“Hey, are you okay?” Kate was instantly beside Kayla when she suddenly crouched down to attend to her throbbing legs. And she was a bit horrified when she finally saw the current state of her legs.

Aside from being redder than usual thanks to the hot coffee she spilled onto them, she even had a few cuts from the pieces of her shattered coffee mug. Good thing she was wearing closed shoes or she might have received more injuries.

Kayla shifted her gaze to Kate’s legs and heaved a sigh of relief when she realized that her friend was wearing pants that day.

“It didn’t get you, did it?” Kayla asked her friend just to be sure.

“No, I’m fine,” Kate answered but her eyes widened when her gaze landed on Kayla’s injured legs. “But, obviously, you’re not!” she exclaimed.

Kayla grimaced when she took another glance at her own legs. What was she even doing, injuring herself! Good thing there were just a few people in the cafeteria at the moment or someone else might have been hurt.

“Let me take you to the clinic.” Her friend said. “On second thought, I’ll take you to a hospital instead. Those do not look so good, Kayla.” Kate gave her a worried look.

“I know. Ahm…” Kayla turned to look at the mess she had made. Broken mug and coffee all over the once clean tiled floor of the cafeteria. She bit her lower lip. “Let me just clean this up a bit. I can’t---“ As she reached out to pick up a huge piece of the broken mug, a hand caught her wrist.

“What are you doing?” came that familiar voice.

Wait, familiar? Kayla immediately lifted her eyes to the owner of the hand who was still holding her outstretched wrist and gasped. It was the handsome man he met last night! Only this time he was frowning like something was annoying him.

Were they too busy worrying about her injuries that they didn’t even notice he had already gotten so close to them?

“W-what?” she absentmindedly asked. Why does it seem like she was losing her sanity every time she gets too close to this man? And why does she always find herself in close proximity to this guy every time they met?!

“Leave it, or you’ll hurt yourself more” he answered without even looking at her. His attention went down to her legs which felt disturbingly more exposed now that this guy was the one looking. She felt a sudden need to cover them from his inspecting eyes but does not know what to use as he was still holding her wrist and one hand would not really make any difference.

Kayla noticed the knot on his forehead deepen the longer he stared at her legs. Do her legs look disgusting, making him react like that? She felt a bit offended. People compliment her legs most of the time, but of course when they were not as abused as it looks now.

“Kayla, what are you doing?” came the voice of Kayla’s manager. That was when she noticed her manager was standing just beside the handsome but now annoyed man. She winced at the suspicious looks he was shooting at her.

“Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to---“ Kayla started explaining but was immediately cut off by the man beside her.

“You’re hurt. Let’s get you to a hospital.” As if he didn’t hear her Manager or her explaining, he let go of her wrist but his hands landed on her arms instead. And like a weightless doll, he unceremoniously helped her up. She winced again when she felt a twinge from her wounds at the sudden movement. And she heard him sigh right after.

“Thank you.” Kayla swiftly said, now also starting to be upset at him for looking annoyed this whole time. It was not like she planned on having an accident in front of this stranger. Besides, whose fault was it, suddenly appearing in front of her and surprising her out of her wits in the process? “I am sorry for the disturbance. I can go to the clinic with my colleague here, you do not have to worry.” Kayla faked a smile as she points to Kate who was busy ogling the gorgeous man. Can’t blame her though. He looked stunning even when he looked really miserable the other night. What more now that he looked a lot more confident.

But as if he didn’t hear what she just said, he turned his attention to Kayla’s manager.

“Mr. Crus, could you get someone to clean this up? I don’t think she can do it, being that injured.” He ordered to the stunned Operations Manager.

“W-what?” Kayla’s manager distractedly asked which was answered by just a tilt of the gorgeous man’s head. “Right, I’ll do that.” He recovered immediately.

“Also, let’s move the meeting to later this afternoon as noon would be the earliest that I can bring her back from the hospital after treating her wounds. Can she be excused for the day as well so she could rest?” the man continued.

“You’re taking her to the hospital?” The manager echoed.

“Be excused?” Kayla said almost at the same time as her manager.

Was ‘selective hearing’ even a thing? Because again, as if he didn’t hear anything from Kayla or her manager, he just turned to her again with a determined look.

“Let’s get you to a hospital.” He repeated.

“T-that’s not necessary. I can go there on my own. You don’t need to concern yourself---“

With a frustrated sigh, he suddenly picked her up, princess style, which gained a slight squeal from Kayla, and a gasp from every person around them. Yeah, they were surrounded by the people he was with earlier and Kate, who were now all gaping at them.

“I can carry her, sir.” Entered another familiar voice. When she looked at the man owning it, she was not surprised to see the man whom she also met last night. This guy’s assistant. Was his name Liam?

“No need. Get the car.” Came the man’s answer.

Liam walked before them and the man followed right after, still carrying her.

“I can walk on my own. Just put me down!” she gritted her teeth at him which didn’t even bother him.

“Stay still or I’ll drop you,” he warned.

“Just put me down already---“ she shrieked when he suddenly loosened his hold on her back and unconsciously grabbed onto his neck for fear of falling.

“That’s better.”