Zayn closed the door behind him at once, planting himself between it and Joel, who stretched to look from his shoulders. His secretary, Mia, stood beside Joel, her eyes to the ground, waiting for this to get resolved so she could finally be out of both their hair. From the moment they walked into the building, a tension had settled around them and had thickened with every minute that passed.
Mia thought it was getting to its breaking point, and the minute it snapped, it was going to be hard to salvage the situation.
“We’ve been searching everywhere for you,” Joel said, confusion in his eyes. “Was there something in particular you were doing in here?”
“I was taking a tour,” Zayn answered casually, stepping away from the door. He bounded down the hallway, leaving the rest of them no choice but to follow. However, something insistent ate at Joel as he walked behind the group. The last time he’d felt that way was when he was abroad, taking classes on fashion. It was on his way out when something kept on nudging at him, pushing an insistent thought into his head like there was something he wasn’t paying attention to but was pretty important. In the end, he realized he had forgotten his phone in the house and had to make a u-turn.
But Joel knew that he didn’t forget his phone. He patted his pocket for confirmation, finding the solid build in there. But the feeling was still with him, causing him to turn his head back to stare at Rina’s door then back at Zayn, who was ahead of him, his strong and perfect gait causing his designers to stare at him as he walked past.
When they arrived at the reception, Joel still couldn’t let it go. He didn’t bother to hold his hand out to Zayn this time around. Instead, he said, “Thank you for coming around once again, but I still don’t get something.”
Zayn knew what it was about, but that didn’t stop the smirk from appearing on his face. “Is this about something I mentioned during the meeting?”
Joel shook his head. “It’s about your tour. The office you came out from did you meet anyone in there?”
“Was I supposed to?” Zayn didn’t skip a beat.
Not expecting that response, Joel struggled with coming up with an adequate response, but by the time he finally formed something coherent, Zayn and his team were already at the glass doors, walking out into the streets. Deciding against trailing after them since it was bound to get Zayn upset, Joel retraced his steps back to the second floor.
He stopped in front of Rina’s office and angled his head at the door like the answers were written on the fine wood. Still armed with that nudging feeling, he knocked twice and pushed the door open, meeting Rina by her desk, scrolling through her phone.
“Hey!” She sat up as he walked in, and placed the phone beside her purse. “Are they ready for me?”
“Errr…Yes.” Joel looked around her office. “Did anyone come in here?”
“No,” she shook her head subtly.
“Are you sure? I could have sworn I saw him coming from your office.”
“Who?” Rina angled her head, watching Joel like he was on something. “I stepped out for a minute to get something from the vending machine and I didn’t lock my door so it’s possible that someone’s curiosity got the better of them. Was it one of the designers?”
“No,” Joel sighed, dropping into the seat Zayn had just been in. Rina’s eyes fell on the brown envelope Zayn had left behind, hoping Joel wouldn’t notice it and ask what was in it.
“It was Mr. Graham.”
“Mr. Graham?” Her lips parted with the exact force that was needed for someone who had been clueless about the presence of the most powerful man in the country inside her office. “He was in here? What was he…”
“You don’t have to worry about anything. I’m sure he didn’t think the office was used by our model, but even if he did, he didn’t say a word about it. Did you leave any of your personal belongings here that could prove your identity?”
“Errr…Yes?” Rina nodded towards her purse. “All my cards are in there.”
“I don’t think Mr. Graham would do that,” he said, sighing. “He’s too busy to be concerned about the identity of our model since he seemed to be in support of the anonymity tactic.”
Rina thought it was ironic since Zayn was the one who had suggested it in the first place.
“But I just can’t shake off the feeling that I’m missing something like something unusual just happened under my nose and I was so close to it.”
Rina angled her head at him. “Did he say anything that might have gotten you in this state? That could be the reason.” She bit her lips and narrowed her eyes in concern, with her heart thumping hard. Joel couldn’t discover she knew Zayn personally.
At least, not this way.
“It felt like he was angry with me about something. I tried to think about what I could possibly have said or done to have gotten him upset, but I came up with nothing. Yet, I couldn’t shake off that feeling.” He sat up and placed his fingers on his chin, stroking and looking in the direction of the drapes.
“If it’s of any help, Mr. Graham has always been that way broody, with an air of mystery and a constant scowl on his face, almost like he’s angry with the whole world. So you don’t have to be concerned about that.”
“Right?” Joel sighed for the umpteenth time.
“I attended an event where I met him a while ago and even I had thought he was angry at me.” Rina winced at those words, fully aware it was the other way around. She’d had this stupid crush on him and had been hooked on it for days.
But Joel didn’t have to know that.