"Aria Jennings, do you have anything prepared for us?"At first, I don't register the fact that my name is being called because we only started the meeting and I'm usually called on by the end, but a tap from Belle beside me has me looking up. I look around the table, at the eight people that make our small crew, then my eyes meet with Nessa's and she nods, encouraging me to go on.I clear my throat. "I don't have a pitch for this, but I have an idea for a pitch. Is that okay?" I ask unsurely, still taken aback by the fact that Nessa called on me so early in the meeting."Go ahead."The reason I haven't prepared a pitch for the recent ad we were given to work on isn't that Nessa never lets the others hear it — that has never deterred me — but because my mind has been caught up with my dinner with Patrick Hernsburg and what he said to me.I try to forget everything about him and go on with telling everybody about my idea for the social app. In a way, I was nervous because apart from th

The next time I see Gabriel after that is the next Monday. He didn't come to work on Friday, despite the fact that his penthouse was right above his office. Since I didn't know he would be a no-show, I brought Lucas with me again that Friday, so he had to stay with me in my cubicle while I worked.He was surprisingly quiet and kept to reading the new book Gabriel got for him. The only times he spoke were to ask me if Gabriel was okay and when he needed to use the restroom. During lunch, he came along with me to the canteen. We received some weird looks but didn't pay any mind to them. They were probably wondering what a seven-year-old was doing in a company like that.Right now, I'm happy his suspension is finally over and he can go back to school as he has missed a lot. He isn't happy about it though. This morning, he asked me if he could just be homeschooled instead, but I had to ask him how he would be able to see Ally if he started homeschooling. That had him getting out of bed f

I decided I'd given Gabriel enough time.It's been exactly a week since we last spoke. I didn't go to him sooner because I assumed he'd come to me. It's Gabriel. He always does. But it seems like this time is different.I'm worried out of my mind because he got worse each day. He's snapping at everyone, not just me and it looks like he's always in a bad mood.Some of my colleagues say it's nothing new and that he used to be like this when he first took over from his father, so they minimized their interactions with him, not wanting to get fired over the smallest mistakes.However, this was new to me, and it caught me off guard whenever he snapped at someone. An intern lost her job last week because she spilled coffee on him. I feel bad for her, but there's nothing I can do about it.I know something is very wrong and if not taken care of, he may spiral out of control. I recall that he told me it's none of my business, but I can't help the fact that I care about him on a personal level

Gabriel never answered my question. According to him, he was not yet ready to answer my question, but he would soon. In addition to that, he promised he would never be rude to me again. I didn't know whether to put faith in that since he had once told me he wouldn't snap at me.His excuse was that he'd been hungover, which had me questioning why he'd been drinking. That was another thing he had said he wasn't ready to talk about, but I had a feeling it had to do with the person he lost years ago.After that day, Gabriel reduced the rate at which he snapped at people. Well, more like, he reduced his interactions with his employees, having the manager interact with us instead.My colleagues thought it was my doing and they became friendlier to me, which is probably why, "Hey, Aria, we're all going out for a drink. You should come."One of my colleagues whose name I haven't bothered to learn says. I'm about to decline when Nessa jumps in. "Yeah, we don't always need work to be the excuse

My eyes flutter open and I let out a yawn, feeling tired although I just woke up. I realize I'm cuddling up to a pillow and I'm sore and that reminds me of the events of last night.I sit up with a start. Shit. I had sex with Gabriel Hernsburg!I remember falling asleep immediately after and I expect myself to be naked, but I'm not. I'm clad in Gabriel's white shirt; the only piece of clothing on me. I look around. His side of the bed is cold. Did he already leave? Did he even sleep here after we were done?Standing up, I go to the bathroom and when I look at myself in the mirror, I gasp. My hair looks like a bird's nest, but that is expected because Gabriel had a thing for running his hand through my hair. What I wasn't expecting were the slight pink bruises on my neck. I didn't even realize when he was giving me love bites.I quickly brush my teeth to get rid of my morning breath, put my hair down to cover my neck, and put on shorts. When I exit the bathroom, my eyes go straight to