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Wednesday.

It was only Wednesday.

Aurora quickly ran as fast as she could in her heels through the double doors of Smith Architects.

"Good morning Ms. Young," called out an amused voice.

Aurora gave the receptionist a playful glare. "Yeah, yeah good morning to you too Patty."

"Running late again Ms. Young?" Asked David, the security guard as he stood next to the gate.

"Not you too David," groaned Aurora as she hastily took her company ID card out from her purse. She swiped it on the pad sitting on top of the gate. There was a beep before the gate opened to let Aurora in. "I'll see you guys later."

Aurora walked towards the elevator, pressing the up button. A ding was heard and the doors immediately opened. Aurora made her way into the elevator, finally being able to catch her breath.

When she had woken up that morning, she had wished it was the weekend. To her disappointment, it was only Wednesday.

Her alarm rang at 8AM, but of course she hit the snooze button a couple times because who wouldn't hit the snooze button. Before she knew it, it was 8:30. Since she had to get to work by 10 AM, her alarm had to be set for 8. Aurora felt like she was in school all over again, needing 2 hours in the morning to get ready.

Noticing the time, she took a brisk shower and began to get ready. In the middle of her hurry, she managed to bang her elbow on the edge of her vanity and stub her toe on the foot of her bed.

She hate mornings.

And it was only Wednesday.

While letting her hair air dry, she quickly did her skincare routine and makeup. Her acne had thankfully disappeared when she hit 21, which was due to the routine she religiously stuck by daily. No matter how tired she was, she always remembered her skincare routine.

Her makeup look for work was quite simple compared to what she did back in college, which made things a lot easier and quicker for her. However, today was just not her day. As she was trying to stick her lashes on, she accidentally poked her eyes, causing them to tear up. She had to quickly blink away her tears before they smudged her eyeliner.

And then of course, her lashes just would not stick, causing Aurora to become even more frustrated. You would think that applying lashes almost everyday for the past 6 years would make someone a professional at this. But nope, the lashes never listen, especially when you're in a rush.

Glancing at the time, Aurora quickly straightened her long hair, letting it down loose. Growing up, she had always gotten compliments on her long and healthy hair. She had naturally dark brown locks, but during her time in college, she had gotten grey highlights. Now the grey locks had faded and she had no time to get the redone.

It was 9:30 when she finally finished doing her makeup and hair, which took longer than usual. She was never good at doing things under pressure.

Sprinting to the closet, Aurora quickly put on a fitted rust colored long sleeved shirt and tucked it into a dark grey plaid high waisted pencil skirt that stopped around mid thigh. She put on a long cream colored coat that almost reached her knees. Despite her firm being quite lenient with their dress code, Aurora still loved dressing up, even though her attire was still semi-casual. 

Satisfied with her outfit, she quickly grabbed her purse and slipped on a pair of black pumps she had taken from the mini shoe closet next to her front door.

Seeing that it was a quarter to 10, she called an Uber, but still had to wait 7 minutes for the ride to get to her apartment. She really needed to look into driving again. She had decided to not get a car due to her poor eyesight at night, knowing she stayed at the office til late at night sometimes. The only time she drove was when she went home for the weekend and took her mom's car to run errands.

It took another 10 minutes for her Uber drop her off at the front of her firm. LA traffic was terrible, especially around downtown LA.

And that was how she found herself running into the firm 15 minutes late. No one was even surprised anymore as this happened quite often. Instead, they would watch her in amusement as she scurried across the lobby in full panic.

A ding let her know that the elevator had arrived on the 4th floor where her office was located. The firm was only 5 floors and had an open concept, where architects were allowed to freely move around. Everyone had their own individual desk and work space, but no walls separated them allowing free communication to flow. Only higher position offices, model making workshops, break rooms, and conference rooms had walls.

Aurora quickly walked through the large open space filled with desks. Architects, both senior and junior, design techs, and project managers, as well as interns and assistants were busy bustling around. There was never a quiet day at Smith Architects.

As soon as she stepped foot into her office, a familiar voice called out to her attention.

"Good morning Aurora," Grace, her assistant, had gotten up from her desk across from Aurora's office and followed her into her office."I brought you your usual cold brew from Massie's since I figured you would be running late."

Grace had been her assistant since the day she took her position as one of the department heads at Smith Architects. Despite graduating only a year before taking on the position as Aurora's assistant, Grace was really good at her job. She seemed to compliment Aurora well, knowing how Aurora worked and thought.

Grace handed Aurora the coffee as well as a small paper bag. "These were on the house."

Two chocolate donuts sat at the bottom of the bag, begging Aurora to be eaten.

"Thank you. What would I do without you Grace," Aurora gave Grace a big grin before taking a sip of the bitter, yet sweet goodness. "God, you're a lifesaver. Remind me to thank Massie when I see her."

Speaking of Massie, it had been 3 days since she had seen Xavier. She found herself wondering about him occasionally, wanting to know more behind his mesmerizing grey eyes.

"Mr. Smith wanted to see you before you got settled down," Grace added making Aurora groan.

"Is he mad? Is it because I was running late today. It was only 15 minutes!"

"I don't think that's why," Grace let out a small chuckle. Sometimes it seemed like Aurora was younger than she was. "He didn't seem mad or upset."

"Alright, I'll go see him right now," Aurora placed her purse next to her coffee and began making her way to the door. "Can you check in with Henry and their team to see how they're doing? I sent him the revised panel before I left yesterday."

"Of course," Grace gave Aurora a reassuring smile as she began to walk off. "Oh, and good luck Aurora."

Aurora laughed, knowing that luck will definitely be needed. Liam Smith was a force to be reckoned with. He was one of the youngest architects to ever open his own firm, just recently turning 32. Despite his young age, Smith Architects was already one of the most renowned firms in the world, having high end clients wanting to have their homes and buildings designed by the firm.

He was also a handsome bachelor, making both him and the firm extremely popular with the media. His blond hair and blue eyes caught the eyes of many females, but despite his charms, Aurora was never drawn in. This was a reason why the two got along fairly well as friends with Liam always messing with her.

Arriving at his office on the 5th floor, Aurora timidly knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"I swear I didn't do anything wrong. I was only late for 15 minutes today and I have a really good excuse. I was on time yesterday I swear. Okay fine you caught me, I might have been late. But it was only 2 minutes I promise." Rammed Aurora as she quickly began to spit out as many words as she possibly could to defend herself from trouble.

Liam Smith sat in his large leather chair with an amused expression on his face. Aurora had first caught his eyes when she first stepped foot into Smith Architects as an intern during her junior year at UCLA.

He had no romantic feelings for her, but he had never met anybody as charming and kind hearted as her. She was determined, hard working, and had the ability to make everyone comfortable around her.

However, it was her amazing capabilities and ideas that intrigued everyone around her. Aurora was amazing at what she did, despite humbly claiming she still had a lot to learn. Since hiring her after she graduated from grad school with a masters in Architecture and interior design, his number of clients had increased significantly, each and every one of them extremely pleased with her work. Every project she worked on turned into a masterpiece and she was starting to make a name out of herself in the architecture world.

Everyone in the company loved her; with junior architects and design techs looking up to her and the senior architects as well as project managers often asking for her input. It was the reason why nobody complained when she was promoted; everyone had thought she deserved it.

"You're not in trouble," Liam gestured her to sit down on the chair in front of him.

"Then why am I here?" Aurora asked, giving him a skeptical look before taking a seat in front of him.

"I just wanted to talk."

Aurora stared at her friend and boss with suspicion, raising her right eyebrow. He wanted something from her and she knew it.

"Come on Liam, I've known you for years," She noticed the hesitancy in Liam's eyes. "Spit it out already."

"Okay fine," Liam let out a small sigh, making Aurora a little nervous. "I actually have a new assignment for you."

"New assignment..." Aurora muttered, not comprehending his words before coming to realization. "New assignment?!"

Aurora couldn't take on another assignment. She was already swamped with at least 3 different projects. But before she could start to overthink, Liam quickly reassured her, knowing how she got when she began overthinking.

"I already transferred The Hills Residence and the house for the Williams to Samantha's and Jared's teams."

"But-"

"I know you were barely starting on those two projects, so you have nothing to worry about," He was trying hard to convince her, despite knowing that she wasn't going to say no because he was technically her boss.

Aurora knew he wasn't wrong about barely starting on the assignments, but it was weird to suddenly change assignments. There was something else to it.

She was genuinely curious. "Why did you choose me?"

"Because the client is a close friend of mine, and I believe you're most capable of meeting his demands." There was no hesitation whatsoever in Liam's voice. "Please Aurora."

"Alright, I'll take it," muttered Aurora. A big smile was immediately plastered onto Liam's face.

"Great! They're coming over at 2 for a meeting." Liam clapped his hands like a child who had just received candy. "I'll have Joyce email you the information."

Aurora rolled her eyes playfully at the 6 foot 2 man child sitting in front of her. How he ran an entire architectural firm was beyond her.

"Can you have her email Grace and the team as well?" Asked Aurora, standing up from her seat. Liam had followed, walking her to the door of his office.

"The team has already been briefed before you arrived. I'll make sure Grace gets a copy."

"What the- you already knew I was going to take on this project," Aurora gave him a playful smack on the arm, where he immediately feigned injury. "Grow up you big baby."

"Okay, to be fair I knew you were going to say yes. And if not, as your boss, I would've made you," Liam gave Aurora a shrug causing her to roll her eyes again.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Just make sure you email me so I can at least prepare myself." Aurora was about to leave when she remembered she had forgot to ask for an important detail. "Who's the client anyways?"

"Knight Industries."

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I'm honestly having so much fun writing this story and I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! Thank you so much for reading and giving Yours, Forever a chance!



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