Nadia hesitated for a moment, then started in his direction. "Did you read it?" She asked, almost breaking into a sprint to catch up with him.

"You don’t expect me to sign it without reading it, now do you, Hayden?" Dylan noticed how she had to put effort into walking in heels and matching his longer strides, but he didn't trouble himself with an act as simple as slowing down his pace.

"It's just a permission letter, Mr VanAssche" she informed. Her tone, to Dylan’s utter amazement, was dubiously too polite, "Brianna said I'll have to show it at the gates. I won't be allowed entry without your signatures on it."

"I'm aware" he stated, simply.

"So, you signed it?"

"No. Of course, not."

They entered the office and Dylan went to sit in his chair behind the massive desk. Nadia remained standing. Her stance indicated the only thing forcing her to stay put inside the room was the unsigned letter in his hand.

"Have a seat," Dylan gestured towards the chairs on the other side of the desk.

Nadia put on a polite smile and dismissed the offer with a wave of her hand, “It’s just a sign, Mr VanAssche. I wouldn’t want to take up any more of your precious time.”

"You're going to work for me, Hayden and I always try to squeeze some time into my busy schedule for my employees," he said, matching the professionalism in her voice. “Sit” he added, the word sounding more like a command than a request.

Nadia reluctantly settled in the chair. The professional front that she had donned only moments ago, started to crack as she sat under his steady gaze.

Dylan knew he should simply sign the letter and allow her to run out of his office. Brianna must have already informed her about all the things she needed to know about joining his company. He had nothing more to say to her. And yet, as she sat across from him, looking like she would rather be anywhere in this world than here, he knew he could not just let her walk out of his office.

Nadia Hayden was always trying to avoid him, always trying to run away from him. Even now sitting in front of him, she refused to look him in the eye. The files, neatly stacked to the left of his desk, were seemingly more interesting to her than his majestic presence.

“You have any plans for tonight, Hayden?” he asked, setting aside the permission letter and leaning back in his chair.

The question withdrew her attention from the files, back to him. Nadia tilted her head a little to the right and stared at him with suspicion as if trying to figure out the purpose behind the not-very-professional sounding question. Dylan held her gaze, allowing her an attempt to try and read his mind. He almost smiled at the irony. Unlike himself, she was an open book, written in shimmering ink in the simplest of words, for him to read.

Dylan had always had a sharp eye for reading people. Even as a child, knowing what was going inside someone’s head, by pure observation, had been a walk in the park for him. The skill had come in handy with his job and had developed over time, so much that it had started to feel like intuition. A little attention to actions and manners was what was required for him to figure someone out and he was hardly ever wrong about anyone. Precisely, he had been wrong merely twice. The first person was now lying six feet under the ground somewhere and the second was staring at him, possibly debating with herself whether to answer him honestly or with a lie.

"Tough question, huh?" He mocked.

"I do," Nadia spoke through gritted teeth, "I do have plans for the evening." Dylan gave a sarcastic nod. It was a lie.

"With who? Your boyfriend?"

"That, Mr VanAssche, is none of your-" Nadia took a deep breath and pressed her lips together, physically stopping the words from spilling out of her mouth. Clearing her throat, she continued in a much calmer tone than before, "I prefer to not answer that question."

“Don’t worry, Hayden, I’m not asking you out. We’re not there yet. But, considering you demanded my assistant to get the letter signed for you, it makes me wonder, what could be so important that you were ditching your new boss of a company you joined only moments ago.” Dylan noticed the quick change of emotions on her face. From annoyance, about him pressing the question about her evening plans; to embarrassment, for assuming he was interested in her any more than her job; to defiance, of his claim that she was trying to avoid him.

“Elyse said you were going to be in a meeting for the next three hours” Nadia defended herself.

“And you couldn’t wait?”

“For three hours?”

“You’d be surprised to know the lengths people go to for only a few seconds meet with me” Dylan bragged.

Even though he wanted to tease her, once again, about the pure, unfiltered joy and ebullience she had radiated at that cafe to meet him for the first time, he let go of it for once. Back then, he had told her she didn’t deserve it, without giving her a chance. But today, seeing the look on her face in Brianna’s office when he handed her the file, he realized how important this was for her, even after all these years, and he was not going to take that away from her just for some stupid jab.

“Could you please sign the letter, Mr VanAssche?” she asked, her tone passive-aggressive.

Instead of showing any interest in the permission letter that lay unattended on his desk, Dylan got up from his chair to walk to her. Earlier in the day when he had offered her to sit, she had refused to be anywhere near him and now as he went to sit down on the corner of his desk, even with the large distance separating them, she shifted back in her chair attempting to get away from him. Interesting, he thought, leaning in a little more only to irk her.

"For someone who didn't want to join the company only hours ago, aren't you a little too excited to get this signed by me now?" He picked up the letter from the table and ran his finger along the edges of the folded sheet of paper.

Nadia traced the movement of his fingers with her eyes, waiting anxiously for him to unfold the letter and scrawl his signature. She sighed when he kept looking at her. "You're the one who bought my company and asked for-"

"Ordered" he corrected her.

"Ordered" Nadia stressed the word, "for my transfer. Then, why are you not signing it now?"

She continued to stare up at him. The fieriness in her crystal blue eyes contrasted the feeling of serenity and calmness the colour usually invoked. Dylan decided to end her suffering. He had teased her enough for the day.

To say he didn't enjoy her little reactions to their banter would be an outrageous lie. He was always surrounded by people who would choose to hang themselves rather than being disrespectful by turning down his commands, not like he preferred it any other way; in fact, he would willingly offer to tie the knot of their ropes for them if they behaved any differently. But to know, this girl right here had no care for the power and authority he held was incredibly amusing. And for some inexplicable reason, he didn't mind it at all.

"You don't need it." He tossed the letter on the desk, discarding it.

Nadia dismissed his statement. She promptly leaned forward to grab the letter from the table and pushed it back in his hands, carefully avoiding any physical contact. "Brianna said I did."

"And I'm hoping you believe she is the highest authority here?" Dylan asked with great intrigue and interest.

The sudden emergence of a frown on her face indicated she did not want to answer that question but it was not that she had a choice. "No, Mr VanAssche. You are" she replied after a short pause, clearly not pleased by that fact.

"I thought so" he nodded, putting the letter away once again. "You'll get an access card at the gate when you leave. Just tell your name to the guards there. They already registered your vehicle for the parking facilities."

Nadia blinked at him. Several times. "Then why did you-?" She went on to ask, then took a deep breath and shook her head, expelling all her thoughts. "Never mind. Thank you for your time, Mr VanAssche." She stood up from her chair, eager to get away from him.

"Come, I'll see you out," Dylan said, standing straight himself. The disappointment that came with that suggestion on her face was evident and she made no efforts to hide it. "If you don't want to leave, we can stay here in my office all night. I don't have anything more planned for the day anyway."

That last part instantly made her move. Without further ado, Nadia walked out of the office. Dylan taciturnly led her out of the building.

Dusk had fallen and the afterglow following the already set sun covered the darkening sky with a veil of reddish-orange hue. Tall lamps all around the campus were lit up to indemnify what was going to be a moonless night.

Dylan noticed how Nadia's steps slowed as they walked through the headquarters compound towards the gate, outside which her car was parked. He followed her gaze and looked around the compound. Several armed guards were patrolling the area but they weren't the ones she was looking at. Her attention was captured by the tall buildings standing on either side of the main building they have walked out of. The structures were connected with well-lit sky bridges that shone brightly ahead of the dark sky in the background. There was a small smile on her lips as she took in the view, her eyes twinkling in the dark. Dylan realized she might have forgotten he was still standing there. He fell a step behind, allowing her to admire the empire he had built from scratch.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his guards were staring in his direction. A patroller started to come towards him but a slight shake of his head was enough to change the guard's mind. The others on cue looked away, resuming their patrol.

Dylan rarely ever strolled around the compound and his guards were not used to his presence here. Though there was a time when he had enjoyed walking around this area but that had been a long time ago. With the ever-increasing work, he barely had any time to spare and over the years, the headquarters he once admired had become an ordinary part of his life. Now watching the girl before him, looking at those buildings with the same admiration reminded him of all those times in the past where he had done the same.

"I can show you around if you want," he said, finally breaking the silence.

Nadia stopped in her tracks. The smile vanished from her face but Dylan was amused by the fact that she genuinely considered the offer for a brief moment before shaking her head and continuing towards the gates.

"There is a new one," she pointed at the smallest building to the right.

"It was added last year," he said, not going into details. "So, you really did stop keeping tabs on me."

"I never kept tabs on you."

"And yet you know this one wasn't here before" Dylan teased.

"I just happened to see a picture of this place in the newspaper a long time back. Very, very long time back. And because I have an excellent memory I remember not seeing this one in there. That's how I know." Nadia tried her best to convince him but it did nothing but make him chuckle at her futile attempt. She could never get away with a lie.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Hayden."

They had reached the gates and Nadia hurried towards the guards. Telling them her name, she waited as one of them went inside his booth to fetch her card.

"Should I get your car for you, Mr VanAssche?" The other one asked. Dylan gave a nod, making the man instantly head towards the underground parking.

When the first guard returned with the access card, instead of handing it to the girl, he offered it to his boss. Dylan took it and the guard went back to the booth.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Hayden" he extended his hand to offer her the card. The plastic card was held between his middle and index fingers.

Nadia stared at the card but didn't take it. When she glanced up at him did he realize she was suspicious he was going to pull the trick, that he had done earlier with the permission letter, again. Dylan smiled. In all honesty, he definitely was going to. But, when she finally made up her mind and took the card from his fingers, he let her have it.

"You won't see me tomorrow," Nadia said with absolute confidence. Not wanting to spend another second with him, she walked out of the gates and to her car.

As promised, he didn't see her the next day, or the next month, or even the one after that. Apparently, Nadia Hayden had mastered the art of avoiding her boss.