A few days had passed already, it was around ten days since Mark returned to the country.
Most of the time, he remained in his penthouse working his muscles out, or looking for whether any suspicious people watching him to make sure no one around him is in any danger.
He also thoroughly checked to see if currently any annoying fly was buzzing around his potential girlfriend and also planned out some scenarios to approach her in a proper way.
He also accustomed himself to the climate in his city again, went for drives in his cars and vehicles to double check if someone was following him or not.
Maybe he was overthinking a bit, but considering some things he had done and enemies he had made, he felt it was necessary to be cautious.
At noon on his eleventh day back in the city, he was in his walk-in closet looking at his options to wear something nice for that day.
He finally decided to don a black semi-formal suit over a sky blue shirt, formal pants and black boots, giving off a vibe of formal wear as well as casual wear at the same time, looking extremely dashing.
He perfectly kept his poker face and without using any perfume he just combed his hair neatly. Taking the keys to his low-key maroon colored BMW M8 Gran Coupe, and went to his parking lot.
As per his habit, he checked the vehicle inside out for any differences. After making sure that everything was alright, he exited his apartment complex driving at a peaceful pace.
Mark parked his car at a parking lot of a shopping complex near ALC International, and went on foot towards the building.
As he was nearing his destination, in the first time in his life he started feeling nervous and jittery. He began to think if he was really doing the right thing.
After throwing away all the nervousness out of his head, he stood in front of the building proudly showcasing the logo 'ALC' and thought to himself,
'Its finally the day we meet. Lets see how it goes'.
_______________
Inside the ALC International building,
A monthly meeting has just finished inside a meeting room. Julia dismissed all her department managers and headed towards her office alongwith her assistant.
"Send me the minutes of this meeting by the end of the day after editing it properly and keep a watch on those crafty directors. You can go have your lunch, I'll just order a take out today", said Julia to her assistant as soon as they exited the meeting room.
Sarah nodded and thanked her boss before going to have her lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Julia went to her office on the top floor and pushed open her door and went inside, but felt something was off.
She couldn't figure out exactly what was bothering her, but she felt like someone was watching her every move.
She ignored it for the time being and closed the door without looking anywhere and started moving towards her desk, but she got frightened when she heard a cold deep voice saying,
"Hello Ms. Julia. How are you doing?"
Julia halted in her steps and turned around and was stunned to see who was standing in her office, at some distance from the entrance.
He looked so handsome wearing a casual business outfit that she was awestruck by him.
Julia was wearing a navy blue business suit over a white shirt and black pants with black shoes which gave her a formal yet sexy and alluring look.
Mark was also in a daze after again seeing such a beauty right in front of him. Those eyes. He was reminiscing the scene that took place about a year ago...
One year ago, Country E:
A business banquet was arranged by a billionaire in the country and many famous business people as well as political people were invited.
Since, the billionaire wanted to add some spice, he set up the masquerade theme for the banquet, which he thought will be beneficial to interact with people genuinely without any facade.
Everyone present was looking glamorous in their evening outfits for the party and were anonymously interacting with each other without knowing anyone personally.
Light music by a live orchestra can be heard in the grand banquet hall which was decorated very luxuriously for the night. Food was set up at one side in a buffet system as people were eating, drinking or dancing peacefully.
A young man wearing a black tuxedo, looking extremely handsome was holding a flute of champagne and sipping on it from time to time as his eyes were following a particular person in the crowd, conversing with a group of businessmen.
Although the person, a middle aged man was laughing alongwith other businessmen, the young man knew that deep down the person was definitely scared shit of his predicament.
'Lets see how long you can escape our clutches, Mr. Philip' thought the young man to himself with a devilish smirk.
Suddenly, his eyes landed on a figure of a woman wearing a beautiful dark blue mermaid gown and had a mask of the same color.
She seemed to be in a predicament, as a man was repeatedly trying to strike up a conversation with her.
The woman's figure was a perfect one, the best the young man has ever noticed. She was looking enchanting in the dress and was surrounded by a beautiful and bright aura.
Usually, the young man would ignore women and avoid them like plague, since he didn't have a favorable opinion of them but that night he took those fateful steps without thinking.
He decided to help out a little. He heard a male voice through the micro earpiece he was wearing, "Where are you going now? That's not the purpose of your attending the banquet!"
When the person on the other end saw that it was not working, he again said, "I'm telling you its not the time to flirt or pick up girls. We'll be scolded later if anything goes wrong!"
The young man ignored the blabbering and went to the two people who were standing side by side. The woman was feeling awkward, while the man was trying to get all clingy with her.
The young man said to the woman,
"Oh, here you are honey! I was looking for you on the opposite side. I hope you didn't wait for long. Anyways, lets dance",
and without giving her any chance to say anything grabbed her wrist gently while giving her a meaningful look through his eyes as their faces were hidden behind the masks.
The woman hesitated for a while, but when she saw the knowing look the man was giving her, she knew he was helping her out, so she accepted his help.
Even she was confused about why she was readily trusting a stranger but when she felt her hand in the stranger's hand, she felt the warmth so right that she couldn't refuse it.
She smiled and looked behind and saw that the person irritating her earlier had a sad look on his face as he lost a chance to score a beauty.
"Thank you so much", said the lady.
The young man ignored her thanks and playfully extended his hand towards her and bowed and said, "Can I have this dance?"
The lady was looking at the stranger in awe and smiled and accepted the dance, that was going to put their fate together, probably forever.