Liam checked the time; it was already some minutes past four. He needed to get home fast. He packed the files on the table into his drawer and locked it with his key. Then he picked up his bag. But suddenly his door opened, and Daniel came in holding his briefcase, all set to go home.

“Oh, hi Dan. You ready to go?”

Dan nodded. “Yes but, we never really concluded on our last conversation. Did you and Emily ever talk about it?”

“Yea. She apologized and promised to make things better. She’s making us dinner tonight.”

Dan smiled. “Wow! Bribery and corruption!”

They both chuckled.

“Do you think I really should be worried?” Liam asked, frankly.

“What? About the dinner?” Dan asked.

“No. About my relationship with her.”

Dan shrugged. “Well, I’d say, you should be careful, you should not expect too much right now. I believe she can’t help herself, all she cares about at the moment is the partnership so don’t depend on her too much for things like dinner, I won’t be surprised if she doesn’t even make it there on time.”

Liam sighed. He took his briefcase and was walking with his friend out of the office.

Some minutes later, he stopped by Emily’s office.

“Hi, babe.”

She seemed to be deeply buried in her system. She gave him a quick glance.

“Hi, love,” she said quickly.

“Wow! You seem so busy.”

“Yea. I just need to get this done before I go home.”

Liam came over to her and gave her a quick kiss on her head.

“Are you sure you will still be able to cook us dinner tonight?”

“Yes sure. Just that, I think your place is better. I will be there sooner. So you can hang out with Daniel and once the dinner is ready, I will just give you a call,” she added with a wink.

Liam smiled. “Okay, babe. I would love that. I’ll see you later.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Emily checked the time, she had just one hour left before had to finish the task in front of her. She knew that she needed to hurry up so that she could be home on time to cook dinner for her boyfriend. But just then, her phone rang. It was Joe.

“Hi, Emily.”

“Joe. Have you gone home?”

“No, I’m in the office, do you mind coming in?”

“Okay. I will be there,” she said quickly and ended the call.

Soon, she pressed a button on her keyboard to hibernate the computer and then walked out of the office.

“Hi, Joe,” she said as she got in. Joe wasn’t the only one in the office, there was Kate as well. “Hi, Kate.”

Her coworker mumbled a “Hi”

“What’s up?” Emily asked Joe as she took a seat beside Kate.

Joe gave her a warm smile. “Wow. I thought you would have gone home.”

“Well, I had to finish up some documents.”

Kate chuckled “Wow! You keep burning the candles at both end newbie, impressive.”

Emily ignored her. “Joe, what is going on?”

“Well, we got a case which I would like the both of you to handle. It involves one of the city’s top politicians and Kate is already familiar with such cases I think it will be an avenue for you to aim higher.”

“Yea. Watch and learn Tinna,” Kate added but Emily still ignored her.

“Alright, Joe. Thank you for considering me. So, when do we start?”

“Tonight.”

Emily gasped. “Tonight?”

Kate turned to glare at her. “Yes, do you have a place to go?”

Emily looked from Joe to Kate. “Well, I have to go, I need to make dinner...”

Kate scoffed and started laughing while Joe looked disappointed.

“I told you, Joe, nominating her was a waste of time, she is not ready....”

“Oh please! I am ready. I’m sorry, I just… I’ll do it.”

“Great!” Joe said with a wide grin. “Now, it’s settled. The three of us will be here for a while, don’t worry, pizza is on me.”

Emily smiled weakly. She had no idea what to do now. She couldn’t let Kate make a fun of her by saying ‘no,’ she didn’t want to disappoint Joe either and now, she would have to disappoint Liam to whom she had made countless promises.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked. “It’s not too late to back out you know. This is a sacrifice that everyone who wants to get to the top of the ladder has to make. This is why the bottom is so congested and people at the top are so few. You can leave if you think you are not comfortable with it.”

Emily rolled her eyes and swallowed. “Excuse me, I will need to grab my bag.” She said before leaving the room.

As she got to her office, she grabbed her bag and brought out her phone.

She dialed Liam’s number and began to contemplate whether to call or to send a message. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him that the date has been canceled. She decided to send a text message.

“Hi baby, I am so sorry, I have to cancel. Something came up at work, I will be home late, but I will get there as soon as I can. Don’t wait up. Love you.”

“Wow, I told you, didn’t I?” Daniel said as Liam threw his phone on the couch after reading to him the message sent by Emily.

Liam sighed. “I am so sick of this man! Like, I am seriously sick of this!”

“Well, you have been cool with it all this while. She knows you will still be cool about it. Man, it’s time to show how angry this whole thing is making you. So I will suggest you let her realize that.”

“Yea. I think I will do just that. So what happens when I get angry?”

“First, let’s find out what her excuse is this time.”

As Liam was about to reply, his phone rang. They both exchanged looks, thinking it was Emily but it wasn’t.

“It’s Charlotte.” Liam said, pressing the ‘receive’ button.

“Hey girlie, whassup?”

Daniel kept sending him signals to talk to her about him, but Liam stood up and instead switched to loudspeaker.

“So, how are you doing? “

“I’m doing great. I was just passing by your house so I....”

“You’re at my house?”

“No, not really, kinda in your neighborhood. Came to see a client.”

“So are you going home now?”

“Well, are you home?”

“Not yet but I’m on my way.”

Daniel shot Liam a thumbs up, grinning widely.

“Okay, so you want me to wait?”

“Yes, please. I will be right there.” Liam stated.

“Alright, I will be waiting. Say hello to Daniel, I can hear his breathing.” Then she ended the call.

Both men burst into laughter.

“That lady is way too smart, Liam.”

“Yea. Well, thanks man, I gotta go.”

“Wait. What if she later shows up?”

“Who?” Liam asked as he picked up his jacket.

“Who else?”

“Emily?”

“Yes, who else?”

“Well, I hope she does because I will really love to see her face when she sees Charlotte.”

Daniel nodded with a grin. “Yea. Me too. Please take a picture and send to me.”

They both laughed before Liam left the room.