CHAPTER FIVE; BLOOMING ROSES

“Love doesn’t always come barreling down on you like a train engine. Sometimes it sneaks up on you like spring overtaking winter. The chill winds begin to warm and suddenly the trees have leaves and the flowers are blooming”- Ann H. Gabhart

  Everything seemed normal several days after the confrontation; Aurora was peacefully minding her business while exploring the city. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen around her and she enjoyed every moment of it. She thought about Neville, his employees and his business. She felt there were better ways to run his business, to command as much respect as he wants as well as providing a healthy environment for his employees to grow. ‘He is way too adamant to listen to anything outside his voice’, she said laughing, ‘why am I thinking of him?’ she said. ‘It’s not like, he could listen to some else’s point of view, and moreover he thinks I am too inexperience to offer him a candid advice, too sad he won’t be able to experience my professionalism’ she scoffed. Heading off to the royal garden, Kinsley met her up and asked; ‘what’s your plan like for tomorrow’, she replied smiling; ‘the usual, exploring more of this universe, I need to reach every part of it before we leave’. Then Kinsley asked in a lower tone; ‘I hope you haven’t been using your powers on anyone or anywhere’, she responded; ‘even if I did use it on the inhabitants, I certainly wouldn’t let them know, moreover It seems I love walking to teleporting, so you don’t have to worry about the secret leaking out’, Kinsley being more comfortable after the respond then said; ‘furthermore, the king has some business deal with some random business man within the realm, and seeing that, that’s your expertize, he wishes you go represent him, ensuring you go over every loophole’. Aurora said; ‘I hope it’s not some arrogant businessman, because the experience I had with one, didn’t go so well’, Kinsley then replied; ‘Knowing you, I hope it didn’t escalate more than it should’, she said sheepishly; ‘I don’t understand what you mean by that but it was a piece of cake and I took care of it’. ‘While the king seem to trust you on this, and is hell-bent on you taking it up’, Kinsley said. ‘Assure the king I’ll do my best’, Aurora replied. She went off to the garden, one of the royal home heart-warming spot, it had several species of flowers which she was certain was across all four universe, seeing flowers from Bellona were also planted in the garden, as well as several others she hadn’t come across. It was the only garden within Hebe that had so much variety and the fragrance was soothing to her soul. While relaxing, she thought of Neville, his stern eyes, his plump lips, no matter how hard she tried not to think about him, he kept popping up in her head. Meanwhile, Neville was running around trying to source ways to expand his business, he knew his business had the potential to be one of the top notch within the universe but he knew he needed certain deals to achieve that, he thought for a second, if ‘Miss know it all’ as he tagged her, seeing that he had no idea what the stranger name was, knew how to navigate to achieve his desire and dreams, he laughed, wondering why he was thinking about her. Nevertheless, he had to prep for a big deal tomorrow, hoping it goes as planned.

The meeting which was to be held within the royal conference room, seemed unofficial to Aurora, and as such she saw no reason to dress overly formal to the meeting. Wearing a simple grey pant trouser with a white button down shirt, leaving the first two buttons open. Aurora felt so confident in what she had on, checking her time she realized she had 10 more minutes to go and she never likes going late for a meeting.  Getting over to the conference room, Aurora was expecting a bunch of guys sitting around the table with clean suit but to her surprise she saw a gentleman without a suit sitting at the end of the table, trying to sense his emotion she observed he wasn’t in anywhere tensed just indulged in his thought. Walking to the end of the room, where he was sitting, she was shock to see who it was. It was Mr. Neville or ‘Mr. Evil’ from the coffee shop as she calls him, what a twist of life, what sort of game is fate playing? To make a deal with one who is too arrogant to listen to a candid advice, she scoffed. Seeing as it was Aurora, Neville was shock as well as confuse, he didn’t understand the relationship between the royals and lil “miss know-it all”.  Aurora sensing his emotion, said; ‘what a cruel game life got to offer, Mr. Neville’, he was still stuck in his thought, he realized he was already thinking about her just before she stepped in, and now he is wondering what the odds are,. ‘It isn’t as deep as you think lil Miss know-it all, by the way I didn’t get your name during our last encounter, if you will be so kind to introduced yourself’, he responded. ‘I am Aurora, if you must know’, she responded. ‘AU-RO-RA’, he pronounced it slowly and quietly. The name sounded strange on his lips, like a whisper trying to hide its message, but it was a name he will continually love to call out, and most importantly it seems befitting for such a creature in front of him. He raised his head up, staring into aurora’s eyes; he couldn’t imagine the thoughts going on in her head, meanwhile Aurora was thinking  how cleanly shaved he seemed today, his proper haircut was done to bring out the best of his hair features, unlike back then in his office where he was looking a bit rough. Aurora could sense the heat in the room and then said; ‘typical of you to work alone, a business deal as big as this is expected to be done with the major executive of the firm, but it seems you are control every position’. Neville laughed and said; ‘seeing that they work for me, it’s only right I make the major decision’, being obnoxious again, Aurora took a deep breath, knowing what exactly lies ahead. ‘The meeting was scheduled with the King, not to be rude but what exactly are you here for’, Neville said. Aurora smiled and the replied; ‘The King entrusted me with this deal as he believe that, my judgment is of great value’, Neville was shock and Aurora could sense it, giving her every bit of satisfaction she had always wanted since they met. ‘So are going to be mopping around or will you roll out the presentation, cause I am certain you have been rehearsing for the past few days for this’, Aurora said smirking. She was enjoying every bit of this ordeal, knowing that she had the upper hand, she was determined to school and humble him. Neville was skeptical about the whole meeting but seeing the confidence she came into his office with the previous day, demanding for a conducive working environment for his employees, he suspected there was more to her than what meet the eyes. So he got his A-game on and started his already prepared presentation. Aurora was impressed with his sense of reasoning; she wondered how a creature could have it all, the looks of a demi-god, possess great confident, as well as having an intellectually sound mind. He had a great vision as well as the right force to keep pushing it, she couldn’t deny it but at this very moment she was impressed, she knew with this ideas, he was going to build a successful chain of businesses if not the best within his universe, but she knew better than to give Neville that satisfaction and she knew this was the best point to ensure several practices and policies should be put in place to avoid impromptu dismissal of his employees.

 After being impressed with his presentation, he was certain, he had won her over, he certainly was proud of himself and Aurora could sense it, so she said; ‘Well, it’s certain you have gotten your statistics and numbers right, and proper research have been done towards the idea, which is quite Impressive and expected of you’, Neville could sense the game she was trying to play, he had his evil smile on imagining things he could do to tame Aurora. Aurora noticing the smile continued smiling; ‘at this point, the idea seems feasible and very lucrative for both parties, but as the royals we know we exist to create a community the inhabitants should be proud and profits isn’t the only thing we consider in a business but how it will aid the community in a long run, on that note what’s your view on that? And how do you think this idea could incorporate that?’ they both understood where she was heading to and Neville knew better than to challenge a potential business partner, so replied saying; ‘With this expansion put in place, lots of jobs and opportunity will be put in place as well, to accommodate more communists, in turn growing the community’ but he knew she was smart enough to decode that and this made him laugh. Aurora not intending to loss this opportunity, smiled and said; ‘If that’s so, with your record of mismanagement of staff, are we not certain that more numbers of inhabitants will also loss their source of income without prior notice, thereby creating an improper ratio of unemployed to employed in a long run, which equal to an unhappy society’, Neville knew this was going to be the major bone of contention in this deal from the onset and couldn’t help laughing out, which took Aurora by surprise, cause she wondered why he was laughing. ‘Well, I believe this deal doesn’t involve my staffing policies, as far as my part of the business deal is  accomplished’, The way aurora thought impressed him, he could tell that she knew all her onions, he underestimated her, as her  business prowess was quite challenging. ‘Being royals, makes us community leaders and our people wellbeing is our major priority, thereby the kind of business we indulge in should be in favor of the people, and as such the policies of our partnering firm should be favorable to the people also’, her bargaining skill was at the peak at this moment and she knew she wouldn’t accept a deal that will bring pain to the people and as well as bring shame to the royal house. Neville knew she wasn’t intending on backing out on this and she had strong facts to back her up, but Neville also wasn’t intending to succumb to her will.

 While they were both at each other, King Sosa decided to drop by and get a briefing of the business deal, as he was told that the meeting was still on-going. Neville seeing the King thought, the circumstance was going to be in his favor, as he thought the King was all about business, and Aurora thought otherwise, seeing he trusts her intuition. After formal pleasantries, Aurora briefed the King on the matter and its development. The king smiled after listening to the updates, knowing that Aurora was known for applying her advocacy nature in every business deal, she wasn’t going to back down; this nature earned her the most adored lady in Bellona universe. The King understood the matter perfectly and responded; ‘Aurora, seeing you approve with the idea, we are going to work with him’, this made Neville happy, he felt it was a win for him, until he heard; ‘but Mr. Neville such policies as Aurora suggested are advised to be put in place to ensure job security for my subjects, but seeing that it’s up to you, the royal family will appoint Aurora as an eye within the business to ensure my people’s security’. ‘On that note, Aurora will represent the royal court as a business partner with your firm, until she is certain my people’s interest is safe’, he continued. Neville was confused as to what just happened, in less than a second he is being proposed to work with Aurora, he knew she wasn’t one to be push around and ohh that smile she has on was so frustrating as well as tempting. Knowing she had her way, Aurora brought Neville out of his thought, saying; ‘Mr. Neville do you accept this deal? Should we request for the contract to be processed? Or you now have a change of mind?’ He knew that was a challenge by Aurora, and securing this deal was his top priority. He thought the worst that could happen was for him to fall in love with Aurora, he didn’t realize he was already thinking in such direction, immediately, he shook the idea off his head and stood up to the challenge, responding, ‘Your majesty that is something that can arranged , and as such I accept the deal’. It was a win-win for the parties involved, but a personal win for Neville and Aurora as they both realize they have to spend much more time together. 

 The King left the conference room, leaving both Aurora and Neville alone, even though it was a cold day, it seemed like the room temperature was up by a thousand degree. To avoid the awkward moment, Aurora spoke saying; ‘congratulations Mr. Neville on securing the deal, I’ll request the lawyers to draft out the contract for both parties, it shall be sent to you as soon as possible’. That wasn’t on his mind as he stared at this beautiful creature in front of him, he stood up, walking to Aurora, he gave her his card saying; ‘since we are now business partner, it’s just logical we go on a dinner’, Aurora was shocked, was he asking her on a date and what a pompous way of asking her out, he didn’t even give her a chance to respond, when he said; ‘Nice outfit you got on, it seems the button down achieved its purpose’, was he trying to flirt with her? Aurora busted into laughter. She didn’t imagine Mr. Alpha-male, was going to ask her on a date or even think of flirting with her, but she knew his games when she said; ‘Don’t get over yourself  Neville’, this was the first time she addressed him so casual and he loved the sound of it. ‘We will be seeing ourselves more often’, she said as she walked out of him. Oh! How she mesmerized him, he had seen lots of ladies but there was something different about Aurora and he was certain about it.