~Three Days Later~
While working a shift on Thursday, Diane received a call on her phone but was far too busy at the outpatient ward along with the Chief of her department to do anything about it.
Luckily for her, the phone was on vibration so it didn't attract the attention of other doctors, and she had to wait until forty-five minutes for the ward round and the short meeting that followed after it to end.
The moment she got to her office, she fished her phone out from her white coat and scrambled to unlock it to see a missed call and text notification from Christian.
She remembered him saying he would call her when he returned from his business trip and it seemed he was back. A huge sigh of relief escaped from her lips.
There has been a lot of pressure from home concerning her divorce and prenup battle with Phillip and she was barely keeping it together.
Diane clicked open the text to read the content. Christian had only sent his house's address as the location and the time for the meeting.
She didn't know if he did it on purpose, but the time he set suited her work timetable as she did not have to skip work in other to meet him.
He must have had her busy schedule in mind while fixing the time for the meeting and deciding to drop that text when she didn't answer his call. He knew that she would never deliberately ignore him given how urgent she needed his help.
A light appeared in Diane's eyes as she shoved her phone into her pocket and prepared for her next surgery while counting down to their meeting time.
---
Diane got her first shock of the day when she realized that she had forgotten she needed access to Skyville until she got to the first security checkpoint.
Her heart raced in her chest as she was afraid of being turned back when it got to her turn.
While scrambling on what next to do with a fast-beating heart, the security man asked her, "Your name and your invitation?"
"Um… I'm Dr. Diane Brown. Mr. Christian Knowles invited me. As for the invite card, I only have this." Diane turned her phone screen displaying Christian's text to him.
The security man took a glance at it before straightening his back. "What was your name again?"
"Dr. Diane Brown," she repeated.
The security man went ahead to confirm her invite on the small device he was holding before turning to wave at his colleague, a signal to raise the bar.
Seeing that her entry was approved, Diane said a word of thanks to the security man before driving into the estate.
As soon as she pulled over in the visitor's car parking lot, she phoned Christian to notify him of her arrival.
"I'm sorry, but I can't recall your apartment's floor and door number," she said into the phone with a tinge of worry in her tone.
There was a brief silence with only the sound of breathing being the only thing that was heard.
Whatever was going through Christian's mind was something she could not fathom. On the other hand, Christian was surprised by her short-term memory as he did not expect her not to remember any of those important details after her first visit four days ago.
It made him wonder how she managed to remain in her medical career where paying attention to details was necessary.
About fifteen minutes later, Diane finally rang the bell in front of Christian's door and it took only eight seconds for it to open to her.
As her gaze fell on the man with dark circles under his eyes in a big polo and baggy cargo pants, her eyebrows arched upwards.
She was actually surprised to see Christian answer the door as if she had been expecting someone else to do it instead.
'Is he alone?' she wondered.
Christian met her curious gaze and frowned while holding the door for her. "Do you want to go back? Aren't you going to come in?" he asked.
"Sorry," she mumbled and quickly walked past him and made her way in. It wasn't her intention to get caught staring.
Within a second, Christian came up behind her and led the way to his living room. "Have a seat," he gestured before going back to his previous location to sit.
There were piles of different documents scattered on his round glass centre table and Diane couldn't take her eyes off them.
They were enough proof for the dark circles he had under his eyes.
Diane picked two sofas away from Christian and sat down before putting her bag on the floor next to her feet.
An awkward silence hung in the air with a scowl sitting on Christian's face as he sorted the documents on the table while Diane watched.
After a while when she couldn't hold out any longer, her lips parted. "Christian thank you for agreeing to see me."
"Christian?" he rasied a questioning brow as the documents in his hands hung in mid-air. "Are we that close?"
That question stung Diane in the heart. She didn't know their relationship was that bad to the extent that she couldn't even call him by his first name.
Thinking about it, he was fine with it the other day. Was he in a bad mood now?
She felt like crying as she couldn't stand getting treated badly by him. Her eyes moistened with tears and Christian saw it.
"It's Mr. Knowles," he corrected as he quickly averted his gaze.
Diane looked down at her fingers and apologized, "I'm sorry." Just as those two words left her lips, a tear dropped into her palm.
Christian had no idea she was actually crying until he heard her sniff. If he hadn't shown any kind of emotion to her since her arrival this moment called for it.
"Are you crying?" he asked with a tinge of surprise in his tone. He actually stood up and walked towards her with slightly knitted brows. He refused to believe that she would cry over something so trivial and just wanted to confirm it.
On the other hand, when Diane heard his approaching footsteps, she lowered her gaze and reached out to wipe her tears with the sleeves of her shirt.
Actually, it wasn't Diane's intention to cry over Christian's sudden formality. She was overwhelmed with emotions as she couldn't stand being treated harshly any longer.
From the prenup issue to getting slapped and threatened by her mother to fighting with Phillip to now getting called out by Christian was more than enough to break her.
She has been through a lot in the past week and just couldn't hold out any longer. Meanwhile, Christian squatted in front of her with a file in his hand.
"Do you want to leave?" he asked as his brows drew inwards, highlighting his seriousness. Having seen her tears from up close, he was suddenly irritated and wanted them gone that instant.
He had invited her over to talk about business and not to babysit her. After all, he was the solution to her problem and not the source.
The only good gesture Christian could make was to pass a handkerchief to Diane.
Taking a step back as she wiped her tears, he glanced at the file in his hand and frowned as he wondered how much more tears she would shed when she learned his conditions for helping her.