Chapter 7

Parking my car in the parking lot, I looked one last time into the mirror. My hair was a mess because I had no time to style it today. My alarm didn't wake me up this morning so here I was, in front of the building just a few minutes before Alice Montelebalo usually arrived.

Leaving the car, I rushed inside the building. Briefly saying good morning to the receptionist, I scurried into the elevator and closed my eyes in relief that I got here on time, if not in time.

"You are late." A familiar voice reached my ears and it felt like déjà vu.

"My alarm didn't work today," I said to Alice, and walked towards the back of the elevator.

"That's a shitty excuse," she said. "This is your second strike in one week."

"It won't happen again," I said and she nodded.

I was standing right behind her and her hair was blocking my view. Unknowingly, I checked her out. She was wearing a peach color body-con dress that hugged her curves and ended just above her knees. The dress accentuated her toned buttocks, not that it needed any accentuation.

"Stop staring at my butt." Her voice echoed in the elevator and my eyes widened.

"I—I. . .I wasn't!” I said and looked for any sensors on her back. How did she know I was looking at her butt?

"You are doing it again," she said and I gasped.

"I wasn't," I lied again.

"How long have you been working here?" she asked, turning around to face me. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses.

"It will be a week tomorrow," I said.

"And since you started working here, do you always ride the elevator to our floor?" she asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Why?"

"You never noticed this mirror before." She pointed at the mirror on top of the elevator door. Realizing that I had been caught red-handed, I shrank to a corner and silenced myself.

As the elevator stopped, I followed her towards her office. "You have a meeting at 10 with the-"

"Cancel all my meetings for today. We have some other things to handle," she said as she walked by the staff. Everyone stilled as if they were statues who had never spoken before. That's the effect she had on people.

"What other things?" I asked.

"We have a charity gala to arrange," she said, taking off her sunglasses and then handing them over to me.

"There wasn't any mention of any gala in the planner," I said, rushing behind her to keep up with her pace. She was wearing heels yet her speed was unmatchable. This woman was definitely not good for my self-esteem.

"It is now," she said, and put her handbag on the desk. When she turned around, I was standing there still, making a mental note of what she had said. "Move," she snarled and I hurried out of her office.

••••••••••

At exactly 1 pm, Alice's driver picked us both up from the office. We were on our way to her house to meet the event planner and caterers. I was sitting in the back seat with her and her scent was filling the whole car.

She was busy looking at something on her laptop and I had nothing to do but look around. Once I was tired of looking at the grey back of the driver seat, I stared at her through the front mirror.

Her silky brown hair was partially covering her face. Like always, she had a pencil in between her teeth and a small frown on her forehead. Probably feeling my focus on her, she averted her eyes to me and once again caught me looking at her.

"I think you should take a picture. It will last longer," she said.

I let out a small chuckle at this. "Don't kid yourself. You are not my type," I said and the moment her frown deepened, I realized what I just said. "I. . .I am sorry. That was out of line. Don't give me another strike. Please," I begged.

She glared at me for a minute, a whole torturous minute, after which she finally moved her eyes back to the laptop.

After some time, she spoke again. "Why didn't you join your father's company? Why work for other people?"

"I wanted the real experience before I start handling our business. I didn't want to be labelled as a privileged brat who got everything handed over to him on a silver platter," I said honestly.

"Does Christopher Trajano approve your thinking?" she asked, leaning back in her seat.

"Not really. I mean, he is supportive but he wants me to join our company as soon as possible." I said.

"Hmm." She nodded. I couldn't believe we were talking normally, without that dangerous look in her eyes that said she wanted to kill me and then feed my remains to her cats.

"Besides, working with my dad won't be a relief either. You know how these big businessmen are. They have their heads up their asses," I said and she raised her eyebrows at this. Gulping, I added, "Not you, of course."

"Only you, Stav. Only you have the ability to piss me off every time you open your mouth." She said and looked away.

Why? Why do I have to make a fool out of myself every freaking time?

The rest of the drive went silently and I breathed out in relief when the car stopped in front of a tall building. I followed her inside as she walked towards the elevator, her heels clicking on the marble floor

"Don't you have a mansion or something?" I asked once we reached inside the elevator.

"We sold that. I live in a penthouse now," she said and pressed the button to the top floor.

It took us a few minutes to reach our destination. She led me inside her penthouse and my eyes widened in admiration as I looked around. It looked like a double storey apartment, but big enough to fit a small house in it. The lounge was itself bigger than my current apartment, with not even a speck of dust or a thing misplaced. Being the son of a rich businessman, I had lived in many huge mansions but never a penthouse at the top of a tall building, with a view to die for.

"Please tell me there is a swimming pool here," I asked, looking around.

"There is," she said and I sighed.

"That's it. That's the dream."

"Now, if you are done drooling, should I call the event planner up here?" she asked.

"Sure." I shrugged, sitting on the white couch.

Rolling her eyes, she walked into a room to talk with someone on the phone. Once she was out of my sight, I stood up and walked over to a nearby wall where a photo frame was hung.

The photo was of Alice, who looked younger and a lot happier. She didn't look like a polished businessman in the photo. She was standing against a wall, wearing denim shorts and a black crop top. Her hair was styled in a loose braid and she was smiling at the camera.

As I heard footsteps behind me, I turned around to face Alice. "You look different in the photo," I commented.

"I grew up," she replied briefly.

Before I could say something, the doorbell rang. The house helper went to the door to open it and let two women inside. It looked like the tall, redhead woman was the event planner and the petite blonde behind her was her assistant.

"Good afternoon, Miss Montelebalo. Janeth Gallardo here. And this is my assistant, Russell." The petite blonder extended her hand and introduced herself.

Alice shook her hand and offered her to sit on the couch. She herself sat in front of her and when I sat beside her, she eyed me angrily, which caused me to scoot away.

"What kind of theme do you want? I mean, what is the message we are sending. Warm and bubbly? Cool and composed? Conservative?" Janeth asked as she crossed her legs.

"I want something dark and decent. A hint of black with gold maybe. The decor and lighting should be sophisticated, nothing too bright and glittery but nothing too dull either," Alice replied.

And just like that, I spent the next hour listening to three girls talk about colours and decor. I wanted to yawn so badly but I couldn't do that, not if I liked my job. There came a point in the boring discussion when I literally wanted to stab myself in the eyes.

Once the planner left, the next in line was the catering company. The detailed discussion of food made my stomach churn in hunger. It was 3 pm and I was used to eating before 2. I feared my stomach would growl if I didn't get anything to eat anytime soon. That's why, as soon as everybody left, I stood up to leave, but before I could ask for Alice's permission, the house help also known as Neela intervened.

"I have prepared lunch," she told Alice.

"Okay. I'll be at the dining table in a minute," Alice replied.

"So, can I leave?" I asked, locking my hands behind my back.

"Yeah, you can go now," she said absentmindedly while staring at the notes.

I was going to walk away when Neela spoke again. "Actually, I have cooked for two people."

"No, it's okay. I'll eat at a nearby cafe or something," I said, passing her a gentle smile.

"Well, she has cooked now, hasn't she? We don't waste food here," Alice said and made her way to what looked like a dining table. As she sat down, I contemplated what to do. Eating with her alone in her house was weirdly intimate, as if we were on a date or something.

"What are you thinking?" Alice raised her eyebrows.

Shaking my head, I sat down in front of her and eyed my plate. It was a rib-eye steak served with mashed potatoes and mushroom sauce. The sight caused my mouth to water and I picked up the fork and knife to dig in.

As soon as it reached my tastebuds, my eyes closed on their own. "Wow. Neela certainly has blessed hands," I commented.

"Yes, she does. She worked at my father's house for thirty years," Alice commented, taking a bite of her own steak.

I silently finished my food, not wanting to mess up again by talking nonsense. For some reason, I seemed to make a lot of mistakes when I was with Alice. Something about her made me nervous, which was understandable because her stare could literally make anyone wet their pants.

While finishing my last bite, I noticed the smear of sauce on the corner of her lips. For some reason, my gaze remained fixated on her lips and I couldn't take my eyes off it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had one of the most beautiful lips I ever saw; plump and red, with the lower one slightly bigger than the upper one.

"What?" she asked when she noticed me.

"Um..." I pointed towards the sauce on her mouth.

"What?" she asked again, furrowing her brows.

Taking a deep breath, I extended my hand and wiped it off. My thumb lingered there excessively long while my eyes locked in with hers. If she was angry, I couldn't figure it out from her deep, penetrative gaze.

When she realized how long we had been staring at each other, she coughed, breaking the trance.

"I should go now," I said and stood up.

"Yeah, you should," she said.