"Hello, darling," Ariana heard a man's voice as soon as she stepped into her office and she looked up at once from her phone.
The door was shut behind her as she settled her eyes on the man who had the label of being her 'fiance'.
Just on paper, that is.
"And what are you doing here, Derek?" Ariana crossed her arms as she stared at him.
Derek Lowell was a tall handsome young man just nearing his thirties and his black hair which almost covered his face was pulled back with an ample of gel to reveal his freshly cut face.
He rested his lean weight on her desk and he kept his hands on his pockets as his green eyes gazed at his beautiful fiance in her baby blue feminine suit.
Derek and Ariana had gotten engaged early last year after Ariana was forced to do so because his father, head of the Lowell's Industry, had asked for a deal.
The deal turned out to be a marriage proposal to his eldest son and with that, he would help her out in the areas she had difficulties in her business.
Ariana wasn't really one to accept such deals but back then, her company's sales had dropped drastically and she needed any help she could get and the Lowells were the only option.
Had she known that she would have to be dealing with a clingy and annoying persona like Derek here, maybe she would have thought twice.
"Surprise. Aren't you happy to see me?" Derek spread his arms in the air with a cheeky smile.
"I have told you severally that I don't like when you visit my working place unannounced," Ariana muttered as she walked into the office to drop her bag on the desk as she sat on her chair.
"Yeah, I know, but since you seem to be avoiding me these days, I went against your wishes," he said as he looked down at her.
"I wasn't ignoring you," Ariana rubbed her head as she sighed.
"You didn't answer my calls, you canceled the lunch date we had, and you wouldn't even let me in if I came to your house so I had no other choice," Derek defended and Ariana sighed under her breath.
What she would do to tell him that he was the least of her concerns at the moment.
She was the CEO of two companies and she also had a death list to fulfill. Why on earth would she care about a fragile papa's boy like him?!
"If you want, you can leave now and we'll have lunch later this afternoon. How does that sound?" she asked and prayed he would agree and get out of here.
"So you can cancel it again like last time? Definitely not," he threw back at her.
Ariana pursed her lips as she tried to figure out how to let him scram from her as soon as possible. She had already used the date trick too many times.
"Are you still angry because of what you saw that night? I told you she was just a friend, baby," Derek pleaded with his eyes.
Ariana had caught him with another girl latched on his neck when she had gone on a business meeting in a hotel.
Actually, Ariana couldn't be any happier to see him with someone else, she had been looking for a way to call off the stupid engagement with him so she could have some peace.
How fascinating would it be if the headlines would be that the only son of the Lowells cheated on his pure and pitiful girlfriend? Pulling a sob act was her trait after all.
"Look, Derek, I've told you severally that I don't really give two sticks about what you do with your life. You can bang the entire population, and I wouldn't care less. Just stay away from my work," she deadpanned.
"I know you are still angry-" he sighed under his breath.
"Oh, dear Father!" Ariana stomped her palms on her desk as she stood up in exasperation.
Just then, her phone buzzed on the table as the screen flashed with Jared's number.
Both of them looked down as they had different expressions on their faces.
Ariana's was of surprise. Maybe Jared was calling her because she didn't respond to his text.
And Derek's was of slight fury. Why on earth was Ariana glancing at the phone like that?
She was Ariana! She never hesitated to do anything, so who was calling her that she had to think twice before she picked up?
"Who's Jerry Mouse?" Derek asked as he looked up from the phone.
"Nobody who is none of your concern," she picked up her phone from the table.
"Please I need to work, leave my office," she gestured towards the door.
"No, I won't go until you promise me that you aren't angry with me," Derek shook his head and Ariana mumbled a few curses under her breath.
She knew there wasn't another way to get him out of here.
"I am not angry, Derek," she gritted against her teeth.
"Fine, I'll believe you," he smiled slightly.
"Lunch at our usual place," he muttered.
"Fine, now can you leave?" Ariana stared at him with an almost deadly look on her face.
"Can I?" he moved forward a little but she pulled back immediately.
"Don't push it, D," she hissed and he sighed.
"Goodbye, Miss CEO," he muttered before he walked out of the office.
After he stepped out of the room, Ariana could finally breathe out with ease and she plopped on her chair as she opened her phone quickly.
She dialed Jared's number and hoped he would pick up and not be annoyed with her.
'Hey,' his voice came up.
"Hey, sorry I couldn't pick up your call, I was in a...meeting," she said.
'It's okay, CEO, I understand. How are you doing?' he asked.
"Fine, fine, I'm good. Just having a really terrible headache," she winced slightly to convince him.
'What?! Are you serious? I told you to go to the doctor yesterday but you always have to be so stubborn. How bad is it? Do you-'
"Calm down, Jerry Mouse, I was just joking," Ariana laughed as she heard him sigh from the other side.
"I can barely even feel the bandage," she added.
'Very funny, Miss Ariana. Don't you know you shouldn't be playing with your health at this stage?' Jared asked.
"Oh, what stage? The stage where I'm just a few months to dying?" she raised an eyebrow.
'I didn't say that so don't get angry again and start putting words into my mouth,' Jared fidgeted as he thought she was offended again.
"I'm not angry, Jerry. Thank you for worrying about me though I have to admit it's a little annoying but it's cool, feels nice," she smiled.
'Oh...I see,' he said, almost shyly.
"By the way, what about you? Are you sure you didn't have to visit a physiotherapist after last night's hard work?" she snickered.
'Nah, it wasn't that bad, although I did wake up late this morning, I woke up feeling great,' he said.
"Look at you, just getting started and you're already fitting in," she teased and he chuckled.
'Do...do you have any plans later? Maybe for lunch or something?' Jared asked and she could imagine him scratching the back of his head.
A split thought came into her mind to persuade her to accept his offer but the better part of her could already see Derek walking into her office after she canceled another lunch date with him.
She couldn't risk another session of Derek's drama.
"Uh, sorry but I have plans already," she answered against her will.
'Oh...' Jared said with a deflated attitude.
'It's okay, we can always go some other time,' his words and tone barely matched.
"Yeah," she bit her lip and resisted the urge to tell him what he wanted to hear and what she wanted to say.
'Okay, I gotta go. Can't wait to have another adventure with you. Bye,'
"Bye," Ariana said before the call was hung up.