Chapter Two

From outside, the building was nothing special; a brownstone office block like all the rest lining the street. Only the sign above the door, chrome on black, identified it. The windows were dark one-way glass.

Olivia tried to ignore the heat of the coffee searing through the thin paper cup and resorted to swapping it from hand to hand.

The doorman hit the keycard sensor and the automatic mirrored doors swished open before her. She walked in hurriedly, her body at least committed to not being late. Inwardly, half her mind was still in the coffee shop, replaying in irritation the encounter with the rude man.

A blast of cold air hit her as she entered the lobby. Air-con, an expensive and unusual luxury that most of the offices she had previously worked in did not indulge in. The novelty of it threw her back into the moment, and the lobby of the KimCorp building.

The floor was clean, white marble, matched by black marble tiling on the walls and ceiling. A curved reception desk dominated one corner, but no one was there. Olivia slowed to a halt halfway across the lobby, wondering how to proceed. Last time she was here, the HR manager had asked her to leave her tax documents with reception on her first day.

She switched the coffee to her other hand again, fighting down panic. The rising certainty that she would be late despite her best efforts began to crawl with icy fingers up her spine. Forcing herself to calm down, she scanned the lobby again, looking for a bell on the reception desk or any other means to call for assistance.

Her gaze fell on a stain on the otherwise pristine marble floor, a pool of brown liquid right in front of the lift doors. Someone else, apparently late too, had hurried through just moments before she arrived.

Just as Olivia was cursing inwardly that she had not been here sooner herself, the doors to the street opened again. All Olivia saw in that first glance was an elderly Asian woman in a crisp all-white business suit. Olivia barely registered her face at first; it was the woman’s height, or lack of it, that struck her. She walked straight past Olivia without a glance and towards the lift.

In the next instant, almost without thinking, Olivia called, “Look out!”

The woman stopped, one foot hovering above the spilled coffee. She stepped back with poise and turned to look at Olivia for the first time. Dark eyes, impassive and unreadable, studied Olivia as she hurried over.

“I suppose,” the small woman said, raising one eyebrow and glancing at the floor, “that that was not you?”

“Oh, no, I mean…” Olivia stumbled over her words.

The ghost of a smile softened the older woman’s stern gaze. “Clearly, it was not,” she said, in a calm tone. “If it were, you would not be standing in the middle of the lobby, helpfully warning old ladies so that they don’t trip. No, the guilty party has already fled, without so much as a thought to get a mop.”

“It seems so,” Olivia said. “Such a beautiful lobby deserves to be treated better. I mean…eh…whoever did that” — she pointed to the stain on the floor — “should have at least spared a minute to put a tissue on it or something to warn others. If not bothering to clean it up…” Seeing how intensely the older woman was looking at her, Olivia bit her lips to stop herself from saying more, fearing she had crossed a line. Typical of her, to start nagging about messy rooms as though she was at home talking to her brother. Flustered as she was at that moment, she failed to notice the woman’s faint smirk

“Calm yourself,” she said in the same soft yet firm tone. She glanced over at the reception desk, and finding it empty, she let out a small sigh of irritation. Her face then settled back into impassive calm within a moment. To Olivia, she said, “And how may I help you?”

Olivia hesitated. There was something about the woman, small as she was, that put Olivia off balance.

Again, the older woman exhaled loudly, clearly irritated for being held up here. “You can only be the new hire,” she decided.

“Um… yes,” Olivia admitted. “How did you…?”

“It is precisely nine o’clock,” was the matter-of-fact reply. “And you are here, plainly baffled by the inexplicable absence of anyone to direct you further than the lobby.”

“Oh no,” Olivia started, “I know where my desk is. I was just asked to leave something here for the HR manager, but since no one is around, I don’t know what I am supposed to do with these.” She retrieved a manila envelope from the huge handbag she was carrying.

“Come, let us see how we can solve this together,” the old lady said.

She walked to the reception desk, stepped behind it, and spent a moment scanning the complicated intercom system. Olivia guessed that it must be the first time the woman herself had ever seen the desk from that side and marveled at the cool confidence on display. After a few moments, the old woman pressed a few buttons and picked up the receiver.

“Good morning, darling! There is no one at reception, and I have a nice woman here…” She glanced at Olivia and gave her a tight smile. “Says she has some papers for you?”

She covered the speaker with her hand. “I shall need your name, my dear.”

“Oh, um…Olivia. Olivia Kensington.”

The old lady repeated the name and without waiting for a reply from the other end of the line, she said, “Pick up the envelope she will leave here, will you?”

Olivia gaped at the authoritative tone but dared not say anything about the abrupt way the lady had hung up.

“Um…thank you,” Olivia said automatically. “I guess I’ll head to my desk now then.”

“Well, we certainly do not want you to be late. You want to make a good impression on your first day to establish high standards, do you not?”

“Oh, um, yes, yes, I do,” Olivia said reluctantly. The coffee cup had cooled, forgotten during the encounter. She transferred it to her other hand again anyway, nervously.

“Come with me then.”

They approached the lift again. The old woman glanced down at the spilled coffee on the floor.

“I dislike mess,” she confided, stepping over the coffee puddle. “It shows disorder.”

“I know, right?” Olivia hesitated for a moment, but her conscience just wouldn’t let it go. She would never allow such a mess at her home, and she always treated her workplace as home too. “Well, since no one else is here to take care of that…”

She opened her handbag and took out a packet of wipes. She bent down and proceeded to clean the coffee stain.

“My, my…you come prepared, don’t you?” the old lady said.

Olivia lifted her head and saw the woman staring at the insides of her bag. Embarrassed, she shut it quickly and got up, holding the drenched wipes.

The old lady pointed her to a waste bin on their left.

Olivia nodded and went to throw the tissues away. “It becomes a habit, I guess, when you have kids to take care. You never know what you might need.”

“Oh, you have kids! How lovely!” The old lady seemed to be considering something for a moment. “You seem so young, though.”

“Well, I don’t have a kid, per se. He’s my brother.”

“Oh, I see. How old is he?”

“Twelve…and if you know anything about young boys, you know how messy they can be.”

“You tell me! When my grandson was at that age…oh boy! The trouble he was…”

Olivia laughed. “I can imagine.” She glanced at her watch. “Um, I would love to stay and talk more, but…”

“Yes, yes, of course,” the older woman said, and they both walked to the lift. They waited only a moment before the doors pinged and parted.

In the lift car, the old woman automatically hit the button for the third floor.

“How did you…?” Olivia said.

The old lady just smiled. “So, you didn’t say…are you married?”

Olivia was shocked by the invasive question. “No,” she simply said after a moment.

After that, they rode up the first two floors without speaking more. Olivia felt both on edge and yet strangely calm. The old Asian woman radiated certainty, and a companionable confidence in her silence. Olivia took the few moments to regain her composure and brace herself to properly begin the working day.

Just as the lift lights changed to indicate approaching the third floor, the old woman said, quite suddenly, “Give me your phone number.”

“What?” Olivia blinked.

“Your number. You do have one, I presume? We do live in the future now, or so I am told.”

“Well, yes, of course I…” Olivia was already fumbling for her phone with her free hand. Her coffee was almost cold, but she had nowhere to set it down in the lift. She did not have the nerve to ask the older woman to hold it for her. While she was still trying to retrieve the phone, her phone number came to mind, saving her from further fluster.

Her companion already had her own phone in hand. She tapped in the numbers as Olivia said them aloud, repeating them back correctly.

“Yes, that’s it,” Olivia affirmed. “But what do you need it for?”

The phone vanished again into a tailored suit pocket. “I’ll give it to my handsome grandson,” she said casually.

Olivia’s mouth dropped open. “But—”

“He’s about your age and you should definitely meet him. I think you two will be a great match. Such a nice woman you are!”

The lift doors opened. Olivia didn’t get the chance to argue that she wasn’t looking for love at the moment but just wanted to focus on work. The old woman waved her hand showing her the way out.

Olivia stepped out and was mildly surprised when the older woman did not follow. As the doors closed again, Olivia saw her reach out to touch the button for the topmost floor.

Head office, Olivia realized. Thinking that the old lady might be some important client, she silently prayed she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself. She breathed in and out a few times trying to focus and forget all about the possibility of a date with a “handsome” stranger. Doubting it would ever happen anyway, she set out in search of her desk, eager to begin work.

***

“Good morning, Mrs. Kim,” the secretary said the moment the lift doors opened to the top floor. “How are you today?”

“Annoyed, Mary. Very annoyed!”

“Why? What happened?” Mary rushed to Mrs. Kim’s side to take her handbag.

“I walked into my building and there was no one at reception and then I found a huge coffee spill on the floor.” Mary gasped. Before she had the chance to say anything, Mrs. Kim continued, “If it wasn’t for a nice woman who stopped me just in time, my Armani would have been a complete mess.” She fondly touched the white fabric. “Who was on reception duty this morning? I demand that you find out immediately and send them to my office. That was unacceptable.”

“Of course, Mrs. Kim, right away,” Mary replied.

“Is my grandson in his office?”

“Yes, he came early today.”

Mrs. Kim smiled. “That’s promising.”

“Would you like me to bring you something before the meeting, Mrs. Kim?”

“No, Mary, thank you. Proceed with your duties. I’ll go have a chat with my grandson.”

Mary hurried away to put Mrs. Kim’s handbag in her office.

Soonja Kim, the head of multimillion-dollar corporation KimCorp, walked down the corridor with an air of authority that her small size shouldn’t allow. Nonetheless, anyone who had done business with her ever since her husband died and she became the CEO, knew that she was fierce and not a person to take for granted. Unlike her daughter, Owen’s mother, who had no interest in business and taking over the company, Soonja enjoyed the challenge and thrived, quickly making KimCorp even bigger than it already was.

Now, her only hope was that someday—preferably soon—her beloved grandson would take over and continue her legacy, leaving her space to finally relax and travel the world for pleasure instead of business. And maybe enjoy the company of great-grandchildren, she thought. One or two…or maybe more…Olivia is certainly capable of taking care of children and she’s such a delightful woman. I’m sure she’ll make him a proper wife.

With that in mind, she entered Owen’s office.