Chapter 2

Ian's POV

I stared at her dumbfounded.

“What the….” I was cut off by her bursting into tears.

A doctor and a nurse soon came to get her, dragging her away as she wept loudly.

I dumped the now empty cup of hot chocolate in the bin and made my way to Lucas’ hospital room.

“Hey, where’s my hot chocolate?” he asked, groaning in pain as he tried to sit up. “And what happened to your suit? It’s your best one!”

“Take a wild guess.” I said and picked up a napkin to clean myself. “The person you hit almost died. What were you thinking driving drunk?”

“I’m sorry.” 

Lucas was my childhood friend. We’ve been causing trouble together for as long as I can remember.

“Whatever. I have to get back to the office. I also have to pay the victim’s family a visit so they don’t sue you.” I said pointedly.

“Thank you Ian.”

I patted his shoulder and left for work.

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

 “Good morning, sir.” Rhoda, my secretary, greeted, extending my usual cup of espresso to me.

I nodded in reply and took the drink from her.

“What have do we have scheduled for today?”

“You have a meeting with the Board of Directors this morning. But also, there’s this Mr. Brian Stones. He’s the Managing Director of Nicktails Events, sir. He wants to discuss privately with you.”

“What about?”

Rhoda glanced at her pad and turned back to me.

“Well, he needs a venue for a one-week long event. It’s a meeting of foreign business expatriates. He should be here in the next five to ten minutes, sir.”

“Oh well,” I breathed. “Alright, I’ll see him. You just see to it that the Directors don’t wait for me. Tell them we’ll have the meeting towards the end of the day.”

“Yes sir.” Rhoda curtsied a little, as she was fond of doing, before taking her leave.

I leaned back in my chair and my thoughts slowly but surely went back to the lady who had ruined my suit at the hospital yesterday. Something about her was terribly off.

Not that I cared, but she did seem disoriented and then the doctors came to get her and take her away like that…. She had the look of someone whose life was crashing all around them.

I honestly had no idea why it bothered me so much, probably ……….

My chain of thoughts were broken off by a quick knock and Rhoda walking in. She looked disturbed and upset. “Mr. Bladell, there’s something you need to see.”

I raised an eyebrow in question and she advanced towards my table holding her phone. She dropped the phone on the table and I picked it up.

On the screen, a picture was displayed. Not just any picture — I could vividly remember the lady in the picture. She was the same one I had been thinking of about two seconds ago – the lady from the hospital.

Then I saw the cause of Rhoda's worry.

There were two people in the photo – the lady and myself and the caption above read; 

‘Little Mister Toronto finally finds romance’. 

My jaw tightened. “What the hell is this?!”

“I really don’t know, sir. It got published anonymously on the internet just this morning.”

Adrenaline was pumping through me at a furious speed and I felt the anger burn my chest. “Get someone from ads to run this down quickly. And I want to know the source of this as soon as possible!!”

“Yes sir!” 

Rhoda turned to rush out of my office but I called her back. “Rhoda?”

“Yes sir?”

“Get me a bottle of mineral water. A cold one.”

“Yes sir!”

I rubbed my temples in frustration. Who did that? How did anyone even recognize me at the hospital?! 

Oh right, I had pulled off my shades. Great!

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

A scandal was the last thing I needed at the moment. Worse still, this wasn’t just a scandal, this was something my parents could use to pressure me into marriage. I have told my dad a couple of times that I was better off on my own, but the old guy just never quits! Now this?!

“Mr. Bladell…” Rhoda came in, dropping the tray with the bottle of water and glass on it on my table. She straightened up and folded her hands together, slightly showing her discomfort. “Mr. Stones is here, sir. Should I let him in?”

I groaned in frustration.

“I could tell him we are rescheduling, sir.“

“Let him in.” 

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Yes Rhoda, let him in and get us tea.”

“Okay sir.” 

I got up and shook my head.

It was my first scandal ever, but I couldn’t let that get in my way.

Business was far more important.

And now to business…

Reina's POV

“Sis, what really happened?”Jerry asked, obviously not buying my cock and bull story.

Thankfully, he was smart enough to let Diego leave before asking.

How could I tell him that I was not far from death now because I had a heart disease and they would be all alone? I just couldn’t!

“Seriously, why won’t you believe me?” I pouted, trying to act natural. “I only sprained my ankle.”

“Then shouldn’t there be a bandage on it?”

“It’s not that bad. It’s pretty minor. I should be home by tomorrow.” I defended.

Jerry scoffed, “Who stays in the hospital for days for a sprained ankle?”

“Me.” I laughed and he immediately narrowed his eyes at me, accusingly.

“You’re trying to get away from work, aren’t you?”

“Me?” I pretended to cough.

“Ha! Gotchya! I knew it!” He smirked.

“Yeah, sure, you got me, whatever.” I rolled my eyes pretending to sulk.

“Don’t worry, I’ll cover for you, okay?”

“Thanks.” I replied sincerely.

Jerry stayed a little longer just watching over me and not talking much, then he left after a while.

He wasn’t gone long when my ward room opened and Diego came in, followed closely by Jerry.

“Reina, is it true?”

I looked as confused as I sounded, I’m sure. “What is?”

“This.” Diego thrust his phone in my face and I froze in shock.

“This is Ian Bladell, isn’t it? The LMT guy.” Diego said, as if to jog my memory.

“You guys are dating?” Jerry wanted to know.

“What?? No… I, you guys…stop it.”

I felt short of words to say. How was I supposed to explain that I barely even knew the guy?! The picture there clearly shows us in an embrace, even though only he and I knew that that was me running into him.

Who posted that anyway? What’s with the paparazzi and sticky noses?!  

“Sis, is this true or not? People are saying you’re just a gold digger after his money. At least that’s not true, right?” Diego demanded.

I had no idea why I said so, but then I suddenly relaxed and said. “It’s true. We’re dating. Ow—” I bit my tongue – I’ve always been very terrible at lying.

“So, the internet isn’t lying?”

I shook my head, not trusting myself to lie successfully again.

“That’s so cool! When do we get to meet him? I mean he’s a prospective brother in-law.” Diego winked and laughed.

“Diego, can you not? I’m not in the mood.” I rolled my eyes.

“C’mon, let’s go bro.” Jerry chided Diego. He just always gets me.

As they left, I could only facepalm myself. What had I gone and done?? What was I going to do now?

My phone buzzed beside me.

And that pretty much answered my question.