The party was held in a hall below Aiden’s company building where he usually used to host his employees.
He had just finished giving his usual welcome speech to the new employees and was just about to get down from the mic when his eyes sighted the new group coming into the hall.
He saw his cousin, Jess, and his best friend, Ken, walk in with someone and thought that Ken had gone and found himself a date for the night. He felt a kind of relief that his date would make him forget his pursuit of his wife.
Hopefully, he’ll fall in love and forget everything about Ariel.
For the first time since Ken’s return, he felt like teasing him, so he marched forward to their group, he smirked as he saw how Ken kept his arm wrapped possessively around his date’s waist.
How possessive was he about her?
They were standing with their back to him as he approached them, but as he got closer, he felt Ken’s date become oddly familiar, but he waved it off; he was sure he’d never seen that kind of girl before.
Jess was about to say something to someone beside her when she sighted his brother behind them.
A mischievous smirk marked her face, and she immediately abandoned the person she was talking to and ran over to her brother.
“Good evening, brother, the party is really cool, as usual,” She smiled brightly at him.
He frowned at her, finding her suspicious.
“Who’s she?” He pointed to the girl beside Ken, his eyes glued to her all the while.
Jess beamed with secret happiness; she cleared her throat and asked him, “Do you think his date is pretty?”
Aiden stared longer at the girl’s back, his gut telling him he knew who she was, but his rationality told him he’d never met a girl like that in his entire life.
Sure, he’s seen beautiful ladies, but this one, she had a kind of charm to her. He felt like something was drawing him to her.
Was this how Ken felt about Ariel?
As he thought about Ariel, he frowned, finding the girl’s look to be similar to Ariel’s, but he dismissed it because he knew that Ariel was so timid, she could never wear such a thing, and after all, she was at home, sleeping.
“Aww, your silence says it all, you think she’s pretty,” Jess pointed at his face, teasing him.
“Drop it, Jess, don’t disgrace me,” Aiden shunned.
“Fine, I’ll drop it, come say hi to Ken and his girlfriend,” Jess dragged him closer to Ken, feeling giddy.
Ariel had seen Jess talking with Aiden and quickly removed her face. She wasn’t hiding from him, but she just didn’t want to have any form of contact with him.
Just like the contract stated, avoid any form of contact with each other in public.
So that’s why she was sticking to Ken, looking around the hall and seeing new faces.
She felt it when Aiden stopped behind them, but she refused to look at him, for tonight, he was a stranger to her, and vice versa.
“Ken,” Aiden called from behind.
Ken was whispering something to Ariel when he heard his name behind him.
He turned and smiled at Aiden, “Good evening, Mr. Chaz, congratulations on recruiting exceptional talents to your company… as usual,” Ken offered him a handshake.
Aiden reluctantly shook him, his eyes pinned on Ariel beside Ken.
“I see you found a date,” Aiden scoffed.
Ken smiled, “Yes, I did. A very pretty one too,” Ken said, wrapping his arms around Ariel’s waist and turning her to face Aiden.
“Say hello to Mr. Chaz,” Ken spoke softly.
The moment Aiden saw the face of the girl he had thought was Ken’s date, his face fell. First, he felt shock, and then he felt an unknown anger and betrayal wash over him.
He felt that urge to snatch her away from beside Ken and question her why she chose to come to the party in her condition, and with Ken.
He looked beside him and found Jess smiling mischievously, and he understood that this was her plan all along.
Ariel knew this time would come when Ken would want to introduce her to Aiden, and she must act accordingly. She could not just ignore him, in the end, he was her boss, and they were in a work environment, so she could at least try to relate with him professionally.
“Good evening, Mr. Chaz,” Ariel greeted politely, holding Ken’s hand tightly.
“You got to be kidding me,” Aiden muttered to himself.
He stared at Ariel, taking in her daring outfit and alluring makeup. He never believed She was capable of such dressing; it shocked him to the core.
But he was angry too, seeing the way she was gummed to Ken like her lover while she talked to him like a stranger she was seeing for the first time, it made him boil with possessiveness inside. But he knew better than anyone that he had no damn right to claim her in public.
Aiden scoffed at Ariel’s greeting, then turned to Ken, his eyes hard and face frowned.
“I see you’re relentless, Ken,” He raised his brow at him, putting his hands in his pockets.
Ken chuckled, “I don’t understand what you mean, Aiden. I’m just here with my date. What does it have to do with you?” Ken smirked.
Aiden balled his fists inside his pockets and glared at Ariel, “Nothing. It has absolutely nothing to do with me.” He replied and walked away from them.
Ariel sighed in relief; that went better than she thought.
“I’ll leave you guys here; gotta catch up with some colleagues,” Jess said and ran off into the crowd.
“You good?” Ken asked.
Ariel nodded, “Yes, thank you,” She said.
Ken chuckled softly, gently leading her away from there, “For what? What are you thanking me for, Ariel?” He asked quietly as he led her to sit at a table, drawing a chair for her to sit.
Ariel sat down, feeling her cheek blush at Ken’s attentiveness.
“For making the situation less tense and less awkward,” Ariel replied, still blushing.
“Oh, that? It’s nothing,” he smiled and lowered himself beside her, “You deserve to be appreciated in every aspect. You don’t have to accept suppression, Ariel, you’re worth more than you know,” Ken took her hand in his, gently patting it, staring at her with his feelings written all over his face and eyes.
Ariel felt a boost in her confidence, and for the first time, she noticed the way Ken was looking at her. She’s never had anyone look at her the way Ken did as if she was the only beautiful woman in the whole room. She wasn’t going to lie to herself; if she hadn’t married Aiden, she would have opened up to Ken; it wouldn’t be bad to give him a chance, he was such a gentleman, and any woman would fall for him. Including her.
Ariel shyly fixed her hair behind her ear, briefly looking away from Ken’s attentive eyes, but she never expected her eyes to meet and lock with Aiden’s eyes.
He was staring at her with a complex of mixed emotions: anger, intensity, suspicion, possessiveness.
But what made Ariel confused was the look of longing that flashed through his eyes, it was brief, but she saw it. A deep, yearning look that made her feel as if he desired her and wanted to protect her.
“Ariel, are you listening?” Ken suddenly called, causing her to remove her eyes from Aiden.
But before she looked away from him, she saw the betrayed look in his eyes, and for some reason, she felt bad for being the reason he felt that way.
“I’m sorry, I was just looking around the beautiful hall. What did you say?” She softly cleared her throat, removing the thoughts of Aiden from her.
Ken paused for a while, then stood from his chair, offering Ariel his hand, “Come on,”
Ariel narrowed her eyes at him but gave him her hand anyway.
“Where are you taking me?” She questioned with a smile, following Ken to the other side of the hall.
“You said you were admiring the beauty of the hall, I want to take you somewhere more beautiful,” He replied as he led her past Aiden and a few men.
Aiden saw Ariel walking away from the hall and instantly locked his eyes on them; he hadn’t removed his eyes from them from the moment he walked away from them.
He didn’t like it, she seemed so relaxed and happy with him, the opposite of how she was when she was with him.
Was he that bad?
And, why was she so trusting of someone she just met? What if Ken was an evil person? Did she know how risky it was?
“Mr. Chaz, the scale of the business had drastically increased, and the revenue was massive. We can hold more employees and give more shares, but-”
“Anthony, send the report to my email and have my secretary explain it to me,” Aiden said and walked off in the direction he saw Ariel and Ken go.
“Excuse me, Mr. Chaz,” An old lady said to Aiden as he was about to step out of the hall.
He gritted his teeth and paused to listen to the old lady. He wanted to hurry and go see what Ariel was up to with Ken.
“Evening, Ms. Elaine. How may I help you?” He calmly looked at the old lady, noticing the two girls beside her.
“These are our new employees in the design department, Coral and Eva,” Ms. Elaine introduced, pointing him to the girls beside her.
Aiden stared at the girls indifferently, he noticed the one named Eva seemed to be jumping on her feet, obviously eager to speak to him.
“Good evening, Mr. Chaz,” The girls greeted excitedly.
“Welcome to the company, work hard,” Aiden said curtly and walked away.
“Um, Excuse me, sir… Mr. Chaz…” Eva hurried to walk beside him.
Aiden frowned, not wanting to waste any more time in the hall anymore, he was growing with curiosity to find out what Areil and Ken were up to.
“How can I help you…” He paused, not sure of what her name was again.
“Eva, Sir, Eva,” Eva provided excitedly.
But Aiden remained quiet, staring blankly at her.
Eva saw that he looked impatient and decided to ask her long-habored question.
“Um, I heard you wanted a new secretary, sir. I was wondering if I can fill that space, I can be reliable and-”
“No need, Eva. Mr. Chaz already has an efficient secretary; now, get going, and don’t disturb him again tonight,” Anthony suddenly replied from behind Eva.
Before Eva could say something else, Aiden was nowhere to be seen; she searched the whole hall with her eyes but didn’t find him; disappointment washed over her features.
How was she supposed to seduce him if she couldn’t get close to him?
She had to displace whoever his secretary was. She must be the one closest to him.