Chapter 8: Scent  

'Why does he have to scare me with such a deadly glare? Really? Does he think he can scare me like that?' Lana wanted to voice out her words but instead gave Liam a poker smile. She still wanted to continue her internship in his firm, so she thought to be a little polite and talk things out to him professionally.

She deliberated that her apology earlier was not probably convincing enough for this ice statue, so she softly spoke, "I'm really sorry about what happened at the restaurant. If only I knew you or had I recognized you beforehand, I would have waited for someone else to enter the restaurant for escape from my family and had not kissed you instead. Please understand the fact that I only kissed you because I was in a dire situation at that time. Had I not done that outrageous thing then my entire life would be in jeopardy."

Her eyebrows knitted seeing no reaction from Liam but a gloomy expression. He even stood up from his chair to approach her but Lana did not move an inch and replied his stare back with her glaring eyes.

Liam walked around the table and stopped at a close distance from her. He squinted his eyes and sniggered, "Do you know how you have put me into an unfortunate position? I lost my date, I am entangled in a public kissing scandal, my reputation that I worked for years to bring to this level was tarnished within a couple of minutes. All just because of that one kiss you initiated to escape and save yourself. The video of 'our' publicly kissing circulated online for quite a while and my entire family is now questioning my morality!"

Liam bent a little, bringing his face to her level and continued, "I know you were desperate to take that action, but tell me Ms. Lana Huang, if you were in my position what would you do with the culprit?"

Lana heard Liam speak in an angry tone. His face was very close to hers and his gaze was cutting deep into her flesh.

Lana gulped as fear gripped her heart, but she remained calm on the surface and held her chin up.

"As far as I remember you kissed me back fiercely and even dominated the entire kiss. You clearly had enjoyed your moment with me, so please don't make it sound like I took undue advantage of you."

"Also, as I told you already I am ready to compensate you for causing such a big chaos. Let's behave like professionals. Your firm is the epitome of success for the budding lawyers and to be honest I really want to do an internship at your firm, Atty. Sy. I know I still did wrong by INITIATING that kiss in the public, but let me remind you, you dominated most part of the kissing, so I believe that you should not put the blame for the scandal entirely on me." Lana added.

"You said you want to compensate me? How do you plan to do that then Miss Lana Huang?" Liam seriously pondered as he stepped a little more closer to Lana, trying to intimidate the proud woman who did not even bat an eyelid under his suffocating pressure.

Lana did not budge from her spot and kept her confident cover intact. She then plainly answered, "How do you want me to compensate you? To not get my internship canceled in this firm? Just get to the point Atty. Sy."

Liam's eyebrows flinched, at such a close distance from her, he could smell Lana's natural fragrance that he had noticed when he kissed her back. The same enticing scent was again pulling him towards her. He moved closer, trying to distinguish the scent.

'I wonder which perfume she uses that I have never smelled before.'

"What are you doing?" Lana hissed at him, startled with his closeness and weird action. She blinked her rounded eyes several times as Liam was only an inch away from her.

"What's that scent? Which perfume do you use?" he whispered trying to lean closer, further towards her neck and sniff her to be able to identify the smell.

Lana stepped backwards a few steps, raised her hands in and said, "Stop right there Atty. Sy if you don't wanna taste the pain of getting kicked after being kissed!"

Liam realized what he subconsciously did and quickly composed himself.

He pointed his finger towards an envelope on his desk and signaled Lana to pick it up.

"Take these papers and read them well today. Think about it nicely... If you agree to the conditions stated in it, then you can start as early as tomorrow and if not then look for another firm for your internship. You can now leave." Liam casually stated.

Lana, though confused, grabbed the envelope and fiddled with it a little before putting it into her bag.

Liam again subconsciously followed Lana to get a whiff of her scent once again and he failed to notice that he was again too close to her back, almost nudging his nose in her hair.

"That's it?" she faintly voiced out.

Liam suddenly straightened himself to not get caught being so close to her and nodded, "Yes that's it. Make sure you read everything carefully." Liam whispered that made Lana almost stumble.

"What's wrong with you?" Lana hissed while she rubbed her arms, trying to cool down her goosebumps caused by Liam's sudden closeness and his distracted voice.

"Why are you getting startled so easily?" Liam commented with knitted brows.

Lana could just give him a confused look when he said that, she was unable to understand his attitude towards her.

"You can leave now." Liam plainly said next.

Lana looked at the envelope and walked towards the door. Liam Sy's attitude was creeping her out.

The two people who stood with their ears stuck to the glass door of Liam's office, almost tripped inside when Lana opened the door to step out.

"Ohhh I'm sorry." Lana breathed and helped secretary Mian back on her feet.

"Oh… I was about to knock on the door. Hehe… you see there's an important issue to discuss with the boss. Well… If you both are not done yet then maybe I'll just come back later..." assistant Jorge explained, stuttering.

"She's about to leave Jorge, come inside. Mian escort Miss Lana Huang out." Liam instructed while his eyes narrowed at Jorge.