Under His Protection

He missed how easy it had become to speak to her, it felt like they had not talked like that in forever, but of course, he understood why and wanted to do more than just stand by her all day long. After thirty more minutes, the meeting had finally ended and Cory surveyed closely as everyone dispersed, leaving just Jasmine and Lisa behind, going through the finishing details of the meeting.

“Anything else?” Jasmine asked Lisa. Cory could see how she needed Lisa to say no.

“Yes, you have a meeting with representatives from Ziangzou our partnering advertisement firm in China, tomorrow morning by eight,” Lisa said closing the laptop and standing up straight, ready to leave.

“Oh” Jasmine replied with fallen shoulders, she was tired and she needed to shut her eyes.

“Everything is ready, I’ll get the files for you to see them on our way,” Lisa said before Jasmine gave a nod.

Jasmine buries her face in her palms, taking a deep breath and sighing in exhaustion, making Cory extra worried. It was almost like she had forgotten he was still in the room with her. He walks towards her slowly, watching her carefully as her head is still buried in her palms. He could tell she wanted to break down. She wanted all of this to end, how she shook her head from side to side.

“Hey,” he said in a low tone, as he stopped right beside her, making her raise her head and turn to him.

“Cory” she called him with a warm smile, it melted his heart to know she still had the strength in her to smile at him as warmly as that.

Just as the next words were about to come out of his mouth, he paused as her phone began to ring. Jasmine apologizes, as she indicates to him to hold on while she takes the call. Just as quickly as a smile forms on his face, it fades away as he realizes who she is on the call with.

“It’s been a crazy week Josh, how can you possibly say that?” Jasmine says into the phone.

What was he going on about this time? Cory wondered.

“No, you can’t come with me to China, it's just for business and you’ll get bored, you know this” she adds, moving away from Cory.

After a few more silent minutes, Jasmine turns to Cory looking distressed as if she was asking him to save her from the ongoing predicament. Cory suddenly has an idea. He walks towards her and stands on the side where she has her phone to her ears.

“Mr. Grant is on line 1 ma’am, he says it's important,” Cory says loudly, making sure he is audible enough for the person on the other side of the phone to hear him.

“I’ve got to go, talk later,” she says quickly before hanging up.

“Are the cars ready? We are leaving now, at the elevator” Cory tells Damien.

The day was finally over and he would make sure they drove straight home so she could get some much-needed rest Cory thought to himself. He thought about how a tight schedule had made sure they barely talked to each other and even being with her now in the elevator, she was still on her cellphone, this time with Lisa who was discussing the travel itinerary for their journey the next day.

Cory remembers their first elevator conversation and chuckles at how far they’ve come.

Jasmine turns to him, wondering what made him chuckle, but he does nothing but share a glance at her. After all, they couldn’t have a conversation right now, while she was on a call.

The drive home was like the days before today, she was on her phone, either placing the calls or receiving them. Cory could not see her through the rear-view mirror, but he had the perfect mental image of how she looked sitting behind him.

“I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” Jasmine tells Cory just after he pulls up to the house.

He replies with a feeble smile, knowing she was probably not going to let herself access the quality sleep her body badly needed. He wished he could help her forget about work and just sleep, at least till the next morning.

“Oh, I was hoping it would be okay with you to stay over tonight. It’ll be an early day tomorrow” She tells him.

The next day was not their first early day, it made Cory wonder why this was special and she was asking him to stay over.