CHAPTER FOUR

Angela stared at her plate in horror. She was fighting the urge not to throw up, she had never been in a fancy restaurant before and she didn't even know what kind of food she was being served. It looked strange, mushy and sick.

She looked at Tristan who was chowing down on his equally disgusting-looking food while she kept pushing the food around pretending to eat it. Why on earth would Tristan even order for her and what was it he called the food? ‘The special?’ what's so special about this? It looked like somebody vomited onto her plate.

She glanced around uncomfortably, it was like everyone can see through her because people were giving her weird looks. It’s like they were judging her with their eyes.

Tristan had an amused expression on his face as he stole glances at her squirming uncomfortably.

“What's wrong miss Cameron,” he asked with a mocking smile…

Angela's POV

Oh, I so hated this guy, I wanted to slap that stupid smirk off his stupid face. Who does he think he is?

“Nothing Mr Perry. Nothing’s wrong….”

“Haven't you been in a fancy restaurant or haven't you had cheeseburger and fries casserole before?” he asked mockingly

‘so that's what this is I thought as I glared at my plate and then at him

“No sir. I have not because unlike you, I don’t eat foods that look like barf. I eat actual, edible, good-looking food”

Tristan stared at this lady who had

a sarcastic response to his comment, why would she talk to him like this? Does she have any idea how to talk to her boss?

“Do you know you're very rude?” Tristan said and Angela just stared at him “you have no idea how to talk to your boss do you? You know I can fire you for that little statement you just made”

“Why would you order for me?” Angela asked

“Because you don't know anything about fancy eating or expensive restaurants. All you know is ordering cheap foods from cheap places!”

The pair were silent for a while. Tristan felt he was a little too harsh with his words and he was feeling a little guilty while Angela just stared at him in disbelief and anger. She stood up from her chair slowly

“I'll be in the car” she murmured and just as she turned around to leave, she tripped on absolutely nothing thereby bumping into a waitress that was carrying a tray of food, they both came crashing down with all the contents on the tray pouring down all over Angela and the waitress.

People all over were staring at Angela with disgust and when she looked at her legs, she figured out why. Her short dress had gone a little too high revealing part of her underwear. Angela's face turned red as she jumped to her feet and dragged her dress down. “I'm so sorry” she whispered to the waitress as she helped her up. She didn't dare meet Tristan’s eyes but she knew he would be staring, maybe mocking her even.

She tried to walk but she felt a sharp pain in her right ankle. She winced in pain as she bent down to rub her ankle, suddenly, she felt herself being lifted off the ground by two strong arms. She met his blue eyes with shock in hers

“What are you doing?” she whispered

“You have a sprained ankle and you need to get to the bathroom and the car. So what does it look like I'm doing”

Angela’s POV

I fell silent at his words. Was this man a gentleman or is he bipolar? One minute he’s being nice, the next minute, he’s snapping at any little thing I do.

He set me down gently in front of the female toilet and I limped in to clean my dress, I pressed water against my cheeks to cool the burning sensation and frowned at my reflection, I didn’t even know my hurriedly styled hair was now very messy, I looked like a homeless child. I grabbed some tissue and managed to clean my dress the best I could, I restyled my hair and stepped out.

Surprisingly, Tristan was still waiting for me. Now, this is strange! I thought

“It’s fine, I’ll walk by my….”

Before I could complete my sentence, Tristan had already lifted me again and was now carrying me to the car. I felt awkward and stiffened in his arms but my heart was racing as I savoured the smell of his perfume, so manly, so delicious, so… get a grip of yourself girl! I cautioned myself before my mind wandered to a dirty place.

This was so weird, this gentle, calm nature was unlike him but hey, I’ve only known him for like what, three days?

He placed me down gently in the limo while he went back into the restaurant. I guess he went to finish his disgusting food. At the thought of food, my stomach growled loudly and I remembered I had not eaten today, guess I’ll have to order ‘cheap food’ later.

Just as the thought crossed my mind, Tristan came out of the building holding two small bags, he got in the limo and handed one to Alan and another one to me

“Here! I’m guessing you should be more familiar with this”

I opened it and saw it was packed with hamburgers and fries. I could cry right now. This is my favourite food and I wonder how he knew that but this is Tristan we’re talking about, he knows everything.

“Thanks,” I said and he nodded

“Alan take us to my house”

“Yes sir,” his chauffeur said and started driving.

I looked at him confused

“Why are we going to your house?”

“I’m free for the next one hour”

“Yeah but then we have a bunch of errands to attend to and we need to be at the airport by two p.m. Have you forgotten you need to attend that charity event in New York by four p.m.?”

“What’s the time now?”

I glanced at my phone “it’s ten fifteen a.m sir and you have a board meeting by noon and then a ribbon cutting for your father’s new company by one and then we must be on our way to the airport.”

Tristan looked thoughtful for a while and then he spoke “we’ll cancel the board meeting, I can’t have you following me to New York with a sprained ankle, I’ll have my doctor attend to you, then we’ll be off to the ribbon cutting and then we go to New York. Is that okay?”

“Yeah but it’s just a sprained ankle. I’ll be fine”

“Not on my watch, you’re getting treated as soon as possible. Am I clear?”

I was stunned “er….yes….yes sir. Should I go ahead and call your secretary to tell her to cancel the meeting?”

“Sure” he replied and he began typing on his phone while I called his secretary, Sarah as I recently found out her name.

**********

Okay, I’m not kidding when I say this but Tristan’s house has got to be the biggest house I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t help gaping at how magnificent and classy his house was. The two-storey building house was painted white and gold with a wide yard, surrounded by garden fresh, tropical flowers and potted plants, stepping into Tristan's house was like stepping into a Palace. He helped me get out of the car and I insisted I was going to walk on my own. He agreed on the condition that he has to hold my hand and I agreed.

Damn, his hand was so soft

I thought the outside was beautiful but I was in for a surprise when I entered inside. The inside was very spacious, there was a large smart TV in the living room, a large air conditioner stood on the far right beside the TV, two lovely vases stood on either side of the TV, three magnificent black couches stood at different corners of the house, a Persian rug laid in the centre of the room, two tall windows allowed sunlight flood inside the room, different art painting hung from the walls and a magnificent gold chandelier hung from the ceiling casting golden lights all over the living room.

“Sit here” he gestured for me to sit and a butler came to attend to me. He was a middle-aged man with thinning grey hair probably from the stress of working many years. His eyes looked kind and he stood with manly poise

“What would you like miss?” he asked warmly

“Oh, nothing yet. I'm good.” I replied

“Are you sure you don't want anything to drink?” Tristan asked

“No, I'm good”

Tristan nodded to his butler and he left. “My doctor should be here soon, please feel free,” he said and headed towards the kitchen

He came back a few minutes later with an ice pack “here, take off your boot. I'll put this on it”

I reached forward to take off my boot while he grabbed a stool beside him, gently placed my foot on it and placed the ice pack on my ankle.

I let out a sigh of relief as I felt the ice giving relief to my ankle all the while immensely aware of his hand on my calf.

I don't know if it was just me but I felt a kind of spark, I swallowed when his fingers slid down and he began to massage my ankle ever so gently. I watched his bowed head and his serious face, he looked so handsome and his lips….

Thankfully, the front door opened just before my thoughts could wander any more and a young man whom I assume was the doctor, entered. Tristan got up and shook hands with him

“Doctor Scott, hi. This is my assistant, miss Cameron. She’s the one with the sprained ankle.”

“Hello ma’am,”

“Hi doctor”

“Can I have a look at your ankle?”

“Sure”

He came to my side, examined my ankle properly and after much examination, he gave me a diagnosis.

“Okay Miss Cameron, I have a diagnosis”

“How bad is it doc?” Tristan asked

“not bad at all sir. All she needs is to stay off her feet for a couple of days, put ice on it, taking pain and anti inflammatory medicine. I’ll prescribe some medication for her, she needs to start taking it as soon as possible.”

“thank you doctor” I replied and he nodded as he and Tristan walked out

“so miss Cameron, looks like you’ll be getting a few days off”

“That’s no problem sir, I can work from home.”

“you better. I guess I’m going to New York alone then” for some reason, he seemed a bit bummed about that and I wondered why

“we’ll drop you at your place.”

“thank you sir.”