Held it even, until he’d make her feel self-conscious and she’d be the first one to look away.
But this time...it was different.
Because for Lyrius Havington, she no longer existed.
Kyara stayed at her desk and went on working even though Lara and everyone else had gone home. Why that was, she didn’t let herself think about. But when it was already seven, and it was still her...
Don’t think about it. Just don’t.
She could only tell herself that she had just happened to work extra hours tonight. That was it. This was entirely unplanned, rather than her choosing to linger at work because she was hoping she would have another chance to speak to her boss.
Nope! It wasn’t that! Really!
Kyara was all alone as she took the elevator to the lobby, which was now drowning in shadows, and just as she swiped her card at the turnstile to clockout, it was then Kyara saw her—
A beautiful woman who was just as beautifully dressed, and the sound of her laughter was just as beautiful as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and said something to her companion.
Who was none other than her boss.
Lyrius Havington.
The same man who had told her just yesterday morning that he intended to steal Kyara away from her boyfriend, only everything went downhill since then—
It’s okay.
This is okay.
This is fine.
Cyrus might not be the man she thought he was, but that didn’t mean she was wrong about Lyrius, too. He was still too much like all the men her mother fell for, and that...that still mattered.
So it’s fine. It’s okay. There’s no reason to cry.
Kyara turned away from the window before the woman could look up, and she walked out through the revolving door without putting her coat on. Right now, all she cared about was getting as far away from this place as possible.
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.
The words became the new thing she found herself chanting mentally over and over, and she fell asleep and woke up with those same words in mind.
Don’t cry. Please. Just don’t.
The next morning, Lyrius didn’t look at her at all, and it was just so, so strange. Why did this matter more to her than the fact that Cyrus had cheated on her? And that they had broken up just like that after three years of dating?
She greeted her boss like she usually did, gave him his coffee also like she usually did—
“Just leave the files on my desk, Ms. Dunn.”
But he was the one who had changed. He was the one who was no longer like how he used to be, and she just didn’t understand why this hurt so, so much.
Kyara went back to her own desk and sat down and opened her laptop and started typing, and her fingers moved by themselves because her brain wasn’t really in her body anymore, her brain was still somewhere in the lobby restaurant last night with her face pressed against the glass it hadn’t actually been pressed against.
By ten, she had tried one more time.
She had walked up to his door with absolutely nothing in her hands, no folder, no coffee, no excuse, just her, and she had opened her mouth and said—
“Mr. Havington, I—”
I’m sorry.
