"Um…I came to use the bathroom Lily showed me," she began, her soft voice laced with a frustrated tone. "But honestly, there are way too many strange people around, maybe not normal I'd say.

“What?” Ross blinked.

“Yeah. I just came to use the bathroom and I was fought for it.” She scoffed.

“Who was it? Your hair is tangled too.” Ross moved closer and tried to straighten it.

“Stop,” She mumbled. “I don't know who she is, but I hope not to cross paths with her again.”

Ross chuckled, “It’s just a few days, Liz,” he said, trying to soften his voice. “But I guess I don't have to worry about you getting bullied. You seem to handle it all well.”

Liz blinked and walked out of the bathroom. Her eyes scanning the walls for God knows what. Ross followed behind and tried to hold her hands.

“What?” She snapped.

“Stay calm.” He said. “This is the real world, you can't let them get to you.”

“What about you?” She folded her arms. “You’ve been yelling at me since I got here. Does the real world mean being treated like that by you, too?”

His jaw clenched, and he let out a breath. “I’m sorry. Things have been a mess at the company. We lost a huge deal and it got to me. It wasn’t personal, I promise. I just get worked up when I see my work getting cut off or failing.”

Liz’s anger faded slightly as curiosity replaced it. “What happened?” She asked.

Ross hesitated, then gestured for her to follow. “Come. I’ll show you.”

He kept talking as he led her into his office. “It is a really big deal I've been trying to get for months now. I placed a certain team in the company for it, but they just treat it like trash. And my mum doesn't seem to understand that it means a lot to me.” He paused, and led her into a sleek glass walled room filled with charts, proposals, and a large digital display.

On it were pages and pages of failed attempts, dozens of rejected proposals for a partnership with G–Apex, one of the leading firms in international infrastructure development.

Liz's eyes scanned through everything as he showed them to her. The cancelled, torn ones. And all because of two people that Ross couldn't fire or make them stay out of his sight even if he tried.

“The pitch was off. Every version we sent was either too aggressive, too vague, or completely missed the mark,” Ross explained, swiping through slides of detailed criticism from G–Apex’s board.

Liz leaned in and studied the reports. “It may sound too fast, but I think I know how to handle this.

“What do you mean? No…no. I still have to show you how things are done. You don’t have to—”

“Let me take the job” Liz cut in. Ross sighed and turned to her, held her hands in his. His eyes locked onto hers and he chuckled lightly.

“This isn't something you can train with. I'll let you in on anyone I'm sure you can handle.

“You don't trust me?” Liz asked, her eyes beaming with

Ross stared at her, then let out a short laugh. “Liz, no offense, but you don’t even remember your birthday right now. You’re not in any condition to work on something this complex.”

“I’m not brain dead,” she shot back. “I can still read, think and I can contribute. I lost my memory, I didn't stop being intelligent.”

He blinked, unsure whether to be impressed or annoyed. “We could find your family instead. If that’s what you want, I’ll arrange a full team to look into it. That should work better. ”

She shook her head firmly. “No. I don’t want that. I want to take on the project. If my family were worried about me, they would have known I was missing.”

“Is that what you think? What if you were on a vacation like I was when I found you?”

“Does that matter right now?” She asked, infuriated.

Ross sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and finally gave in. “Fine. You want it? It’s yours. Good luck. If you can pull it off, maybe you can manage the rest of the things that's still lacking.”

“Thank you,” she said, her voice calmer now. “I just need two people. One from the design team and one from the construction team. The best ones you have.”

He nodded slowly, mentally assembling names in his head.

“And Lily,” she added, almost casually.

Ross raised a brow. “Lily? Who’s Lily?”

“The girl with the brunette hair. She was with me earlier. She is really soft spoken. How can you not know your staff?”

“There are a lot of them, Emma.”

“I see.” Liz nodded.

Ross smirked. “So, you’ve grown fond of someone that quickly, huh? Funny… you’ve been avoiding my eyes since we came back from the shopping mall.”

Her head snapped up. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said, arms now crossed, a grin threatening his lips. “You haven’t looked me in the eyes once since we got back.”

Liz scoffed. “Maybe if you learned how not to yell, I’d actually look at your face.”