Chapter 9 – Rival

She slapped him. Hard.

He staggered a few steps back with the impact, taken completely aback. Anger rushed to her veins, as an unexplained strength empowered her inside.

“How dare you? I earned my spot in that! That was my dream company, my dream job! And I got fired because of my poor performance, thanks to you of course!”

This was a new feeling for her. Being aggressive, raising her tone, her confidence was boosted by her anger, being fed by her newfound vile emotions. Dion held his hand against his reddening cheek, with his eyes wide. He looked as if slapped back to reality.

“L-Love, I didn’t mean to say that—”

He attempted to near her, hoping to grasp her hands but Leal flinched away.

“Don’t come near me,” she whispered.

She felt as if being drained by the intense anger that fueled her just a few moments ago. Of course, she’s not used to lashing out and showcasing such rude, reckless and audacious behavior.

“No, please. Listen to me,” he forcefully grabbed her in both arms, forcing her to face him. With glossy eyes, she looked up at him.

“I want you back, please. I feel so empty without you. Without you, I’m nothing—that was what I wanted to say. I was just clouded by emotions, love, please.”

“N-No, release me.. Dion..” she weakly muttered, feeling a few stray tears stream down her face.

“I-I don’t want to be with you anymore...”

Dion raised his hand, to which she unconsciously flinched, as he neared her face. Leal closed her eyes, anticipating the impact, but it didn’t come. All she heard was his curbed grunt.

“Do you not respect women?”

A familiar half-drunk baritone voice almost knocked her up. His scent invaded her nostrils, familiarizing her with the intruder. Slowly, Leal opened her eyes to see Axel blocking Dion’s hand. She saw how the veins in his hands protruded and how Dion winced in the tightness of his grip. How did he get here? She didn’t even hear the elevator’s door opening! Was she that occupied?

“You don’t touch them like that.”

He gently removed Dion’s hand from her shoulder, then harshly released it, still tightly holding his other wrist.

“You don’t talk to them like that.”

Then, he forcefully pushed him back as he released his grip on Dion’s wrist. For the second time, Dion staggered a few steps back, unintentionally stepping over his luxurious briefcase. Like the materialistic man that he is, his eyes widened and quickly picked up his precious case. He hugged it and dusted off the shoe mark in it, before glaring at Axel.

While Axel, who was casually standing beside her with his hands in his black trench coat, has his sharp gaze directed at him.

“Who are you?! Don’t you know that this is a private conversation?”

Axel scoffed.

“This looked more like a boy desperately begging to an unfazed woman than a private conversation to me. Eitherway, none of that is a valid excuse to treat her poorly,” he muttered, more like threatened.

Leal obnoxiously sighed, catching their attention. Then, her sharp glare turned to Axel.

“What are you doing here? You shouldn’t waste your time meddling with our personal problems.”

As much as she’d like to thank Axel for getting her out of that previous situation, her pride wins over her and prefers to display a rude behavior in front of him, who had a worse impact on her emotions way back. If only he remembers how worse what he did to her was than what Dion did to her.

Axel, completely baffled, raised both his brows at her.

“W-What? Leal, I just saved you from this—”

He looked at Dion, disgust written all over his face.

“This imbecile. How could you say that?”

“What is a famous business tycoon and New York’s most eligible bachelor doing here in this mere five-star condominium? Shouldn’t you be in your top-tier penthouse gazing over the Time Square?”

He incredulously scoffed.

“Seriously, Leal? After—”

“Please just go, Sir Axel. This matter doesn’t involve you.” Leal looked at Dion, who was busy tending to his briefcase. “And you can leave, too.”

“Of course it involves me, I’m your mate!”

When he raised his voice, she turned to him. Feeling awkward from the sudden outlash, Axel cleared his throat.

“I mean, I want to involve myself in anything associated with you,” he muttered, with his soft voice.

“What?”

“What the f*ck, dude?” Dion intervened. “She’s my girlfriend, f*ck off.”

Axel didn’t even bother sparing him a glance. His gaze was fixated on the frowning Leal, feeling as if her ears deafened. The words that came out of his mouth felt surreal and unbelievable.

More so, it felt scary—because that wasn’t the first time he said it. And the last time he did, things turned upside down for her. She didn’t want the same unfortunate thing to happen to her again, so she did as her instinct told her. She ignored what he said and rushed to the door, urgently unlocking it with the keys.

Dion, who was disappointed by his failed reconciliation attempt, shook his head but remained his glare at Axel who had his eyes on Leal’s rushing back. He didn’t want to push her, but he also didn’t want to sleep knowing that he had the chance to pursue her but didn’t. He’s torn on being the soft gentleman, or the rough and dominant Alpha towards her.

“Hey,” Dion called out to him as soon as Leal entered the unit. Axel rolled his eyes at him. “Aren’t you Axel Elcort? What are you doing here?”

He sighed, not being in the mood to converse with his competitor. But he knows somehow, Leal still values this garbage. So for her sake, he’ll answer.

“I’m winning her over,” he curtly replied, walking to the elevator. He’ll just find her again in the morning. That process has become easier than before, since now he knows where she lives and works.

Dion, feeling his ego being stepped on, followed him.

“What? I told you she’s my girlfriend. We just had an argument and we’re cooling off. Don’t bother wasting your time on her.”

Axel halted in his tracks. His words are unfiltered, and it irritates him more. Why would she be in a relationship with someone as trashy as him? What did she see in him, really?

Axel glared at him. “When it’s anything about her, I’m not wasting my time. And by ‘argument’, did you mean hitting her repeatedly with a glass bottle?”

When he heard of that earlier, he had to hold back every fiber in his body to not crush that boy’s body right then and there. He wanted so bad to hit him with ten more glass bottles, but he thought it’d be best if she handled him since she looked ready for a fight back there. Judging by her performance back in his company, he knew she could pin him down in just a few seconds. But when she started returning to her normal state and out of her rage, that’s when he knew he had to step in.

He knew she can’t stay mad and empowered for a long time.

Dion looked shocked by what he said, before barking out another remark, they entered the elevator. “Were you eavesdropping? The high and mighty Axel Elcort is snipping into our private matter?” He scoffed.

“Hah. How stupid. Leave her alone, dude. Leave us alone. She’s mine.”

Axel snorted. “Boys can’t own women. Who are you even?”

Dion, completely offended, took this moment to introduce himself as a chance to boost his self-confidence.

“I’m not a boy. Surely, you’re just intimidated by my body. I’m Dion Excil, highest paid prosecutor in New York. You should really know who you’re talking to.”

Prosecutor, huh? He didn’t seem like it because his reasoning earlier was so lame. Even his rebuts weren’t those of a highest paid prosecutor in New York. And Axel is also familiar with his name. He didn’t have a very good reputation. Did Leal know that?

“You should know how to treat good people right, as a lawyer. They teach you that in law school, right? Or just how to look like an educated sh i t and get paid to put framed innocents to jail?”

“You little *ssh*l*—”

Before Dion could pounce at him, the elevator opened. With a victorious smirk, Axel left the building and a fuming Dion. It has been a somewhat successful day for him.

The following morning, Leal woke up to an empty unit. Izzy didn’t go home last night, so she ate dinner and breakfast alone inside. She didn’t want to go outside in fear of bumping to the two annoying men, but she had to go to work. Luckily she only has an 8-hour shift so it won’t be a very tiring day.

As an early bird, she inhaled the spring morning breeze and giddily wore her uniform. For today, she didn’t want anything unplanned to happen.

Before leaving, she left a sticky note on the fridge for Izzy. She just booked a grab to the restaurant. After a few minutes of travelling, Leal was already getting ready to start her shift. So far, it has been a bright and productive morning.

When lunch came, Leal sat on one of the benches just outside the restaurant meant for employees, and pulled out her meal. It was only her in the plastic table, so she could say it was peaceful. But when she was about halfway through her meal, a big figure shadowed her from the sun.

Squinting at the broad shouldered figure, her spoon was suspended mid-air. He looked so much like Adonis blocking her from the sun. He smirked, placing his own take out meal on the other side of the table and sitting in front of her. Why is he here again?

Completely stunned, Leal incredulously muttered, “E-Excuse me?”

“Hey, mind if I eat here with you?”