Unexpected

Chapter Five

Two days later, Kai still hadn't heard anything from Iko. He wasn't exactly sure why this bothered him, but he sure did check his cell phone an awful lot more than he normally did. Each time he became slightly more irritated that his inbox was free of numbers he didn't recognize.

It surprised him, then, when his secretary called that Wednesday to tell him that a certain 'Miss Cinder Linh' was waiting in the first-floor lobby, asking to see Kai.

"She's not carrying any ID right now, and she looks a bit dirty," his secretary told him in a hushed tone. "Should I tell her that you're in a meeting?"

"Oh no, by all means, send her up. You can make a note that she's a friend of Thorne's."

"I will, Sir, thank you."

About one minute and twenty-three seconds later—not that he was counting—he saw the light on top of the elevator go on and the doors open. He craned his neck to get a better look at her, but could only see that she was checking in with the security guard on his floor. After signing the guest log, she started to make her way over to Kai. He looked down at his notes so as to not make her uncomfortable, but out of the corner of his eye he saw that many people turned in their cubicles to stare at her.

Finally, when she was close enough, he took in her appearance. She did, in fact, look a bit grungy. She had a messy ponytail, baggy clothes, and a small grease splotch etched across part of her forehead. Kai, of course, knew she was a mechanic, so it made sense to him that she would look like this. It was just the stark contrast to all the pristine suits in his office, though, that really made it noticeable. He thought it was kind of amusing. In her hands, she carried Kai's hoodie.

He stood up as soon as she got to his door, and tried to put on his best welcoming smile. She looked momentarily startled, and he wasn't sure if maybe he had tried so hard to smile that it had come out looking too fake. He tried to brush it off and extended his hand to her.

"Cinder, what a surprise! Nice to see you again."

"Hi."

She looked around his office, taking in the big windows that overlooked the city. Her fingers wound themselves around the strings of the hood on his sweatshirt momentarily, but then she held it out to him. "Sorry it took so long to get this back to you."

He took it from her and leaned himself against his desk. "No problem. It's only been three days." Did it sound like he'd been counting?

"Iko's just been busy," she said. "She wasn't too keen on giving it up either, I think, but I saw her last night and made sure I got it from her. I just had my lunch break from work so I thought I'd drop it off while I had the time."

"Well, that was really thoughtful of you. I'm sorry you had to come all the way out here, though. I could have easily picked it up."

"Oh no," she said. "It was nice enough for you to lend it to Iko; the least I could do was bring it back."

"Actually, I had left it out for you, but in the end it suits Iko, doesn't it?" He smiled at the thought.

"You left it out for me?" Crap. Why had he said that? Maybe she would think he was creepy now. He had just been trying to be nice.

"So—you were saying, you're on your lunch break?"

She looked at him for a moment before replying. "Yes."

"I haven't eaten yet," he said, looking down at his watch, "and I guess it's my lunch break too. Care to join me?"

Cinder looked down at her feet. If he wasn't mistaken, a small blush was forming on her cheeks. Hopefully, he wasn't being too forward. "Thank you, Kai, but I've really got to get back to the garage. It's going to take me too long on the subway to get back again if I stop to eat."