Chapter 1

“Stephano De Luan wins tender worth thirty million dollars despite the stakes being so high up.” Rose smiled as she read the news headlines to herself in her office. A proud smile glistened on her face as she saw a picture of him under the bold news headlines. He was adorning a black crisp suit that hugged his body so perfectly. He looked beyond dashing and everyday he got more and more handsome in her blue doe eyes.

Rose and Stephano had been friends since that very day. To be precise, Stephano was her only friend years ago. No one wanted to associate with the deaf girl but Stephano didn't look at her disability but instead saw past that and found the gentle and innocent little girl who only wanted to be loved and accepted by her own peers. He was the only one who spoke to her and even learnt sign language back then just to communicate with her. Now things were different because now, she had earing aids to make communication much better.

“You've been staring at that newspaper for quite a while now miss.” Alana who was the personal secretary to Rose and a woman in her mid fifties wheeled herself into her office. Rose smiled and tossed the newspaper on her desk before she huffed out. “Nooo I was just checking the details of the tender and not particularly at his grey eyes and perfectly shaped pointy nose and his...” Rose paused with a blink and sighed loudly with her eyes closed. She didn't want to give herself away but ended up blurting out the entire thing.

Alana gave Rose a mischievous smile and asked, “Staring at him all day long and just meeting with him a few times. Don't you think it's time you changed that?” Rose looked a bit confused and asked, “What are you referring to Alana?”

“I mean isn't it time to tell Stephano about your true feelings? You've practically hidden your feelings for him for more than a decade now. And besides I don't like seeing you drool all over him only in a newspaper or in the tabloids. I think it's time for the next step.” Alana explained.

“Since when did you become an expert in the love department? As far as I know, you're not in any relationships.” Rose asked intrigued. “Call it my experience my dear Rose.” Alana replied. Rose hummed at Alana's words. She also wanted to tell Stephano about how she truly felt about him. From the very day they met each other for the first time after he saved her from falling due to a prank from Angelique, Rose's eyes had twinkled only for him. Their friendship was strange to people as everyone wondered the odd chemistry between a sharp and intelligent handsome guy having a deaf boring blonde girl as a best friend.

But the fact was that Stephano didn't care about what others thought of their friendship. Even sometimes Rose also wondered why someone like Stephano was interested in becoming her friend. From the moment she could think and sense everything around her, Rose had known that everyone always kept her at arm's length. No one wanted to be near her much less be friends with her. Bullying was the hardest turmoil she had to face as a child and hence her father took her out from school and she was home schooled instead.

But her luck and perception of life had changed ever since she met Stephano. They became very close and mostly shared everything with each other except for Rose who hid the part of her falling in love with him. She often wondered if coming out with the truth would strain their friendship and make things awkward. The last thing she ever didn't want was to loose her one and only true friendship with Stephano. That was her excuse for prolonging the day she would eventually tell him about her feelings.

“I don't know Alana. It might make things awkward for the both of us if he knew. Maybe it's best I don't.” Rose suggested. Her heart wasn't sure anymore. She didn't mind admiring and loving him from afar but what her heart and soul couldn't bear was to see Stephano look at her in a different light once she had decided to confess her feelings.

“And if you don't tell him, how would you know if he's also in love with you secretly?” Alana raised a brow. “What do you mean?” Rose asked. “What I mean is surprise surprise! What if just like you in secret are in love with Stephano, what if Stephano is also secretly in love with you as well? Have you thought of that yet?”

Rose blinked. Alana's words did stirr up something within her but she could tell that she wasn't getting any crush or romantic feelings from Stephano for her. “You don't know him like I do Alana. I practically know Stephano inside and out. If he was in love with me then I would have known long time ago.“ Rose said. “And how are you so sure that it isn't the case? He might be an expert at hiding his true feelings for you, just like you.” Alana stated. “He's a man Alana. We all know that men are dumb and clueless when it comes to knowing when a girl likes likes them. Women on the other hand have sixth sense in knowing when a guy likes us.” Rose replied proudly. Stephano might be a genius at everything but even Rose knew that Stephano was absolutely clueless when it came to the topic of love.

“Actually his birthday is coming up in a couple of days. I wanted to...” Rose zoned out with a little pang of nervousness inside her chest. Could Stephano actually see her differently after she confessed her feelings? She wondered if their friendship would bloom into love someday. “That's perfect Miss. His birthday is the perfect occasion to tell him how you feel.” Alana smiled and wheeled herself closer to Rose before grabbing hold of her hands.

“I want you to always be happy and smile all the time. Ever since I could remember, you've never smiled genuinely. Though you smile in front of everyone but I always knew you were only doing that to hide your pain deep inside. It was also partly not to make Mr Foyer worry so much about you. Afterall I wasn't just your homeschooled teacher all those years ago but also your closest friend back then and I got to know that it was because of Stephano that you actually got to smile so genuinely.” Rose's eyes welled up with tears hearing Alana's words. She too only wanted nothing but to always be by Stephano's side. To always be there to support him from the sidelines, to act submissive when he wanted to be dominant. In short she only wanted him to do with her as he pleased as long as she was always beside him.

Rose inhaled deeply before she smiled. “You're right in a way Alana. What if he actually does like like me and wants me to be comfortable and not feel all weird about it. I'll...tell him on the day of his birthday.” Rose said and Alana squealed like a girl before Rose hugged her tightly. Alana was more like her mother than her close girl friend as well but she never said it out loud as she always felt like saying it out loud would mean she was forgetting her late biological mother.

Though feeling a bit determined, Rose also felt extremely nervous. This revelation of hers to Stephano could bring about only two results. Her love could be rejected first-hand or be accepted in a beautiful way.

.......

Rose's driver, Mr Gordon drove into the De Luan mansion swiftly. Rose looked out the window of the backseat and smiled staring at the all too familiar huge fountain and the vast garden which was like a maze. A vivid memory of her playing in the gardens when she was a little girl once crossed her mind. The De Luan mansion was her second home and truth be told, she preferred living here far more than her own home back then.

One time she spent the entire summer with Sierra and Mason along with Stephano, Azazel and little Bronya. Her father had to travel out of the country for his work and Rose didn't want to leave home at that time. Sierra volunteered Rose stay with them all through the summer and Mr Foyer couldn't say no to that. Both the De Luans and the Foyers had become more like a family than business partners over the years.

Gordon parked the car in front of the mansion and Rose stepped out from the car while taking in the surrounding fresh air. She closed her eyes and a smile graced her lips. It had been a week since she last came here due to pressure at her workplace. Her company known as Navia had been under a lot of pressure in perfecting their latest and upcoming fragrance collection ROSE AND BEAUTY which was to be unveiled next week. Though her father helped her in starting up her company, Rose was responsible for Navia becoming one of the best perfume branded companies in not just the US but parts of the world. Navia was in fact on par with other famous perfume branded companies like Hermès, Montblanc and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Rose made her way into the house and was welcomed by Karen, one of the new hires who came to take Rose's cream coloured coat from her. “Where is everyone Karen?” Rose had a look around the living area and found it to be quite tidy and secondly there wasn't any noise or destruction going on in some parts of the house. “Madame took the kids out to the park. They'll be back in a while.” Karen replied and asked, “Can I get you anything Miss?”

“A glass of water would be fine Karen, thank you.” Rose smiled and before Karen could disappear from her sight, she asked. “Is Stephano back?”

“No Miss.” Karen replied before Rose sent her away and Rose looked upstairs. She thought of going into his room to surprise him and got herself up from the sofa. Though the house was gigantic and huge, Rose knew her way around since she was a child and walked up the long trail of stairs upwards. She was headed straight to his room when her feet slipped and she let out a startled scream when she lost her balance and fell hard on her butt. She hissed and looked down to find the floor greased with something slippery. Karen rushed up the stairs and panting asked. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay Miss Rose?!”

Just then a deep burst of laughter echoed in the silent hallways. That all too familiar laughter which fairly reached her ears because he was close by. Rose scrunted her brows and a frown appeared on her lips. She detested that laugh and knew only one person could be responsible for pulling off this dumb prank especially towards her.

“Azazel!” She muttered under her breath in anger.