and wished me a happy birthday. I was startled when I heard poppers from behind me. Confetti was flying throughout the conference room and people were rejoicing. I quickly turned around and saw that it was Bob and Brenda who had popped them. They came in last since they had to lie to my face and lead me here to my surprise. It was very clever of them to act as if it was nothing.

I was too overwhelmed and happy. "You guys are sneaky! Thank you. I would hug each one of you but that would take a while. Group hug!" I initiated and they gladly cooperated.

"We all know that your birthday is tomorrow so we decided to celebrate it today since there would be no office then." Brenda beamed as she told me.

My eyes scanned the whole room to look at everyone. I genuinely smiled. "It's perfect. Thanks, everyone."

We stayed inside the conference room to chat and to eat the delicious cake that they gave me before heading back to work. I had set aside a slice for Pierce. I couldn't find him in his office. Turned out, he had arrived a little late after the mini-party my co-workers had thrown in the conference room.

"Sorry, I was late. Do I have any important calls or a scheduled meeting today?" Pierce asked me as he stood by my door. He was in business mode so a friendly chat with him was out of the question. I was initially going to offer him some cake but decided against it.

"No, sir," I answered back.

He nodded. "I'll be in my office then. I'm a phone away when something comes up."

I was kind of disappointed that he wasn't there when everyone surprised me. But it was to be expected. The two of us weren't really the best of buddies anyway.

I worked for the rest of the day, glad that tomorrow was finally the weekend.

The next morning, Hugh woke me up early to have my birthday breakfast in bed which composed of a tall stack of pancakes topped with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and chocolate chips. On the side were a few strips of bacon, scrambled eggs and a glass of orange juice. I wasn't even grumpy when Hugh nearly knocked me off my bed while he tried to wake me up.

"Hruuh, zesh ish sooo gurwwddd," I said whilst chewing food in my mouth.

"Don't talk when your mouth is full." He chuckled. He loved it when I praised his cooking skills.

"So, our first activity for the day is to bake your cake. Then later tonight, I'm taking you out. No excuses."

I just nodded in agreement as I continued to devour on my breakfast. After I finished, I went out of my room and put the tray of empty plate and glass in the kitchen sink. Hugh was now preparing the ingredients for my cake. I didn't bother changing into fresh clothes since we would be handling chocolate. I was in Hugh's large white tee and boxer shorts, my usual comfort clothes inside the apartment.

"Thanks for doing this, Hugh." I appreciated him and that made him smile.

"Anything for you, babe. Now hand me the stand mixer, will you?"

I got the stand mixer from the bottom cabinet and put it on the counter. While we worked, I started sharing what had happened yesterday at work. "Everyone from the office surprised me with cake. It wasn't chocolate though but the fresh berries were divine."

Hugh snorted. "Psssh, my cake is better than anyone else's."

"That's true though." I giggled.

We were now mixing the cake batter to be transferred into a baking pan. Hugh loaded it in the preheated oven after everything had been done. It would take about half an hour to bake. While waiting for the cake, Hugh taught me how to make ganache. It was just whipping cream and chocolate compound mixed together. I usually went for dark chocolate as it tasted better.

"Hey Vee, whatever happened to that immaculate-sex-god-of-a-boss of yours? You haven't talked about him in a while. Did you sleep with him already? Don't you dare keep that crucial detail from me," he started to question while he kept stirring the ganache to homogenously combine them.

I choked on my saliva and coughed for a whole minute before I responded with, "What? Are you crazy?" He was getting so ridiculous with his assumptions that I started laughing.

I didn't see it coming when I felt something cold on my left cheek. Hugh just flicked the rubber spatula with some ganache at me.

"Oh, no you didn't." I narrowed my eyes at him. Payback was definitely needed. I gave him a smirk when I came up with a plan of my own.

He saw right through me and backed up a few steps. Without warning, I picked a handful of chocolate sauce and threw it at him. It landed straight on his chest. I laughed as I tried to keep a safe distance from Hugh. Minutes later, we were now running around the kitchen with ganache all over the floor, laughing our asses off until we heard a knock on our door.

We stopped in our tracks and momentarily looked at each other.

"Are we expecting visitors today?" I asked Hugh as he was trying to get some chocolate off his hair.

"Uh, not really. Go answer the door," he replied.

I walked over the door and opened it slowly and peeked outside. Standing in all his glory was Pierce. He was wearing a smart casual outfit, a light grey dress shirt paired with black denim pants. His hair was a bit tousled since he wasn't wearing any hair gel. Here I was wide-eyed at his sudden intrusion, not forgetting the fact that I was only in a huge white tee and boxers with a touch of ganache spattered all over.

"H-hi," I greeted nervously. "What are you doing here?"

Pierce was eyeing me from top to bottom, taking in my appearance. He gave an amused look and was about to open his mouth when Hugh suddenly shouted from the kitchen.

"Babe? Who is it?"

When I turned my attention back to Pierce, his expression turned into something I couldn't comprehend. I saw something flash in his eyes as his jaw clenched and his lips formed into a thin line.

Hugh was now at the door, shirtless. He somehow managed to remove his shirt since I just threw a huge chunk of ganache on him.

"This is Pierce, my boss," I said meekly.

Hugh gave me a look that said he understood. He knew who Pierce was, the guy who had insulted me a few weeks back from the club. He was only aware that we were civil with each other. I hadn't gotten the chance to share that we were kind of friends now. But the fact that Pierce was on my doorstep still didn't add up. Why was he even here?

"Who are you?" Pierce asked Hugh in a sharp tone.

"I'm Hugh, I live with her. I would shake your hand but I have chocolate sauce on. It's nice to meet you," Hugh responded rather mockingly. He then put an around me protectively. I swiveled my head and gave Hugh a look that said what-the-hell-are-you-doing-acting-like-a-man. He reciprocated with a look that meant that he could handle this. We were now exchanging telepathic messages that involved me signaling Hugh to stay away when I heard Pierce abruptly clear his throat.

We turned our attention back to him.

"I think I should go." He started to walk off the corridor when I noticed that he was holding a rather large box.

"Wait!" I called out his attention. He looked back as I ran up to him. "Do you want to join us for lunch and eat cake? We kind of have a situation with the frosting but it won't take long." I didn't know what came over me that I invited him over. It was embarrassing enough that he had to see me in horrible clothing with chocolate all over as Hugh pretended to be a man, adding more injury to the situation.

"I don't want to intrude," he said in a clipped tone. He was about to walk away again but I wanted to ask why he decided to visit me at home.

"You clearly came here for a reason," I told him, his back facing me.

Pierce stilled as he lowered his head to look at the box that he was holding. He took out a small piece of paper that was stuck on the box then crumpled it and put it away in his jean pocket. He turned around and handed me the box.

"It's for you. Happy birthday," he said in monotone. With that, he walked away and disappeared out of our sight. I didn't even get the chance to thank him.

"So what's in the box?" Hugh spoke from behind and it startled me. We went back inside the apartment to clean up the mess we made. I put the box aside and helped Hugh clean the kitchen. We took a shower after we had cleaned up. Hugh called out a few moments later so we could have our lunch together.

But before I could walk into the kitchen, I saw the box sitting on our coffee table. Curiosity got the best of me so I decided to carefully lift the box lid and was astonished to see a red fabric. I picked it up and saw that it was a lovely red cocktail dress. The details were simple yet it showed elegance. He got me a beautiful present. I wondered how Pierce knew that my birthday was today. He wasn't around when my co-workers surprised me yesterday.

"That's gorgeous. You should wear it tonight." I didn't notice that Hugh was already standing beside me.

"I don't know. I haven't even thanked him," I whispered.

I was silent for a few seconds when Hugh interrupted my thoughts. "Vee, did you even see what I just did a while ago?" He became really thrilled all of a sudden.

I was now confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you not see his face? He was seething in jealousy!" he said too eagerly. "He was about to claw my face off when he saw that I was shirtless," Hugh laughed evilly, clearly happy with himself. He was finding amusement with what he was scheming about my love life.

"No, he wasn't." I tried to convince him.

"Tsk, you're so naïve. I can read men's body language. He's definitely not gay which was kind of sad since he's yummy and drop dead gorgeous. By the way, you never mentioned he was that good-looking," Hugh reprimanded and swatted my arm with force.

"Ow!" His hit stung.

He tried to let me come to my senses that he was right. How could he be right? Pierce didn't know me that well and we just started being friends, if you could even call it that. It was impossible. I knew I wasn't the type of girl he would date.

"He was just being friendly, I guess. He did apologize to me so I think we're kind of friends now," I added as I rubbed my arm from the throbbing sting I got from Hugh's large hand.

Surprised, he had formed an 'O' with his mouth. "What? And you didn't even tell me? I told you not to forget important details!" He was about to slap me again but I stopped him.

I just laughed and offered him to sit as I began filling him in with everything that had happened.