Cyrus grinned smugly at her, and her tiny smile vanished. She grabbed him by the arm and hauled him up the stairs to her study, ignoring his muffled grunts of protest.

She sat him across from her and took a seat at her desk, looking every bit of a CEO's wife that she was. Only more intimidating than he could really ever be.

"First of all," she began. "I told you that we would talk later. Why would you text me again when I clearly told you that yes, we would talk? Just a little later because I had to see my son off to school, which you clearly were unable to do." She said the last part with a pointed glare, referring to his lacking behavior as a father to their child the past two days.

"Well…" Cyrus trailed off, deciding to tell her the exact reason why. "You women say one thing but mean another. I just assumed-"

"What?" Esther cut in. "Why would you think I meant something else? Who said that? Do you actually think that of women?" she said, sounding horrified.

Cyrus fumbled for his words, even more confused than ever. "One of the elders at work told me that. He has more experience with women." He explained.

Esther rolled her eyes. "Oh? And pray tell what experience might he have had? Is he a woman? Why in the world would a woman say something if she didn't mean it? And if she really did expect a man to read her mind, that's on her and not him. I understand that women may want compliments or validation sometimes and we expect men to give that to us automatically, but that doesn't mean we strive off that mindset."

Cyrus could simply stare at her in silence.

"And do you really believe an old man who preaches about knowing women when he is not a woman himself over people who are actually women? What else has he said?" she went on.

Cyrus chewed on his lip. "Uh…well…" he pulled the notes he made of Director Kevin's rules and handed them to her in silence. She took the paper with two fingers and her brows creased further. "You took notes?" She said in horror.

Cyrus didn't reply.

Her eyes scanned the paper. "Is this really what you men think of us? That we have nothing better to do than beg for your company and ask you to take us shopping?" She tore up the paper and handed the shreds back to Cyrus.

"I mean no disrespect, of course," Esther went on. "But women are half the world's population! We are complex beings with the ability to do just what men can do! Perhaps even better! And here you are speculating that we are nothing more but gold-digging aliens whom you do not understand, who cannot do anything but whine about materialistic things and get mad at their husbands for no reason?" Esther was absolutely infuriated now.

She turned onto Cyrus, now standing up, and he felt more terrified than he had ever been before in his life. "And you. Do you think I'm upset simply because you made fun of my height?" she exclaimed.

He didn't dare nod.

And she took his silence as a yes.

"I hardly care if you make fun of my height. But in front of the maids and guards and my family? Do you know how much they teased me about it? But you know what? I'm not even mad about that— wait. You said you wanted to talk based on the assumption that I was mad over your comment about my height? What did you plan to do?" She narrowed her eyes suddenly.

His mouth went dry.

"I planned to just take you out on a dinner date or something…" he stammered. Esther sneered at that. "A date? You think that alone is going to just fix everything?"

Cyrus stared at his feet, the scary businessman now cowering before his wife.

Esther grabbed her coat off her chair and stalked out of the room. Cyrus sat back down with a sigh. What else was he supposed to do then? He heard Esther's distant voice call for the butler to open the garage again and he sprang back to his senses and raced after her. "Are you just going to leave again?" he yelled.

Esther barely spared a glance at the now thundering footsteps, not replying to him.

"What about Reggie?" he shouted after her, alerting a few maids who peaked their heads out of their rooms. Cyrus shot them glares and they disappeared back into their rooms instantly.

"Maybe if I leave him with you long enough, you'd learn how to pay attention to our child." She hissed faintly.

Cyrus was now running down the stairs, regretting the fact that his house was too many stories high. "Esther!"

Esther threw her bags into the back seat, fabric, needles, thread and measuring tapes almost falling out of the overstuffed paper bags.

Cyrus heard the trunk slam shut and he almost tripped on the second story stairs. "Esther!" he roared again.

She swung into the front seat, taking her own sweet time to turn on the engine, text the head housemaid a few requests regarding Reggie.

Cyrus pointed a finger at the butler. "Close the gates!" he hissed.

Esther texted her friend with quick, sure fingers. She pressed send with zero hesitation, slamming her foot on the gas.

The butler's eyes widened. "But sir, the Lady president requested that—" Cyrus glared at him. "Do you answer to me or to her!"

The car moved out of the garage, heading for the gates.

The butler's hands shook as he reached for the switches. "Sir, I answer to both of you! I cannot simply disrespect her ladyship's—"

Closer now.

Cyrus narrowed his eyes. "Fine, I'll do it myself!" he launched across the room and slammed his fingers down over the switch, the metal gates hauling themselves shut.

They smashed against each other with a low, uncomfortable screech.

But she was long gone.