Bitter and Sweeter

The Charity Ball

Khalid's company was rather...fun size. 

Still, the sea-blue, glass building stood out in this part of the city. As expected from his gentle personality, white lilies surrounded the building. 

George followed close behind me as we entered the building. 

The people here looked much more relaxed. 

Sneakers, t-shirts, jeans...casual clothing?

Some were seated light-heartedly around the couches. Others were gathered around offices. Was I in the right building?

I walked to the receptionist's desk where a young lady sat. She wore a tie-die shirt that had a big smiley face printed on it. I hated it. 

"Hello!" She said brightly. Emily would love her.

Her name tag read Yara. 

"How may I help you?"

I put my palms on the desk. 

"Get me Khalid," I wanted to say. But it was obvious from the atmosphere that either Khalid was lenient with his employees, or they did things behind his back. I'm going to choose the former. I can't be labeled as a bitch by his employees.

She pointed at me. "Wait- aren't you that girl from the news? Julian Montgomery, right?"

My pinky twitched as I forced a smile. "Is Khalid here today?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

I chuckled. "Appointment? No, I don't make those."

"Well, he's available on appointment only, sorry." She pulled a card from her desk and slid it towards me. "If it's important just shoot an email to the address listed, and we'll try to get back to you."

I slid the card back over to her. "I'm sorry, I don't speak peasant. You're going to have to translate-"

"-Julian!" A familiar voice called from behind. 

I froze. 

"Mister Abel! We were just talking about you." Yara waved. 

I turned around, and sure enough, Khalid was standing a few feet away from me. His hair was still pulled back into cornrows, but he wore a navy blue suit today. There was a look of surprise in his eyes and dare I say...relief. 

An older man stood behind him. 

He made his way to me. "What are you doing here?"

My heart was still drumming in my chest. "Uh- I just came to check on you, you know, to make sure everything was okay."

"You two know each other?" Yara asked.

"Oh, Yara, this is Julian. She's a good friend of mine."

I hid my clenched fists. Just friends?

"Ahh," Yara nodded. She winked at him. "She's pretty."

I cringed. "You let your employees speak casually to you?"

He looked around and nodded. "As you can see, I've tried to create a very comfortable atmosphere here. It boosts morale."

"Oh."

We stood in awkward silence for a bit.

"Come on." He grabbed my wrist and led me outside. 

"Where are we going?" I asked hastily.

"Away from here!" He whispered.

I turned around and held out my free hand to George so he wouldn't follow us.