Logan was getting ready for work. He was looking at himself in the mirror fixing his tie and trying to find a way to get Rory out of his mind. Seeing her yesterday in the conference room was a complete shock to him. During the last 2 years, Logan tried to bring himself to Google her multiple times or to ask his friends if they knew what she was up to. He even tried picking up the phone himself and sending her a text. But he chickened out single every time.

Rory wanted a wide-open future for herself and none of it was with Logan by her side. Logan loved her enough to let her do what she wanted to do, even if that meant him not being around her. If being with him, tied her down or made her feel it closed any doors for her. Then he would remove himself from the situation and in this case Rory"s life.

He knew in the time apart Rory must have achieved great things, written great articles but if he saw them, he would read them and he would read them in her voice. This would be a problem because then he wouldn't be able to resist calling her and at least congratulating her for taking on the world like he knew she would.

But here she was at the New York Times. Where he was supposed to be working out of every day. Where he was supposed to work closely with the staff for the next 6 months. That means he was supposed to work closely with her. The universe had a strange way of working. Not that he was complaining. It did hurt him to see her and not be able to genuinely talk to her, flirt with her, tease her and kiss her. But when he saw her, he felt happy in some strange way. He should be mad at her, he should want to not see her face again after she said no to his proposal but how do you do that with someone who meant the whole world to you once?

Logan checked the time and realized that he was getting late for the office. He was out the door and into the car waiting for him, to take him to the office. While sitting in the car, he tried to go over the plan for today's training, when his phone rang.

"Hello, Logan?" the voice inquired.

"That"s who you called mom". Logan said rolling his eyes, trying to focus his attention back on the paper in his hand.

Shira continued, ignoring her son"s sarcastic remark. "Well dear, I just wanted to tell you that you must attend McClair"s charity gala next Saturday. It"s going to be a talk of the town event. And maybe you can meet some appropriate girls there."

"Mom, I don"t have time for all this. I am not 18 anymore where you could demand my presence at all of these events with threatening to hold my black card hostage". Logan said getting annoyed at having to deal with all this again.

"Now Logan, you are a part of the Huntzberger family. You must do your part in keeping up the family name. We are not just any family, we have to keep up with society parties to uphold our fine standing in the society."

"Well mom, I am sure you and dad can be available to uphold the family name at this event." Logan said with an exaggerated sigh.

"Of course, we will be there. Why wouldn't we be there? I swear Logan you went to the West coast and forgot about all the working of a society." Shira said her voice rising at the ridiculousness of the statement as if to question why would she be missing any social function.

Logan not in the mood for this in the morning. "Mom I am almost at work. Thanks for calling."

"Okay Logan, but you are not getting out of every society function that easily".

Rory was sitting in the seminar hall for the briefing about the training with Tara to her right, Brian next to Tara, and Kevin to her left. She knew she was going to see Logan today and she didn't know how it was going to go. How was she supposed to react? Was she supposed to treat him as a long-lost friend? As a stranger? As someone, she used to know a long time ago? She was picking at the hem of her skirt nervously.

"Will you stop it? It"s very distracting. It"s just an introduction meeting, why are you this nervous?" Kevin asked Rory touching her arm trying to calm her.

"What? No reason. I am just excited to be learning the next big thing in journalism". Rory lied. Well not totally, she was nervous at the prospects of seeing Logan but she was also excited to learn this new thing in her Industry. Especially if that was Logan"s new area of specialization. She was looking forward to seeing what work Logan had been up to recently.

Rory knew that Logan and his partners in Palo Alto sold their company for $250 Million. She read that in an article about his company in Business Week Magazine. But she had no clue as to what he was specifically doing in Palo Alto or ever since selling his company and it killed her a little inside. She had a Google alert set for his name. Over the course of 2 years, there were plenty of articles about his business deals, his partners, and him but none regarding his dating life. Rory assumed the media attention was just on his business and not his personal life or he was very discreet about it.

Rory liked knowing what he was up to. She felt happy when she saw him succeed, every time Google alerted her about some new deal Logan made, her heart swell with pride. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind off Logan"s thoughts. As if on cue Logan entered the room and started speaking.

"Good morning, thanks for meeting me here. As I mentioned yesterday, from today onwards your training starts officially. My friend Jayden will give you a brief about it next." Logan said gesturing to Jayden to take his place and continue. Logan didn't look at Rory once while he was talking, he knew she was here. His eyes sought her the moment he entered the room but she didn't see him till then.

"Thank you Mr. Huntzberger. Hello, I am Jayden Reed." A tall dark man in his early 30 speaks and everyone"s attention shifted to him. "I am here to give you a brief of what to expect during the duration of the training. The training will essentially be only for the next 12 weeks. But you"ll be evaluated and monitored for the next 6 months. Mr. Huntzberger will personally do your performance appraisals with our HR team, once a month during these 6 months." Jayden turned around to explain with the help of a PowerPoint what else they could expect in the next 6 months.

Rory found her attention drifting to where Logan was standing. Logan was standing next to the glass wall of the room with his hands crossed looking intently at the presentation that Jayden was giving. Rory couldn't help but wonder if being around her without talking to her was as difficult for him as it was for her.

After the presentation was over and everyone was leaving the room. Rory found herself wanting to stay back to talk to Logan. She waved Tara and Kevin to go ahead.

"Why don't you guys go ahead and I"ll join you later." Rory said hoping none of them ask her why.

"Okay, We"ll see you later." Tara said hurriedly before Kevin could ask why. She practically pushed Kevin and Brian out with her and turned to mouth "All the best" to Rory.

Rory smiled at Tara and mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do next. She took few steps towards Logan and stopped. And she started thinking of all the ways this could come to bite her back in the ass.

Logan saw her standing a few steps away from where he was sitting from the corner of his eyes. Everyone was leaving the room and he wondered by Rory was just standing there awkwardly.

Rory took a deep breath and walked to stand next to where Logan was sitting arranging a few documents on the big table in front of the room. The room was almost empty till then, with only two other people sitting on the other side of the room working on their laptops. Rory assumed they were members of Logan's team.

"Ah, the lovely Ms. Gilmore. What can I do for you?" Logan said giving Rory a tight smile as soon as Rory came to stand beside him but did not look up from the papers in front of him.

Rory felt a sharp pain in her chest at Logan"s formal tone and use of her full name. They had always been at ease around each other and Logan using her family name to address her was making her feel uncomfortable.

"Nothing just wanted to welcome you to the New York Times." Rory said gripping her file at her side harder, thrown off by Logan"s cold and detached front.

At this Logan looked at her and giving her his biggest smile. "Welcome me?" Logan asked as if Rory had asked him the most ridiculous question. Logan was not expecting this.

"Yes, welcome you." Rory knew it was a stupid reason, but she couldn't find a better reason to come and talk to him right now.

"To the New York Times? You do know that HPG owns the New York times right? Logan asked laughter dancing in his eyes.

"Yes I know that but it"s your first day here." Rory justified.

"Second." Logan shifted his weight to the back of his chair, shoulders backs and his chin lifted to look directly into Rory"s eyes.

"What?"

"It"s my second day here." Logan said with a side smile.

"Well yes, technically but yesterday doesn't count. Today is officially your first day here so...

"How?" Logan asked getting more and more amused by the conversation he was having with Rory.

"Well, because you were just here yesterday for 2 hours but today you"ll be here at the New York Times the whole day. Hence, today is officially your first day here." Rory said shifting her weight from side to side, trying to cover up her stupidity of walking up to Logan without a full-proof plan. What else was she expecting this was Logan.

"I was in the features department for 2 hours." Logan said finger tapping at the table. "I was meeting with other departments the whole day. So I was here yesterday all day as well. Making yesterday as my first official day at the office." Logan replied satisfied with his answer.

"Well, I didn't know that." Rory said crossing her arms.

"Now you do. So 2 hours huh? You calculated the time I was in your department? " Logan said trying to get Rory more hot and bothered than she already was.

"I wasn"t calculating the time. I was just aware of when you left." Rory said trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Sure, I believe you." Logan said spinning his chair to face Rory and giving her a smile. Not believing her.

"I could have been calculating the minutes, waiting for you to leave". Rory replied.

"Calculating or not calculating. Which is it?" Logan asked looking at the ceiling, trying to goad Rory more.

"Well forgive a girl for wanting to be nice to someone new in the office. I just wanted to say welcome to the New York Times." Rory said narrowing her eyes at Logan. Getting more annoyed with every sentence he said.

"In that case, thank you so much." Logan said humbly his smile reaching his eyes.

"Okay". Rory said with her forehead creased, turning around to leave and was almost out the door when Logan"s voice stopped her.

"And Rory, you don"t have to find an excuse to come talk to me next time". Logan said turning his head and winking at Rory.

Rory blushed embarrassingly and went to her office.

Rory was beyond annoyed. The nerve of Logan Huntzberger to imply that she went to welcome him, just because she was looking for an excuse to talk to him. And then to insinuate that she was actively looking to see how long he would be around in the features department the day before.

Who did he think he was? Earth didn't revolve around him. Even though it was the truth, that welcoming him to the office was an excuse for her to go talk to him. Excuse that she agreed was a stupid one now, thinking how she was a day too late for it. But he shouldn't have known that and then to say it out loud.

Butt faced miscreant.

A/N - So? Do you like it? I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I can"t wait for your reviews on this one.

Please rate and review, you know how much it motivates me to write more.