chapter 6

I sat on my desk, rubbing my head as I thought once again if accepting the deal with The Stones Inc. would be a good idea. It was Monday today and I'd spent the majority of last night going through every detail of the contract, afraid that one little mistake from me and the company I built through my hardships will be down to ashes.

I stayed with Allie for the weekend as she was upset about her now ex-boyfriend. We didn't do much, just hang around watching movies and Allie pretending that she was alright even though it was clear that she wasn't. I'd never seen Allie this upset before and it just ignited that rage in me towards that good-for-nothing scum.

Jake came over on Sunday to check up on Allie and apologise about his "parents-sharer" as he described Mike although Allie repeatedly assured him there was no need. Other than that, my weekend was as normal as it could be with a best friend in her recent breakup phase, an out-of-touch until-last week-but-still-a-good-friend and the weight of a make-or-break deal in my head.

I sighed. My head was throbbing from lack of sleep and as if that wasn't enough, my hand still hurt like hell. Guess it was for the best I didn't go for another punch after all.

As I was lost in my thoughts, I didn't hear Leah walk in to my office until she tapped my desk. Scowling, I looked up to find her smiling innocently at me and... was she blushing?

"Good morning, Ms. White. Mr. Stone is here with his secretary and his lawyer. Shall I let them in?" Leah asked. Well, that explained the blush. I looked at the time and saw it was exactly 10 am in the morning. I asked Leah to let them in and call my lawyer to my office. I was pulling out the documents and closing my current files when they walked in.

The first one to enter was the lawyer of The Stones Inc., I didn't exactly remember his name since I was busy cursing his boss in my head the last time I met him. But now that I saw him clearly, I could see that he definitely had the looks. He had a light brown hair and ocean green eyes that held a kind of warmth and friendliness.

Then the next to enter was who I assumed to be the secretary. And she was beautiful. She was maybe a couple of inch shorter than me, with soft blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair straightened to perfection.

Finally entered their boss. He was in another black suit and I'd never seen anyone better looking. His intense eyes automatically connected to mine and I nearly lost my breath under his intense gaze. Keyword being nearly. I didn't fully lose my breath which made me feel a bit proud of my respiratory system.

I cleared my throat and politely asked them to have their seats while we discussed the deal. With lots of thinking and pondering over the pros and cons, I'd finally decided to accept the deal. The expression of Mr. Stone said that he was not a bit surprised or anything. His look said that he had known all along that I'd accept it. The big-headed devil.

After all terms and conditions were laid out and both of our companies' lawyers had verified the documents, it was official that Eva's and The Stones Inc. would be business partners. Well, at least our production and marketing department anyway. But I'd made it very clear that while our companies may be related, all the decisions regarding our individual companies would be made by the owner of the company independently. That being said, Mr. Stone didn't have any right to interfere in my decisions regarding Eva's and vice versa. Once that was clear, we both signed the contract.

The lawyer of The Stones Inc., whose name I earlier learned to be Nathan after a small episode of embarrassment from my part as I had to ask his name again, got up and held his hand out to me, smiling kindly.

"I've heard a lot about you, Ms. White, although I'm not one to follow rumours and gossips. But I must say, after meeting you today, I can see why Eva's has been able to reach its height in such a short time. Women as smart, dedicated and not to mention as impeccably beautiful as you are very rare these days. I hope we get to see each other more often." He finished flashing a charming smile my way and I couldn't help but return his smile as he shook our hands.

His charm was just contagious. He had that easy going friendly personality that made me instantly like him. However, I couldn't say the same about the secretary, whatever her name was. From the minute we started talking about finalizing the deal, she'd been sending me glares so powerful that it would have been able to burn the entire room just like she was doing now.

A distinct clearing of throat made us all look at the scowling CEO who was standing beside his secretary with his hands in his pocket. "Nate, if your process of getting acquainted with each other has finished, can we leave or do you need more time for introduction? It's alright if so. I can leave the two of you alone." He said narrowing his eyes at Nathan and clenching his jaw.

Nathan coughed awkwardly as he released my hand and bid me a quick goodbye. I was beyond enraged by this but kept my mouth shut since I didn't want to further embarrass Nathan.

Soon everyone left the office except the infuriating boss. He just stood there, looking at me with his intense, calculating eyes. I immediately remembered my earlier rage and marched upto him until we were face to face. I just noticed that he was still a good foot taller than me.

Ignoring it, I tried my best to appear stern as I narrowed my eyes at him and said "That was totally uncalled for, Mr. Stone. You have absolutely no right to talk about me or Mr. Harrison that way. You may be his boss but this is my office and I won't tolerate anyone sticking their foot to anyone else's business, not even you, Mr. Stone. Especially when we were merely having a professional conversation."

"Of course it was a professional conversation, Ms. White. Especially the way he was holding your hand for at least 5 minutes. And clearly you liked that since you didn't pull it away although you were in pain. Did you like the attention, Ms. White?" He said, his eyes cold and jaw clenched.

The audacity! How dare he?

"Once again, that's none of your business, Mr. Stone. I am trying to be polite here since you are a business partner but I can't and I won't stand here and listen at you making assumptions about me when you know nothing about me. And for your information, I am not the kind of person who would bask in attention, although I get a plenty of them, and that is solely due to my achievements through my hard work. For me, fame is nothing in front of hardship."

I released a deep breath and looked up to see his eyes soften a bit and filled with regret but in a fleeting second they were back to his usual cold front, although it had softened a tiny bit. He then sighed and ran his fingers to his hair as he said, "Uh... I'm sorry. You're right. That was uncalled for and none of my business. I just saw that your hand was hurting your and couldn't understand why you didn't pull away. But I shouldn't have said those things. Forgive me."

His eyes looked so sincere and I couldn't help but be touched by this. I'd felt a sharp pain when Nathan shook hands with me but ignored it as I didn't want to appear rude. I was certain no one noticed it but apparently I was wrong.

I didn't understand why he would care if I was in pain as we'd known each other for merely two days, although we had run into each other multiple times before in some party or charity functions. In those short run-ins, I knew he was arrogant and big headed so I was once again surprised by his transition. Maybe he was one of those rare males with mood  faster than women?

I sighed and nodded my head. An awkward minute passed and when I realised he was still in the room, I curiously looked at him and said, "Mr. Stone. Is there anything else you'd like to discuss with me?" He seemed to think for a second and nodded his head. "Actually, yes. I was wondering that it would be a good idea if we host a party to celebrate this partnership. It would also be good for our publicity as a team. What do you think?"

I pondered over this. It was indeed a good idea to host a party so that we could announce the partnership. I agreed with him. I said, "I think that's a good idea, Mr. Stone. We can call all of our business associates and make a public statement of the deal between our companies. It would also be a refreshment for our employees."

He smiled slightly. "Well, it's settled then. I'll talk with my manager and give you the details. Good day, Ms. White." I nodded and with that he turned to walk out of the door. But before he could walk away, he turned back to me and said, "And before I forget this, Ms. White, please take care of your hand. I'm telling you again, put something to it. We wouldn't want the CEO to be anything but 100% healthy and stunning as usual now, do we? Later, Ms. White."

He turned to walk away but once again, he looked back to me and called, "One more thing Ms. White."

I looked at him curiously from my desk and asked, "Yes, Mr. Stone?" He shook his head at me and said, "Adrian." Confused, I raised my eyebrows at him. "Pardon?" He just smiled and said, "It's Adrian. You can call me Adrian. We are to be seeing each other more often, after all."

With that, he walked away with my mouth open in a surprised 'o' and my heart skipping a beat.