Mason types away furiously, his eyes fixated on the laptop screen like a hawk.

He doesn't realize Gwen has been watching him, noticing his expression twist and turn, for over fifteen minutes now.

"What's gotten your knickers in a twist, kid?"

Mason's head jerks up in surprise at her voice. He scrunches his nose when he registers her words but says nothing, eyes going back to stare at the tens of tabs open in front of him.

"Don't ignore me, brat. What are you doing at this hour? Work time is over."

"It's only nine," he replies dryly, looking over the screen to raise an eyebrow at her. Gesturing with his eyes at her own self clad in a plain shirt and pencil skirt. "And you're one to talk. Didn't you just get home?"

Gwen's narrows her eyes at him without actual malice. "Don't talk to your boss that way, you disrespectful little shit."

"Okay. Didn't you just get home, boss?"

Her lips twitch up. "Yes, but I wasn't stuck with work."

Mason looks at her for a few seconds, and then a slow grin makes its way to his face. He closes the lid of his laptop and sets it aside, crossing his arms.

Gwen laughs at him and throws a pillow in his face that he sees coming. So he catches it and sets it aside "Yes, I had a date. Don't give me that look. You're supposed to tell me about how your meeting with our possible client went."

"Anybody who goes out with you while you're in your boring work clothes has to be a great person," he teases and gets another pillow thrown in his face. He doesn't even try to dodge this one. Just laughs. But then he registers her second question and his laughter slowly fades. "The meeting...was fine." He tries to blank his face out. Just in case Gwen notices something's off.

Useless, because she does anyway.

She narrows her eyes again, this time the slits serious. "Mase. What did you do?"

He gives her a sheepish look.

"Oh, my God." She looks ready to freak out so Mason immediately interrupts.

"It wasn't anything that bad!"

"What did you do?" she asks again, fingers on her temples.

Mason presses the nail of his thumb between his teeth. "I...may have...accidentally knocked over the tea I got him. All over his desk when I got up to leave. Almost," he repeats the last part when he sees Gwen's eyes widen in horror. "I swear it wasn't that bad! It sounds really bad, I'll admit that. But-"

"You. Are. Unbelievable."

Mason hangs his head in embarrassment.

He does not like disappointing Gwen. Because when his own family had looked at him like he was some kind of abomination and kicked him out of the house when some asshole from school had snitched on him and told his parents he was gay, Gwen McCrae had come into his life like an angel and taken him in immediately.

His parents had never contacted him. And he doesn't expect them to. Because Gwen is his family. If not like a mother, then an older sister that he could always turn to no matter what. She's his support. The only anchor he's always had.

So, yes. Disappointing Gwen of all people is something he never wants to do.

"Was he really that scary?"

Drawing invisible patterns on the back of his laptop, he refuses to look at her. "Kind of."

Gwen stares at him blankly. "Tanvi calls him a bear. How scary can he be?"

"Bears are scary," he mumbles.

She buries her face in her hands and repeats, "Oh, my God."

Mason clears his throat, still embarrassed. His cheeks have reddened slightly as he remembers how clumsy he was. "Maybe...he found it funny?"

Gwen looks at him deadpan.

"Okay, maybe not."

"I've heard he's kind of cute. Does that have anything to do with your little fiasco?"

Mason's cheeks redden further. He's not just 'kind' of cute. "Shut up. I'm embarrassed enough. I apologized so many times."

"You didn't deny the cute part. I see."

Mason's ears are now burning. "First of all, that's inappropriate. Because he's a client. And we're about to plan his wedding." And then his tone gets lighter again. "And second, you're my boss. I'm not having this conversation with you."

"I've raised you, brat." She reaches over and smacks his foot. "And it's his engagement. Not his wedding."

Maron raises his eyebrows at her. "And?"

She just replies with a devious grin.

He scoffs. "Some boss you are. Asking your employee to be a homewrecker in the life of your own client."

"I'm a sister teasing her brother about his non-existent love life."

Mason picks his laptop back up, sticking his tongue out at her. "I don't need anyone. And if you'll be nice enough to get out of my room, I have work to do."

"No," she sings, moving to sit beside him. "What are you working on?"

He sighs and shifts his laptop so the screen faces her. "They want something grand, and I was wondering if The Collective would work for them but I think it'd be nice to have more options. Besides, none of these places are clicking with me."

Gwen scrolls through the pictures of the venues. She clicks her tongue. "What else did you have in mind?"

Mason lists down the names of all of the places that would suit the Sharma family considering their image, as if he remembers them like the back of his hand.

"Hmm...Did you look into Liberty Hill locations? Or wait. There's Whitewater. That could work."

His eyes widen in surprise. "Isn't that...a bit too extreme for an engagement party?"

Gwen smiles wryly. "Do you even know who they are?" Mason just blinks at her. She shakes her head. "Add it to your suggestions for the next time you meet Ayaan. I'm pretty sure he and his family would go for Whitewater." Then she scrunches her nose. "Rich people are weird."

Mason just stares at his screen, the white, delicate structure of the place Gwen just suggested seeming more and more extreme the longer he stares at it.

"You're stressing over this more than you need to," she states, slipping out of bed and standing beside it with her hands on her hips. "You don't have to doubt your skills, kid. You have more than enough locations to work with." She leans over and shuts the lid of his laptop. "Let's go get something to eat."