"Ma'am I-" She looks and clearly sees me blushing and Rudy smirking at me before slowly backing out. "Um. I'm probably not supposed to be here?" She keeps backing out before both Rudy and I start laughing and she stops walking.
"What happened? Why are you laughing?" She says looking at us suspiciously.
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Thanks for coming so quickly." I say and she nods.
"So, the problem is we have to deal with this whole issue of people feel like it's too expensive so they've stopped buying our clothes." She says.
"Hmm.." I say, scratching my head. "I guess we'll have to find other best way of lowering prices then? And then I'll speak with the people on design so we can make some new outfits that people will want to buy too. Our sales should rise at that time then right?" I say looking at her.
She nods before excusing herself and leaving.
I sigh once more and Rudy laughs.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothing. Just that you seem really stressed. When are we going to leave?" I sigh again.
"I would like to now but-"
"Nope! No buts, let's go! You can worry tomorrow!" He gets up and walks over to me before grabbing me by my arm to pick me up from my chair.
"Okay okay!" I stand up and pick up my things before leaving with him. We run into my secretary on the way out.
"Madam! Wait, where are you-" He says trying to catch up with the speed Rudy is walking when he interrupts him.
"We're leaving. She's stressed and I don't like this side of her so... we're leaving. Simple as that." Rudy is tugging on my arm and I'm actually struggling to catch up. I look at Rudy and am actually impressed by how he sounded so much older than he looked.
"Oh um.. okay then. See you tomorrow?" He asks behind us.
"Yeah. Thanks again! See you tomorrow!" We finally reach the elevator and we hop in turning to face my secretary before waving. He clearly looks distressed. I feel bad for him because he sort of helps me a lot when I refuse to come in for work so much.
The elevator closes and we're both standing there a little out of breath. And Rudy lets go of arm.
"Sorry if I hurt you." He says between breaths.
"Oh... no it's fine." I say also out of breath. Before the elevator reaches the ground floor, it opens and the person I was trying to avoid steps in.
"Eliza!" He says stepping to give me a hug but I avoid his touch stepping back where Rudy grabs me to keep me stable.
"DONT call me that... Why are you here Nathan?" I scowl and Rudy, I can tell, is also angry, especially after I told him about us.
"I wanted to see you. I'm sure your secretary told you-" I interrupt him.
"That you called? Yeah, I know. But I'm sure I already told you not to call me again. I know I have a lot of different numbers because that means I have to keep blocking you on every one of those phones!" I yell. And he laughs.
"I see you're still humorous." He smiles.
"Humorous? Pft, no. You don't know anything about me seeing as you never tried to so don't even-" Rudy touches my arm to calm me down and he steps in front of me.
"We just want to reach the ground floor and leave so please, leave us alone for those few short moments?" Rudy seems really upset but then Nathan seems even more upset?
"Someone that's a part of your "harem." He says chuckling and Rudy is clearly trying to lunge at him but I hold him down.
"Just shut up Nathan! I have nothing more to say to you!" I say before staying quiet and I can tell he wants to talk but he doesn't.
We finally reach the ground floor and Rudy drags me out of the elevator and out of the building before Nathan can even say a word.
"Huff, huff. It's okay... now Rudy. You can let me go." He looks down at where he is holding my arm and then let's go apologizing.
"Sorry. Ready to go?" He opens my door and I sit down and he then walks around to sit in his own seat.
While driving back to my mansion, Rudy is a bit more quiet than normal.
"... Uh, you okay Rudy?" I say looking at him occasionally as to not keep my eyes away from the road for too long.
"Yeah... just... Nathan seems a bit-" I interrupt him.
"Overprotective? I know and it doesn't stop there." I shake my head and he sighs too. The rest of the ride is quiet while it seems only Nathan occupies our minds currently.
We reach my mansion and walk up to door. Right as I open it, Grey runs to me and hugs me tightly.
"Eliza! You're back!" He continues hugging me while everyone else slowly makes their way to the foyer.
"Hey, guys." I take a step back from Grey to get a good look at everyone. They are all dressed more casually, besides Isaac and Leo of course. Isaac has more elongated outfits and he's always wearing a sash around him while Leo is always wearing a dress shirt just either unbuttoned, more, or less.
"You okay?" Grey asks. I look at Rudy and he looks at me and we both laugh awkwardly before walking more into the mansion.
"Yep! Everything is fine." I say walking towards my room while telling them to go back to what they were doing. Rudy slowly walks towards his own and only Leo follows me out of the rest of them.
"That was a lie wasn't it?" Leo says while following me. I decide to walk past my room and just walk alongside him.
"Why do you think so?" I say moving my hands behind my back.
"Because I would like to think I know you more than YOU think I do."
"Sigh. I met my ex today when Rudy and I were leaving my building and of course, he happens to be the one that I don't like the most and hoped not to see again." I say calmly and he stops walking so I do too.
"What? Your ex? And what did Rudy do? Did he help at all? He's such a young kid!" He says. I sigh.
"Rudy was actually really helpful. He almost wanted to kill him." I say chuckling a little at the thought.
As I start walking again, Leo pulls me and pushes me against the wall.
"You should be more serious about this. If he went to your workplace, he could easily try and find you here at your mansion. I know we're all here to help you but what if you're out there without us, what then?" I contemplate his words before sighing.
"You're right. I'm sorry for playing it off. I really was worried, I just-" He stops me by hugging me.
"Sorry if I sounded too harsh." I shake my head.
"It's fine Leo. Thanks for that though." I try pushing away from him but he continues hugging me.
"I wanna know, you seem to take care of Rudy a lot, probably due to his age? Could I be a little jealous and keep you away from him for a while?" He says without looking me in the face.
"Hahaha! Sure, just for now. I can't have the others be jealous of you too though." I say laughing before pushing him away enough to get a good look at his face. He seems to be blushing a little before he steps back covering his face shyly.
"Okay." He continues walking before stopping and looking at me. "You coming or not?" I smile before running to catch up with him. We continue talking about my time at the office and what he did while at my mansion.