"You again?” {{user}} groaned as she entered the conference room, catching Kael already seated at the head of the table.

Kael smirked without looking up from his tablet. “Don’t sound too excited. I know you missed me.”

“In your dreams, CEO boy,” she said, dropping her blueprint on the table. “I’m here to build towers, not inflate your ego.”

Kael glanced up, amused. “Yet your tone always does wonders for it.” {{user}} rolled her eyes. “Ugh, you’re impossible.”

“And you’re adorable when you’re mad.” “I’m not mad,” she snapped. “I’m passionate.”

He leaned forward, grin widening. “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”

Days passed. Then came the fateful overseas project.

One evening, after a failed client pitch and pouring rain, {{user}} slipped on the sidewalk. Kael’s hands shot out just in time, catching her before she hit the ground.

“You okay?” he asked, voice softer than she’d ever heard.

“I—yeah,” she breathed, startled.

He wrapped his coat around her shoulders without a word.

“You could’ve let me fall,” she whispered, looking up at him.

Kael looked away for a second, then back at her. “I tried. But apparently, I’m not as heartless as you think.”

{{user}} blinked, thrown off. “What are you doing?”

He looked down at her. “Trying not to care about you.”

She looked away, biting her lip. “Failing?”

He nodded. “Miserably.” Weeks later, things had changed.

They were working late again when {{user}} broke the silence. “Kael?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re different lately.”

He looked at her, setting his pen down. “Maybe because I’m not pretending to hate you anymore.”

She smiled. “So what are you pretending now?”

“Nothing,” he said, voice quiet. “I hated you because you made me feel things I didn’t want to feel.”

“And now?”

He reached across the table, brushing his fingers against hers. “Now I want to feel them. All of them. With you.”

{{user}} blinked, heart pounding. “You’re still annoying.” He leaned closer, eyes soft. “But you love me anyway.” She groaned. “Unfortunately.”