----Nevaeh's POV----
"Baby! You're finally back in the states and look at you with your killer British accent and your beautiful body that you have developed these 2 years in Britain. Going there has done you good." Tiffany exclaimed as she started ranting on about how I am more developed and how she has noticed all the men who have been staring at me non stopped since she's arrived.
Knowing she would be going on and on about these thirsty men. I decided to look around and to see where my father was at since the first dance of the night was going to happen soon and this dance has a symbolic meaning towards it that my great-grandma decided that should be a part of the family when she realised that my nan and her father wasn't spending enough quality time together and this dance was a way for allowing the daughters to bond over with even if it was just 3 minutes.
As I was scavenging the place, my eyes fell upon this individual. He was someone I would describe as handsome yet has a bit of mystery towards them which I liked about a man. Having someone who you can slowly figure out was much more fun than someone who has everything painted on their face. However, one thing that I noticed about this individual was that he had many females lurking around him and they were all models.
I knew that in the back of my mind, there is still this small voice stating that I could never beat a model when it comes to a man since they are paid for their looks whilst I'm not. However, I didn't get much time to think about this daunting idea that I still had as I was interrupted by my nan and a woman next to her who looked around the same age as my mother.
"Nipotina dear, I would like you to meet Iris, she is the wife of Arron McKinley who you may know as the previous CEO of McKinley Enterprise." My Nan introduced this sweet lady to me, and I knew I recognised her from somewhere.
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. McKinley, I do hope that you are having a lovely time here" I started smiling back at her since her smile gave me the warmth of a mother that I never received.
"Oh darling, don't be so formal with me when you were 1 year old, your family use to always come over to our house and have play dates with our eldest son Alec. I remember that the moment he saw you he couldn't stop announcing that he wanted a baby sister and wouldn't allow anyone to take you away from him the moment he held you, but somehow he would always run away from your older sister whenever she was near him".
This statement made me chuckle at the thought of someone choosing to run away from my sister but not me, yet she squealed like a teenager and held onto my hand like I was a prize precession. I couldn't help but feel envy towards this individual called Alec, who I had no memories of, but he was able to have the warmth of a mother that Iris was able to transmit to me through just one touch.
You could tell that she loved her son very dearly just the way that her eyes lit up whenever she spoke about him. This made me smile and I wanted to know who this mysterious Alec was that couldn't let go of me.
"Maybe I should meet your eldest son and tease him about the fact he couldn't let me go" I teased but it made her smile even more but at the same time she frowned. I couldn't help question on why she was frowning but it all became clear when Tiffany exclaimed that the mysterious Alec McKinley was now a notorious playboy who has been seen with so many models in just over the last couple of days.
This made me realise that Iris was worried about her sons future, every mother only hoped for the best for their son, through romantic relationships and their career, so hearing her son being a player especially a notorious one must be hard.
Thankfully, Tiffany stated that she was going for a drink which my nan tagged along to see if she could take a few more sips of some Champaign before being dragged by my granddad to stay by his side, I asked Iris if she wanted to take a seat somewhere which is quickly agreed to which I am blessed for since these heels where defiantly killing me slowly.
As we sat down, I asked Iris how well her art line was coming on since I remembered the facts that she was an artist and that's how she and my mom became friends in the first place. This made her smile and she started to talk all about her next art exhibition which I was so fascinated in that I didn't realise a shadow appearing.
Iris was the first to stop talking and greet this fellow individual, but her words made me turn my head too quickly that it made a noise.
"Oh, Alec dearest, this is Nevaeh, she is Mason Miller's younger daughter and isn't she just a catch," she said whilst beaming at me and still holding onto my hand on her knees. The mysterious man was non-other than the individual who I thought was handsome whilst looking around for a dance partner.
This did indeed surprise me and what was interesting was that he was just staring me and without giving a second glace to his mother. Feeling the tension, I stood up and held my hands out for a handshake when suddenly, he -
"Excuse me! What the hell do you think you are doing. Let go of my hand!" I exclaimed when he grabbed it and held onto it like dear life and started to drag me towards the dance floor. "Oh no, I'm not going to dance with you, extremely sorry but my feet are hurting" as I started trying to get away from dancing with him but it seemed like he wasn't having it as he kept on dragging me towards the intimidating dance floor that nobody was on yet.
It was our family tradition that if we should have our first dance with a special someone but if the individual who didn't have someone significant enough then you dance with your father. This tradition has been through our family for years now and I am now getting dragged onto the stage by this Alec individual which ultimately means a stake of a claim in our family’s eyes.
However much I try and stop him from dragging me further I could and without realising it, we were already in the middle of the dance floor and the slow dance music started. I couldn't possibly turn and run now because it was deemed as disrespectful and see the other partner was a McKinley, my parents would go mental if I ran off at this point when everyone was waiting for us to dance.
This was ultimately confusing but having to go through it was the only choice, so I turned towards Alec with a huge smile and place my hand on his neck whilst he placed his on my waist and we started to dance.
data-p-id=975af02260cbc1d8cf9f92a89d11da27,"What the hell is wrong with you?" I exclaimed when we were halfway into the dance and other people have started to come onto the dance floor with their significant other.
"Do you not know what the meaning of this dance is in our family?" I questioned again when I didn't get an answer from the first question. I was about to question him again when he replied.
"I know exactly what this first dance means to your family, and I am just doing what I think feels right," his reply made me even more confused than the start and I looked at him with the look of confusion which only made him smirk and went on to say "I believe I staked a claim on you 19 years ago when you were 1 year old the moment I laid my eyes on you and I am just making it aware to every male in this venue heck even every male on the word after these reporters are done with taking their pictures."
I stared into his deep blue eyes and was still stood with horror. He didn't know the extent of what he has done. Every newspaper and media article would have us plastered onto the front page. All the ideas of just being an ordinary girl just flew out of the window because of this one-time association with him. Yet who does he think he is to "claim" me! When did I suddenly become a commodity that allowed notorious players like him to waltz into my life and suddenly think, they have the full potential to claim me? The warm that was still upon my waist made me snap out of my trance and realised that he was still holding onto me. The realisation that every couple on the dance floor has stopped what they were doing, and all were watching with beady eyes waiting for our next movement made me sick to my stomach. I hated being the center of attention, especially when it
"Lilly! There you are!" A deep husky voice stated with a hint of worry. Turning around I saw an individual that somehow resembles the individual that has gained my hatred in just a couple of hours of meeting him. He ran over and took Lilly from my arms which made me miss holding the bundle of joy. Even though I've only met her for a very short amount of time, we have formed a bond over her being just so damn adorable. Still slightly upset on the fact that this stranger, presumably her father, even though he seems no older than me, I couldn't help but smile over their bond."Hello, my name is Elijah, and thank you for looking after my daughter," he said with a cute smile with the most noticeable dimples. I couldn't help but smile back and state that it was nothing since Lilly was such an adorable child that it allowed me to feel better than before.
---Nevaeh's POV---Today was the first official day where I would be starting my job role and getting to know everyone in at the company. My father has specifically given me a project that I would have to manage myself and whatever the outcome would be could implicate his decision on if I am ready for taking over the company. However, I know for a fact that it wasn't just a simple project since, at the back of his mind, I will need to fully prove myself with my ability for him to fully accept that I am taking over. Getting ready was easy but knowing that I would have to spend the morning with my family was a difficult task. Since my sister was back for a couple of weeks, breakfast with the family was not a scene that I want to endure before my first day at the company.
Throughout the meeting, it seemed like Crystal was fully submerged into this, but I couldn't be sure until I receive the report on my table first thing in the morning. This may be the first time that these different departments would be making a report after each meeting but I think this is a great way to see exactly they think is significant through a meeting and exactly what their ideas are on and also making sure they're paying attention. It also gives me an idea what their work ethic is and what they're ability is instead of asking just Camilla to do the reports after each meeting. These individuals may be very confused as to why I'm asking them to do a report, but I am always clear with what I am doing. Finally finished with the meeting and g
Everything was so confusing to me. Why he could invite me out on a dinner date that was supposed to just be about a business opportunity but in the end is in a romantic setting and I couldn't explain this feeling I had when he talked about this restaurant as being his and how he went through the process of building this restaurant up. Before I had always thought that he was someone who gathered all his fame and fortune from just taking over his father’s company but in the end, it was a mixture. Behind the scenes, he did do his work and was very passionate about it. "So, what did you want to talk about and what was this business opportunity that you thought I would be very interested in," I asked since the waiter had come back with our food and we had to get down to business before I finish all of the food.
---Alec's POV---The moment I scared her, and her coffee spilt on her hand, I felt the need to protect her. This was the first time in years since I've felt this feeling. The moment she came into my life, I've felt all sort of things that I thought I couldn't be able to feel anymore. I looked at her hand after rinsing it under the cold tap to see if it was still hurting. It was slightly red which did make me worry but knowing that she didn't spill a lot made me feel at ease. I should give myself a note to ask one of the workers to send her some ointment for this. I couldn't help but crease her cheeks when I detected some sadness in her voice when I told her that I had to fly out of the country for a couple of days. It wasn't intended to leave just after giving her the contract see I would
---Nevaeh's POV---The moment I pushed him out of the door I couldn't believe what I had just done. Without think, I had teased him and had given him a hard-on without realising. However, I just didn't have enough time to give myself even a second to think about my actions when Camilla came in to tell me that my first meeting of the day was about to start. However, before leaving she told me that Alec had left an ointment for my hand. This did make me feel slightly happy that he was able to think about me, but I remembered that he was the sole reason to why I got burnt in the first place. Within a couple of hours, we had finally gotten through all the meetings without one of the workers being late or out of place.
After getting ready I was already drooling from the smell of pancakes that Iris had started to make. This homely feeling was unfamiliar to me. When I was younger, my parents never stepped into the kitchen and if I wanted to have breakfast, I would have to ask one of the cooks. It was also very rare that I would have breakfast with my family since they would take my sister on her pageant runways and I would wake up in a house that was only filled with workers. They were more like my real families than my actual families. So when I suddenly got bombarded at how I was doing and how I was feeling these couple of days whilst being served a huge plate of delicious pancakes, I couldn't help but wish that I could feel this way forever. "Alec, come down here and eat some pancakes before you leave!