Only God knows what's happening inside their heads as the vice president and his secretary are currently pressed up against each other. Alone. In his own house.

Until (Y/n) decides to break the silence and awkward moment.

"I- I'll get another ice pack for you, sir."

What a lame excuse to get out of the situation. But at least it's better than nothing, ....right ?

The woman carefully crawls off from Levi's grip and heads to his kitchen to retrieve fresh ice cubes in order to replace the ones inside the previous bag that have already melted. She already memorized every room in his house, after all, she's been here dozens of times already for work purposes. In the process of replacing the ice cubes, (Y/n) can't help but let out a shaky breath, recalling their moments in the living room.

She collects herself, and puts a smile on her face as she head back to the living room.

Putting on her professional image as usual.

With the new ice pack on her hands, she stood with a perfect straight pose in front of her boss, "Mr. Ackerman, here's your-"

Oh.

The vice president Ackerman has drifted off to the dreamland.

His 'considered short' body lies on the sofa. Immobile. (Y/n) sets aside the ice pack, and slowly sit on the unoccupied space beside her boss, watching him sleep.

Well, you may call (Y/n) a creep. But who doesn't want to see the famous grumpy Levi sleeping like a baby ?

There's no frown visible on his face.

For once, he looks.. calm.. and soft..

(Y/n) proceeds to admire his godly sculpted face in silence. Until the woman notices that Levi's eyebrows begin to scrunch and his mouth starts to mumble incoherent words. Aside from that, his breathing pattern is no longer calm.

------Dream------

"....."

"L-Levi dear, please go play outside. I w-will.. nggh !!"

The 6 years old boy who's body almost resembled a skeleton, could only watch his mother writhing in pain as a male did some.. weird movements to her.

And it seemed like every move the man made put his mother in vain.

Chuckling deeply, the man then choked his mother, "Your son, huh ? I see you're playing hero now, whore."

He began calling her dirty names.

Tiny Levi, who didn't understand anything back then, watched as his own mother succumbed underneath the man who forced himself into her. Out of fear, the pale, skinny hand that belonged to Levi, picked up his mother's dress that fell and grasped it close to his chest.

For the man just tore off his mother's clothes.

Before he knew it, Levi was then yanked harshly from the room where his mother suffered every day and night.

------End of Dream------

"MR. ACKERMAN !!!"

And at the very same time, someone in reality finally yanks him away from his nightmare.

Levi wakes up with an audible gasp. His stormy grey eyes frantically look around the room, only to see his secretary glancing down at him with utmost concern on her face.

Ah.. he feels better now..

With the help of (Y/n), Levi manages to prop up his body to sit on the sofa.

"Are you alright, sir ??"

It feels good to know that the woman beside him actually cares about his well being and looks out for him. It's a shame that she only does it out of habit from the job. (Y/n) was trained to make sure everything is alright for the vice president after all.

He keeps his mouth shut, instead he sends her an unreadable stare. Not a gentle one, but not a deadly one either. Levi can still feel his body hyperventilating as a side effect of waking up from a nightmare.

-------A few minutes later--------

"Have some tea, sir."

(Y/n) set down a cup of black tea on the table and sit beside him.

Earlier, she suggested that Levi should sit outside, on his outdoor garden just near the terrace so that he could get a breather and settle down first.

She rotates her body to face him just a little, "Have you calmed down ?"

"Yes. Thanks to you."

Silence engulfed the two.

"I don't want to be alone tonight." He finally spoke.

"Do you want me to drive you to your family's residence ? Or perhaps I should call Mr. Smith to accompany you-"

"Ms. (L/n)." Levi halts her blabbering for a mere second.

She nods, ready to receive order, "Yes, sir ?"

"Can't you stay the night, Just for tonight ?"

Levi doesn't see the need to swallow his pride for saying it, he indeed still feels traumatized in an.. unspoken way. Slowly, the vice president turned to the side to look at his secretary and make eye contact.

Baffled, (Y/n) could only blink, "Pardon ?"

"Stay here. Tonight." He uttered.

"Look, I know how scary it is after a nightmare, but you're not a child anymore. You can't just....."

She froze.

'Hold on.. Does he really mean..'

While racking a hand through his hair, Levi points to a certain direction in his house, "I meant the guest room, and I asked because it's late night already. So why are you all flustered, hm ?"

"P-pardon ?"

"You used to stay the night here often after working late back then, remember ? What's so different from just now ?"

Her eyes widened. Realization hits her like a damn Hogwarts Express Train.

"O-oh yes ! Of course, sir. I guess I kinda forgot that I used to stay here after work haha.."

She quickly averts her face from him, silently barking every curse word she knows in her mind. Scolding herself from thinking.. dirty things..

"Then mind telling what you were thinking, Ms. (L/n) ?"

'Fuck my life..'

(Y/n) turns to face him really quickly, flashing a nervous, innocent smile, "E-expecting ? I wasn't expecting anything pfft." But then her face turns pale after she sees the smug look on her boss' face.

As if he knew it already.

"Mhmm.. keep telling yourself that. I always know what's going on in the head of a brat."

"Wha-"

With a click of his tongue, Levi answers the incoming call that interrupts their session. Every once in a while, he would hum and say 'fine' or 'fuck off'. Then he ends the call.

"Unfortunately," Levi stares closely at (Y/n), "I can't have you stay the night here after all. Sorry to disappoint your imagination."

Oh god... Levi feels like he's a goddamn pro for being able to hold back a smirk.

On the other hand, (Y/n) faked a gasp, "disappoint, sir ? Oh no no, I had no intentions to stay the night in the first place," then she makes a cross symbol in front of her chest with both her arms, "well, it looks like you're all better, sir, so I'll be dismissing myself for tonight."

Then, the flustered woman heads off to the exit door in a rather rushing manner.

A pair of steel blue eyes can only watch her in slight amusement...

...and adoration.

--------Later---------

The secretary who's still clad in her sport event clothing, absentmindedly strolls through the street to get home. Kicking any pebbles that make contact with her shoes.

'I wonder what the hell is wrong with Mr. Ackerman these days...'

She was lost in her thoughts, not noticing that she walked straight into a tall figure that just came out from a bookshop.

"Oh my goodness !"

(Y/n) raises a mouth to her mouth out of embarrassment, "I'm really sorry !'' She then notices that a phone is lying on the ground. The secretary realizes that it belongs to the figure who she just bumped into.

Turns out, she bumped into the person quite hard to the point their phone dropped to the hard, solid ground.

"You should've been more careful." The figure, who's wearing a light brown trench coat, uttered to her.

She examines the person's phone, "Looks like nothing's broken, sir."

"No, don't mind my phone." The man then gets on his knee to fix (Y/n)'s untied shoelaces.

A bit shocked by his actions, she gaped a little, "Oh please don't, I can do it myself. It's alright-"

"You'll trip like that."

He finishes tying her shoelaces, thus, standing up. His height towering over her.

"Thank you- Oh ! Here, your phone."

"Thanks. Goodbye then." The man in the trench coat sends her a warm smile before walking off to the opposite direction (Y/n) came from. After a few seconds pass, (Y/n) lets out her breath that she didn't realize she has been holding.

The woman puts a hand on her chest.

"Oh my, what a sweet person... Unlike a certain grumpy man..." Puffing out her breath, she then proceeds to walk home.

Unknown to (Y/n), the man from earlier has stopped in his tracks to look back.

Seeing her figure that already walked away from their previous spot of the sudden encounter.

Those eyes behind the round glasses scanned and memorized every single of her features before she got away from his sight, silently printing the image of her face into his brain.

Maybe... he can meet her again..

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a/n : so what do you think about this chapter ? *laughs nervously* I hope you guys are entertained by this book ! :))