Never Judge

The previous night.

Nicole waited patiently outside R Tower in her most lowkey car. It was a Porsche Cayenne who's logos she had changed. Despite the logo of a more common car brand any car enthusiast would know that the car in front of them was a luxury vehicle.

She was waiting for her boyfriend, Ian Lim, to get off work. They had agreed to go on a date today and promised to meet up at 8pm sharp. Nicole originally had an operation but she asked her brother to move it up so that she could make it to date night.

She managed to cram two meetings prior to the operation and a board meeting after. She was so tired that her brother offered his driver to take her home, but she had other plans. What use was her cramming everything to an earlier time if she couldn't meet up with her boyfriend.

When she left Saints Hospital at 7:30pm Ian called her saying that he would need an extra thirty minutes. She didn't mind the delay since she wanted to drive slowly and have enough time to fix herself in the car. She arrived at about 8:15pm and found a safe area to park at, that was an hour ago. It was already 9:15pm and Ian still hadn't come down. Nicole was rarely a patient woman, so she took out her phone and was about to tell him she was about to leave when he came running out of the office door.

Nicole sighed as she drove up to him and he got in the car.

"Hey Nic!" Ian happily greeted her as he placed a kiss on her lips. "Do you want me to drive?" Ian asked.

"No. Let's just get home. I'll have the chef whip something up for us." Nicole said as she drove off.

"Are you alright?" Ian asked in a tender tone.

"I'm just tired." Nicole said with a sigh.

"How was work today?" Ian's voice was shaky and full of hesitation. He sensed that his girlfriend was not happy.

"Well, since it was date night, I crammed two meetings in the morning, asked my brother to move up a politician's operation, and had a board meeting." Nicole said in an angry tone.

"Honey, you're mad." Ian said as he stroked her hand.

"No Ian, I'm not." Nicole was clearly mad.

"Nic, you know I don't control my work hours. Especially now that Cedric loaned me to his dad." Ian said in an attempt to explain the situation to Nicole.

"I know it's not your fault Ian." Nicole said, ending the conversation.

They drove to Nicole's home in silence. Out of the three Chan siblings it was only Nicole that went home here everyday. Miguel had moved to Cedric's Mountain View Mansion guest house, while Eric often spent the night at Katerina's despite the two houses being next to each other.

When they arrived Ian ran up to open Nicole's door and help her out. He took advantage of the situation and held her tightly. Ian was at least a head taller than Nicole so she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Nic. I really am trying." Ian whispered as he hugged her.

Nicole sighed and didn't say a word. She knew she should understand and not be mad at Ian, but she couldn't help it, sometimes she felt like she was the only one making an effort to make their relationship work.

After a while, Ian finally released Nicole and they walked into the house. Nicole gave a maid some instructions, after which Ian lifted her and placed her on the couch.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ian asked.

"No." Came Nicole's reply.

"You know when couples have issues they should talk about it." Ian said as he kissed her forehead.

"Just drop it Ian." Nicole said not wanting to discuss her feelings any further.

When the maid announced that dinner was served the couple ate in silence. Ian tried to get Nicole to talk multiple times but she just kept giving him one word replies.

After eating Ian picked up Nicole and brought her up to her room.

"Ian, put me down!" Nicole said furiously.

"Nope." Ian said as he continued to cradle her.

"Ian I'm not in the mood!" Nicole shouted.

"Then tell me what's bothering you." Ian said as he kicked open the door to Nicole's room.

"Do you really want to know?" Nicole asked in a raised tone.

"Yes honey." Ian said tenderly as he placed her on the couch.

He kissed her on the neck and left a trail of kisses till he ended up kissing her on the lips. Nicole reacted out of habit and kissed him back. She wrapped her arms around his neck as they continued to make out.

When their lips finally parted, Nicole found Ian grinning down at her.

"This doesn't make things better." Nicole said in an even more pissed off tone.

"Then tell me what's wrong." Ian said as he sat behind her and hugged her.

"Not like this." Nicole said as she turned to face him.

"Okay then talk." Ian said.

"I'm frustrated." Nicole confessed.

Ian raised an eyebrow at her. "But honey we do it so often -" Ian teased as he was cut off.

"Not like that! You know what I mean!" Nicole shouted as she playfully slapped his arm.

"Ok, ok. I know what you mean." Ian said apologetically.

"I feel like I'm the only one trying. I adjusted my schedule to meet yours. I waited for you for an hour. I keep making sacrifices for this relationship to work." Nicole vented.

"And you don't think I'm making sacrifices too?" Ian was shocked with what Nicole just said.

"No, I feel like I'm doing most of the work to make this relationship, well, work!" Nicole said in a raised tone.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm not some VP or some boss that has full control of their schedule! I actually work for someone who can fire me at any time!" Ian answered back.

"Really? Really Ian? Do you think that it's that easy for me to move my schedule around? You should know this better! I can't tell a dying man to wait cause I have a date!" Nicole shouted.

"I'm working my ass off for you Nicole! I'm doing all this so that someday your family can accept me!" Ian shouted back.

"So it's my fault now?!" Nicole asked. Ian refused to reply.

"You know what? I never asked you to bring back your family's former glory, that was all you Ian. That's your greedy dream!" Nicole shouted. "I don't have to deal with this!" Nicole said as she stormed out of the room.

She walked down to the living room, picked up her bag and her keys to her pink sports car and drove away.