*About 6 months before present day*
It had been a little over 11 years since Joan had brought Arianna back to Paris and had her work beside her. Joan was extremely powerful in the fashion industry of Europe, she was seen as a cold and heartless queen you didn't want to upset, but to Arianna she was different, she was kind and supportive like the mother she never had.
"Arianna, when will you go out and meet someone nice?" Joan sighed as she looked up from her desk at the tall, beautiful woman holding a tablet going through next season's fashion line.
"I'm not interested in dating Ms Richard." Arianna didn't even look up from the tablet, she was always more formal at the office, but this made Joan sad.
"Arianna put the tablet down come and take a seat." They'd had this conversation about twenty times over the last 10 years, but Arianna had never brought home a boyfriend or even any friends. When Joan had sent her to school, Ari had done what she said and got perfect grades, but Joan was concerned about her social life, she didn't have any friends outside the industry and even those in the fashion world weren't really friends, they were connections.
"Arianna I just hate seeing you work all the time, you've done such an amazing job, that if I was to die tomorrow, I would be leaving the company in good hands." This caught Arianna's attention, what did she mean?
"Mother, what are you talking about?" Realising what she'd just said, Joan looked down at her hands.
"Ari, I have no other family other than you, I won't live forever, and you know my health isn't very good. You're the daughter I never had, so one day this will all be yours."
"I… I can't." Arianna looked shocked. While she'd always been very calculative and had a solution for all of Joan's problems, she had never been afraid to take what she wanted, but this woman who had been more like a mother to her for 11 years, she couldn't take this company. "You've worked so hard, I can't."
"Ari, in the last month I have given you four tasks, four different situations to fix and you completed them flawlessly. Yes, I have worked hard for what I have, so don't let it go to waste, don't let some random person, the old bastards on the board of directors decide is good enough to replace me. I haven't spent the last eight years training you to be a personal assistant forever."
"But what about Vice President Thomas?" She couldn't help but think this was unfair, she was simply an assistant.
"That old bastard wouldn't be able to tell me what the monthly sales for our main fashion label are," she laughed a little, that man was useless and the only reason he had to position was to secure his family background into the company otherwise, it would have gone to Aimer La Mode, their only real competitor in the industry.
Arianna understood what she meant, the vice president wasn't a very reliable man, but still she couldn't be sure she had any right to this company, after all she wasn't really Joan's daughter, she was merely someone she'd taken in 11 years ago.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The door to Joan's corner office opened and a young woman with strawberry blonde hair and cute freckled face walked in, Sarah was Joan's secretary.
"Ms Richard, young master Claud has agreed to the... arrangements." Sarah hesitated.
"Thank you Sarah."
Sarah shot Arianna a sorrowful glance before leaving the office.
"What was that about?" Arianna asked suspiciously.
"Well I've arranged a date with Michael Claud for you tomorrow night." Joan didn't sugarcoat or try to play it off, she'd always been very straightforward, something Arianna usually admired about her adopted mother.
"Michael Claud?" Arianna replied in shock. No wonder her mother had brought up this topic. However, Michael was an infamous womaniser all throughout Paris. She couldn't believe her mother had set her up with such a man. "Surely you know his reputation?"
"Yes I am well aware of Mr. Claud's… unethical… history." Joan tried to put it in a rather polite manner.
"So why would you set me up with man of his... unethical history?" Arianna rolled her eyes, while she had no intention of dating, she knew her mother just wanted to see her happy.
"To get you to go out. I certainly don't expect you to marry the guy, but just to get you outside of your comfort zone." Joan lent her chin in the cup of her right hand as she looked sadly upon her daughter. "Please... just this once?"
"Fine..." She felt guilted into agreeing, but had never been about to turn down a request from the woman who changed her life. "But just this once!" She glared at her mother with an assertive tone.
"Just this once." Joan repeated sounding pleased.
~ ~ ~
In a pretty dress with no-one to impress.
Arianna had decided to make the most out of a bad situation, and give Michael Claud a chance. She wore a black dress that hugged her body, perfectly showing her womanly curves, her long chestnut hair slightly curled down her back, her light make-up with a bright red lip making her stand-out in bar where she was supposed to meet the infamous playboy.
She was supposed to meet Michael at 7pm, it was already 8pm when she gave up and just ordered a drink.
As she was about to sip her cocktail, it was suddenly knocked from her hand and onto the bartender.
"Excuse me! Who do you think you are?" Arianna was furious, her expression darkened as she turned to see a tall handsome man with dark hair and hazel eyes. He gave off an arrogant and obnoxious aura him. On one arm was a cute blonde in a short tight red dress, her large breasts hanging out the top of her dress, were pressed tightly on him arms.
"I'm here for a date with you and here you are drinking without me?" Michael sounded so offended, yet he was over an hour late and had some cheap bimbo hanging off him. Arianna couldn't hold back her eye roll.
"Our date ended an when you didn't show up for an hour!" She didn't even make eye contact, sipping her replacement cocktail the bartender had made.
Michael was unsure on how to react, never had a girl ignored or rejected him. As the beautiful woman stood up to walk away, he smirked 'so you wanna play hard-to-get, aye' he thought to himself, as he watched the way her hips swayed as she walked.
"Hey wait!" He called to Arianna, grabbing her wrist. "wait, look I know I was a little bit late, but really rejecting me before you even know me?" His voice had softened, as he looked at her with fake sincerity.
"I don't need to know you Mr. Claud. I know your type." Arianna violently pulled her wrist from his grasp. "You think you can have whoever you want, whenever you want. Do you honestly think you're god's gift to women? Because reality check, you're not!"
"You're so shallow!" He hissed at the brunette.
"I... I'm shallow?" She laughed "You're the one who turns up an hour late, with some skank still attached, smelling like desperation and sex, thinking if you say jump I will simply ask how high and you have the audacity to call me shallow? Get over yourself, you really aren't who you think you are!"
"Ohhhhh!" Spectators from around the bar was watching the argument. It was a high end kind of place, so everyone knew exactly who Michael Claud was, but who was this beautiful, mysterious woman who was actually standing up to the infamous playboy.
"Do you really think you'll ever do better than me? I am 'the' Michael Claud, you should feel privileged that I even agreed to go out with you, otherwise you'd be all alone!" He stated with a kind of mockery in his eyes.
"If my options are you or being alone. I think I'm better off being alone!" Arianna strutted away like a model on the runway.