With only 3 minutes to spare, Sintra hooked her handbag over her shoulder and grabbed her thermos and sneakers before dashing out the door Henry held open. Bolting through the lobby, she greeted the receptionist breathlessly before heading towards the elevator.
Leona's voice echoed in her mind once more and her field of vision drifted to the staircase. Hissing her teeth, a habit she had picked up from the diverse culture of New York, she ignored her friend's request and headed straight for the elevator. She was out of time and both her office and the board meeting were on the 20th floor; she couldn't possibly climb those stairs now.
She waited, tapping her heels impatiently against the tile as she watched the display panel countdown.
When the elevator finally arrived, Vante Kim greeted her with a stunned expression before breaking off into a pleasant smirk.
"I was wondering where you were," he told her, stepping aside to give her room.
Sintra rolled her eyes at him as she adjusted the strap of her handbag, hitting the number 20 on the controls as she settled in the elevator.
Vante was a handsome man—that Sintra couldn't deny. As tall as an athlete, his pale skin was radiant from moisturizing with high end products. He wore jet black hair that he had slicked back ducktail for the occasion, complimenting his ash gray suit and pastel pink tie. His brown eyes matched his polished leather shoes and his cologne filled the elevator with the manly fragrance of musk and power. He smelled as wealthy as he appeared.
The downside to Sintra's abnormal palate was that fragrances she found titillating often made her mouth water, eager to devour and deconstruct the components of every molecule in the substance. The only problem with this was that Vante Kim was not food, he was a man. And however candied she thought he smelt, he was rotten to the core.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"I am," Sintra choked, indicating to someone as brilliant as Vante that she was lying.
Sintra did not look at him, not directly. Facing forward she watched him smile to himself through the blurred and warped reflection in the metal of the elevator door. She found herself checking her appearance as well and thought her face was as pretty as it were round. She snapped out of her admiration only when the door opened at the third floor.
A few of Sintra's employees greeted them both as they entered and she watched as each of them hit various numbers on the controls, sighing lowly as she thought of how late she was going to be for such an important meeting.
The ride was quiet until Vante spoke.
"This is a very impressive place, Ms. Magnus. Not stuffy, everyone is well mannered. I think it's a privilege actually." Vante said, turning to Sintra as quickly as her head snapped towards him.
Reading the smug but serious expression on his face, Sintra did not need to taste anything to decipher the contents and meaning of this conversation.
"You— how much shares did you buy?" Sintra asked lowly.
"Enough to make a refusal seem selfish and disingenuous on your part." He answered.
"You conceited, smug, bastard! Where did you get the money? What about your company? You'd abandon them just to have influence over mine?" Sintra asked.
"I already sold it. I'm sure the new owner will work it out." Vante shrugged, turning away from her.
Sintra was at a loss for words, much like everyone else in the elevator as they pretended they weren't listening. As arrogant and smug as Vante was she had thought that he actually loved his work. He was so genuine in his advertisements and speeches that despite being her rival, she could not help but appreciate anyone that worked so hard to help others. Her entire perception had crumbled right there in the elevator and his next words left a bitter taste in her mouth; one unlike anything her palate had ever deciphered.
"I've been running Wish4All foundation for seven years. I've put my life on the line to help people who don't even deserve it. I lost my passion towards that company a long time ago." Vante explained.
"So what? You abandon them? The people that need you?" Sintra grimaced.
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain, Ms. Magnus. You'd do well to remember that." Vante replied, causing Sintra to frown in confusion.
Before she could reply, the elevator stopped suddenly, the lights blowing shortly after. Murmurs could be heard throughout the compartment just before the lights came on again, only it was a shocking neon green that tinted everyone the color of the grinch.
Sintra frowned, catching a glimpse of the same expression on Vante's face.
"What is—" someone began to say, right before the elevator jolted upwards.
Sintra's shoes and thermos fell from her hands as the swift movement knocked her employees to the floor while her and Vante held on to the handrails for dear life as the elevator accelerated at a dangerously unnatural speed.
Sintra's heart pounded as their shrieks echoed through the compartment, the elevator zipping through the shaft faster than a bullet train. She caught sight of the controls, the numbers 5, 19, 12,16 and 20 all simultaneously alight indicating that they were still indeed enroute to each floor.
Just when she thought she would collapse, the elevator stopped, causing everyone to fall down.
"What the hell just happened?" Vante groaned as he and Sintra rose to their feet first.
"I have no idea," Sintra answered.
"What do you mean you have no idea?! What was that?" His voice rose higher.
"I don't work in maintenance, Mr. Kim!" Sintra shouted, stilling the room with her loud voice.
Heaving a sigh, she offered her hand to the woman infront of her. She was a young girl, her hair neatly kept in a high puff and her brown eyes laced with worry. Her name tag read Anna Bloomfield, trainee, answering Sintra's unasked question of why she had never seen her before.
"Are you okay?" Sintra asked kindly, watching as the girl nodded. The other 3 men got to their feet just as the elevator dinged, the once alight number 5 on the controls falling dark.
Sintra squinted, raising her left hand to her face as she shielded her eyes from the rays of sunlight that attacked her pupils. When they adjusted to the gleam, they widened in horror at what laid before them.
Walking past Anna, she dropped her handbag to the floor, ignoring Vante's plea to wait.
Her mouth hung open as she stepped out of the elevator, her heels sinking in the mossy earth beneath her feet.
"Where-where are we?" Sintra heard someone ask from the elevator but she was unable to answer for she did not know herself as she examined the rainforest they had arrived in.
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