He hated the annual retreat, with a passion, but every year, Johnny insisted on it, to keep up the morale of the staff. Simon saw it as a waste of money. It wasn’t like he was relaxing, anyway– be it in his penthouse, or in a snowed-in chalet, he never stopped working. Their empire wasn’t going to build or maintain itself on its own, and if his employees were expecting to get some bonding time with their boss, they have never been more wrong.

But someone was ought to keep up a good image for the company, and that’s why Johnny was the one who would go out on hikes, or play board games and drink and laugh with the employees. To each his own. Since they were kids, Johnny was always the more extroverted, socially orientated one. Yet under that seemingly goofy mask, he hid one of the sharpest minds Simon had ever seen, almost comparable to his own.

And Simon was never one to be bothered by mundane things, he had perfected protecting his peace a long time ago, when he started as a goldfish in a tank of sharks. He only ever had one weakness, but he was sure he was never going to see you ever again. For a man that could have it all, of course, his Achilles’ heel was the one thing he had promised to never lay a finger on. He had promised your brother.

All the people that would come and go in his life, they had been mere distractions, decoys of you he could pretend to have the way he wanted to have you, but he had promised not to. The stolen glances growing up, your teasing and poking at him, hoping to get a reaction, but his discipline had always been stronger than his desire. You eventually gave up, but you never left his mind.

And now you acted like you could waltz in there, after disappearing on the other side of the world for three years, and expect Simon not to recoil at the sight of you like he had just been shot. Your lame excuses weren’t lost on him either, saying you wanted to catch up with your brother, but he didn’t buy it for a damn moment. He didn’t know what you would actually be there for, but there was always something going on with you.

You avoided him from the moment you stepped out of the car that drove you to the location of the chalet, and his suspicions grew when Johnny looked just as clueless, and you would dismiss every question your brother would throw your way regarding your sudden show-up. Sly as a fox, you were.

Simon decided that the best approach was to avoid you, or at least try his best to. The idea of sleeping in the same house as you was enough to make him feel lightheaded. So he locked himself up in his office and worked himself to the bone, not coming out even for dinner, asking a server to bring his food up instead. If he pretended you weren’t there, maybe it would become true.

It was getting late, and he could hear the faint commotion coming from downstairs, perhaps some sort of welcome party to let everyone warm up to each other for the weekend. He wasn’t going to join them, the buzzing of voices coming from the Zoom call happening on his desktop snapping him back from his distraction.

To accommodate everyone’s time zones, they had agreed on a late night meeting. Investors from all over the world were connected, and this was Simon’s chance to get what he had worked so hard for, the pinnacle of his and Johnny’s dream. It was going well, until his phone buzzed in his pocket. Against his better judgement, he checked.

“Porch, back.”

He didn’t excuse himself when he abruptly closed the call. He would’ve sent an email in the morning saying the power was cut off or something. In that moment, the only thing he cared about was you.

“Took you long enough.” Your haunting voice reached his ears as soon as he stepped outside. He scoffed, closing the door behind him. “I’m not here to joke around.” He said sternly. “Yet you dropped everything and came down here just to see me, didn’t you?” Simon ground his teeth together, watching you, your back still facing him. “Spare me the bullshit and tell me why you’re really here.” he demanded.