Adrianna drove her car and Alicia was seating next to her. They were going to have dinner together. Adrianna is going to take two months leave from the modelling industry. She needd to rest and relax. She has been working non-stop for at least 3 weeks now.
She instructed Alicia to reject any offer for shows and photoshoot and she made an announcement in her instagram too. Some of her fans were kind of dissapointed because, they couldn't see her in action for two months.
"Ri...you are not afraid?" Alicia asked.
"Afraid of what?" Adrianna made a turn and drove smoothly into the parking space of the restaurant.
"There are so many new models and your rivals, waiting for you to slow down in your career so that they can surpassed you. You are not afraid if you'll be forgotten once you left?"
"If that's what they want to do, let them. It would be good for them."
"But how about your career? You've been working so hard to get where you are today" Alicia keep asking.
She was quite baffled when Adrianna spoke to her about her idea of taking a long break from the industry. Since Adrianna was an independent model, meaning she has no agency. It saved them from a headache of answering to the higher up.
It was just some of the brands that Adrianna endorsed stated their dissatisfaction. However, she did not break any rules. She finished recording the commercials, all the photoshoots before she announced the break.
Adrianna pulled the handbrake and she looked at her bestfriend.
"You knew why I got into this industry right?" Adrianna asked back and Alicia nodded her head.
"But don't you think it is a waste?"
"If this is the end of my modelling career, let it be. Maybe I should start focus on something that I really like." Adrianna patted on Alicia's cheek and she exited the car.
"What do you want to eat? tonight, you can order everything that you like.."
Alicia smiled and exited the car too and followed her bestfriend towards their favourite restaurant.
It was a Japanese restaurant. They were a regular here and they really like their sushi. Upon reaching the front door of the restaurant, a waiter stopped them.
"I am sorry miss, the restaurant is fully booked for tonight.."
"Fully booked?" Alicia eyes dimmed with dissapointment.
"We just need one room...is it not available?" Alicia asked once again.
The waiter checked the board in his hand.
"I am sorry miss...all of the room were booked for a company's function. We only have one room available but unfortunately, it is a specially reserved room for our VVIP and I'm afraid, you can't enter without the manager's permission." the waiter explained.
"Let's go somewhere else..." Adrianna suggested and Alicia sighed before they both walked away.
Alicia was grumbling about how come the company booked all the room and who the hell is the VVIP of the specially reserved room.
Adrianna followed behind her while shaking her head at Alicia's antic. Suddenly Alicia stopped walking as her head bumped into something and she fell on her bum.
"Ouchhh..my bum" Alicia cried in pain.
Adrianna quickly walked to help Alicia's up.
"Are you okay Ali?" she asked with concern.
"Are you okay miss--" the voice stopped as he recognized the two women.
"Miss Winters..." Kyle greeted the person.
Adrianna looked at the man. He looked familiar but where did they meet? She can't remember name well. That's her one trait that made her seems aloof and sometimes, people call her as arrogant or snobbish. She remember the face but not the name.
Alicia looked at the man that knocked her down.
"Watch where you are going mister, I know you do this on purpose right?"she scolded Kyle as she pulled Adrianna's hand to hide behind her. But of course, since Adrianna is taller, her head still can be seen.
This is not the first time something like this happened. Men loves to create 'accidental' scene in order to get closer to Adrianna.
Kyle raised his brow. He was confused then suddenly he laughed.
"I am sorry Miss...it was you knocking into me not vice versa"
"I know you-- "
"What happened here?" a masculine voice stopped them and Alicia couldn't finished her words as she looked at the owner of the voice.
O.M.G. Liam Lockwood.
Alicia's mouth hang open. She was surprised to see the man that she admired in flesh.
Adrianna also looked at the new person. A handsome man. Wearing branded suit but his coat was draped over his left arm. His right hand was in his pocket.
Her eyes lingered to his chiselled face. He has a sharp jaw. So sharp that she thinks it would cut her fingers if she touched it. His eyes is grey with the hint of green. She looked at his well defined brows and sharp nose. His red lips looked captivating. His black hair was styled nicely.
Then her eyes moved downwards. To his broad shoulder, she can almost see the muscle under the clothes and his arm muscle and biceps were visible to the eyes since he rolled the sleeves of his shirt. His legs were long and they looked strong.
Well, this is the first time she met someone so handsome, the male model that she used to work with was not as handsome as this man. He is probably 6'2 (around 188cm).
Adrianna was brought back to reality when she notice a hand waving in front of her face.
"Ri...are you alright? why are turning into a statute all of sudden?" She heard Alicia's voice.
Alicia was busy fangirling over Liam when both of the men stared at the frozen Adrianna behind her. When she turned around. Adrianna was not moving. Her eyes were not blinking too. So, Alicia has to stop fangirling and checked on her friend first.
After listening to Alicia's voice. Immediately, Adrianna's face turned red. Oh my god! She was caught checking out a man. Stupid Adrianna! She scolded herself.
Alicia grinned. Then she whispered to Adrianna. "The handsome man you are staring at is the man that you saved"
Adrianna's eyes quickly turned back to look at the two men. No wonder, she was kind of familiar with one of the man. It was Kyle Black. Liam's assistant. So this is the Liam Lockwood. The one Alicia kept talking about. The sexy CEO. And the one mistaken as her fiancee.
"Hello Miss Winters. We meet again. This is my boss Liam..." Kyle finally spoke.
Liam eyes were firm on Adrianna's face. He walked forward and offered his hand for a handshake.
Adrianna suddenly became nervous under the man deep stare. She slowly accepted Liam's handshake and as soon as their hand's touched. She felt a tingle on her skin and her stomach fluttered non-stop.
"Hello Miss Winters, I'm Liam..." his voice sounded masculine and sexy.
"Adrianna Winters..." she replied and tried to pull her hand back but Liam kept holding onto her hand. After a few second, he finally released Adrianna's hand.
"Hi Mr Lockwood, I'm Alicia Thompson. Adrianna's manager and bestfriend. Wow! I can't believe to finally meeting you in person. You are so handsome." Alicia with her straigtforward and honest personality can't keep the compliments to herself.
"Ali..." Adrianna shook her head at Alicia's comment.
Liam and Kyle smiled looking at bashful Adrianna.
"So you guys are having dinner here?" Kyle asked.
Alicia sighed. "We were supposed to but all of the rooms were not available, they have some sort of company function here.."
"Well, do you want to join us?" Kyle suggested.
Suddenly he has a brilliant idea of getting Adrianna and Liam together after their fail attempt this morning.
"So you are having a company function here?" Adrianna asked.
"No...."
"I have a specially reserved room here. The owner of this restaurant is my old friend..." Liam cut into the conversation. Answering Adrianna's question.
"We don't want to bother you guys"
" You're not a bother" Liam answered.
**
A few minutes later, all four of them were seated in a room. They were sitting on a soft pillow with a japanese table in front of them.
Liam and Kyle were sitting next to each other while Adrianna and Alicia seated across them with Adrianna's facing Liam.
"So what do you want to order?" Kyle asked as he looked at the menu.
Alicia's hand move to take a piece of paper and pencil next to her. She started to tick on the column provided in the small piece of paper.
"So you are a regular here too? It seems like you remember all the menu..." Kyle asked and both of the assistant and manager started to work together in choosing what they want to eat while the other two were in silence.
Adrianna shifted her gaze around the room. There's nothing interesting to observe but it is better to do that than squerming on her place as she couln't stop the gaze of the man in front of her.
"I heard you came back from Paris yesterday" Liam finally spoke to Adrianna.
"Err..yes" Adrianna answered. "How about you Mr L-Lockwood, when did you discharged from hospital?"
"Liam..."
"Pardon me?"
"Call me Liam. Mr Lockwood seems too formal." Liam made his statement.
Adrianna nodded her head and shifted her eyes once again to look at the cutlery on the table. Avoiding the eye contact.
"I discharged from hospital today" Liam finally answered and made Adrianna's eyes back to look at him.
"Today? You mean you came here straight after you discharged?" She asked. A little bit worried. What happened to this man? Isn't he supposed to stay at home and recuperated. Why is he outside?
"This is not our first location Miss Winters but the third one, right after he discharged this morning"
"The third one?" Adrianna looked at Kyle.
Kyle wanted to answered but he noticed Liam was glaring at him.
"Yeah, we went to the company and have some meeting before we came here..." Kyle hid the fact that they were waiting for her at the restaurant today.
"Aren't you supposed to bring him back home? He just left the hospital and it was not a normal case, he was in an accident!" she exclaimed in horror.
Somehow her statement made Liam's heart felt warm. She sounded like a nagging 'wife'.
Wait! Where is that coming from?
"Are you worried about me Miss Winters?" Liam smirked.
Adrianna felt her blood rushed to her face. Why is he looking sexy doing that? She tried to act normal.
"Who wouldn't worry if someone they knew did that. Right? by the way, it's Adrianna." she corrected him.
"Adrianna..." Liam lips move to call her name.
Alicia and Kyle both look at their friends before they looked at each other. They almost can feel the sexual tension between them. This is their first meeting but they already exuded such aura. An aura of a formidable couple. Looked like, Alicia has to stop fangirling over Liam or else Adrianna would 'kill' her.
Their moment were interrupted when the waiter brought in their dishes. Alicia clapped her hand in anticipation. Adrianna's attention also shifted towards the food.
Then another waiter came and another one and another one. Until all the table were filled with the food.
Liam and Kyle looked at all the foods on the table. Can these two girls finished all of this?
Alicia grinned. "We are hungry and today we want to celebrate something" she explained.
"What are you celebrating? Birthday?" Kyle asked.
"Nope. We are celebrating the starting of Adrianna's free day"
Upon hearing Alicia's answer. Liam looked at Adrianna's face.
"The starting of your free day?" he asked the woman in front of him.
"Yes. I will take a break from the modelling industry." she explained.
"It was nothing much but Alicia insisted of celebrating it"
"So you are not going back to the industry?" Kyle asked. A little bit dissapointed.
"I am not sure yet. I'll just go with the flow."
Then all of them started to eat. Mostly Adrianna and Alicia. It has been so long since Adriana got to eat to her heart content. She was gobbling down the food like there's no tomorrow.
Liam's smile fleeted across his lips. He can't believed that this woman also has her cute side. Looking at those puffy cheeks as she munched on her food.
"So no more diet?" Kyle asked.
Adrianna smiled and nodded her head.
"You should eat more. You are already beautiful, no need to diet" Liam commented.
Adrianna almost choked on her food, coughing. Liam quickly gave her water to drink then offered her a napkin and Adrianna used the napkin to wipe her mouth.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. Thank you" Adrianna replied. Then she noticed something. The glass she was holding was not hers but Liam's. So she's drinking from his glass.
"I am sorry, I'll call the waiter to get you a new glass"
"No need, I like this one." he took the glass back and saw the woman turned redder.
He was amused at that. She has been blushing non-stop since they met. He found this habit of hers is cute.
"So what are you going to do after this?" Liam asked. Changing the topic.
"I am not sure yet but I want to try something new." Adrianna amswered.
"Something new like managing Winters Corporation?"
"Not really. My dad is still the one managing the company. I want to do something that I like."
"such as...." Liam inquired for her to continue.
"Machine....this girl here is crazy about fixing stuff" Alicia answered on behalf of Adrianna.
"Oh..." Interesting! He knew that she has a degree in engineering but he didn't know what kind of engineering.
"So you like fixing machines? how about computers?" Liam asked.
"Never tried fixing computer yet..I majored in Mechanical Engineering so it's kind of habit of mine, fixing stuff"
"Can you believed that she fixed her own car? Her car's engine couldn't started and we send the car to the workshop but the mechanic failed to fix it."
"Why did you send the car to workshop if you can fix them?" Kyle asked.
"Because Adrianna has a show on that day, she insisted on driving her own car. So, we kind of in hurry, we left the car at the workshop. After the show, she went back to the workshop and they still can't fix them so Adrianna did it herself. The photo on that day went viral. You never see them?" Alicia asked.
"You mean the one where she's holding the spanner and there's oil on her clothes. It was't a photoshoot?" Kyle asked.
"Why are we having photoshoot at workshop?" Alicia asked back.
"Following a trend? Maybe. After her pictures became viral. There were some other models doing the same" Kyle refuted.
Alicia sighed. "That's how the internet is, people love to create their own stories though they don't know the root of it"
She remembered how the keyboard warriors or netizen were citicizing Adrianna because of the pictures. They said she was taking photo for cheap publicity and disturbing the public and working place. Since when celebrities were not allowed to go to public and take pictures?
"It was an old story. I don't fix car anymore." Adrianna cut the conversation.
"But she fixed everything in her house. From the vacuum cleaner to air purifier. She even asked me if there's anything that need to be fixed at my house. We don't have to call for mantainance anymore." Alicia added and all three of them laugh together except Adrianna.
She pouted her lips. Is it that weird for her to fix her own stuff? She just want to test her skills and moreover, she liked doing them. Other than saving money, she can improve her skills too.
Liam couldn't help but admired the girl. She's truly one in a million. A gem. Her ex-fiancee and father must be blind for their failure to recognized this talented woman.
"I have problem with my air purifier. Can you fix them?" He suddenly asked.
Adrianna eyes shone for a moment.
"I can try. Where is it?" she was filled with anticipation.
"At my office. How about tomorrow? Let's have lunch together and I brought you to my office."
Adrianna stopped to think. Lunch together and go to his office. Isn't sound like a date? She's back to became bashful.
"Or you are not free tomorrow?" Liam looked into her eyes.
Kyle smirked knowingly. Turned out his bestfriend is good at flirting too. He's not a monk after all. He can't wait to tell all of this to Liam's morher.
Meanwhile Alicia looked at Adrianna's face. She grinned.
"Of course she's free. I have to meet my parents tomorrow so I can't accompany her. So, Ri you can go and have your date-- I mean lunch with Mr Lockwood and he can bring you to 'fix' stuff" Alicia can't help but being the matchmaker to her aloof friend.
Kyle did a thumbs up for Alicia discreetly and they both smiled meaningfully.
"O-okay..." Adrianna finally agreed.
"Great. I'll pick you up tomorrow. You can send me your address." Liam took out his phone and gave it to Adrianna.
"Key in your number, I'll text you later."
Adrianna take his phone and started to press her number and handed it back to him. After a moment, she heard her phone rang.
"It's my number. Save it"
Unknowingly that night, they succeed in exchanging their phone number and thus making them an acquitance.
Then half an hour later, they left the restaurant. Adrianna wanted to pay for their dinner but Liam was faster. He already asked the manager to put the bill in his account and he only need to swipe the card.
Adrianna felt kind of guilty since both her and Alicia eat a lot compared to the men. So, she promised that she will pay for their next meal and Liam just agreed.