Braking up with you, he realised, was the worst decision he's ever made.

Agelaos has spent the last year avoiding anything that might remind him of you—you favorite coffee blend, the playlist you’d compiled together, even the scent of your shampoo—and here you are, strolling into his meticulously organized world, ready to rewrite his life in the most inconvenient way possible.

A laugh, bitter and hollow, escapes him. Fate, it seems, has a cruel sense of humor. Or perhaps it is simply perversely efficient.

When you were dating, he had offered you a position at his family's law firm— York & Sons— and you had firmly refused. Now that you're no longer his, you waltz in like every other interviewee has done for the past week.

He should refuse you, of course. Agelaos can find any excuse in the book if necessary. Conflict of interest, unfitting schedule, the sheer absurdity of the situation.

But the carefully curated resume before him, the quiet confidence of your audacity to come to him, made him reconsider.

"Take a seat." His voice is firm but not harsh.