Arielle Ward was 5”3’, a green-eyed, 29-year-old woman who had not enjoyed a single day of her life - at least as far as she can remember. For the 20 or so years that she could recall, she was always busy - barely sleeping for 5 hours a day, always studying, always working, always doing chores, always hustling.
Finally, at 29, she became financially secure enough to take the first vacation of her life. She decided to go big as her first-ever vacation had happened so incredibly late.
She was idling in the open-rooftop bar of a seven-star hotel where she was staying.
She sipped her cocktail, leaning against the counter as she watched the happening crowd.
The groups and the pairs were quite eye-catching, and barely a few people were alone like her. But that did not bother her at all. As someone who had been hustling her entire life, she never had time to make friends or party. Being alone was her comfort place.
However, her quiet musings got interrupted when a 6’’4’ extremely eye-catching man wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her close.
She could smell his masculine perfume and feel the ridges of his toned body. However, instead of the usual reaction expected by the man, she was irritated.
She had no interest in men. Her family had a few, which made her never want to get acquainted with another, not to mention those sexist pigs she had had to deal with at work.
She frowned and tried to push him away, only for him to lean into her and whisper in her ear, “Play along, please. I don’t want to be harassed by strangers.”
She stiffened at his deep baritone and blinked several times as she scanned the crowd. Sure enough, a few women were staring daggers at her. The woman who had been trying to pry the man away had stiffened.
“Honey, what took you so long?” She turned around and asked with a pout which she hoped was convincing.
It probably wasn’t, as the man looked at her with a smile before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer still, making her clench her fists and close her mouth to hide her gritted teeth and fake a smile.
The woman turned around, and he led her away from the clingy one.
“You are a lifesaver. Thank you so much!” He said as he detached himself from her.
Thomas Payne was the 6”4’ blue-eyed 30-year golden bachelor who had turned his family business upside down, doubled the profits, cleared up all debts, cut off all bad investments, and made a ton of changes since he inherited the company five years back.
After grueling five years of work and several years of studies, he was exhausted - mind and body.
Hence, he was trying to relax in the bar of the seven-star hotel where he was staying.
He scanned the crowd, and his eyes caught a beautiful green-eyed woman with long legs, bubble butt, and thin waist, but barely any breast. She was standing in the crowd, but she was not a part of it.
Her eyes held an unnatural detachment, but she seemed to be enjoying herself all the same.
He watched as she frowned whenever someone approached her, and she refused everyone without even looking at them.
Thomas felt drawn to the woman as he thought they were the same type. But he was in no mood for an entanglement.
However, his musings were interrupted. One of the ladies who had been eyeing him for a long time decided to make a move. He refused her politely but firmly, yet she seemed determined to score him.
Irritated, he excused himself and went to another place to enjoy solitude in the crowded bar, but the young lady found him all the same.
Then a sudden idea came to him, and he made his way towards the green-eyed detached beauty.
He asked her to save him as he noticed her resistance. Somehow his plea for help worked. She did help him, albeit reluctantly.
It was a first for Thomas. Throughout the years, he had been used to girls throwing themselves at him. He had begun to expect that as a normal reaction from the opposite sex.
Seeing her indifference and resistance, he was pleasantly surprised.
Even more surprising was how she heaved a sigh and scanned around to leave him as soon as he let her go.
That made him want to get to know her, so he proposed an arrangement.
“Hey! Why don’t we stick together? I had noticed that you kept getting bothered by unwanted advances the same as me. So, let’s sit together and mind our own business. That way, we both get rid of the nuisance.”
That made her squint at him as she scanned him from head to toe.
Arielle looked at the man who was spouting nonsense and carefully observed him for the first time.
He was one of the fair few people in that bar who was alone, and he did not seem the type who was looking for a hookup.
Arielle could see he must be telling the truth since he was good-looking enough to have women drooling over him. He was wearing low-key expensive brands and had that air about him that spelled old money. He would have had no trouble finding a good fuck.
As such, she agreed, “I am Elle.”
Thomas watched the wheels turn in her head before she finally decided and offered her name.
“I am Tom,” He offered as concisely as she had. They both could tell that it was not their real names, but neither was interested to know the truth, so they did not bother.
Thomas led her to a secluded corner that was an open space and ordered drinks for himself before turning to her.
Arielle did the same and turned around as she watched the crowd. She let her thoughts drift away.
She was pulled back to reality as Thomas patted her hand and gestured towards the counter where the bartender was trying to grab her attention.
She gave the bartender a sheepish smile and an honest apology.
The bartender waved it off and asked a few questions politely. She answered as truthfully as she was comfortable and asked him about the city.
The happening corners, the quiet places, and the general things to do. Something not overly touristy.
Arielle had arrived the day before, and she had covered most of the tourist-crowded places. That had rather bored her.
The bartender laughed at her question and answered her good-naturedly.
She thanked him with a smile and turned around to continue her musings.
Thomas looked at the girl - more than a foot shorter than him and overtly uninterested.
That piqued his interest, and he decided to disturb her again.
Arielle was, once again, interrupted by the blue-eyed hunk beside her who kept asking her this and that. Despite her irritation, she was relieved to find that he was asking vague questions. He had not asked anything specific like her name. Or the hotel she was staying in, where she was from, or anything of the sort. “Tom, right? I think you said that we would mind our own business.” “Well, we should at least keep the appearances of being together.” He answered with a shrug which made her frown. She looked around, and, sure enough, some flies had started buzzing around them already. Exasperated, she leaned closer to him and smiled at him. Thomas was distracted by her fake smile as he compared it with the real one she had flashed to the bartender. “How about this? Let’s chat a bit, but no personal questions,” Thomas proposed with a hint of anticipation. She grunted her agreement. “This must be your first vacation in a long time,” Thomas remarked. “Well, this is my first vacati
The next day, Arielle and Thomas’s alarms rang together. After a lot of bickering and shouting, they had fallen asleep exhausted and in a bad mood. They both grunted at once before reaching for their phones. Both jerked awake as they felt a human beside them instead of an empty bed. “Oh, dear God!” She exclaimed. “Damn!” He sighed. Arielle turned off her alarm and yawned, “It’s too early to wake up while on vacation. Let’s get some more sleep.” She fell asleep again without realizing that she had said it like they were a couple on vacation together. Thomas, having realized it, curled his lips in a smile and pulled her in his arms before going back to sleep. The next time he woke up when he heard a door close. His arms were empty, and he could hear movements in the bathroom. He wrote a quick note and left, hoping she would still be there upon his return. Arielle came out of the bathroom to an empty room. She spied a note that read, “I have ordered breakfast. Let’s eat togethe
Thomas followed behind Arielle and proposed, “Let’s go together. Since we have already run into each other, let’s have some fun.” Arielle nodded as she laughed, “Why not? I would have suspected you to be some sophisticated kidnapper luring an innocent victim, but you have already spent more than I am worth. Besides, you look too much like old money to be a kidnapper.” Thomas was surprised at her words, “Hey, I should be the cautious one here. What if you are here to steal my genes and my property?” Arielle chuckled at his joke, “Well, I almost succeeded at the first one.” She added, after some consideration, “Let me cancel my hotel reservations.” “It would be a waste if I don’t enjoy a Presidential suite for free.” She added cheekily. Thomas was amused at her self-invitation, “Be my guest! I would love to have you on board, and you have my permission to try and steal my genes throughout the vacation.” He winked at her, which made her roll her eyes. Arielle only said, “You alre
Arielle and Thomas had parted ways for the last time - saying goodbyes and thanking each other for making their vacation special. During the time they had spent together, they had felt extremely comfortable with each other. Whether it was doing things they liked or talking about their past, dreams, fears, or taboos; while eating and drinking; or in bed - they seemed to be intensely compatible. At the same time, they were very much like each other in that neither wanted to intrude upon another’s private space or was fantastical enough to assume something could be permanent between them. They both felt they would be their most memorable dream, but just a dream and not reality, nonetheless. After returning to their own life, neither had thought about the other. **Two months later** Arielle headed to the headquarters of Payne Group of Industries, PGI. She was poached by PGI rather handsomely. Mr. Douglas, the HR manager, helped her complete the formalities and introduced her to eve
Arielle stood on the balcony of the ballroom. Payne Group (PGI) had hosted a Welcome dinner for her, which was more like an unofficial banquet given the number of people who had attended. It had been a week since she had joined PGI and settled in her new apartment. Things were looking great so far. Arielle had been worried Thomas might leak out something about their private lives, but he had been nothing but strictly professional, which had helped her relax and ease into her role effortlessly. This so-called gathering, however, was not something she fancied. She had always kept a low profile and let her work do the talking. Being bad at office politics and not normal enough to make easy friends nor having enough time to socialize, she kept everyone at a distance with a cold face. But PGI had organized this gathering to let their employees know that she was a specially recruited person with high status. It was Thomas’s way of showing his favor. She could not fault Thomas for this
**One month later** Arielle woke up late. She had slept past 3 am after completing the report she wanted to discuss with Thomas that day. It was Friday, and she wanted to get some things out of the way before she could relax for the weekend. Arielle had the unhealthy habit of being too engrossed in her work and forgetting about her health and everything else. The more work there was, the more she would work off on adrenaline, making herself extremely tired by the end of each grueling project. She shut her eyes as she leaned in the elevator and yawned behind her palm. She was aware of the people looking at her wide-eyed as if she were an alien. Arielle could feel a few unfriendly gazes on her, but she ignored them. She had almost two decades of experience in ignoring hostile looks. However, what prompted her to open her eyes a crack was a feeling of someone stealing peeks at her as if she was a precious treasure, and they were afraid of disturbing her. She ignored that as well
**Three months later** Thomas and Arielle were living in their high. Their work was going exceedingly well. They were practically living together. No one knew of the secret fling. They were happy and content with each other. However, the company was in chaos. Arielle was good at her job. She had accurately flagged most of the employees hired through back-doors - using connections or due to sucking up to others, rather than their workability. She had, similarly, flagged troublesome projects likely to end up as a liability. There were a lot of peaceful and forced exits and contract breaches in the last three months. That led to a series of unrest among the employees. The internal stir and tense environment had Arielle and Thomas cracking their heads. It was evident that people were let go due to their incompetence. As such, people hired on merit and doing their work well need not have panicked, but unfortunately, that was not the case. Arielle suspected that someone could be
Arielle was leaning against the counter while her espresso brewed when Emma arrived. “You! Make me a cup of coffee!” Emma ordered Arielle like she would order her servants at home. For Emma, her employees were nothing better than her servants. Being the oldest child, the only child for the first five years, and the only girl in the family, she had been excessively spoiled. No one in her family corrected her attitude as it went from bad to worse as PGI flourished. Emma’s grandmother was the only one who would not tolerate her behavior, even with her husband speaking on behalf of the kids. Perhaps, Emma and Thomas had different personalities despite being siblings because of their grandmother. Thomas had stayed with his grandparents since he was young because he disagreed with his elder sister, which led to constant fights. Emma would avoid anyone in the family who tried to discipline or contradict her. Hence, Thomas lived with his Grandma rather than his parents. Arielle ignore