EMBERDaisies in her hand, she looked around her room, pressuring her brain to come to any other conclusion but the one that was inevitably true. There was no one who could send her flowers out of the blue except Will and if it wasn't him then..."You're awake already?" Ruby groaned as she woke up for a few seconds, toppling back to sleep without seeking for an answer. That made Ember shake her head and focus back on reality. She gently placed the flowers in the jar on the bedside table and turned away to go and freshen up. She wanted to be early that day and make herself so busy that she wouldn't have to think about work the next day. She really did want to go to the exhibition but she decided going to the restaurant was also okay. She did want to see which place made him that passionate.Ember had to do all the work of the weekend in that one day before she could allow herself to truly relax. She put on her white baggy trousers and blue shirt with her brown sling bag. She put her ha
EMBEREmber wanted the ground to split apart and suck her inside so that she could just disappear and never had to show her face again. She walked ahead of him, her steps quick and awkward because she knew he was staring with a big smirk and that made her stiffer than she was.They travelled down to the reception and then out of the gate in utter silence and reached the car. Ember went ahead to reach the car door to hold it open for her but he was quicker to grab hold of it, he opened the car door. Ember stepped back, letting him go in first but Zaire didn't move. She looked up to find him, waiting."Get in," he said."You get in, you're the boss," she shrugged, a little intimidated."I have courtesy, especially when it comes to a date," he said, matter of fact, and she almost gasped how he was still holding on to the same joke."Would you please stop calling it a date? It's simply a lunch because you are my boss, that's what it is," she declared sternly like that would tell him. It wa
EMBERShe could see his face turn a little more curious but that's all she had to say. She smiled softly to pretend like she was kidding and started moving on to the next. But this time, he didn't follow her. He stood in his place and looked down as if deep in thought.Some distance would be better.A few minutes passed, Ember had shifted from Poseidon to Dionysus, and she was scanning the huge painting "The Birth of Venus". She couldn't explain the way everything felt. It was making her feel at peace but very enthusiastic at the same time. She loved that feeling. When finally Ember was no longer immersed in the art, she looked around slightly to see where Zaire was. She had expected to see him at a corner taking calls or not even in the room now that he wasn't following her, but she was proven wrong. He was still there but in the other sections. He didn't look all too interested in the exhibition until now that Ember was looking at him. He looked captivated.After that, Ember found h
EMBEREmber immediately buried her nose in her phone, trying to look up ways for an apology. She knew if she tried to talk, he wouldn't want to listen. That couldn't be the way. Internet wasn't helping, she needed something different. She thought and thought, her eyes squinting to think of a way. He wasn't paying attention to her which was a relief in a way. What to do, what would she do?Suddenly, her eyes snapped up with a vision. If she could somehow find a place where she could talk to him and make him listen, everything would sort itself out. But in such an unknown city, how was she supposed to find something?She panicked a little as she realised they were nearing back to the stay. Her fingers tapped faster and somehow, finally, she ended up in a website that was like a chat site with posts back to back. They were all talking about the underrated places of New York that were rarely knowing by the people that would be perfect for a romantic date. She felt herself gulping at the w
EMBERHe had picked her up and he was carrying her silently up the stairs. She froze in her place, a little lost at what had happened as she held his shoulders, watching him as he looked straight ahead."You make no sense, you know that?" He murmured against his breath, his breath not even catching once that said how casual he was even after climbing that many stairs. Either he was really strong or he was just numb to everything."I'm okay, you can put me down. We are almost there too," she said, looking up at the floors above. They'd be there in just a couple more steps. She thought his grip would loosen but it tightened instead."I might as well let you go when we are there," he glanced a little at her before continuing to climb. She looked away immediately to hide her face. Then, in a minute, she felt him put her down. Her feet still a little strained from all that pressure but she was better, just afraid of sore feet the next morning. But now, she had other things to worry about.
EMBER"He was the only friend I really had," Zaire said with a lost gaze that couldn't find the right words, neither did she want to push him till he's forced to face his emotions. She waited till he spoke again. "He mattered, he stuck around and he helped me grow. i'd never strip him off of those credits.""Then what happened? You two are at each other's throats now all the time," Ember said, actually concerned. She hadn't expected Zaire to give that much of a space to Travis, she needed to know if it was actually one sided."He was just like all of them. He was the kind of a person who wanted to bring me down, he wanted to watch me fall to my feet, barren of any successes. I heard him, I caught him red handed planning my biggest downfall. I couldn't believe it myself," Zaire spoke, even though he was being vague, the fact that he was opening up slightly to her, comforted her a little. She hated seeing his regretful and disappointed face.It had to be something to realise that your be
RUBYShe thought she knew what she was doing when she tried to make notes out of the given blueprints and pdfs mailed to her. She had always been precise with her work but she never knew what it felt like to work outside the confinement of her apartment or her claustrophobic cubicle in the firm she worked back in LA.She had never really been subjected to working in such luxury or that much stress to do better. She loved the feeling, it gave her the thrill, especially knowing that she had people by her side.Literally.Because Ember had been sleeping for the past hour Ruby had been awake working. She snored and cuddled her blanket like she hadn't slept for days. She looked exhausted all these days too, she really had a lot of responsibilities to cater to so Ruby refused to wake her up before her own time.Suddenly, her phone lit up with a text and she tried to ignore it, but curiousity got the best of her. She picked up her phone to see the text from Bianca from the team but before she
EMBER"So, how far is it?" Ember asked, to get her mind off things and actually get immersed into the day the best she could. He scoffed a little and looked back at her."What does it matter? We have the whole day anyways and it means you'll have me with you for as long as you want. That sound pretty good, right?" Will chuckled but she couldn't make out if he was joking or being serious. She gave him a smile, already failing at the first attempt at conversing."Umm how's work?" she asked once again."Good, yours?" He asked, looking down at his phone again. She had to liven it up a little, the silence was killing her."Oh, stressful. You know how it is when you're given all these responsibilities. Well, definitely not the perks of being the CEO's assistant," she chuckled awkwardly when she realised she was only blabbering but she had somehow reached Zaire. Will frowned a little and then looked up at her. "I feel drained out with all the running errands for everyone of them and because I
EMBER"But I never talked to you because I knew I didn't deserve you yet. You were all I could imagine wanting and it only grew after that night when I tried to make you stay but you left the next morning. I knew I'd see you again and I was determined to have you the next chance I got with you," Zaire said with a grin because she knew he meant that the next chance meant them right at that moment."I.. had no idea.. but.. why me?" She asked, not being able to understand."You're seriously asking me that question? Have you ever known yourself enough? What exactly do you think you don't have? You're perfect, you're absolutely perfect. And you're the only one I need. I'm sorry for all the times I've hurt you, it was all because of shortcomings. But none of that would happen again. I promise to keep you happy with all I have," he said and it sounded so genuine, it wrenched Ember's guts. She was too high up on the clouds."I think I'm falling for you," Ember let the words slip out."Glad. I'
EMBER"We totally understand and apologize for this regrettable situation and we are deeply sorry-"."For nothing," a voice came from the opposite side of them that dragged all the attention. Someone had walked in with a bold voice and a knowing smile on their face. Ember's eyes widened and so did others. That's when Ruby Ramirez walked into the scene, bringing a wave of shock and confusion. "They have to apologize for absolutely nothing.""What do you mean.. and who are you?" Mrs. Davis asked but not with conviction but curiosity. Her eyes widened as she recognized her from the news all over, Travis Prescott's alleged girlfriend."I am Ruby, a former employee of Sarte and currently an employee in Iris. And I can assure you that you'll believe me when I saw Sarte has done nothing unprofessional," Ruby said, confidently."Hey! What are you talking about?" Melvin Harvey chimed in, trying to control the situation."That's right, I should just show you what I'm talking about," Ruby said wi
EMBER"We'll see," she muttered. His hold only got tighter on her, making her lips part a little."I'll show you. You're trapped, I'll show you how long you can be trapped here, hmm?" He said, and Ember's blush turned into something just a little more sinister. The game wasn't over yet. She looked to her side to see someone passing by, towards their direction. Zaire saw Ember look at people passing by who can easily spot him holding her, which would be quite scandalous. But her eyes were set, and afraid he would read into it wrong, he started moving his hand away to not be noticeable. That's when Ember's eyes snapped up towards him."Keep holding me, that's the next challenge," she said, knowing for sure that this would push him way out of accepting. Her job was only to make the challenges hard enough for him to back down. And he definitely wouldn't want a scandal so he would surely accept defeat. He surely wouldn't..."Perfect," he said immediately and that's when his hand wrapped ar
EMBEREverything looked exceptional. So magestic and gorgeous that there was no way anyone could even think of a better way than this. Every inch of it looked straight out of a mythical movie.Ember sure had to know they were all professional and talented enough to modify the theme "heaven" given to them to something like this. Sarte has added lots and lots of detailings that embraces the dark elements. Like black vines and rust like textures on the while that looks like the darkness or hell is infiltrating the heaven's gate.It was grand and if Ember could recall it properly, she knew the kind of costumes Iris had prepared, it would look so good together. If only the whole idea passes and no one steps in to say a word against it. Technically, Sarte was breaking the rules by not following the theme entirely but incorporating heaven theme into hell because they were misled by Sarte.The only saviour would be if the fashion show preparations overall look so good that it impresses Mr and
RUBYIt went on and on, the only entertainment being Melvin Harvey's scowling face at her. She tried not to laugh at his face every time, it was weirdly entertaining."So, because Sarte asked for some more time, we are going to have to display the fashion show we prepared once again so we need to get everything ready by the end of the day," Max said and everyone noted something down but Ruby didn't bother."And what about the models? What timing were they given to report here so that we can do the rehearsals beforehand?" Travis asked and suddenly it got a little silent as they all looked at each other. "What's going on?""W-we didn't know we had to give them the time right away before the meeting so we didn't give them the time yet," Cara explained and that made Travis visibly annoyed."What does that mean? Shouldn't you have completed that before coming here? I didn't expect this from you," Travis said but Ruby noticed something very strange. It was unusual but not surprising but prob
RUBY"W-what did you just say? What does that-""You know exactly what that means. I am demeaning you for the way you run your team by gaslighting hate into them. You're misusing your authority, bet half of them don't even know why they actually hate Sarte," she shrugged like she had said enough."You think you can badmouth our company and I'll just stand here and hear you out?" He was visibly running out of words to say because of being caught off guard. He was threatening to report her to someone but that was just funny at that point."You can say whatever you want. You can even bring the board of directors, the managers, even your Chairman out here and I'll still repeat the exact same words. Don't take me for a fool like you do with everyone around you, you are a coward anyways," Ruby could feel the satisfaction coursing through her veins as she told him off, watching the colours fade from his face too fast. "It doesn't matter who I am dating, I'm not afraid to speak up so don't ev
RUBY"Fine then, you really think you're that slick when you are anything but that. If that's what you're deciding to do then I'll do something too. And something that you won't be able to hold against me because in your style, technically, I am not going against the deal as well. That's okay, I'm guessing?" She said, with a menacing look on her face that emitted what she actually felt and it certainly cannot be faked."You can't do that, it will be a clear breach of the contract and it certainly would not be as well explained as mine because there's no such detail written in the papers as well," he said, a little defensive in her opinion but something that can be very well recognised through his body language. She knew she didn't have to work that hard to unleash the goal.Ruby offered him a bitter smile before turning around and pulling out a piece of paper. It was the copy of the contract they signed and Travis watched her carefully as she opened the paper and started running her ey
RUBYRuby didn't know on a scale of one to ten, how angry she was and how larger it can grow. Maybe her anger might just break and split open the scale because she was furious.She had no idea how this happened or how it was even possible because when she agreed to the deal with the unscrupulous man he clearly said he wouldn't come in the way of Sarte or disrupt the project at all. But they did it, they completely sabotaged Sarte by giving them information about a fake theme. They had been planning on doing Hell as the theme the whole time but Sarte was told the theme was Heaven.This was clearly breaking the deal and the rules, it was totally unacceptable.Ruby could feel her mind going blank with anger as she rushed through the gate of Florence building and up to the floor given to Sarte and Iris. This was her first day of work as a member of Iris and it was bound to be strange. But when she got the news from the Iris group chat, how they fooled Sarte into believing a completely diff
EMBER"What are you thinking?" He asked, finally breaking the silence."So, anything, right? Anything I ask you, without questions," she made sure, as a trick to test him."I already said it, anything you want," he answered right then, with no hesitation at all. Ember thought, if he wasn't hesitant, what was her excuse? The drive was still going on and the wild idea took over her. "Okay so..", she started, not giving him time to comprehend he was going to be given a task right at that moment. "Stop this car in the middle of the road and kiss me."His head snapped to her at that rash and unusual task but Ember knew she was doing it to see to what extremes he would go. That seemed fit enough for the first task. He scanned her face and realised she was serious. A quick look behind him and he immediately brought the car to a stop at that exact moment, 0 questions or hesitations.Hurrying, he leaned in and snapped off her seatbelt and in one moment, he had swept her off her seat and placed