Tristan's secretary, Erika, knocked on the door as soon as they arrived in front of his office.

A familiar baritone voice was heard from inside as he said, "Come in."

Justin swallowed hard, feeling nervous without knowing the exact reason why. Erika opened the door and went inside first before Justin and said, "I have brought him with me, sir."

Tristan nodded and Erika took that as a sign that she should leave the office and let Justin enter alone. She let him come in first and left the office after Justin was finally in front of her boss. She softly closed the door and went back to her desk.

"Hello, sir. I'm Justin Alvarez from the Finance Department," he introduced himself as he stood in front of Tristan's table. The alpha stared at him for a while, makimg him feel uncomfortable.

'Why is he staring at me?' Justin thought as he stared at the floor to avoid meeting Tristan's eyes.

"I know."

As he heard the swivel chair's wheels move, he lifted his head and saw Tristan walking towards him.

He got a whiff of Tristan's faint pheromones and that drove his heart insane. It was beating rapidly as if he just ran an entire marathon.

Tristan stopped two feet away from him. Justin looked at his eyes and expected that they'd look at him with contempt, but they weren't.

The eyes that he saw were the eyes of a man who has been longing to see someone. It was the look of an alpha who's desperate for his attention.

"Do you recognize me?" Tristan asked, still staring at Justin. Flustered, Justin stuttered when he replied. "I'm sorry, sir? W... What do you mean?" he asked, confused as to why Tristan was asking him that.

"Exactly what I said. Do you recognize me?" Tristan asked once again. "Of... Of course, I recognize you. We also met the other day at the pub, sir," Justin said as he avoided his eyes.

"Darling..."

Justin flinched when he heard the endearment that Tristan used to call him before. Just hearing that word from his mouth made his face turn bright red as his heart fluttered.

"You do recognize me. You still remember me..." Tristan whispered when he saw how Justin reacted when he called him 'darling'.

It was just a slip of the tongue, but he was thankful for that mistake. He was finally able to find out the answer to the question that has been bothering him since the first time he saw him again.

It seemed like Justin didn't care about him at all, because he acted all indifferent with him as if they were never in an intimate relationship before. Now that he found out that Justin hasn't forgotten about him, he felt like a heavy burden was just lifted from his heart.

"W... With all due respect, sir, it's inappropriate to call an employee 'darling'. May I ask why you called me over?" Justin said, wanting to get away from him as soon as possible because of the embarrassment he felt.

Tristan smiled, remembering how Justin used to have that expression on his face whenever he teased him before.

"I just wanted to see you," Tristan said with a smile. "I believe that is highly unnecessary if you don't have anything important to say to me, sir," Justin said as he shot his eyes up to Tristan.

'Ah... How I missed staring into those beautiful eyes of his,' Tristan thought as he looked him in the eye.

"I have something important to say, though?" Tristan said as he tilted his head a little. "W... Well... what is it, sir?" Justin said as he felt his entire face heat up again from feeling embarrassed for assuming that Tristan didn't have anything important to say to him.

Tristan suddenly knelt on one knee and held Justin's hand. He looked up to see Justin's face and said, "May I court you?"

Justin's eyes widened from the sudden question. That wasn't what he expected at all. The place and time were all inappropriate for something like that. Plus, Tristan was his boss. He's the CEO of the company he's working at. How could he not get shocked at all?

"What...?" Justin looked at him with a shocked expression. His eyebrows were raised as his eyes widened, and his lips were slightly gaped open.

"Just as I said. May I court you?" Tristan asked once again.

What Tristan said was fully processed in Justin's mind. He yanked his hand from Tristan's and took a step backward.

"What are you saying, Tristan? We're long over," he said as his forehead creased while glaring down at him. "Precisely. That's why I want to court you," he said as he slowly stood up.

"No, listen to me," Justin said as he shut his eyes tightly and sighed. When he opened them, the first thing he saw was Tristan's smiling face.

'Yeah, right. Demon my ass. The rumors about him are probably all made up. Which part of this dog-like alpha is a demon?' Justin thought as he frowned at him.

"Hmm?" Tristan tilted his head a bit and leaned his bottom on his table as he waited for what Justin was about to say.

"Why would you even want to do that? I don't mean for this to be offensive, but you were the one who broke up with me, Tristan," Justin said as he clenched his jaw, feeling his heart ache as he remembered what happened before.

"I know it's too late to do this now, but will you please let me make it up to you?" He asked as he looked at Justin the way he used to look at him when they were still lovers.

Justin remained quiet.

He couldn't bare to look at his face when he looks like the Tristan he knew before. It would have been better if the Tristan in front of him lived up to his current image, but seeing the look on his face right now only made Justin feel weak.

Juat when he was trying to convince himself that he had no lingering feelings left for him anymore, Tristan really just had to look so adorable.

"What do I have to do for you to let me court you?" Tristan said as he stepped towards him.

Justin knew how persistent Tristan can be. He knew that even if he turns him down right now, he'd still find ways to pursue him.

Justin sighed and said, "Do whatever you want." He pursed his lips. "This is neither a yes nor a no. You can do whatever you want, but I'm not responsible for anything that would happen as an outcome of your actions. Just please don't get in the way of my work. I'm still working in your company, so we should at least keep things professional, sir," he continued.

With Justin's answer, Tristan smiled victoriously. He was taking a risk when he acted like that in front of Justin. He knew that Justin might just get mad at him and end up quitting work, but he also knew that he might just allow him to court him again.

When he saw Justin's reaction earlier when he called him 'darling', the chances of him allowing him to court him and win his heart back got bigger.

Thankfully, Justin's answer was neither of his two predictions. It was better than not being able to do anything.

Tristan had a wide smile on his face because of what Justin said. It was happiest he felt for a long time.

'If I do this, he's probably just make a fool of himself and eventually stop, right? There's no reason for him to do this, so he'd probably just give up easily,' Justin thought as he sighed while looking at Tristan.historical

"I'm going to win your heart and make things better this time, Justin," Tristan said as he smiled at him. It was weird for him to call Justin by his name. He wanted to call him 'darling' again, but he knew that he wasn't in a position where he's allowed to call him that.

Justin felt the same as Tristan, too. He was used to him calling him 'darling' before, that hearing his name from his mouth sounds weird.

"By the way, are you not in a relationship with someone? I recall someone teasing you about being in love," Tristan said as his voice slowly shrank, feeling shy from asking him that.

"I don't. I told you, I don't have time for that," Justin said and pursed his lips.

Tristan's face brightened upon knowing that he can still win him over. There was no way he was giving up now that he knows that Justin is not in a relationship with someone.

"May I go to the office now, sir? I'm already running late, and it would be bad if I got there later," Justin said as he looked at Tristan with a blank face.

"Should I walk you there?" Tristan asked while looking at him happily. "No, why would you do that? I'll go there myself," Justin frowned.

"I'll be taking my leave now, sir," Justin said a she bowed his head a little and headed for the door. Tristan followed him to see him out, and when they were already outside the door, his secretary looked like she just saw a ghost.

'Oh my god... Is the world finally ending? Why is he smiling? This is creeping me out...' Erika thought.