Charles' POV
I took the bouquet of roses from Ellery and headed out, going towards my car, the Tesla Roadster. I opened the car door and started the engine. The new car smell hung in the air still, as I just got it last week.
I then made my way towards Annalise's workplace. Annalise works at her father's company, AA Corp., as a managing director. About eight minutes after I had arrived at the front door, she was not there waiting. I despise people who are unpunctual. To be honest, I would dislike people even if they were only a minute late.
A few minutes passed and Annalise finally showed up.
I got out the car to open the door for her. "Good afternoon, Charles." She said as I came within earshot. I reached down to the passenger seat and got the bouquet of flowers and handed it to her.
"Good afternoon, Annalise." She smiled back at me, showing her brilliant white teeth.
"Sorry for being late. Let's get going."
I weaved through the busy road at nearly top speed, arriving at the restaurant three minutes before noon. By the time we got into the restaurant it was 11:59. We were almost late.
It didn't matter if it was just a lunch reservation at a restaurant I owned. I am used to being punctual and it just feels wrong to show up late.
I wonder if she knew I owned it when she made the reservation. I smirked at that thought.
We walked through the doors and I stood before the maître d for a good minute before he noticed me. He was playing a block stacking game on his phone, clearly not doing his job. The quality of the restaurant has really gone downhill. I might have to fix this in the next meeting.
"Yes, sir. Please follow me." He replied.
Following him, we arrived at a table in a corner of the restaurant.
Gesturing towards the table, the maître d said "Here is your table, Mr. Mercuer. Our waiter will be here shortly, would you like anything to drink during the wait Sir and Madam?"
"Do you carry the 2004 Le Macchiole Messorio?"
"We do, but we only sell it by the bottle."
"That is fine."
"I will be right out with it." He nodded his head and turned around and left.
"Saying 'madam' makes me sound so old." Annalise chuckled as I pulled out her chair.
Taking a seat myself, I replied "it doesn't matter if it sounds old or not. You are young so it shouldn't be a bother."
"I guess so. You didn't feel like spending money on me today?"
"What do you mean?" I looked at her confused.
"You took me to a restaurant that you own."
"I didn't make the reservation." I replied curtly, not feeling like justifying myself.
The waiter arrived a minute later to take our order. I ordered the filet mignon and Annalise ordered a simple chicken dish.
"So about that business deal–"
"Charles, I don't want to talk about work now. It's been a while since we've gone a date. Lets talk about something else beside work, okay?"
There is clearly a reason as to why we haven't seen each other often. Who the heck does she think she is? Cutting me off when I was clearly talking. Nobody cuts me off when I'm talking. I mean nobody.
We've been dating for one month and she thinks she can do whatever she wants. The only reason I went out with Annalise because she would be useful to the company and to make my mother happy. She's dying to get me married off so she could have grandchildren to spend her day away.
"Sure. What do you want to talk about?" I said, silently seething.
"The weather is going to be nice next week. I wanted to go to the beach and I was wondering if you would like to come with me. We'll stay in my family's hotel."
"I would love to, but we have a new project at work and I would be preoccupied with it. "
"How about just the weekend?"
"I have to work on the weekends too. I'm a very busy man."
"Please, Charles?"
"Annalise, you have to understand that I can't go."
The food finally arrived, halting the conversation. I was starving since I hadn't eaten any breakfast. I picked up the knives and fork and started cutting away at the steak on my plate.
The steak was juicy as always. The flavor of the meat was amazing, the taste was so sweet and succulent. Worthy of satisfying my aching hunger.
"Charles," Annalise said "you always work. Can't you take a day off?"
"That's enough."
"Charles, pleaseeee." She was basically whining now. I smirked, who would've thought.
The thing I hate most after being late is whining.
"No."
I swallowed a piece of steak and stood up from the table. I've had enough of this.
"You were late and now, you're nagging and whining. One thing you should know about me is that, you should never ever get between me and work. I don't care if you're pretty or whatever, I can't put up with this. We're over." I said.
She looked at me, clearly surprised and horrified. I knew she wasn't expecting this.
I turned around and walked out the door.