Chapter 6

Serena rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms over her head tiredly. Her eyes felt grainy after hours of working in front of the computer and her muscles were stiff from the lack of movement. She had only been assigned to this project for two days yet it felt much longer. The assignment was to write several drafts of press releases regarding Diamond Corp that were to be submitted to the media. Serena and Rei were given the task of preparing five drafts for radio, television, magazines and newspapers. Beryl had asked for material tailored for each medium and numerous samples for her to then choose the best for each of the medium. That meant that Serena and Rei had to come up with twenty distinctly different drafts.

Matters were further complicated when they were given the tight deadline of only three days to accomplish the task. On top of it all, there had been no set launch date for the Diamond collection which made writing a press release for it all the more difficult . It seemed that Beryl and Dominic Diamond, President and CEO of Diamond Corp couldn't agree on a suitable date because of various schedule conflicts. They also wanted to avoid premiering the launch on the same date as another well-known designer's show.

Serena and Rei had been bombarded with countless confusing updates through email and on the phone regarding the expected launch date. The whole communications department had been on the edge because of the barrage of questions from the various media groups regarding the details of the Diamond North America launch into the world of haute couture. Tensions rose as media reports made extravagant claims and speculations on the expected launch, mostly driven by gossip that the department could not support or dispute without the proper press release. Beryl and Diamond finally managed to work out a date after two days but it only left Serena and Rei one day to do all the drafts. Beryl had not given them an extension despite the delays.

After a heavy brainstorming session with Rei, they had decided to divide the work of writing ten drafts each. Rei had worked like a woman possessed and had managed to finish her part before the end of the day, but Serena found that she was not as productive. Rei had offered to help her but Serena declined. She felt that it would not be fair to rely on Rei's help for something she should be able to do herself.

She glanced at the time displayed on the taskbar of her computer desktop. Her brain sluggishly registered that it was 12:35 am. That meant that she had been sitting in front of the computer for four and a half hours working on the magazine drafts. She had not been able to finish all the drafts at the office and had brought her work home to finish. She had only allowed herself a quick dinner and a shower after she had come home from the office. Diligently, she had barred herself in her room since after dinner to force herself to finish the work that night.

Serena stood up and stretched to shake the tired kinks from her limbs. Her butt was sore from sitting in the same position so long and sleepiness was starting to overcome her. She did a quick jog on the spot to get her circulation going again. Heaving a tired sigh with just a hint of self pity, she went to her bag to get the notes to prepare the last batch of drafts which would be targeted for television.

She rummaged around the bag, looking for the blue folder that she had stuck all the television notes in. It was not in the bag. She hurriedly shook everything out of her bag. Various folders, pens and even that granola bar that she had been looking for the other day fell out, but no blue folder. She searched the surface of her desk and found all the separate folders containing the notes for newspapers, magazines and radio but the blue folder for television was not there.

Serena slapped herself on the forehead and groaned in abject misery. She must have left her notes at the office. She had no choice but to go to the office and get them since Beryl wanted the work by the next day. Correction, it is due today, thought Serena as she looked at alarm clock which blinked 12:50 now.

She hurriedly propelled herself into action. Picking up the phone, she called a taxi service to have a cab pick her up. She snapped her watch on her wrist and grabbed her bag and her purse and opened the door to her room. A sleepy Lita in green silk pajamas came out of her bedroom as Serena slipped on her sandals.

"Serena, what's with all the noise?" asked Lita groggily. She took in the sight of Serena holding her purse and fumbling to put on her sandals. "And where are you going?" she asked more wakefully as she realized Serena was going out in the middle of the night.

"Sorry to wake you Lita. I forgot something at the office and I have to go get it. Don't worry, go back to sleep," said Serena unlatching the safety chain and unlocking the door to the apartment.

"You're going out so late, and in that," asked Lita bewildered.

Serena looked down at herself. She wore her most comfortable home clothes – a light grey tank top and worn pink shorts from her early days of college and her hair had been left undone since her shower because she hadn't bothered to spare the time to even tie it up.

"I don't have time to change, my cab is probably waiting. I'll be back soon, just need to get a file I forgot. Go back to sleep," she said as she closed the door of the apartment behind her.

A light ring signaled the arrival of the elevator. Serena stepped in, pressed the button and it quickly took her down to the ground floor. The late night security guard at the lobby of the apartment gave her a curious look as she dashed out of the elevator and out into the late night.

Serena felt a blast of humid air left over from the previous day wash over her as soon as the glass doors slid open. It had been a sweltering day, provoking plenty of smog and high UV warnings. The temperature was still well in the thirties degrees Celsius even though the sun had long set. The weather had been unusually hot even for summer the past two weeks and Serena felt grateful that she was wearing her tank top and shorts. She hopped into her waiting cab which was comfortably air conditioned and gave the driver the address of her office building.

The building was eerily silent in the night and Serena nervously looked about her as she dug in her purse for the security card that would open the doors. Like most office towers, the building was a monolith of glass and Serena could see into the lobby which was still lit with a row of lights leading to the elevators. Pulling the card from her purse, she waved it in front of the lock sensors and unlocked the doors.

Serena hurried towards the elevators. She felt vulnerable standing in the lighted lobby where someone on the street could look in and see her, but she could not see out into the darkness of the street. The elevators signaled their arrival with a soft ding. Serena stepped in and punched the eight floor.

Global Consulting spanned 3 floors within the office building, from the seventh to the nineth. The research, accounting and HR departments were situated on the seventh floor. The media relations and communications department where Serena worked took a good half of the eighth, with the business analysts units taking up the rest and the ninth floor was mostly for senior administration.

Serena stepped out of the elevators on her floor and used her security key card once again to unlock the glass doors to the office. She looked towards the empty reception area where Molly was usually found directing calls. The computer was off and the phone strangely silent. The absence of the usual hum of people working and talking raised a shiver inside of Serena. The silence was unnerving and she could not help but feel uneasy being here all alone. The lights of the office had also been turned off with only the overhead lights near the elevators, washrooms and emergency exits lit. There was enough light to make out the layout of the office, but it also cast deep shadows in the areas separated by cubicles. The shadows made even the normally boring office plants seem like menacing creatures waiting in the dark.

Serena had a flash of how the characters in a Resident Evil game felt, stuck in such a place. Here she was, without a weapon to even defend herself if flesh eating zombies were to attack! She giggled aloud at her own overactive imagination as she hurried towards her desk. She really had lay off on the video games.

She turned on the computer and waited for it to boot into the login screen. Serena shivered and rubbed her arms vigorously to warm herself and stave off the goose bumps. The air conditioning was full blast and without the other people in the office, the temperature was like being inside a refrigerator. She dug through the pile of folders haphazardly placed on the surface of her desk until she found the blue folder holding her notes for the current television assignment. She also logged into her email and sent any electronic documents relating to the media release work for the Diamond account to her home email in case she needed them. She didn't want to risk forgetting anything and having to come back to the office a second time tonight.

After double checking to make sure she had all she needed, Serena made her way back towards the elevators. She punched the down button and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator. It seemed to be taking longer than usual and she was anxious to go home. The few lights lit in front of the elevators flickered unsteadily making the hairs on Serena's neck to stand up straight. Her goose bumps had returned full force. She pressed the down button again rapidly, begging the elevators to hurry up. The door finally opened and she scurried in quickly. She pushed the button for the ground floor and held the button for the doors to close.

The door began to smoothly close and Serena settled to lean against the wall. Suddenly the doors halted with a jar and Serena gave a piercing scream as she saw the hand that had caught the elevator doors when they had almost closed completely. Images of every horror movie and game she had ever experienced flooded her mind at that moment and she could only stand there frozen in terror. The doors opened and her terrified eyes traced the hand to its owner.

Darien Shields looked back at her in surprise, and his brief expression of surprised turned to annoyance.

"Stop that shrieking Serena," he said as he stepped into the elevator.

Serena felt her scream choke in her throat. The tension of her arms and legs began to drain as she realized that it was only Darien. With the brush of terror subsiding, her cheeks began to flame at how stupid she must look right now clutching her blue folder in fright.

"I'm sorry," she began. "I wasn't expecting anyone and you scared me," she said, feeling that an explanation would at least diminish her stupidity.

"I wasn't expecting anyone either, but you don't see me screaming like a lunatic," said Darien crossly as he pushed the button for the elevator doors to close. He turned to look at her. His stern tone could not mask the look of amusement on his face as he looked at her with a familiar smirk.

Serena felt her own annoyance start at his slightly superior expression. She steeled herself against the effects of Darien's beautiful blue eyes, sparkling with laughter as they focused on her. She refused to be distracted by his slightly long, glossy black hair which invited her to run her fingers through it, although by his slightly disheveled look, he had already run his fingers through it several times already.

She was ready to make a scathing retort when the elevator abruptly stopped and the lights died. The force of the sudden stop of the elevators propelled her forward until she slammed into Darien's very broad, very warm chest and then they both fell to the ground. The emergency light of the elevators turned on, washing them both with a harsh red glow.

Serena found herself sprawled on top of Darien, her face dangerously close to his. They were both breathing heavily from the fall and she could smell the comforting warmth that emanated from his body. She felt mesmerized by the endless blue depths of his eyes and the faintly familiar flutter began at the pit of her stomach. Unwittingly, she felt herself slowly lean towards his warmth and his lips which drew her in with the persistence of the tides of the sea.

Realizing at the last second what she was about to do, Serena immediately jerked by in fright. What was she thinking? The danger of what she almost did chilled her to the tips of her toes and she madly scrabbled off Darien's prone figure. She looked at him to see the familiar scowl on his face and felt a sharp tug at her heart.

"What…what happened?" she asked shakily.

Darien slowly picked himself up off the ground. He ran his fingers through his hair as he checked the panel of the elevator. He pushed a few buttons but nothing happened. Turning to look at her, he said grimly, "It looks like the power is out. We're stuck in here."