Zayn panicked. He hadn’t seen Rina for just a couple of weeks, but now that she was right in front of him, it felt like years. He memorized her face again, searching for the slightest chances. Her eyes appeared unfocused and her breath was tinged with the smell of beer. Her hair was an endearing brown today, and that damn pearl he loved was on her elegant neck, calling out softly to him. When she didn’t move, Zayn fought hard to stop himself from doing anything. He reminded himself that this was only existing because of the contract and they had to stick to the terms to see it through. But her lips. They were so inviting, making Zayn imagine what they would taste like pressed against his. He wondered if her gloss was strawberry-flavored. Would he be able to taste the beer on her lips?He felt her eyes casually flick through his, and Zayn knew that if he didn’t act now, something was going to happen. There was barely any distance between them now, so all it would have taken was a sl
It was past three in the morning, when Rina sighed deep in her sleep. Her legs shot out from underneath the quilt, and the cold air caressed the skin there. It made her grumble, still with closed eyes, wanting the cold to be gone. Slowly, her eyes fell open, blinking quite a couple of times before finally taking in her surroundings.Her eyes fell on the night light glowing from her bedside, dimly illuminating the room. She didn’t need to try to remember that her last memory was of her on the couch, listening to Zayn saying something. Or was it the other way around? Had she fallen asleep mumbling about her boring day?Zayn.The cold hit her skin again, and Rina recognized it as the discomfort that had roused her from sleep. She pulled her leg back into the quilt and made to wrap it around herself, but it felt hard to pull, like there was something heavy holding it from the other side.Then she heard the intake of breath, and her body froze. Rina turned around slowly, coming face to fac
“Stone, did you get the order I placed a few minutes ago?” Zayn was in his office, repeatedly pressing the cap of the pen in his fingers, with his phone pressed against his ears. He’d just finished with the meetings he had scheduled for the day and wanted to do this before he got into any other engagement.“Yes, Sir?” the voice on the other end of the call answered. Zayn could hear the pages of a book open before his voice came on again. “A red 2024 BMW i7. Where would you want it to be delivered, Sir?”“One of my men would be coming to get it,” Zayn said. “And don’t put it on the company tab. Someone’s been snooping around lately, and it's beginning to get on my nerves.”“Of course, Sir. Is there any other thing you would want me to add to the order?”“Make the glasses tinted.”“Okay, sir.”Ending the call, Zayn ticked something off his list and smiled to himself. His door pushed open at that minute, and he resisted the urge to stop the visitor right there and order him to return to
The reception downstairs was devoid of noise, exactly the way Zayn liked it. But that didn’t stop his employees from staring at him through partially closed doors and stairway landings as he walked past, one hand in his pocket, and his head staring straight ahead. Zayn walked with the confidence of ten people, exuding a powerful aura that no one could beat.He hadn’t earned his reputation by lounging around doing nothing, so when he exercised his powers, people trembled underneath them. And Zayn Graham didn’t care about whoever got hurt in the process. As much as he tried to avoid casualties, he wouldn’t force anyone to get out of his way.They ought to know better than that.It was the reason Zayn was giving Joel as many chances as he could afford. Ignorance was a thing where Zayn was concerned, and as much as he wanted to rip that veil off, he knew Rina wouldn’t like it. He was going to give it time, staying patient even if patience wasn’t one of his few virtues. At this rate, he wa
Pens scratched on paper and sitting positions were altered at intervals, yet it did nothing to alleviate the tension that was hanging in the room. Zayn’s assistant, Mia, thought there was something else going on there- something she couldn’t place her hands on. She had never seen Mr. Graham that way before. He was always bored, and broody, without much care for people.But this? It was different, almost like he was starting to care too much, and it was translating into something that bordered on pure hatred and distaste.“I don’t like the first floor,” Zayn muttered suddenly, flipping open the pages of the document Joel had handed over. “Revamp the whole thing. It looks like a scene from an 80s movie. And don’t get me wrong. Those scenes are great. This just has a little bit of the camera quality too. Do you understand me?”Joel swallowed, and scooted to the edge of his seat, clasping his hands. “The first floor is the way it is because our architect thought it was a great outlay. And
Rina liked to think about things in compartments, consisting of contents that never crossed parts no matter how hard the cosmos tried to shake and pull them together. It was like her deals with acting, and her life when she was still married to Finn. As much as possible, Rina tried not to let these two distinct worlds get mixed up, and the minute she’d realized there was a chance of that happening, she’d chosen one over the other, even though in the end, it had turned out to be a very bad decision.It was like that now, with working at the fashion house. She’d compartmentalized her impending contractual relationship with Zayn and her duty here at O.S.N into different boxes, wanting them never to get mixed up. The first attempt by the cosmos was Joel’s application for a sponsorship, but Rina had thought she’d had nothing to worry about since Zayn wasn’t the kind of person who easily granted sponsorships.But he did, and that had brought the compartments in her head to a test. Maybe Rin
Zayn closed the door behind him at once, planting himself between it and Joel, who stretched to look from his shoulders. His secretary, Mia, stood beside Joel, her eyes to the ground, waiting for this to get resolved so she could finally be out of both their hair. From the moment they walked into the building, a tension had settled around them and had thickened with every minute that passed. Mia thought it was getting to its breaking point, and the minute it snapped, it was going to be hard to salvage the situation.“We’ve been searching everywhere for you,” Joel said, confusion in his eyes. “Was there something in particular you were doing in here?”“I was taking a tour,” Zayn answered casually, stepping away from the door. He bounded down the hallway, leaving the rest of them no choice but to follow. However, something insistent ate at Joel as he walked behind the group. The last time he’d felt that way was when he was abroad, taking classes on fashion. It was on his way out when s
She kept mulling about it, wondering why Zayn had decided to come all the way to the fashion house for a meeting when the great Zayn Graham never met people out of his comfort zone. The best he could do was to set up the meeting at a diner and spend the first hour eating to his satisfaction before addressing the issue that had brought him there in the first place.Rina had learned in a negotiation class she took a while ago that it was trite to make the other person not only know but understand his place in the meeting. It was a power play, where dominance was boldly asserted. But Zayn took his a tad farther. He just didn’t care about what the other person had to say, since most times, they were the ones who always needed his help.The cab stopped at her regular stop and Rina alighted, not bothering to say thank you. These days, all of them had a foul look on their faces, and some of them even went as far as zooming off the minute they realized she was the one. Rina thought that treat