A kiss

Andrew let his frustration fill the room when the office emptied. He hurled his phone against the desk with a sharp crash,

Meanwhile, Madelyn, who was still driving, was perplexed by Andrew’s abrupt hang–up of their phone call. Andrew seemed seriously upset, but she had no idea why.

Determined to resolve the situation, she tried to call him back, but his phone was switched off.

“Unbelievable,” Madelyn muttered to herself.

Just as she was about to call Rowan to figure out what was going on, Emma’s call came through.

She answered, “Hello?”

“Ms. Carter is at the office and needs you here as soon as possible for an urgent meeting.” Emma informed her.

“Alright,” Madelyn replied.

Andrew knew she preferred to sleep in, so he’d arranged her work hours to start at 11:00 am. But Jessie, ever diligent, had called a meeting early in the morning

When Madelyn arrived at the office, Jessie summoned her and Emma into her office to announce that two projects had been signed overnight.

With only the two of them in the design department, they needed to start immediately.

“How about the project with South Star?” Emma asked.

Jessie replied, “Put them on hold. Focus on the signed contracts first.”

The South Star project had been their fallback due to a lack of other work, but priorities had now shifted.

Both Emma and Madelyn nodded in agreement.

Jessie handed them the project material

and stressed that she expected drafts by the end of the day.

The deadline was tight, but Jessie’s standards were always high.

Emma and Madelyn threw themselves into their work, and Madelyn soon forgot about Andrew’s call. He, too, made no further attempts to contact her for the rest of the day.

In the afternoon, Andrew glanced at his untouched phone. Sensing the tension, Rowan tried to call Madelyn, but she didn’t pick up.

“Mr. Miller, the investigation has begun,” Rowan reported.

Andrew took a drag of his cigarette and remained silent.

Meanwhile, Rowan debated whether to text Madelyn. It was the end of the workday, and Andrew wasn’t planning to pick her up from work. Rowan found this unusual and worrying. His concern grew as he wondered what could have triggered Andrew’s sudden change in behavior.

Finally, at 7:00 pm, Rowan’s phone rang. When he saw Madelyn’s name flash across his phone screen, he felt a jolt of both relief and dread.

He thought that Andrew might shut down her studio in a fit of rage if this wasn’t sorted out soon,

Tension

gripped Rowan as he glanced at Andrew, and then he answered the call, “Mrs. Miller.”

Chart 196 ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

The fact that Madelyn was on the other end of the line only seemed to heighten Andrew’s fury.

“What’s with Andrew’s phone? Why has it been off all day?” Madelyn asked, puzzled.

She had just submitted her draft and was ready to leave, only to find Andrew’s phone still turned off.

Rowan nervously gulped as Andrew grabbed his coat and stormed out. The latter was clearly uninterested in any talk about Madelyn.

“You need to head to the underground parking lot. Mr. Miller is really upset,” Rowan said urgently.

“Huh?”

Madelyn was caught off guard. Then she remembered Andrew’s frustration during their morning call but couldn’t recall why he was upset.

Rowan continued, “Did you do something to upset him today? Just get to the parking lot now.”

There was no time for explanations. The call made it clear that whatever was going on was directly related to Madelyn.

Realizing the urgency, Madelyn started running through her day in her mind. She hadn’t done anything. notable except for her encounter with Easton at the hospital, where he had been unusually friendly

She wondered if Easton could have staged their meeting to stir up trouble.

Feeling a knot of worry in her stomach, Madelyn quickly gathered her things and rushed out of the office.