The next day, another project was coming up. As one of the company's architects, and the only architect available at the moment since the others were busy working on their other projects, Natalie had no choice but to accompany Kenzo wherever he wanted to go.
Today, they were going to do a site visit for their upcoming project. A business building was about to be built on some vacant lot a few miles from their company building and the owner had decided to sign a contract with Golden Star Company as they were known to have the most satisfying qualities rated five stars by a number of clients all over the city.
Early in the morning, Natalie had been asked to go with them. But she was still busy preparing everything in her own office and Kenzo could wait no more. He was waiting for her in the parking lot, outside his car, constantly checking his watch and waiting for her to arrive. The heat of the early morning sun was beating on his forehead and he was getting so impatient.
Natalie hurried down the elevator, a bone slung on her shoulder filled with lots of paperwork and documents and when she got there to the first floor, she ran towards the front door of the building, almost tripping on her way out, but running as fast as she could because she knew that her boss slash step-brother was already waiting outside, and she damn knew for sure he didn't like to wait so long.
"What took you so long?" As expected, Kenzo snapped at her when she arrived in the parking lot.
"Had to prepare the documents first, sir." She replied, apologetically.
"How many times should I keep reminding you that time is gold, and I don't like to wait?!" Kenzo scolded her again. His face looked so furious and agitated in the heat of the morning sun. Sweat was forming around his neck.
"I know but I'm really sorry." Natalie tried to reason out, "If you just told me a little sooner, I could have prepared and set everything today."
"So you are blaming me for your mistake?" Kenzo argued.
"I'm not blaming you sir. What I was trying to say is that you should have told me earlier, so I could have time to fix my schedule, instead of having your secretary call me at the last minute."
"Apparently, you are blaming me. I don't see the difference!" Kenzo kept arguing with Natalie, this sounded pointless already.
"Okay, I'm sorry sir. Can we at least go now?" Natalie suggested.
"Get in the car." Kenzo told her as he opened the car door.
Natalie hopped in, next to the driver's seat and Kenzo followed. Only the two of them were going today. Natalie always wondered why she would have to go with him when he could always bring his secretary around.
After all, it was only going to be their first visit to the client. Not so important. He could even do it himself. He usually did not bring the other architects during the first visit either.
But he had taken Natalie this time, and she wondered if it really meant business, or he was just doing it on purpose just to keep annoying her peaceful life, because somehow, as Natalie had observed these past few days, he always found enjoyment in seeing her suffer from his unreasonable wrath.
They drove through the city, the two of them settling in silence. For Natalie, partly because she did not want to start an argument with him again, and for Kenzo, maybe he just did not want to talk yet and was possibly saving up his energy to pick on her later. Who knew, right?
They arrived at the site where they would meet their client and took an initial inspection of the vacant lot. The client was not there yet and they both had to wait in the car for him to arrive.
Kenzo kept checking his watch impatiently again.
"He's running late. It's past nine a.m. already." Kenzo mumbled.
"Maybe he got caught in the traffic." Natalie remarked, and as soon as the words escaped her lips, she regretted it immediately.
"What traffic? He just lives around here." Kenzo snapped again.
"Oh… how would I know?" Natalie said apologetically.
"That's because you were not paying attention."
"What's there to pay attention to? I didn't even know who that client was!"
"Are you raising your voice at me now?" Kenzo looked at her as if he could not believe what he had just said.
Natalie immediately apologized, "I was just saying, sir." She replied, her voice sounded calm now.
A few moments later, a car stopped just behind their car and in the front mirror, Natalie saw a middle-aged man getting out.
"It's him. Let's go meet him." Kenzo stated, and they both got out of their car.
The middle-aged man smiled warmly when he saw them approaching him.
"Mr. Arthur?" Kenzo called out, also smiling warmly.
The man's eyes lit up. "Kenzo Anderson! How nice to see you! A pleasure." He extended his hand towards Kenzo.
Kenzo took his hand and began shaking. "The pleasure is mine, Mr. Arthur. Uhm, this is Natalie, my architect. She will be accompanying us until the project is done."
"Nice to see a lovely woman with you. Are you two dating?" Mr. Arthur asked, which surprised both Kenzo and Natalie.
Kenzo cleared his throat, "Actually, she is my step-sister. She just happens to work in my office."
"That's true, Mr. Arthur. Nice to meet you." Natalie said, giving him a smile.
"Oh, that's unfortunate. You two would have made a perfect couple." Mr. Arthur insisted.
"That's nothing to worry about, Mr. Arthur. Why don't we proceed to the site already and let's see what we can do about it?" Kenzo cut him off, avoiding the topic as immediately as he could.
"Very well, let's go." Mr. Arthur said.
A few minutes later, they were standing on a vacant lot, surrounded by a few big and tall buildings nearby. Kenzo showed them a few of the documents that Natalie had brought along, and they made him choose over the designs that they were planning to apply on the building.
Mr. Arthur carefully browsed through the pages of their designs, and in less than a few hours, they finally decided to return to their cars and talked about what they had come up with from the site visit.
"I haven't decided on it yet," Mr. Arthur spoke honestly. "I have to consult my wife first."
"Sure, Mr. Arthur. You can take as much time as you want. We'll just be here anytime you need us."
"Oh, speaking of my wife, would you like to come with us for lunch?" Mr. Arthur asked.
"We would love to, but I think we must go," Kenzo explained.
But Mr. Arthur was persistent, "Oh come on. It will be quick," he insisted.
Kenzo had no choice but to say yes. After all, Mr. Arthur was a client no matter what. So they should go to such lengths to please him, or they would lose such a good amount of money.
So, after that, they followed Mr. Arthur's car on the road, driving through the traffic and finally arriving at an expensive restaurant that Natalie had never even known before.
They got in, took their seats and Mr. Arthur ordered their food. Mr. Arthur's wife was already there, smiling pleasantly as she welcomed them. They ate their food between casual conversations and corny dad jokes. Kenzo did his best to smile and Natalie did her best to keep up with them.
The lunch lasted almost two hours, and they did not even part ways after that. Mr. Arthur took them both to their resorts, and they had champagne while sitting near the pool.
Natalie was a bit tipsy when she got into Kenzo's car by seven in the evening. They were finished, and they looked so tired and spent.
"Can you still drive, sir?" Natalie was asking him, but he did not seem to be affected by the drinks at all.
"Do I look like I don't know how to drive?" As usual, the same cold answer.
"Oh, I was only asking. We're going our separate ways. Just drop me at the bus stop. I'll go home by myself."
"I can take you home though."
"Oh no, no. It's a bother. You don't have to."
"Let's get you home."
"I insist, sir!" Natalie made her voice clear and Kenzo nodded.
Soon after, he dropped Natalie at the bus stop and drove off. But he didn't go too far. Instead, he lingered a few distances from the station and hid among the curve of the road, while observing Natalie from afar.
"You stubborn girl. There is no bus at this time." Kenzo said while watching Natalie waiting for the taxi.
"If 30 minutes are gone and no bus comes, I will take you home."
There was no bus yet and Natalie had opted to get a taxi.
"Hmm, maybe I need to take a taxi." Natalie said while looking at her watch. She realized that there is no bus at that hour.
The taxi drove away and Kenzo drove off, following after it.