He's Not An Ordinary Customer

Chapter 6 : The Elevator

By the second week of knowing Tengku Syazir Muzhir, Yira had developed a dangerous habit. She had started expecting his presence. It happened unconsciously at first. A brief glance toward the gym entrance whenever the evening rush began. A strange awareness whenever footsteps approached the reception counter. A quiet irritation whenever an entire night passed without hearing his voice somewhere nearby. She hated realizing it. Because people became dangerous the moment they turned into routines.

That night, Titan Core Fitness was drowning in end-of-month chaos. Membership promotions flooded the gym with new customers while exhausted staff struggled to manage the endless stream of complaints, registrations, and scheduling problems piling up faster than anyone could handle. The printer malfunctioned twice. One trainer called in sick. Several lockers stopped functioning simultaneously. And somewhere between answering customer emails and resolving payment issues, Yira felt the final threads of her social energy beginning to snap apart quietly inside her chest. No one noticed. No one ever really did. People often mistook competence for invincibility.

Near midnight, Puan Marina instructed Yira to retrieve several documents from the management office located downstairs. The task itself was simple, ordinary and forgettable. Yet somehow, it became the moment everything shifted slightly between her and Syazir. The elevator doors opened with a soft metallic sound. And there he was. Leaning casually against the mirrored wall inside the lift, dressed in a dark oversized hoodie despite the late-night humidity outside. His hair looked slightly damp, as though he had just finished training, and exhaustion lingered faintly beneath his eyes in a way that made him appear unexpectedly human.

For a brief second, both of them paused. Yira considered waiting for the next elevator. Unfortunately, she was too tired to care anymore.So she stepped inside silently. The doors closed. A strange quiet settled almost immediately. Not awkward. Just heavy with awareness. The fluorescent lights above them hummed softly while the elevator descended floor by floor through the sleeping building. Yira focused on the glowing numbers above the door instead of the man standing beside her. But even without looking directly at him, she could feel his attention lingering. Steady, curious and persistent. It unsettled her more than it should have.

Then suddenly— the elevator stopped. Not smoothly. Violently. The sharp jolt forced Yira to grab the metal railing beside her instinctively while the lights flickered once overhead before stabilizing again. Silence followed. A suffocating kind of silence. For one long second, neither of them moved. Then Syazir pressed the emergency button. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. Yira felt her heartbeat begin to rise immediately. Not panic. Not yet. But close enough to taste. The elevator suddenly felt much smaller than before. The air heavier. The walls closer. She hated confined spaces. Hated the feeling of being trapped somewhere she could not immediately escape from.

And unfortunately, her body had always betrayed her long before her mind admitted fear aloud. Her breathing shifted first. Then her hands. A slight tremor she immediately tried hiding by folding her arms tighter against herself. But Syazir noticed. Of course he noticed. Something in his expression changed almost instantly. The teasing softness disappeared first. Then the casual arrogance. What remained felt calmer, steadier and real. Without saying much, he moved slightly closer—not enough to invade her space, only enough to quietly ground the atmosphere around her. His voice, when it finally came, was softer than she had ever heard before. Careful. Measured. Like someone handling glass already close to cracking. And somehow, that frightened her more than his flirting ever had.

Because kindness was far more dangerous. Especially when she was tired enough to need it. Minutes passed slowly inside the stalled elevator. Outside, distant rain battered the city in quiet waves while fluorescent lights painted both of them pale beneath the enclosed silence. At some point, Yira realized her breathing had steadied. Not because the fear disappeared. But because Syazir remained calm beside her the entire time. No jokes, no teasing and no attempts to make her uncomfortable. Just presence. Solid and patient in a way she hadn’t expected from him. For the first time since meeting him, Yira saw beyond the charm and arrogance people probably noticed first. And what she found underneath unsettled her completely. Because Tengku Syazir Muzhir, beneath all the confidence and infuriating smiles, carried gentleness far too naturally for someone like him. And that was infinitely more dangerous than attraction.