Looking at her cousin who sounds quite unpleased, Alycia Reese flashes a mischievous smile. "You talked as if it were the first time," she points out, adding, "I often asked Brandon those questions and I am sure you know about it as well."
Struggling for words, all Nathan Reese can do is glance at his private assistant who quickly bows his head. Then he lets out a little sigh. "Come on in." He does not even wait for a response and immediately turns his back on Alycia, earning a light chuckle from the latter. Still, she follows him inside the office without saying a word.
"Isn't this supposed to be a business meeting?" Alycia Reese rhetorically asks her cousin once she takes a seat on the couch. "Why are you so unprofessional?"
"Says the one who first inquires my assistant about me." Nathan Reese smirks and sits down opposite his cousin.
"You are too busy to even meet up these days," Alycia Reese points out with a frown. "I think it's only natural for me to worry about an important client."
Nathan Reese ends up laughing at his younger cousin's words. However, when his laughter dies down, his observing gaze worries Alycia a bit. Perhaps because just like her mother, Nathan also manages to see through her most of the time.
"I don't think you look so fine," Nathan Reese finally says after a moment of silence. "I doubt it's just because you're tired. Did something happen, Alice?"
It is just like what she feared and Alycia Reese is struggling to give her cousin a response. Since they were young, she could never really lie to him who always cared for her wholeheartedly but... if she were to tell him about her and Elliot, she didn't know what he might do.
What if Nathan were to lose his cool? Though she had never seen him angry at her, she had witnessed him losing his cool before, and... it was not a pleasant sight at all!
Nathan Reese is one of the most patient men out there but if such a man were to lose his cool, it is something to be truly feared of!
"You are not answering," Nathan Reese calmly points out, snapping his cousin out of her stupor. "I guess something did happen." He only needs a moment to think before he asks, "Does it concern Elliot?"
Alycia maintains her silence but when Nathan tries to speak up again, she beats him to it by muttering, "We broke up. So... let us not talk about him."
What he just heard is too shocking for Nathan Reese that he cannot even say anything! Never once did he think the longtime couple would break up one day. After all, he witnessed how the two stood firm even under the pressure of his aunt's disapproval. He had always admired Elliot McCall for being firm with his love for his only cousin and he always supported him and treated him well because of it, but...
They had broken up?!
Judging from the look Alycia is giving him, Nathan is convinced that she was not the one who broke up with Elliot; it was the other way round.
That Elliot McCall... after vowing to stand by Alycia's side in any situation, he dared to take back his words and hurt her?!
"I am fine now, Nathan," Alycia Reese says as she is also good at reading her cousin. "You don't have to think about it so much."
Earlier, she ended up telling the truth as she always struggled to lie to her cousin and now, she fears the consequences it might bring. After all, Nathan tends to be quite unpredictable.
After more than a decade, she said that she is fine but Nathan Reese is not convinced. Her tired and pale look also says otherwise!
Nevertheless, the hint of anxiety he notices in Alycia's eyes tells him to not make things worse, at least for now. But it's not that he will let it slide. He is secretly clenching his fist out of anger but he shows nothing in his face. He is always good at masking his emotions if needed.
"This is the new contract." Alycia finally breaks the silence as she puts a file in front of her cousin. "Please look through it and tell me if a change is needed."
Since she founded CR Securities, the security of the main Reese family mansion and all other buildings under the corporation has been handled by her agency. It is always her cousin who deals with the contract regarding it and she is there to sign a new contract as the current one is about to expire.
Nathan Reese narrows his eyes at the contract and then signs it without even looking through it, earning a frown from his cousin in the process. Still, he simply forces a smile. "I know I can trust in you." He shifts his gaze to Alycia as he suggests, "Let's grab a meal once the anniversary event is over. It's been a while since we last did and I have many things to say."
* * *
Refusing her cousin's persistent offer to let his driver drop her off at her office, Alycia walks out of the Reese Corporation HQ and quietly walks the streets alone.
As the headquarters is located in the heart of the city, the streets are buzzy as usual. It has been a while since she got to walk the streets like she does at the moment and though Alycia Reese is feeling glad for the chance, her heart feels heavy at the same time.
Perhaps because whenever she took a walk in the past, it was always with Elliot by her side. Whenever Elliot took a leave or return from missions, they always met up and had a walk together while finding happiness in doing small and simple things.
As Alycia Reese keeps on walking, the premises of the high school she used to attend appear, making her halt her steps. For almost a minute, all she does is stand there with her gaze on the place where she met Elliot McCall and started her romance with him. The place was always special to her but now... she struggles to think that way.
Finally, Alycia resumes her steps and walks past the school yet her mind is still occupied by everything about her and her ex-lover. No matter how much she wishes to free herself from these thoughts that only add to her pain, she cannot do so as if she were getting entangled in them! A few minutes pass with her walking like this, until...
"Miss Reese?"
She is suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by a voice that seems quite familiar to her. Halting her steps, she slowly turns to her right where the gigantic administrative buildings are located. The buildings are the ones that hold the offices of all administrative personnel of the country, starting from the President; and... standing a few steps away from her near the gate is none other than Mason Kent.
Slightly raising her brows, Alycia Reese watches as the Colonel makes his way to her with a pleasant yet amazed expression on his face.
"It's really you," Mason Kent says to her once he stands right next to her. With his smile reaching his eyes, he greets her by saying, "I often think of you since that dinner. How have you been, Miss Reese?"