"Shit, shit, shit," Mia cursed, wincing painfully after stubbing her little toe on the chair that was by the desk in her room.

Suddenly it didn't seem like such as great idea having a chair in your room, or for that matter anything that could become a painful obstacle whilst you're trying to get ready for work.

Usually Mia never had to rush about. No. She was always on time, with her unbreakable schedule and routine. Everything was done according to a time, so that she could leave the flat, catch the right train, and always be in the office at least fifteen minutes before the start time,

The idea of being late was rather anxiety-inducing to Mia, one which she'd rather not go through.

It wasn't really something anyone else in the office cared about. Of course if it was an hour past the usual start time, then you'd be questioned if you're not at your desk. In case you were in some kind of accident.

However, Mia was the kind that took punctuality very seriously, and did not want to break her pristine record - which only she really kept track of. Well maybe except for one other person.

Swiftly kicking the chair that she felt attacked her little toe, Mia went to grab her coat that she'd thrown on top of it the night before.

Getting ready in the early mornings was never an easy process. To solve that, Mia would keep her outfits ready beforehand - mostly because she didn't want to wear the same thing for consecutive days.

Mia quickly went to her dresser, grabbing the earrings that were on top it and putting them on, as well the two rings she liked to wear.

Running her fingers through her hair, she looked in the mirror and deemed it okay enough. She'd found there benefit in having the curly mess of hair, since it saved time on doing anything to it. Of course if she was trying to look nice, she'd use a curler and making it 'pretty-curly', but for a work day, normal was suitable enough.

She the grabbed her bag, darting out of her room and then into the living room.

Apparently both her flatmates were asleep, or it was more likely that one of them was out on a run and the other was still sleeping. Yeah, that was the more likely scenario.

Usually, Mia would wake her flatmate Nicole up, but right now she didn't have that kind of time, since waking her up took forever.

Rushing through the living room, Mia tried to be careful not to stub her toe on anything else until she reached the hallway.

"Shoes," she muttered, remembering her lack of footwear.

Mia grabbed her pair of trainers, putting them on quickly and tucking in the laces inside. She figured she could just tie them on the train, hoping they wouldn't come loose and she didn't trip on her way.

Heels weren't exactly the most comfortable pairs of shoes as it was, and then to be sprinting to work during rush hour was a nightmare in itself. She'd rather not be wearing shoes during that.

Mia always wore a more comfortable pair of footwear on her way to and from work, and then just changed at her desk - mostly to keep up with appearances.

The top executives wouldn't exactly be too pleased if she were roaming around wearing trainers in their pristine building. They'd probably give her a hard frown that would cause a permanent wrinkle on their faces.

One final look the mirror, Mia nodded, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and then darted out the flat bolting off in the direction of the train station before she missed the train to work which would get her there on time.

The run to the train station was something Mia felt was similar to how marathon runners feel during the last mile. It was also why Mia didn't really run too much.

She'd managed to get down the station stairs just as the train was on the platform, and jumping into the carriage, Mia felt victorious - then she realised she had a whole train ride before she'd get to work.

'I'm going to be so late,' Mia thought, despite the probability being that she was only going to be maybe a fifteen minutes late at the most.

Whilst on the train Mia kept trying to re-calculate and refresh her route, looking on the maps at what time, ideally, she would reach the office.

When it would even be five minutes past her start time, Mia was growing more and more anxious, the lateness not settling well with her.

To anyone else, work was work. Something you'd do begrudgingly for that pay check at the end of the month, however it meant more to Mia.

After graduating from university, the top of her class and winning an award for her academic performance, Mia knew that she wanted to be part of the business world.

She wanted to be someone that would be working within the city, in one of big, tall buildings, that would hurt your neck when you tried to look up to the very top.

There was something about those buildings that screamed success and Mia wanted to be a part of that, to make something of herself. To be independent. Someone who could stand on their feet proudly.

Of course, there was also the side of the working that Mia wanted to be a part of that included, the whole wearing fancy outfits and looking all professional, heels against shiny floor.

She'd begun applying for jobs towards the end of final university year, and carried on to do so after her graduation.

At first she was unfazed by not being able to secure a job. The way Mia saw it, she was only a graduate with barely any experience under her belt, except an internship at a small company whilst at university, and then part-time experience in retail.

Ideally, this probably wasn't the kind of person or experience that executives, of those tall buildings Mia wanted to work in, were looking for.

It slowly started to become clear that they'd rather have a graduate with all the worldly experience to start working for them at an entry-level job. A job that could be done by someone, who had no experience, only if they were given the training. But who would bother for that? Apparently no one, according to the applying she was doing.

After months of job searching, looking around, applying, nearly resorting to begging, Mia finally managed to secure a job in the accounts department for Carter.

Everyone who kept track of recent business news, would immediately recognise the company.

Carter is a leading international infrastructure group. They were one of the largest in the country, and were always ranked among the top five in other countries they operated within.

They managed to reach new heights through their infrastructure investments, developing and financing new projects. Their expansion of their portfolio, monopolising smaller companies. Part of their business also included construction services and support, including maintenance and management.

Their name was always included in various business magazines and they were highly successful. Mia always read about the company online in various business magazine, their tactics were something to be studied.

It had been around three year now, since Mia first started working at the company, within the accounting department, under Harry Nelson.

Harry, was the sweetest old man, and the head of the department. He essentially took pity on Mia when he gave her the job, since she ended up having an emotional breakdown in the middle of her interview.

The reason for said meltdown, was due to it being her fifth interview within a month, and she assumed like the other ones, this would also be going nowhere. Like her life was.

Fives interviews within a month were the most she'd ever had, since most of the time she basically got rejected without even getting to that stage.

It was hard for her to basically be failing at this, when Mia was the kind of girl who soared at what she did. She was always the 'smart one'. She wasn't naturally smart, but worked incredibly hard to get the grades.

All Mia wanted, was to be given a chance but at that time it was proving to be so hard.

It seemed like everyone was expecting something else, something more, and it kept hurting that she wasn't meeting those expectations, time after time. It let to her breaking down in front of Harry in the middle of the interview, when she thought she wasn't going to make it.

However, what she didn't know was in that moment, Harry saw something in her. Past the blubbering mess in the interview, he saw someone who was trying. Trying very hard.

He knew that she wasn't exactly qualified for the job role he was looking for, and but there was just something about Mia that he felt was right fit at the company.

Ideally, she wouldn't be getting a second interview for that job role, but after seeing her breakdown in his office like that, Harry decided to give her a shot. He carried on to take interviews for that role, but still decided that he wanted to give Mia a chance. He wanted to help her.

He was quite content with his decision at the time, and now three years later, she still had yet to prove that he was wrong.

Still on the train, Mia felt like she should send Harry a message, telling him she'd be late, but then also knew that he'd probably laugh at this. It was only her that cared.

Some agonising moments later, which included some red-signal delay, the train had finally reached her stop and Mia rushed out.

It was a true workout, running up those stairs at the station, at the end of it she was climbing two steps at a time just to hurry up.

'Damn you, you stupid, stupid, stairs,' Mia cursed with each step. 'Maybe it's time I join Chloe in those early-morning runs of hers.'

Looking at her watch, Mia saw that she only had five minutes to reach work on time.

It was blessing that the office building was a three minute walk from the station, and if she ran fast enough, she would be in with a least a quarter of a minute to spare - that was still a win.

'I just need to tap the card on the door,' Mia thought to herself.

It was hard to run in the city during rush hour and also remain polite. Mia mumbled a quick apology whenever she bumped into someone, but this was her personal record and she didn't want to break it.

This was mid-January weather that that she was trying to run in as well. The Sun had risen, however the sky still looked a little murky. It wouldn't snow, but there was this looming threat of rain that always present.

Weaving through the crowd of people that were also trying to get to work, probably not in such of a desperate need like Mia, she'd finally reached the Carter building.

The building looked like it was sky-high standing at the bottom. The glass panels that covered the building always seem to catch the light, and after the sun went down, it would cause the sun rays to gleam, making the building look like it was made of shimmering diamonds.

Carter owned six floors of the building, which was not cheap at all. Trying to rent out just one floor would cost millions, yet they permanently owned six of them.

Each floor was allocated to a certain department. There was IT, Finance, Accounting, Marketing and Sales, and then two floors for the main executives and their assistants.

There was another branch just outside the city, but they were more responsible for other things, like help desk and such.

Pushing her way through the revolving door, Mia entered the lobby, seeing her favourite security guard standing there and waiting for her.

The guard, Moses, was someone she'd always see in the mornings and someone who was also aware of her usual early-bird timings. He was always a friendly face to see in the morning.

"Good morning, Miss Mia," he greeted her, tipping his hat as he usually does, only to her.

"Morning, Sir Moses," Mia greeted him back cheerfully, doing a little curtsy in the process, despite her little time constraint.

This was a usual occurrence between the two and Mia would rather be late, than rude to him like that.

Moving towards the electronic barrier, she leaned down and tapper her ID card that was hanging from her lanyard. Mia always thought in the mornings, it always saved time to wear the lanyard.

As soon the glass barrier opened up for her, Mia quickly walked towards the set of lifts, and saw that there was one with the doors already open.

Mia then ran towards it, before it could close on her.

"Hold the door, please!" She called out, hoping someone was actually in there to stop the doors from closing and that she wasn't just shouting at no one.

Her prayer were answered, as she saw a hand shoot out in between the doors, keeping them from closing completely.

Mia quickly slipped in, thanking the person who helped her as she entered. She didn't even look at them, not when she was trying to catch her breath.

All that running made her throat feel dry and tight, making her realise how really unfit she was.

"What floor?" A deep voice then asked her from behind, cutting through the silence of the lift.

Mia froze. That voice. She knew that voice.

Reluctantly, she turned around to see the last person she expected to be in the lift with her.

'Of course. Of course, he'd be in this lift with me. Clearly I'm shit out of luck this morning.' Mia thought, but wouldn't say unless she wanted to lose her job.

"The 15th floor," Mia mumbled, and quickly turned around, facing the lift doors once again.

She didn't particularly like being in a lift right now, the confined space seemed a lot smaller than it was moments ago.

There stood in the lift with her, was Sebastian Carter. The son of Richard Carter, CEO of the company

Sebastian was someone that Mia knew all too well, and wish that she didn't at the same time. Being in the lift alone with him, caused her more anxiety than being late.

'They need bigger lifts', she thought to herself, wanting the lift to pick up speed.

Mia heard the small beep sound made, and knew that he'd selected the number of her floor, all she had to do now was wait.

Sebastian leaned back against the bannister of the lift, with his phone in one hand and the other in his trouser pocket.

He couldn't help but avert his eyes from his phone and instead look at the girl standing in front of him in the lift, unconsciously observing her.

His eyes roamed over her form, taking in his appearance. The first thing noticed was her long, curly, dark hair, that cascaded down her back. The strands were like a waterfall, tumbling down over her shoulders. The darkness of her hair, clashed against the deep red colour of her long coat.

Since her back was towards him, and the way she quickly turned, Sebastian didn't quite manage to see her face properly, only catching a glimpse and briefly seeing the glasses.

He then glanced down, the corner of his lip tugged upwards noticing the footwear she'd chosen. A pair of white trainers in a corporate place like this. They weren't knew that was clearly from the worn out look of it, however against the pair of grey trousers, they were bright enough.

It was clear enough that she was an employee of Carter, however Sebastian couldn't seem to place her in his mind.

She was just another person in the lift, he shouldn't really care, but found a little amusing that rather than make small-talk or even look in his direction, she seemed more hell-bent on staring at the lift doors.

'That's a first,' he thought. Usually people would speak to him, just to make small talk if anything. But not this girl.

As Mia stood in the lift, she tried to keep her focus on the lift doors, watching thin line in between it, from which she could see a slight light emit every time a floor went by.

She began to count each time she saw the light, standing as straight as she could, clutching her bag so tight in her hands, her muscles feeling so tense.

Mia could practically feel his eye son her, but refused to look back since she was well aware of whom they belonged to, and did not want to set herself up for that unwanted interaction.

As soon as she counted to fourteen, Mia clutched her bag tightly in her hands, knowing the lift was about to reach her floor.

Finally, a sound from the lift echoed and the door opened, albeit in a very slow motion, that irked Mia,

She quickly rushed out, not bothering to look back, since only cared about getting in on time and also to get out of that suffocating box.

Whilst Mia scurried out the lift, Sebastian watched her movements rather closely, not being able to help himself.

His lips tugged upwards into a small smile, watching her behaviour. At one moment, it seemed as if she would wedge herself between the lift door, before it could even completely open.

He wasn't really used to someone wanted to get away from him so fast.

Then a thought came over him, and he shook his head. 'Definitely a goody-goody,' Sebastian assumed, having a feeling her skittish behaviour could have something to do with the time.

As the lift doors closed once again, Sebastian went to look at his phone, however just as he glanced down, his eyes managed to spot something on the lift floor where the girl was stood before.

He crouched down and noticing the little shiny object just laying there. It was a small earring. It had a rose-gold plating, with a flowery design, incredibly delicate in his hold, with a small bead dangling off the bottom.

Sebastian seemed taken with it for a moment, examining it, as if he'd never seen one before.

The sound of the lift doors opening once again, brought him back to reality and he got to his feet immediately.

He didn't really know what to do with the earring, it wasn't his, he shouldn't care, but couldn't seem to part with it either.

Slipping it within his blazer pocket, he thought to give it into the reception later, in case someone was looking for it.

Walking out the lift, Sebastian straightened his coat and put on his usual, more stern face once again, forgetting his amusement of the girl in the lift.