Night fell over the city, neon lights rippling across the hotel façade.  

Cars pulled in and out, headlights sweeping over the red carpet entrance.  

Evan followed his manager and Zack into the lobby,  

every step tightening the knot in his chest.  

He’d been here before—  

but never like this.  

Never with this mix of hope and dread.  

He already knew.  

She would be here.  

The elevator rose smoothly, numbers blinking one by one.  

A waiter was waiting on their floor,  

leading them down the familiar corridor.  

The moment the door opened,  

the noise hit him—  

laughter, clinking glasses, the hum of a speaker buried beneath conversation.  

Perfume and whiskey hung thick in the air.  

And then he saw her.  

Sienna.  

Sitting by the far side of the round table,  

elegant as ever, her expression composed.  

Her smile was polite, practiced—  

a smile for work, not warmth.  

Under the golden light,  

she looked untouchable.  

For a moment,  

Evan’s chest eased.  

*At least I can see her.*  

That alone felt like a kind of comfort.  

But that comfort didn’t last.  

The man beside her—a middle-aged client, face flushed red from drink—  

was laughing too loud,  

raising his glass again and again,  

urging her to drink with him.  

Sienna hesitated only for a moment,  

then lifted her glass and sipped,  

her lips tightening slightly.  

Evan’s hands curled into fists.  

Zack leaned in, whispering an explanation.  

“That’s Mr. Chen—big client of Chairman Wong’s. Owns half the logistics accounts.”  

Evan nodded absently,  

but his eyes never left the table.  

Mr. Chen’s hand rested on Sienna’s shoulder now—  

at first casual, then sliding, lingering,  

like a serpent testing boundaries.  

Evan’s pulse spiked.  

His jaw clenched.  

He gripped his glass so tightly he thought it might shatter.  

Anger and helplessness boiled together in his chest.  

He wanted to stand up.  

To pull her away.  

To shove that man’s hand off her.  

But he couldn’t.  

This wasn’t his world.  

It was business.  

It was hierarchy.  

He was just another employee  

trying to keep his job.  

“Evan,” his manager called, smiling too wide.  

“Come on, kid. Don’t just stand there—drink with the chairman.”  

Evan forced himself to turn back,  

lifted his glass,  

and smiled the kind of smile that hurt to wear.  

The laughter around him blurred.  

All he could see was her—  

and that hand still resting where it shouldn’t be.  

In that moment,  

he understood clearer than ever.  

Between him and her  

stood an entire world—  

and tonight,  

that world was sitting right between them,  

laughing,  

drunk,  

and untouchable.