What they never knew

"You can't tell me that Ashley. You've been doing this before and I didn't say anything. I'm not going to be taking it lightly with you this time." I said angrily.

"It's not yours. I've told you." She said in her annoying tiny voice. 

This bitch was testing me. She's been taking my designs and claiming it as her own and this is not the first time it has happened. She uses them to gain favour from our boss. At first I didn't say anything, thinking I was mistaken. But she's done it twice and the third time was a kind of bait I laid down for her and she took it hook, line and sinker. 

"That's what you think." I said to her. She's lucky we were alone this room. I went to the table and brought out my old design pad as the design an was old one. I flipped to the exact page of the design which was already old. Her eyes widedened when she saw it.

"See. Is it still yours now?? Why don't you just cut it and save us both from the stress of looking stupid?" 

"I….I…." She stamered. Ashley has been awful to me since she started working here. Well not me alone. She's been a total bitch to everyone. No one likes her. I still don't know why Astrid, our boss, is still keeping her around. Well, I heard rumor that she's the daughter of one of her rich friends.

She suddenly flared up at me.

"So what if I take out of your designs?? You have loads of them already and you nothing with except handpicking some. So what's bad in picking some of your designs?" She had to be kidding me right now. is she deranged??

"Weren't you thought by your rich parents that there is something called stealing?" I asked using my two in index fingers as a quote sign. "You stole my stuffs and you are telling me you just took it, like you have the right to." 

"Oh please." She rolled her eyes sarcastically and walked out.

What the heck? 

The girl had to be sick in her head. Thank goodness that she admitted it. It's not that it was a big deal to me but she didn't ask. I would have given her if she did. We were all under pressure as we were asked to submit ideas for the new fashion show that was coming up. I sat down checking the dresses for any issues. The show was tomorrow and every one is super busy. I'm tired as anything right now.

I went out to supervise what was going on in the other cubicles. I was literally the one in charge when our boss is not around.

I'm Gwen Shivers, twenty two years old. Not your regular beauty because I had a lot of freckles I don't consider myself as pretty. I've lived alone all my life since I could remember. I had no parents or family member, I was brought up by old Maggie who happens to be my neighbor. She told me my mum left one day and left me, not that I remembered anything. I don't know her face, I didn't find any pictures or anything that will even give me the clue to remember her. So, I just decided to forget her since I didn't mean much to her as she just decided to leave me. I work here as a fashion designer and illustrator. I worked my ass off to get to where I am now. I graduated university early and I landed this job opportunity luckily even if my boss was a bitch.

I entered another cubicle to see what was going on there, then I heard rushing sound at the entrance. I didn't have to look back to see who it was. I could already hear her barking out orders and complaining about things.

"Gwen!" She shouted out my name, but I decided to act like I didn't hear her. She repeatedly called my name, so I backed out of the cubicle turned my back to face her but not before rolling my eyes. I walked towards her in calculated strides.

"Hi Astrid." I greeted her in a neutral tone.

"Is everything set? Are the models ready? Are the dresses perfect? I don't want mistakes." She said nastily and I tried my best not to show the expression in my head on my face. 

"Yes. Everything is set. You can check them out if you want to." I didn't want to be rude to her. She would have fired me a long time ago if I was not efficient at my job because I can be very rude at times. I don't take nonsense and I tend to call her on her bullshit. I wanted to keep this job as long as I can as the pay was good and I liked good stuffs and I wanted to repay Maggie for her kindness towards me.

"When is Charles going to be here?" She asked one of the people behind her.

"Any minute from now." I decided to leave quietly as she seemed to be done with me. 

I backed away to continue what I was doing as I was not interested in listening to her complaining again and again. I turned around only to bump into someone. Arrrgh…. How did this happen? You were walking with you back turned duh I thought in my mind. I bent down to pack the stuffs that fell from my victim's hand. He also bent down at the same time to pick the stuffs up.

"I am so sorry. I should have looked at…" I looked up only to see the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life. He smiled at me, grabbed my arm and pulled me up. 

"It's okay. I'm fine." He replied. I couldn't come up with anything to say and I couldn't stop staring at him. His hair was so dark and slick that I wanted to touch it. Don't even get me started with his eyes. It was the combination of blue,green and grey, making it a unique mixture of different colors. His lips were firm and gentle at the same time. Looking at him this close, he had a scar on the lower side of his lip. Is it possible for a scar to make someone look attractive? I could stare at him all day long and still not get enough. What the fuck Gwen?  I thought. What I'm I even thinking. He might not find me attractive at all so why am I behaving like this? I cleared my throat, blinking several times to get myself back together.

"Humm… I'm s…. sorry. Your cell.. cellphone is broken." I said noticing the broken phone in his hand. It looked expensive, I'm not sure I can afford a new one for him.

"I'll fix it." I said in a low voice and pulled out my phone from behind my back pocket.

"Hey, hey, calm down. It's not a big deal you know. I wasn't exactly looking at where I was going too." He replied me in a soft voice. Can I melt? Then he did something that I wasn't expecting at all. He smiled. He fucking smiled and dimples showed on both sides of his face. Wow. Can he get anymore attractive?

It was at that point that I remembered that Astrid was a few steps behind me and she probably saw everything that just happened. Shit! 

I heard the clinking of her shoes from behind me so I pulled my hands out of his grip.

"I didn't know you to be a clumsy person Gwen." She said with a disdainful look on her face. Ashely was right beside her. I rolled my eyes in my head. She was smiling evily at me.

"Mum. It was a mistake and we already spoke about it." He sounded like he was scolding her.

"I…. It was …." She silenced  me with a wave of her hand.

"Charles darling, I've been expecting you." She said, wrapping her hand around his arm. 

"I'm here now mum. I was held up in the traffic." He said.

Wait...What? He is Charles?? Charles Emmett??? Wow…. How things turn, I thought sarcastically. This area was getting suddenly crowded by mostly ladies. What are they doing? I frowned. Ashley was batting her her lashes at him like there was something in her eyes. she was so fake, from her body to her attitude. Astrid didn't say anything, I think she's enjoying the attention her son was getting. 

"Charles darling, this is Ashely, Ashely Amon. She's Pete's daughter." She said.

"Hi Charles. I've heard a lot about you from Astrid here." She said in a totally different voice, bringing out her hand for a handshake.

"Hi. Charles." He said curtly, shaking her hands. 

Bitch.

"Drop the formalities. We're friends now. Aren't we?" She said moving closer to him, which he stepped back a little bit.

"I hope both of you get along." Astrid said, smiling.

I decided to leave but not before looking at Charles again and he was looking at me. His eyes were kind of saying I should not go. You like to imagine things Gwen, I thought. I spun around and left the scene with a very racing heart.

"Bye Tom. See you tomorrow." I waved at the security man in charge of the building.

"Bye belle." I smiled. He always called me that and I still can't understand why. I exited the door and waited a little bit letting the breeze blow on my face. I'm so tired right now, I could sleep here. I was the last person to leave here as usual. This happens anytime there is going to be a fashion show. Ken wanted to stay, but I told him to go. I work better in silence.

I dragged my feet off the pavement and walked towards the bus station. I sat down and brought out my phone to check some designs. A car suddenly pulled up and honked in front of me. I looked up only to see Charles.

"Gwen." He called out. He knows my name??

I walked up to him.

"Hi Charles. What are you doing here by this time?" How I was talking was beyond me but I decided to go with the flow.

"Humm… just passing by and I saw you. Get in the car." He said.

I should be in the same car with him?? Nahhh…

"Err… don't bother. My bus will soon arrive." 

"Get. in. the. car." He emphasized on the words, narrowing his eyes.

My eyes widened at the sound of his underlying commanding tone. I didn't say anything further, I opened the door and entered.

"How was your day today?" He asked sweetly like he was not the one that commanded me now

"Err… it was fine." I answered still surprised at his question.

"I want to apologize on behalf of my mother about what happened this morning." He said and glanced at me a little bit before concentrating on the road.

"No problem. It's not a big deal." I replied.

We spoke about random stuffs and later found out that he just started working in stead of his father as the CEO of Emmett Inc. He sounded like an intelligent person and I could not stop staring at him anytime he was talking. 

Thirty minutes later, we pulled up in front of my house.

"Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate." I said sincerely.

"I thought we already passed the level of you talking to me so seriously." He laughed.

I just smiled at him and was about to open the door to alight from the car when he suddenly held my hand. I gasped at the sudden feeling of sparks that went up my hand. 

"I need to tell you something." He sounded serious and gentle at the same time. "I dont want you to think I'm rushing things, but I need to tell you." He was looking at me in the eyes and he already grabbed my second hand

"I like you."