FIRST ENCOUNTER II

The duo walked to his office in absolute silence with him leading the way and Eleanor behind him and they got in after he opened the door. Eleanor stopped in the middle of the room and watched him keenly as he walked to his desk in the room while biting her cheeks inwardly.

"What was that all about?" His calm words echoed in the room, but she was no fool to hear the anger in them.

"I'm sorry, I lost my self-control in there," she watched his reactions carefully, "and for creating a scene tonight. I couldn't condone her arrogance anymore."

Adrian leaned in on his desk with his back, facing her as he folded his arms to his chest. His beautiful slender green eyes directly peered into hers, and his face remained indifferent. "That was so not professional of you. You know the rules, the interests of the customers come first."

Eleanor frowned slightly at his words which brought discomfort to her ears. "I'm not gonna apologize for not kissing her ass, Adrian."

"And I'm not gonna congratulate you for creating a scene tonight. You had a job to do, and that was to be professional just as you had been for the past three years we've worked together."

"Are you serious right now?" Her eyes widened in realization. "Hold up! Are you saying I should've kept quiet out there and continued receiving constant embarrassment from that girl?"

"I thought we agreed that you were going to be the mature one, and ignore her."

"And what has ignoring her done?" His silence made her raise both her hands in the air to confirm the obvious answer, "Exactly! Nothing! It just led to more embarrassment."

"So did your confrontation. Do you know how humiliated I felt out there in front of everyone?"

Her lips formed an, "Oh" as the word escaped her lips In almost a whisper. El smiled hysterically as she turned away from him, digging her fingers into her hair in disappointment, "so this whole fuss is about you being humiliated?"

Her hurt eyes turned back to look into his as she shook her head still in disbelief about hearing those words from him, "and what about me? If just one embarrassment is so difficult for you to handle, have you ever imagined what I've been going through when I'm constantly humiliated in public by the same person? Have you?!"

Silence took over the room, with their eyes glued on each other for a few seconds, and she nodded in annoyance when she didn't hear anything from him.

"You know what? I'm leaving. I'm not gonna stand here and listen to this. You can all go to hell! After all, I'm not your employee."

Adrian stared at her back as he watched her walk out on him in annoyance. He knew he shouldn't have said those words to her, but right now he was furious. Furious that whatever happened in there may throw mud on the name of his restaurant and someone had to take the blame. He let out a sigh of frustration.

"EI wait!"

Hearing the plea in his deep voice made her stop in front of the door and her hand fell to her side from the door knob.

"I'm sorry," were his next words which seemed to dissipate the anger she felt slowly, even if she didn't turn to look at him. She had known him long enough to know the 'sorry look' he had on his face right now, and whenever he apologized this way, it was hard to still stay mad at him.

"I'm sorry for being selfish and not putting your feelings into consideration," he continued, "no one deserves to be humiliated, not me, not you, and I feel stupid for making you tolerate those embarrassments in the past."

He walked to where she was standing and held her shoulders from her back. Leaning into her ears, he continued, "forgive your selfish bestie, please."

Her lips curved into a smile which she tried hard to refrain from, but his words were just so soothing, It was impossible to still stay mad at him. As if noticing her reluctance, Adrian turned her around, so that she was facing him. His hands that were on her shoulders slid down her hand as he stared at her face which had a faint grin on it.

"Don't stay mad at me, please..."

Jokingly, Eleanor broke her stare on his face to the ceiling of the room, just so she wasn't looking at his face, "I'll think about it."

He smiled downwardly as he repeated her words in his head, before pushing further, "I shouldn't have taken this out on you. It's just that we have really important guests tonight and that unpleasant scene would've ruined our reputation." She turned to look at his pleading, yet serious face and a smile broke from her lips.

"That's the smile I was looking forward to seeing," he teased and the smile broadened.

"You're still not off the hook."

He embraced her warmly with a smile, "that's better than having you think about it." Releasing her from his embrace, he held her shoulders to look at her beautiful defined round face, "I'll do anything to get off the hook."

Eleanor smiled as she hugged him once more. Adrian and she have been best friends from their tender ages, up until this point. Not only are they best friends, but they are also siblings. She hated it when they fought, but these little quarrels are inevitable.

In the end, everyone has their opinions on certain issues, and their ability to consider each other's opinions is what leads to continuous friendship, and even strengthens the friendship.

Releasing her, he walked back to his desk and poured some wine into a cup on the table, "Do you want a drink?"

She shook her head in disapproval as she watched him take a sip from the cup.

"Who's your important guest?"

The question made Adrian turn to look at her as she helped herself to a seat close to the table. Since Adrian had mentioned having an important guest tonight, her curiosity had gotten the best of her.

Taking another sip from the cup, he partially sat on the desk with one leg leaning on it, and the other one placed on the floor to support himself. "Ethan Grayson."

His nonchalant answer had her mouth open as she stared at Adrian's serious face. Wanting to clear her doubts about who her friend seemed to be talking about, she asked, "the famous business tycoon?"

"The one and only heir to Grayson's Enterprise."

"I thought he wasn't in the country? It's been five years since I heard he last visited this country."

"True," he nodded in affirmation as he moved his head sideways as if comparing her words with the truth, "but he is now. He arrived some hours ago. It seems he has a business meeting with some investors."

He gulped all the content of the cup in one go and smiled when he saw the astonished look on Eleanor's face. "What's with the look?"

She blinked a couple of times at his sudden question which brought her out of her daydreaming.

"What look?"

He gestured to her face with his hand, and when she shot him a questioning look, his smile widened. "Your puzzled look?" He paused for some seconds to see her reaction but continued when he didn't see any, "don't tell me you're one of Mr. Grayson's fans?"

El leaned into the chair and crossed her legs, "are you trying to annoy me even more, Adrian?" she ridiculed, "do I look like an unambitious person who has enough leisure time to fantasize about a man?"

With a smile still on his lips, he teased, "those are your words, princess, not mine." Her eyes narrowed at his last remark, and she sat straight on the chair, uncrossing her legs as she leaned forward.

Noticing her new mood from the way her brows folded in annoyance, Adrian lifted his hands in surrender, "my bad... I'm sorry." For a second, he had forgotten her bad history with men.

She stood up from the seat, and arranged her gown which was a little bit rumpled because of how she sat, "It looks like you have plans to annoy me this evening, so I'm just gonna take my leave." Pushing the seat backward to create space between the table and chair, El turned away from Adrian and headed towards the door.

"C'mon, El... you're seriously leaving?"

Without turning to look at Adrian, she said in an audible voice, "good night, Adrian," before closing the door of the room after she got out.

Adrian let out a sigh.