ARIA'S POV
That night, I was up way past my bedtime talking to Savannah about how I was adapting to my workplace and things that I have occurred in the few days I'd been here. We got off the call by one in the morning when I told her that I had to go to work early the next morning."Ari, wake up. We are going to be late," I heard Lena's voice in my sleep before the quilt got yanked off my body."Five more minutes." I groaned as I curled on the bed."Do you know what time is it? It's 6:40." She yelled and I shot up the bed with wide eyes."Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" I climbed down the bed and rushed into the bathroom."That is because I wasn't expecting you to still be sleeping by this time," she shouted after me. "Hurry up and meet me in the living room, we have to stop by the hospital before going to work.""Okay." I stood in front of the bathroom mirror to brush my teeth.It was all Savannah's fault that I was getting late for work. If only she hadn't kept me awake till one in the morning, I wouldn't have overslept. Spending just five minutes in the bathroom, I rushed out and spent extra time looking for what to wear before I later decided on some black pants and a Royal blue shirt. I dressed up as fast as I could before shoving my things into my bag. I went out to the living room to see Lena taking her plate to the kitchen.A plate of waffles and a cup of syrup was waiting for me on the dining table. I checked the watch on my wrist to see that it was already 7:30 before I sat down and shoved my breakfast down my throat.Lena walked out of the kitchen and picked up her bag with the brown envelope sitting beside it. "Meet me in the car in two minutes," she said as she walked out.Finishing my breakfast, I took the plate to the sink and ran out to join Lena inside her car. "I'm sorry for delaying you.""What time did you sleep last night?" she asked as she turn on the ignition of the car."Past one."She glanced at me with a shocked expression before turning back to the road as she drove. "And what were you doing till that time?""I was talking to Savannah.""Your best friend who was seeing your brother behind your back and got pregnant, Savannah?" She raised her eyebrows at me."Yes.""You didn't say anything about her since you told me she was pregnant.""That's because we were not on talking terms since I found out the truth about her and my brother.""But you are now on talking terms again.""Yeah, my mom talked some sense into me and we sort things out before I left," I replied."That's good." She nodded. "So how far along is she and how is she coping with your brother?""She is 7 months gone and living with my brother in my parent's house, but according to her, they will be moving out after the baby is born. My brother is responsible now, the baby kind of transformed him." I smiled."Your parents must have expected that result that's why they forced him to take responsibility for Savannah and her baby.""Yeah, I was the only one who was angry about everything. I was mad at Savannah for getting pregnant and hindering all the plans she had for her future.""Being pregnant doesn't put a stop to your future goals. After the baby is born, she can always go back to school and chase her dreams. It might be a bit difficult when you are with a child but if she's determined, she can do it." She glanced at me with a smile on her face before turning back to the road."I hope so."Lena's phone rang in her bag and she answered using the Airpods in her ear, "Hello." She went silent as she listened to the caller. "Really? Okay, I'm on my way." She hung up."What happened?" I asked."The President is awake." She beamed as she pressed down on the accelerator.A smile spread on my face. "That's fantastic."She stopped by a flower shop and picked up a pot of Lavender which she said the President loves. We drove to the State Hospital and parked the car in the parking lot before going in. I walked closely behind Lena as she strode in, going toward the elevator.As we got inside the lift, she pressed the button on the top floor and we waited as the lift went up with just the two of us inside. The elevator stopped on the first floor with a ding and without waiting for a second more, Lena strode out of the lift, making her way to a place which I assumed was the President's room.I wasn't able to look around as I was trying to catch up with Lena. She stopped in front of a door and pushed it open."Lena." A woman who was sitting next to the President's bed beamed as her eyes landed on Lena."Good morning, Mrs. Mendez." Lena smiled as she placed the pot of Lavender on the table in the room. "This is a get-well-soon gift, " she said to the president who lying on the bed in a hospital gown."Thank you, dear." He smiled at her.Mrs. Mendez turned to me with a curious look in her eyes. "Who is she?""She's the new designer on team 4 and she was also my junior in school," Lene replied. "She offered to come with me to see how the president is doing," she continued while I plastered a smile on my face."Oh, okay." Mrs. Mendez nodded before smiling at her. "Thank you, dear.""It's nothing, ma'am." I shook my head.Nixon moved closer to Lena and whispered to her, but loud enough for me to hear, "Do you have the papers with you? The President wants to review them before we proceed with them.""Yeah, it's in my car. I'll go get it." Lena turned to walk out but I stopped her."Let me get it for you," I offered.It was going to be awkward for me to stay in that room without Lena, so I rather go down to the parking lot to get the papers.Lena gave me a confused look before replying, "Okay." She handed me the car keys and I smiled back at her before walking out.I took a few steps away from the door when I heard my phone pinged in my bag and I fished it out to see a message from Savannah. As I was about to open the message, I bumped into someone, making my phone fall from my hand."Noo," I shrieked as my phone landed with the screen facing the ground. I bent down to pick it up to see the screen with multiple cracks on it.It was then I looked up to see the person I bumped into. "What did hell is wrong with you? My phone is broken because of you.""That wouldn't have happened if you watched where you were going," the dark-haired guy in front of me replied with no sign of remorse on his face."After breaking my phone, you have the guts to shift the blame on me. So shameless." I scoffed. "What are you going to do about my broken phone?""Even though it wasn't my fault, I would have offered to replace it if you weren't so rude about it." He shoved his hands into his pocket.I was about to open my mouth to reply when the room door opened and Lena interfered, "Aria, what's going on?" She approached us.Turning to her with a frustrated look on my face, I replied, "This asshole broke my phone and still had the guts to blame me for it.""Will you shut up?" she whispered as she tugged me closer to her.Nixon appeared from behind her and went to stand by that asshole's side. "Don't worry, I will make sure Dave replaces your phone." He tugged him toward the room."Dave? As in Dave Mendez, the President's son?" I asked Lena and she nodded, making my eyes widen in horror.My eyes followed him as he turned the doorknob before stopping and glancing at me. I cowered behind Lena, hoping that the ground would open up and swallow me. He turned away and walked into the hospital room.I'm so getting fired.DAVE'S POVWhen Nixon broke the news of my taking over the company to my parents, they were over the moon. My dad was all smiles that day and the doctor was surprised to see my father's health improving faster than usual. My Mom concluded that it was the good news that fastened his healing process. Dad joined in by saying if he knew collapsing in the conference was all it would take to make me join the company he would have done it a long time ago. Before we left the hospital that night, he instructed Nixon to put me through everything I needed to know about the company. They planned to officially make me the president of the company when my dad recovers fully.At first, I wasn't happy about my decision to join the company, but seeing how delighted my parents were made it all worth it. Since my brother died, I had never seen my parent that happy which made me satisfied that I had granted my brother the favor he asked of me. That night, Nixon spent the night in my penthouse, teachin
ARIA'S POVMy mother had always warned me that my hot temper and running mouth would get me in trouble one day, but I never expected that day to come so soon. How would I have expected that the simpled dressed guy who bumped into me and broke my phone would turn out to be Dave Mendez, the new president of the company I worked in? What kind of evil spirit was following me? If only I had been a little patient, my job in Styles won't be hanging on a thin thread. When we left the hospital that day, I kept on begging Lena to talk to Nixon to convince Dave not to fire me. Since they were best friends, there was a high chance he would listen to me. Lena disregarded my begging and told me to face the consequences of my reckless actions. Before we left the house that morning, I went down on my knees to pray, asking God to save me from getting fired. My heart thudded in my chest as Lena's car approached Stlye's building. We got out of the car only for me to hear a familiar voice calling Lena.
DAVE'S POV"Are you sure?" I asked with a smirk on my face."Yes." She nodded.Standing from my chair, I walked to the front of the desk where she was kneeling and perched on the edge. "Stand up," I ordered and she complied. "You said you would do anything, right?" She nodded with her head down and her hand held tightly together in front of her. It was funny as she was sweating under the air conditioning in the office but I couldn't bring myself to laugh at the moment. "Okay then. From now henceforth, I want you to get me coffee every morning. Not just any coffee, I want it from Brendan's cafe before eight in my office."She glanced up at me with shock written all over her face. "Coffee?" she asked and I nodded. "Just Coffee?""Why? You can't do it?" I raised my eyebrows at her. "Of course, I can." She smiled. "All I need to do is get you coffee every morning and that's it?" "Not really. But for now, I just need coffee. If I need anything else later, I'll let you know." I smirked
ARIA'S POVUsing all the self-control in me, I managed to get into the elevator before I jumped and squealed, hugging the new phone to my chest. When the elevator stopped on my floor, I hopped to Lena's office and barged inside without knocking. "Look who got a nice phone," I announced as I waltz inside holding the phone packed up as my partner. A clearing of the throat made me stop and I looked back to see Nixon staring at me with a raised eyebrow while Lena was busy laughing at my expense. My face was red with embarrassment that I wish I could just disappear. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were busy. I'll come back later." I turned to leave but Lena's voice stopped me."I'm not that busy," she said when she stopped laughing. "So what did Dave say? You were saying something about a new phone." Turning back to them with a smile on my face, I raised the phone pack for them to see. "He got me a new phone." "Really? Dave got you a new phone?" Nixon stared at me shocked. "Yes." I mo
ARIA'S POV The rest of the week ran by quickly with me serving coffee to Dave as promised every morning. That weekend the President was discharged from the hospital and they were planning a company party for the next weekend to officially announce Dave as the President.Sunday was a free day, so I took that opportunity to video chat with my brother with my new iPhone. The rest of the family joined the video chat and I seized that opportunity to boast about my new phone. I explained how I got it to them, leaving out the part of me serving coffee to Dave every morning. They didn't need to know that.That beautiful Monday morning, I rushed to work because my team was running behind with the project that we were supposed to submit that Monday. Other teams turned in their projects as expected, so Lena gave us the grace of two more days. After delivering Dave's coffee as usual, I joined my teammate as we strived to complete the project before the deadline. We didn't even get to eat lunch
ARIA'S POVWith a scowl on my face, I walked into my team's room, mumbling to myself. I sat on my seat and tossed the flash drive on my desk, cussing at Dave in my head."What got you all worked up?" Summer whispered as she leaned closer to me.Before I could reply, Celestine's voice boomed in the entire office. "That's enough talking, Aria and Summer, get to work. We began working on our project and I made a mental note to start with the design Dave gave me once I was done. Like the last time, our team didn't go for lunch as we were planning to finish and submit the project that day.It was an hour before our working hours were over when Celestine collected all the designs and saved them in her flashdrive before submitting them to Lena. Not long after Celestine came back, the door opened again, drawing everyone's attention. Lena peeped in with a sheepish smile on her face. "Can I talk to Aria for a minute?" "Sure," Celestine nodded at me.I stood up and walked toward the door wher
DAVE'S POVGoing through all the designs Lena submitted to me, I groaned in frustration for the tenth time. I had gone through two teams' projects and none of them were to my liking. I went through the third team's project and thankfully, I was able to find two designs that were good enough. I was hoping to get something good from the infamous Team 4, but I received a report from Lena later that day that they were running behind and she had to give them extra days.Out of frustration, I called my Secretary using Telecom. "I need you to get me all the resumé of all the current designers in the company. " "Yes, sir," he replied and I hung up.While I waited, I decided to go through the fifth team project and I had to admit that it was better than the last three teams. My Secretary walked in with a load of documents in his hand and placed it on my desk."The files are arranged according to their teams and each team file is arranged according to when they joined the company," he explain
DAVE'S POV"Whose date?" I asked, feeling more confused about the entire situation."Lena's." He buckled his seatbelt and proceed to get out of the car. "Let's go." I held him back by his arm, staring at him like he has gone mad. "What is wrong with you? Why would you want to do that?""I wouldn't have to if you had canceled that 'No dating in the company' rule as I requested of you.""I'm not even the president yet and you are already trying to make me change the rules." I stared at him in disbelief. "It's not as if I'm the only one that would benefit from it." He scoffed as he leaned back into the driver's seat. "What do you mean?" I cocked an eyebrow at him."Do you believe I'm the only one that is being hindered by that damn rule? There are so many people seeing each other in secret in the company. Once that rule is out, they would be able to come out with their relationship. And besides, you think I don't know that you have something for that Aria girl." He smirked."What are