Vivian understood why he would think that, but she never considered or thought in that direction at all, but now that he mentioned it, she realized that that was how it actually looked to him… and how it would look to everyone else.

"Then why are you here if my assumption is wrong?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"I… I wanted to ask you for a job at your company. Vivian blurted out. She had to tell him that truth. Anything was better than him thinking that she had snuck into his room to have sex with him. The thought alone made her shudder. She had never had a one night stand with anyone and she wasn't going to start now with a stranger for that matter.

Scott McCall looked at her like she'd made a weird statement, and it probably was now that she heard herself say it out loud, but then he moved to the table nearby and poured himself some scotch, then he turned back to her.

"Drink?" he asked.

Vivian shook her head. She had to think straight and drinking wouldn't help her in any way.

"So you snuck into my hotel room because you want me to give you a job?" Scott asked, as if he hadn't heard her well the first time.

"Yes," Vivian added, "And I know that this isn't the appropriate way to do so, but… "

"You don't say" Scott cut in. He took a sip out of his drink, then added, "And do you seriously expect me to believe that, miss? That's the worst lie I've ever heard in my life. At least try to come up with something better. ."

Vivian's eyes widened. An expression he could only define as anger flared in their depths before she lowered her eyelids, hiding her gaze from him. She almost hissed. There was no point arguing with him if she was still going to get a chance to get what she wanted, although she highly doubted that she would now, but if he kept insinuating that she wanted to have sex with him, then she wouldn't be able to hold her tongue.

"It's the truth." she said as calmly as she could.

"I don't believe you" he cut in, and moved towards her. He was standing right in front of her after two strides. "Perhaps you came to take something…and I came in before you could so you had to come up with this story as plan B. Tell me, what did you come for?"

If he hadn’t been studying her so closely, he might’ve missed seeing the way her body stiffened and her lips pressed harder together. She hesitated, before she said:

"Nothing" The man was getting out of line, Vivian thought, but she had gone into his room without invitation so she wasn't really in the clear here. "I'm not a thief. I've never stolen anything in my life."

She shifted away from him and he laughed. It sounded like he was mocking her. "You do know that I can get you arrested for this. You'd be fired too…. Better hurry up and tell me the truth if you value your reputation. It would make this situation easier for the both of us."

"I already did. I told you… I wanted a job. I have applied before… to your company and so many others, but I was never granted any interview. I'm so tired of being a waitress, and I know that I have so much to offer. I'm very good at being an advertising agent, and I know that I'll be of great help to you and your company. I didn't want to get rejected again… so I…. "

"You decided to go straight to the top…" Scott completed the sentence for her.

Vivian nodded. He didn't look angry anymore, she noticed. In fact, she thought she saw concern on his face for a while. "I'm really sorry that I disturbed you like this. I was way out of line."

She was telling herself not to get her hopes high when he said, "Your story is really hard to believe, but if you are indeed telling the truth, I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help you, miss. I don't even think there's any opening at my office at the moment."

The look of disappointment on her face almost made Scott take his words back, but he shook the feeling away. He didn't have to feel guilty or sorry about anything . He truly couldn't help her, and barging into his hotel room to ask for a job didn't exactly give her points, but that didn't change the fact that he had a weird soft spot for this strange, beautiful waitress.

Vivian nodded slowly as she accepted her fate. This plan was a horrible one right from the start, she told herself. That was the problem she had, she always made the wrong decisions.

She made to leave. "Thank you, Mr McCall" she said gravely. "I'm grateful for your audience and for not throwing me out or calling the cops on me even when you should have."

As she took her first step, he stopped her. “Wait.” He lifted his arm to grasp her elbow to prevent her from leaving. But at the last moment, he changed his mind and lowered his arm back to his side."I…I didn't get your name," he said.

"My name is Vivian…. Vivian Sanchez."

She reached into her pants pocket and handed him a small piece of paper. Scott reached out and took it. "My number" she said softly, "Just in case something opens up… and I'm willing to do anything even if it's not related to advertising. I'm sure that I'll catch up fast as I'm a fast learner. Thanks for your time once again…. I should… I should leave now"

Scott McCall said nothing, but he nodded and watched as she walked past him towards the door. The door opened and closed behind her but he didn't turn around. He stood there with the paper in his hand.

He looked at the handwriting. Beautiful, just like she was, he thought. The woman definitely was crazy to come after him the way she did, but he couldn't help but admire her guts. The sane thing to do was to throw out the paper and hope not to run into her again, but instead, he found him pulling out his wallet and slipping the paper into one of the slots.

He didn't know why, but he just had a feeling that he'd be seeing her again. How, when or why? He had no idea.

Two weeks later…

Scott McCall walked into his office suite. He had been away from the office on a business trip and he knew that he would have a lot of work to do. He said a cheerful good morning to the receptionist but stopped when she practically ran out of her seat and came to stand in front of him. Scott immediately noticed the concerned expression on her face.

He frowned. "Is something wrong, Betty?" he asked.

“You shouldn’t go to your office right now,” Betty said quietly to him.

Scott's frown only became deeper. He raised an eyebrow when she offered no further explanation for her statement. “Why the hell should I not?” he demanded, not minding his language.

Betty pointed in the direction of his office. “Because… she's in there.” she replied. "And she looked really pissed."

Scott followed her gaze and then looked back at her and her eyes which were weirdly wide open. He almost sighed loudly. He didn’t have time for stuff like this early in the morning. He looked back at Betty and tried to be more patient with her. She was a hard working lady and she did her job well, but sometimes he just didn't understand her.

He took a deep breath. “Okay, Betty . First of all, calm down. Now tell me who the hell is in my office and how did she get in…and also where is Ruth? She's not supposed to let people in my office, especially when I'm not there."

Ruth was his personal assistant. She was an elderly woman in her early 50's and it was unlike her not to meet him as he got out of the elevator. She was his longtime assistant who used to travel with him almost everywhere. She had refused to resign even when Scott tried to make her, and he couldn't bring himself to fire her. She had an apartment not too far away from the office so she was always early to the office. She was also very good at knowing exactly when he’d show up at the office, and was always there, ready to meet him and organize his day as smoothly as possible.

There was a look on Betty's face as soon as he mentioned Ruth's name and he didn't like that look. It was the look people usually had on their face when there was bad news to tell. "I guess you didn't get my message, sir, but she won't be coming to the office for a while. Ruth's granddaughter got really sick and was rushed to the hospital yesterday evening. She will be having surgery and Ruth had to travel to be with them. I do not know when she will be back."

Scott frowned at that information. “No, I didn’t get your message. Just keep me posted with anything that comes up…. And if it concerns Ruth, make sure that I get it. I want to know when her granddaughter is out of surgery. If they need anything, let them have it… food, accommodation… anything… "

Betty nodded. "I will sir," she said.

"If anyone wants to see me, please let me know before you send them to my office. With Ruth gone, I'm sure my day is going to be chaotic enough and I don't want anyone adding to it."

Scott paused before he asked, "Betty, who is the person in my office?"

She looked up at him and blinked, then said "Oh" as if she'd forgotten about that particular topic, "It's urmmm…. Miss Smith"

She began to ramble. “I’m really sorry, Sir. I tried to stop her but I couldn’t. She was quite adamant and refused to listen to me. She insisted that she would wait for you in your office.”

Scott wanted to bang his head on the wall that instant. Knowing Elizabeth, he knew that it wasn't Betty's fault that she could not stop her. The woman was stubborn and it was worse when she was angry, and Scott couldn't even imagine how angry she was at the moment.

She hadn't spoken to him for two weeks since the incident with the waitress in his hotel room. He didn't have anything to do with the woman, but Elizabeth didn't care about that. In fact, she'd left the hotel very early the next day and refused to pick up his calls or reply to any of his messages.

After three days, he'd stopped trying to reach her. It was the right thing to do anyways and he figured it had to happen at some point. Their relationship wasn't going anywhere so there was no need to try to postpone something that was inevitable.

Now she was here, and he wondered why. The only thing that he was sure of was that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.

“Keep me posted on Ruth's granddaughter,” he said finally to Betty and headed for his office. As soon as he opened the door he saw Elizabeth. She was sitting on one of the sofas and looking out the window.

“Elizabeth,” he said as he dropped his briefcase on his desk. “What a surprise visit. Had no idea I would be seeing you today. What brings you here?”

Elizabeth didn't stand. Instead she turned so she was fully facing him and crossed her legs dramatically. The motion directed attention to her legs, which was exposed by the ridiculously long slit in her dress. She knew she had beautiful long legs as a model and she never hesitated to show them off.

Scott wouldn’t lie to himself. She had beautiful legs and they had once attracted him to her, but right now, he wasn't interested

"Is that any way to say hello to the woman you're dating?" she asked.

Scott fought the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn't in the mood nor did he have the time for this.

"I wasn't aware that we were still dating" he replied as he took off his suit and draped it at the back of his chair. "You didn't return my calls, Elizabeth. You practically ghosted me for two weeks. I don't think people who are actually dating do that to their partners."

Elizabeth rose. “And whose fault is that, Scott." she spat out." You sent me out of your room so you could talk to that tramp who by the way, snuck into your room. I should have made a complaint to get her fired, but I was so angry that I couldn't wait to leave. She clearly went in there to seduce you and you let it happen. How the hell was I supposed to feel?"

Scott just stared at her. Part of him wanted to ask her how her brain actually functioned, but he already knew the answer to that.

Elizabeth didn't care about anything or anyone. She only listened to herself and whatever she thought was true, she took as fact. Nothing anyone said mattered to her. Did she really think that he'd slept with the waitress?

“I do not have the time for this, Elizabeth,” he said, as he opened his briefcase, hoping that she'd just go away. His wish didn't come true.

"Of course you don't, but you had enough time for her" Elizabeth fired back. Her voice was getting louder and Scott knew that he had to put a stop to it.

"For God's sake," he drawled. "Do you really think so little of me that you'd believe that I would just sleep with a waitress who snuck into my room? What the hell do you take me for, Elizabeth? A man who has so little control over his body? Is that really how you see me?"

Elizabeth folded her hands around her body as she glared at him. From her expression, it was clear that wasn't going to listen to his explanation." Well, you gave me no choice,"She flushed angrily." No woman would be okay with what you did."

He made an exaggerated expression of surprise, slamming his briefcase shut. “Shocking" he said, "But at least some women would at least grant me the opportunity to explain. And since you haven't asked, I'd give it anyway. The waitress… all she wanted was a job… not me."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "A job?" she repeated, and once again, Scott fought the urge to hiss and roll his eyes at her.

"Yes, damn it" he replied. "A job… and yes, sneaking into my room was wrong, but that was all that she asked for. She wasn't there to have sex with me."

"I don't believe that."

"Of course you don't" Scott retorted, "But that's not the point because it doesn't matter any more. Look, Elizabeth. These two weeks we spent apart only proved something I've always suspected. This relationship between us… is not working. We are very different people and I don't see it going anywhere. I suggest we end it now and go our separate ways…. It's always better to end things amicably and still be on speaking terms rather than turn into enemies"

If his statement had any effect on her, he wasn't sure because the expression on her face remained the same.

"I'm not surprised," said Elizabeth. "I suspected that you'd say something like this soon enough. But I won't blame myself at all because it's not my fault."

She walked closer to his desk, while Scott just sat there and watched her. "The problem is not with me… it's you, so I won't beat myself up. You have a serious fear of commitment, Scott McCall, and you will do anything to end every relationship you get into because you simply can't handle the responsibilities that come with being in one. Good bye."

With that she grabbed her bag from the sofa and stalked out of his office, leaving Scott to shake his head as he watched her leave.

Maybe she was right, he thought. Maybe he did have a fear of commitment, but it wasn't his fault that people couldn't really be trusted, and he if relationship were filled with so much troubles such as this one, then why would he want to commit his entire life to one?

Whatever the answer was, at least he was sure of one thing. He and Elizabeth didn't belong together, and he had done the right thing by ending things.

He unlocked his laptop and went straight to his email. Staring at the number of emails that had been unattended to, he groaned in frustration. There was no way in hell that he was going to have time for all that, he thought.

There were so many unread messages and he even had some messages from Ruth reminding him of some of the work he missed while he was away the previous week. He never had to worry about stuff like this when Ruth was around. The woman was so organized and always seemed to be on top of everything. She even ended up reminding him of most of his tasks. He frowned when he saw that his calendar was also full. Except for one forty-five-minute window for lunch.

Now that Ruth was away, he had no idea how he would function without her. The worst part was that he wasn't even sure when she would be back.

He had to find someone to replace her…. Even if it was only going to be temporary.

Someone… someone…. Someone…

His eyes widened as his mind immediately went to the waitress. What was her name, Vivian… how could he forget? He had kept her number, but hadn't called her. He didn't see the point since he had no job opening for her but now he did. He reached into his pants pocket and withdrew his wallet. The neatly folded paper was still in there and he took it out.

He stared at the number for a while, before he grabbed his phone. He'd known that he'd would see her again, he thought and now it was time.

"Well, Vivian Sanchez," he said to himself as the phone began to ring, "Let's see how quickly you can get used to being my personal assistant."

__________

The cheesecake shop wasn't filled up that afternoon, Vivian thought as she cleared the table vacated by some customers minutes earlier, but that was because a lot of people were still at work. She knew that soon people would come in for lunch and the shop would be busy once again.

She sighed. Her attempt to get a job at Scott McCall's company had failed…. As expected. Even now, she could not believe she had done something as crazy as sneaking into his hotel room. The look on Scott's face and worse, his date's face still haunted her and she couldn't believe that had made a complete fool of herself.

Maybe she was just meant to be a waitress her entire life, she thought. Maybe she should stop looking for other things and just focus on the job she had. It wasn't paying her a lot of money, but it paid for her little apartment and her feeding.

Lost in thought, she was a bit startled when her phone vibrated in her apron. She looked at the caller ID and realized that it was an unknown number. With a frown on her face, she picked the call and put the phone to her ear.