Even though they left at different times, Kippei and Risaki met at the lift lobby of their work building, with Risaki pressing the door open to let a breathless Kippei in.

“You took the wrong way again?” Risaki asked, looking at him by the reflection in the mirrored elevator wall and retouched her lipstick.

“Yes...I took a wrong turn and got caught in an even heavier traffic,” Kippei replied, slowing down his breathing while taking a good look at Risaki’s dressing. ‘She looks good enough to eat,’ Kippei thought as his eyes darkened.

Risaki sucked in her breath at the change in the air but released it the next instant when the elevator doors opened.

“Let’s go,” Kippei brushed by her, leaving tingles along her skin as she followed him.

‘That was weird,’ Risaki thought, ‘maybe I imagined that.’ With her heels clicking behind him, she did not register the seemingly empty office floor.

Opening the door of the meeting room, Kippei walked into what was otherwise an unoccupied room. He turned to Risaki with a questioning gaze.

“No one’s here? That can’t be right. I never get our meeting times wrong…” Risaki walked in and mumbled to herself. She takes out the phone just as Kippei did the same. “...two calls and five messages? That can’t be good. How come I didn’t hear them…” Risaki stopped pacing and blushed as she remembered switching her phone to silent mode so that she and Kippei won’t be disturbed last night.

Kippei glanced at her as he came to the same conclusion. Skimming through his missed messages, his face fell in disbelief. “Delayed? Postponed??” Kippei’s voice boomed angrily as he stormed out of the meeting room.

“...Kippei wait!” Risaki shouted and ran after him into the office to see Kippei abusing his phone to type out a reply.

“Nevermind, let me handle this,” he said tersely. Noticing that Risaki was looking a little lost at the situation, he sighed. “Maybe make me a cup of coffee okay, Risaki? That’d help me just a bit.” He gave her a little smile.

Still a little apprehensive over his behaviour, Risaki gave a smile of her own and nodded, turning her heels towards the pantry.

Kippei put down his phone and took a calm breath at the managed situation. It turns out that the client had a previous appointment that he neglected to inform them and therefore postponed their meeting to the afternoon instead. ‘These people sometimes do not understand the meaning of checking their schedules,’ Kippei thought grumbly.

He leaned his elbows on the table, rested his chin on his wrapped fingers and looked through his bangs. He was thinking of cutting it as it was a getting a little long but Risaki loved this look on him back at their apartment so he left it like that.

He sat there watching Risaki. She was doing her usual at the office, like walking over to the photocopier, strutting across the room to hand him the coffee she made in the pantry; but even just the act of her crossing and uncrossing her legs made his pants tight. And having adjusted her red scarf, a healing hickie sneaks a peek over the top of the arrangement. Could be the knowledge that nobody but them will be there at this early part of the day, but he felt like he just had to have her.

A few minutes ticked by and all Kippei did was to stare at Risaki typing on her computer. She had unwrapped a strawberry lollipop and worked at licking and sucking the darn thing through those glossy pouty lips of hers.

Kippei frowned and jerked his gaze away as Risaki looked in his direction.