Defence

63

"Who?" the woman asked as if taken aback then moved her eyes about before she nodded. "The CEO?"

"Oh...is that what he goes by here?" Victoria wondered aloud.

The woman stared at her with a strange expression as if she couldn't believe that Victoria didn't know that.

The woman smiled again, "Do you have an appointment with him? Can I have your name and what you're here for?"

"Oh..." Victoria leaned away from the desk, "I'm..."

"Victoria!" a voice shouted from behind.

Spinning around she spotted Donghae just walking in through the doors. A happy smile on his face. With no desire to destroy it Victoria smiled in return.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I wanted to see you," Victoria told.

She noticed his face brighten up. Good or bad?

Pressing her lips together she went on, "Can we talk outside?"

- - - - -

Taecyeon walked in through the doors pulling at his jacket with a neat, clear smile on his face that definitely defined his good mood. Once he stopped by the front desk the receptionist jumped up in her seat.

"You just missed it!" she bellowed.

"What did I miss?" he wondered.

"A woman just came in for the CEO!" she excitedly told. "She was so pretty too! Definitely very different from his former fiancée."

"Is that all?" he became uninterested.

"By different, I mean really different. She didn't even call him by his general label, CEO. Instead she called him by his name and acted clueless."

Taecyeon frowned, "Who came in for him?"

"I think the CEO called her Victoria." the receptionist pointed a finger to her chin in thought.

Taecyeon turned around to look around then turned back to her, "You said she just came in?"

She nodded in reply. Without an explanation he darted out the doors and ran halfway down the block toward the lot. Turning here and there he didn't spot them anywhere. His heart raced. Why did Victoria come to see Donghae? And of all people, why him?

- - - - -

They should have taken the car instead of walking so silently along the sidewalk. The quietness of their breaths were killing Victoria while she thought hard of how to start the conversation. A usual small talk was boring and led to no where. It would just turn the atmosphere awkward.

They passed some window shops then a bakery and donut store. Amidst the crowd of a traffic of people Victoria noticed lovers sharing laughs, holding hands and crossing the street side by side. On instinct she turned to find Donghae's attention elsewhere other than the couples. She wondered, then, if he had a yearning to do the same.

"You asked me if it's possible to love two people at once. Why would you? Isn't one person enough?" Taecyeon's voice rang in her ears.

Why had she ever bothered asking him such a thing? She never knew he'd put it into thought. She never thought he'd ever ask her that and cause her to doubt herself.

"Lets sit here," Donghae's voice broke into her thoughts. "I don't know how long you plan on walking but I'm getting tired."

Victoria stopped to realize that they were on an empty trail laid out with bricks in the ground. It curved around the corner and she couldn't see where it went anymore because of the white fence winding along the area. Thick and short green bushes grew inside the fenced area as well as some short stubby trees. She had never seen the area before. Sitting down she glanced at the identical bushes facing them.