The next morning,
"What's up with all the racket?"
She comes to the main way,
"Gideon? What are you doing?"
"My delivery arrived! You're going to want to ride it all night long." he says in excitement.
"You're the CEO of a listed multinational company, Gideon. You topped Forbes top ten richest under 30 list. I swear, if this is your idea of a prank and I find your package inside the package...."
At the pool,
Cara is sitting on a unicorn float and Gideon is in the pool.
"You were saying? Get your head out of the gutter, Cara. I saw the float online and I immediately thought of you. We've been slacking off on your swim lessons! Now I want you to come into the water, but you can hold onto the side of the float. I'll be right here. You trust me, don't you?"
" I-I don't know about this..."
He comes close to her, " I'll he right here to catch you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, alright!"
And then Cara comes into the water. And Gideon is holding her and she is holding the float.
"I got you."
CARA'S POV
"Deep breaths Cara, you're doing great!". Gideon crooned over the obnoxious pounding of my heart. I gripped his broad shoulders and buried my head in crook of his neck, shutting my eyes tight. The warmth radiating of his chest helped calm my nerves as he wrapped his muscular arms around my waist and pulled me impossibly closer.
"It's okay, I got you.". he whispered, rubbing my neck."
....
But then the same thing flashes her mind.
"I-I t-think that's enough."
And then Gideon pulls her up on the float.
"What are those visions I have lately! Who's that guy?" she thinks.
" Are you okay? You did pretty good back there. That was the longest you were in the water for."
" Yes, I'm fine." she replies.
" Well then, make some space."
And Gideon comes and sits besides Cara on the float.
"Now let me take you on a magical unicorn ride."
At office,
" The last thing we have on agenda today is the bid for Crimson Universe movie Franchise." says Cynthia.
" The one with all the superheroes? Whew, that's a lot of zeros for the profit we're forecasting." asks Smith.
" It'll be one of our biggest investment till date."Cynthia says while nodding.
" I was informed that Great Hit Entertainment would be submitting a bid as well. With the backing of TK group, we can accept a sizeable amount from them. We are not letting them steal this project from us. You have my full support on this. Pool whatever resources you and ensure our bidding offer is higher than theirs." says Gideon.
Cynthia and Smith both nods.
At the agency,
"I'm sorry Easton, we have to find someone else. I can assure you, whoever we find will be just as good as Sana."
Easton leaves.
" What happened to your great plan?" Trinity asks.
" It....fell through."
Even though Gideon insist he's fine with me working with Sana, but it just didn't feel right.
"I'll look through our contact list and see who else we can get."
And Cara is doing something with her phone.
" Why are you in a floral dress today?" Trinity asks.
" Why are you so hung up on what I wear to work these days?"
" As I pregnant lady, I'm more sensitive to changes around me. I've been taking notes about you."
" Oh....Kay." she says confused.
" But if you must know, I'm having dinner with the Clemonte's tonight. We're going through wedding details." Cara informs.
" Right, the wedding of the century is this weekend! I'm still slightly miffed that I wasnt invited but I get it. Common folks like me don't belong to extravagant millionaire weddings. But I'm so excited for you! How does it feel like to marry the love of your life?" she asks Cara.
The love of my life....
At Clemonte's mansion.
"It's so nice of you to finally join us, Cara. Maisha is waiting for you in the guest room of your wedding dress fitting. In the meantime, I'd like to discuss business matters with my son." says Donovan.
And Cara leaves.
" What's this I hear about TK opening a subsidiary, Great Hit? And worse they intercepeted a project of ours?"
" We're in the midst of a lawsuit to recoup our losses. Dad, I have this under control." says Gideon.
" This is not about our loss. This is about TK thinking they can make a grand return to showbiz and throw their weight around now that I've stepped down. It's war against the Clemonte's, and I will not allow us to lose."
" Dad please. You left the company to me and -"
" And you've disappointed me. We cannot afford to lose this case or have such incidents again - Which is why I pulled some strings and hired a new head of our legal department."
" Don't you think you should have at least mentioned this to me?"
" I don't think I need to run any of my decisions by my son. I founded this company before you were even born."
And from there a girl enters.
" Adrianna?" Gideon says while his mother being full opened.
"She graduated top of her class at Columbia Law. And most importantly, ADRIANNA's father tided me through in the past. I've always wanted her to work for us but she was emigrating to Hong Kong to marry that loser. Let's face it, she would have been my first choice for a daughter-in-law. Some secrets are bests kept between our families. Now that she is back for good- I'm leaving my son in your hands, Adrianna."
Adrianna laughs.
" It'll be an honour to work with Gideon. I'm looking forward to it already."
" Please stay and join us for dinner tonight, dear. I'm sure the two of you have a lot to catch up on!"
Donovan leaves after this.
" I couldn't help but overhear the entire conversation. I'm sorry your dad didn't tell you about this, I thought you would have known."
" It's fine. He made it very clear that it's his company after all."
" I want to apologise for what I said at the meeting too. I didn't mean to say that about Cara...I was just in a weird space. I was supposed to get married, then all of a. sudden I didn't, I'm didn't. I come back here and you're happily engaged and I'm just.....you know me."
" It's cool. I get it. Welcome onboard."
At the dinner,
Donovan and Maisha are both enjoying the company of Adrianna. They are laughing and talking.
"So your dad hired Adrianna, huh? She wasn't kidding when she said you guys were family friends."
" How do you know?" Gideon asks.
" We met in the toilet at the wedding. She seems nice, and elegant, and beautiful, and perfect, and....."
" And not Cara." he completes it.
They both smile at each other.
" Did she mentioned that we used to date....?"
" You have dated half of the female population,Gideon. I wasn't surprised at all."
" So Cara, how's Black's doing? It's really admirable of you to manage your father's company for him." Adrianna asks.
" Oh, you are too kind, Adrianna. Black's is barely a company that's staying afloat. They would be nothing without us. It's just a little something for Cara to pass her time until she gets married." says Donovan.
" I'm sorry...! Pass time...?" says Cara.
"According to the agreement we have, we'll help Black's remain in business. We never mentioned who will be in charge. I'm sure anyone can do your job. You will resign and become a dutiful Mrs Clemonte after ur marriage. " says Donovan.
" It'll be tough but I'll allow you to mingle with the ladies from my club." and then says Maisha.
" Dad! " Gideon shouts.
"Excuse me, I need some fresh air." Cara leaves.
" I'll come with you." says Gideon.
"No, stay. Adrianna was just about to share the necessary actions she think we would take to safeguard our future interests." says Donovan.
" I'm not your f*cking dog." says gideon.
"It's fine, Gideon. I need some time alone."
Outside,
She can't believe she is standing here again.
Augh! she didn't make all sacrifices to end up a trophy wife. This wasn't the part of the deal!
And the he comes again, Damian, the ghost boy.
"I was waiting for you to come out here alone."
" That's a terrible for you to say to a girl, little boy ghost. Your boyish cute looks aren't going to get you out of that one, you're going to scare them away."
" You think I'm cute? I'm sorry." he asks.
" I was begging to think you wouldn't show up, kiddo. Are you here to listen to me wallow in self-pity again?"
He nods," Are they making you upset again? Are they making you do something you don't want to? Did you tell Gideon about it? Why are you always alone if the two of you're married?"
" You ask a lot of questions for a little boy. Plus, you sound a little close to Gideon.....do you know him well?"
" ER... we met a couple of times. He's really nice to my mum....?" he says confusing.
" You know, the more I look at you, the more I see the resemblance between you and Gideon."
And when he listens he runs. And goes somewhere far from her.
"Come back! Where are you going!? Did I say something wrong? Great. You just scared a little boy away."
Now where was she!
Yes. She is not letting Donovan belittle her or his agency like that. She will show him! She will make a mark for them in the entertainment industry without his help! And she just know the person who can help her and isn't a lackey of the Clemonte's.
She takes her phone out and calls,
"Sana?"
The next day.
"Thank you so much for agreeing to this! Especially since I turned you down for the first time."
" Are you kidding me? The melody has been stuck on my head since the first time you shower me the demo. I was hesitant about working with you for the first time because of the whole....you know....the Clemonte thing. But the lyrics just kept flowing! I would love to be a part of this amazing piece. "
" I can tell. It's a Saturday and you're here to sign a contract." says Cara to Sana.
" I was in the area and I thought I would just swing by. Wasn't going to risk letting you change your mind again, or give that piece to someone else. Is Gideon okay with it though?"
She hadn't had the chance to talk to Gideon about this. He's been busy at work with the bid for Crimson Universe. But she's sure he'll be fine with it. He was okay with the idea for the first time. Besides, she's working with Sana on lyrics for a song, it doesn't interfere with his work.
"He's fine with it."
"That's great to hear. Can I just use your washroom, real quick?"
" Sure it's just down the hall." she says and Sana leaves.
Sana enters Gideon's home office rather than being going for washroom.
"This must be Gideon's home office."
And she starts doing something on the computer.
At the office,
"I can't believe we lost the bid to Great Hit. I'm so sorry Gideon." says Cynthia.
" To think we only lost to them by $10. It's going down as the greatest joke of the industry. How could this have happened? We slogged out the details, we ensured everything was confidential...." says Smith.
" We have a f*cking mole in our company, that's how it happened! Someone must have leaked our bidding offer to Great Hit! If I find out who's responsible for this, I swear I'll kill this person!"
At agency,
" Billboards, here we come!" says Trinity.
At office,
" You have been at it all day, Gideon. I don't think there's anything we can do about it now."
" Do you hear that Smith? That's the voice of my dad saying I'm disappointed. F*ck. There must be some other way to turn this around. "
" It's not your fault Gideon. We were sold out by one of us. "
" If you don't have any constructive comments, Smith, I'd prefer you leave me alone to fix this. Hunt for the rat in our company if you want, but do not stand in my way." and Smith leaves after he had even of it.
At home,
Gideon hasn't called or texted entire day. He must be really busy with the Crimson bid. Guess she will start on the pizza without him.
She starts the television. She's watching the news.
"The hottest news in the Hollywood tonight - The Crimson Universal Franchise has been acquired by the Great Hit Entertainment! We can't wait to see what the production team has in stored for us!"
No! Gideon lost the bid?! He didn't get it?!
Nobody's picking...up.
At office,
"Here's the file you asked for." Adriana says, but to her surprised Gideon is fast asleep. She giggles.
How can someone like Cara match up to him? He don't belongs to her.
And Adrianna clicks a photo of him sleeping.
"Just a peck on the lips wouldn't kill...."
But when she does it, " What are you doing?" asks Smith.
"Just taking a selfie of his sleeping face. I was going to use it to tease him when he wakes up. We're close like that. Loosen up! It's been a tough day, and u thought this would bring us laughs!" she stand up to walk out.
" I've never seen Gideon happier."
"I'm sorry...? What's that supposed to mean?"
" Cara has a effect on Gideon that no other women even came close to. Take my advice and give up on any fallacies you have. I know your past together but let's face it, it's the past. You're a beautiful women Adrianna. You don't have to stoop to this."
" I think there's kind of some missunderstanding between us, Smith. I just joined the company, you just met me."
" Yet I already see right through you.
She leaves.
"ELDER MR CLEMONTE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Smith yells.
" Dad?!?!" and Gideon falls of the chair.
" I must have dozzed off."
"I wouldn't be surprised. We've been pulling nighters for this project. Here's a constrictive comment for you if you need some eye shut though - You have an office bedroom for that. There are wild coyotes out here and u can't fend them off forever."
" Maybe I shouldn't even be at Clemonte's building at this hour. He must be swamped if he's not picking up my calls. I-I should go....."
And then if reminds her of that talk.
" Did I ever cross your mind?"
" Yes, you're somehow struck in it and I can't get you out. I'm worried sick and I dashed out of the house before I even realised where I was going - To be by your side! But I really shouldn't be here....I would just be a hindrance..." thinks to herself, when she hears someone calling her name.
"Cara?" and it's Adrianna.
"What are you doing here?"
"I've been trying to get a hold of Gideon but he hasn't returned my calls. Thought I'd stop by him to check on him. Especially after I heard the news.....I'm so sorry, you guys must have worked so hard for it."
" Yeah...it's upsetting. But I am surprised you had to hear about somewhere else. Gideon doesn't tell you about work stuff?"
But Cara doesn't answer her questions.
" I'm sure he doesn't want to bore you. We've been scrambling to come up with an explanation for the boards, looking for alternatives...it's a war in there. Between you and me Gideon is pissed. He's been grumpy all day, doesn't want anyone in his office expect me."
" Oh." she awkwardly says.
" But I'm sure he'll make an expection for you! I can tell him you're here - " she says.
" Oh no! It's alright! I should leave, I wouldn't want to get in his way." and Cara leaves.
" I'll tell him you stopped by!"
"Not." Adrianna silently says.
At office bedroom.
Gideon is sleeping. Peacefully.
Then at his forehead someone's hand seems to caresses him....
He wakes up and his surprised.....