Chapter One - Collision

Geena Stones walked into the office building, almost running as she avoided being even a minute late to her board meeting. 

Stones Conglomerate was known not just for its jaw dropping height, but it could undoubtedly be said to have the best office interior decor in the city of Los Angeles.

She graciously smiled at the receptionist, and headed straight for the elevator, wishing she could make it go faster than it already was. Just as the door was about to close, a leg popped up from outside, in between the elevator doors and stopped it from closing.

“Oh no! Not another delay” she thought to herself.

Into the elevator came a young, handsome man with an athletic build, an apologetic smile on his face.

“Good morning, I'm sorry for the delay, I am kinda in a hurry too”, he greeted. He looked up and their eyes met. For some reason, time paused, Geena didn't feel like she was in a hurry anymore. Never had she seen such sea blue eyes that captivated and gripped her in ways she couldn't explain.

Struggling to find her voice, she stuttered “No problem at all”. 

“Which floor are u headed to?”, he asked.

“2…, 25, Floor 25”.

“How lucky, we're headed to the same floor” he added. “It wouldn't seem nice to leave this elevator without proper introductions, don't you think so?”

“Well if you think so, I may oblige” she added with a little smile.

“Okay then, I'm Dariel Montague, you can simply call me Dariel, that's if we'll meet again after today”, he said with a little laugh. 

Dariel didn't feel or think, but he was certain that he had just met the most beautiful and perfect woman in the world. At this point he didn't care about who was Miss Universe or Miss World - for him, this was certainly his own “Miss World”.

“I'm Geena, simply Geena” she introduced. She disliked introducing herself with her surname particularly within her own company. It made her feel like she was showing off. 

“Nice to meet you Geena, you seem to be in a hurry” Dariel noted.

It was at this point that she remembered that she was in a hurry, the presence of Dariel gave her the feeling of not wanting to go anywhere but rather spend her whole day with him in the elevator. He seemed like too much of a safe space and in a short period of time too.

“Yes” she replied, “I'm kinda late for a meeting that I personally set up”.

“That's not a problem, people are late every once in a while, it's no big deal”.

“You think so?”

“Absolutely, the good thing is that you're already in the building, so you'll meet up”. 

Dariel had never talked to a stranger before but here he was talking to a beautiful stranger and enjoying her company so badly.

Finally the elevator dinged, they were at floor 25. Dariel was late for work, Geena was late for her meeting, they both stepped out and were headed in different directions. 

After some steps away, Dariel turned back and he found Geena already starring at him. 

Dariel said almost shouting “ I know it's sounds weird but I really hope we see again”.

“We certainly will”. Those three words of assurance had already made Dariel's day and at this point, he longed for nothing more.

***********************

Dariel headed straight to the Maintenance unit, realizing that he was a little behind schedule. While trying to change into his work clothes, his supervisor came in and observed him singing so happily with a smile on his face that didn't seem to fade anytime soon. 

“Good morning Sir”, Dariel greeted.

“Someone is in a real good mood today, and surprisingly, you even came earlier than expected” the supervisor added with a grin.

“Well, Sir, it is a great day to be alive, I have every reason to be happy” Dariel responded.

“If you say so, let's leave it that way”, the supervisor was on his way out when he stopped at the door and added to Dariel “By the way, you will be cleaning the boss's office today, she's out for a meeting, so be snappy in cleaning before she gets back”.

“Aye Captain”, responded Dariel, picking up his cleaning tools and heading out.

*****************************

While cleaning his boss’s office, he was wondering at what point in his life would he also get to this level, to own an office so big and have people answer at his beck and call. 

“With time, I'll certainly get here and even bigger” he reassured himself. 

His mind went back to the beautiful lady he met at the elevator and he paused, started smiling to himself, he wished he could just see her again. 

As he continued cleaning, he heard footsteps from the corridor, heading his way. He looked to see and before he could continue cleaning, he saw her, Geena, surrounded by a lot of staff. 

Everybody around her started stepping into their offices, one by one, but to his surprise, she kept on coming to his direction, she hadn't seen him yet but she walked with so much confidence to the office he was cleaning.

As she stood at the door about to enter, he looked at the door and saw her name “Geena Stones”. He thought it could be another Geena, but then he looked up and saw two portraits on the wall that he hadn't looked at while he was cleaning. Alas! It was Geena's pictures on the portraits. 

He was shocked, it finally dawned on him that Geena, the elevator girl he met was actually Geena Stones, his billionaire boss!!!