She's scared of an escalator

Emily timidly nodded her head, "Uhn."

"Pshh," Joel chuckled.

So, she was scared of an escalator... how hilarious!

"It doesn't bite, you know," he shrugged his shoulders.

"No... I'm scared," she cried.

Joel sighed. "See, people are using it too," he pointed out, trying to calm her down.

"Ahhh..." Emily sighed softly.

She was still scared of it, though...

Joel ruffled his hair, "huff."

They couldn't possibly take the stairs; that would be so stressful. Besides, they'd have to walk a bit farther before they found his hidden personal elevator.

"We just need to take the escalator to the next floor, and then ride my personal elevator to the top floor," Joel explained.

Joel sighed, glancing at his wristwatch.

"Stay still," he mumbled.

"Mbo?..." Emily looked up at him, utterly confused.

Before she could utter another word, she was already in his arms.

He stepped onto the escalator, and she shut her eyes, clutching Joel's clothes in her palms. He looked down at her and smiled. In no time, they arrived at the next floor, and he stepped away from the escalator, placing her feet on the floor.

"See? It didn't swallow you," he said.

He pocketed his hands and walked toward his private elevator, while Emily ran after him in embarrassment.

She pressed her lips in a thin line as they rode the elevator to the top floor, saying, "Kumawo."

Joel turned and gazed at her for a few seconds before walking slowly toward her.

He stopped just an inch from her and placed his right hand on the side of the elevator, trapping her in a corner.

"You... you weren't scared of the escalator, right? You only said that to make me carry you, isn't it?" Joel breathed out softly through his mouth.

"Mbo?..." Emily widened her eyes. "No. Really, not at all."

Joel smirked. His eyes trailed down to her soft, pouty lips, and he licked his lower lip.

He looked back into her eyes, then at her lips.

He tilted his head to the left, lowering it slowly—slightly puckering his lips to kiss her.

Emily furrowed her brows, unsure of what he wanted to do. She licked her lips nervously, unknowingly turning Joel on.

"Ding!" The elevator dinged and slid open.

Joel looked up and quickly turned away from her, as if she were some trash.

He walked out of the elevator and headed to the left.

Emily heaved a sigh of relief and quickly ran after him before the elevator slid closed.

She looked around in awe as they walked down the corridor, saying, "Wow!"

The place looked so expensive and exquisite. The owner of the mall surely deserved some accolades. Her lips curled up in a cute smile as she looked up at the chandeliers.

Joel smirked as he watched her.

"You like what you see?" he asked.

Emily nodded her head. "Uhn."

"How did you find this place?" she asked.

"I own it," Joel smirked and walked away.

"Huh?" Emily stopped in her tracks.

"Pshh..." she sneered.

She didn't believe him. She knew the man she was living with was undeniably rich, but claiming ownership of other people's things seemed a bit too much...

She shuffled after him, occasionally looking back to see if those men were still following them. They were.

She had noticed them when the manager and some staff stopped following them on the escalator. At first, she thought she was overthinking it

, but now she was sure they were trailing them.

The men were clad in black suits...

'Maybe the arrogant god offended someone, and the person asked those guys to kill him,' Emily shuddered at the thought.

She hastily walked up to Joel.

"Hey..." she called silently.

He fluttered his eyelashes at her. "What?"

"Some men are following us, we need to hide," she whispered in his ear.

Joel looked behind them and chuckled. "Really?"

Those men were his men.

She stomped her foot on the ground. "Yah! It's not a joke, I'm serious."

"We need to run," she whispered again.

He stared at her in amusement. "Mbo?"

She pulled Joel's hand and shuffled away swiftly, saying, "Kaja."

"Hey..." Joel chuckled as they jogged.

"Shhh," she hushed.

She found a space and quickly opened the door.

He arched his brows. "What are you doing?"

"We need to hide. Hurry!" She quickly dragged him into the room and shut the door.

"Hey, do you know..." Joel was about to protest.

Emily quickly covered his mouth with her hand as she heard footsteps.

"We lost boss. He's going to be mad at us," Emily heard one of the men say.

"They just suddenly disappeared, let's go," she heard another voice reply.

Then, she heard their footsteps retreat.

She stared bewilderedly at Joel.

"Boss?" She inhaled deeply and removed her hand from Joel's mouth.

"Yah! Why didn't you tell me?!" She yelled furiously.

So, she had been running stupidly for nothing. Aishhh.

"Uhn. I wanted to tell you twice! Did you let me talk!?" Joel yelled back at her.

Seemed like she had suddenly forgotten who she was talking to.

He sneered poutily, "Besides, how dare you yell at me? Do you know who you are yelling at!?"

"You..." She pointed to his face.

"Who are you? You are rich, so? Are you even as rich as the CEO of Empire World Corporation?!" she asked, shaking her head furiously.

Joel's eyes twinkled. 'Wow, at least she knows that the CEO of Empire World is wealthy.'

She scratched her head frustratedly and walked out of the room. "Aishhh!"

He snickered and walked behind her.

He watched in amusement as she soliloquized, hitting her hand on her head and stomping her feet on the floor as she walked.

He shook his head. 'What normal human being will hit herself on the head like that?'

He took long strides to her side and grabbed her hand. Time was passing, and they hadn't picked her dress or done her makeup.

As Joel turned around each corridor, Emily kept wowing as her eyes landed on beautiful things.

But she noticed something—ever since they reached the top floor, they didn't come across any customers. She and Joel were the only customers there, and she wondered why. Each person they met was an employee of the mall, as they all wore the same t-shirts with the logo, EWM.

Joel pulled her into one of the stores.

"Wow!" She gasped.

Different designer labels filled the store. It was a spacious room with a lot of expensive dresses.

The manager was already there, waiting for them.

Joel's cold voice brought her out of her fantasy. "Dress her up."

Immediately, two ladies took her by the arms and led her to the dressing room.

Soon, they were done dressing her up, and she felt them drag her out.

"Too big," Joel waved his hand.

They changed her dress again.

He rolled his eyes. "Too small."

And again.

He huffed. "Too loose."

Again.

"Too fitted," he dismissed.

And once again.

"Too short," he grimaced.

And again.

He rolled his eyes. "Too long."

Emily was losing it. Seriously, was she some sort of doll? She huffed as the ladies took her back into the dressing room.

They undressed her and dressed her in a white shirt and multicolored flared skirt. They put multicolored heel sandals on her feet and took her out of the dressing room once again.

Joel, who was reading a magazine to pass the time, looked up, and for a moment, he just couldn't speak. Emily looked completely mesmerizing.

He found his voice after a while. "Perfect."

He snapped the magazine shut and stood up. He pulled Emily out of the room while all the employees in the store bowed.

Joel pulled her into the store right next to his personal wardrobe, his personal salon, with the manager trailing after them.

He sat down on a couch. "Do whatever to her."

Emily almost couldn't believe her ears. 'Do whatever to me? Am I a toy?'

Again, she felt some ladies drag her into a seat. They washed her hair, styled it, did a proper manicure and pedicure, fixed her nails, and applied makeup to her face.

After they were done, they turned the chair towards the CEO, who was seated comfortably on the couch, and the arrogant CEO was speechless for once in his life.

Joel stood up.

He gulped and took long strides out of the room. "Let's go."

Emily stood up meekly. She thanked the stylists and hastily rushed after Joel, while the manager walked behind her.

"Oh my!" Emily opened her mouth wide as soon as they stepped into Joel's personal jewelry store.

Every single thing in the room was glittering. She needed no one to tell her those things were extremely expensive.

"Get me three sets that match her dress."

In no time, three sets of silver necklaces and earrings were placed before the CEO. He picked one, and they put it on Emily.

He stood up and checked Emily out—perfect. He checked the time and then dragged Emily out of the room.

As the duo walked out of the mall, people couldn't help but stare at Emily in awe. The men couldn't take their eyes off her face, while the women couldn't take their eyes off her designer label.

"Isn't that Rose she's wearing?"

"Yeah. Do you know the design isn't out yet?"

"Really?"

"There's only one designer label of Rose…"

"...And it's the one she's wearing."

"Wow! She must be from the upper class…"

"Gosh, I'm going to faint."

Emily stared naively at her dress. She knew the clothes were costly, but Rose?!