"Cough!!! W-what did you say, b-boss" Karl asked, unable to believe his words.
His workaholic boss, who never once averted his eyes from his work, was asking him about personal stuff.
It was huge for Karl to get shocked because Tristan never showed his restlessness over a date on which he had gone with Miss Brown.
Tristan knew Karl was surprised by his question but couldn't stop himself from asking because the entire day had passed since the morning call, but Ashley did not call him back.
Did she treat their blind date as blind and forget about him just because it wasn't essential for her to remember at all?
Tristan waited for him to speak but looking at his shocked face, he couldn't hold for too long and asked him to leave.
After Karl was out of his cabin, he pulled out his phone and looked to see if she had missed being called or texted by mistake. But when he saw his phone and unlocked it, there wasn't any notification from her, which disturbed him.
"Did she forget about me" his voice sounded a little upset because it was too long since he had heard from Ashley, and now it bothered him.
****
A black Bugatti stopped in front of the Melanin Internationals building, and a tall man stepped out from it.
Removing his sunglass, the man adjusted his leather jacket and entered the building.
As he walked inside, many eyes fell on him, especially women who drooled, gawking at him as he passed by heading toward the elevator.
Entering the elevator, he headed straight to the last floor of the building. Taking a long stride, he walked towards Tristan's cabin.
"How long are you going to ignore my calls Tristan Knight" the man barged in with anger and walked toward Tristan, standing right in front of him.
Tristan, who had his eyes on the file in front of him, arched his brow as he looked up, glaring at who was that mannerless person who dared to barge in without knocking on the door.
"Get out and knock on the door before getting in" Tristan's cold eyes glared at the man, who dropped his shoulder and looked at Tristan in disbelief.
"How can you be so mean to your one and only friend Tristan" Noah's voice sounded depressed and ignoring the deadly glare, he walked around and took the chair for him to sit.
Noah Madison was Tristan's childhood friend and the most annoying person who never left Tristan to get pissed at him for a single day.
Noah owned a gaming company name Fight and played, which he established after fighting with his father and disowning their family business.
"I would've been generous if you had been quiet and didn't keep pestering me for two days" Tristan ignored his displeased look and pulled back his attention from the file.
Noah, with Tristan the other night in the club, left him hanging when he found a chick to spend some time with.
Being a labeled playboy, Noah never sticks to one girl and has many ways to flirt with every new woman.
"You just left without any word-" Noah's voice died when he saw Tristan's cold glare.
"Okay, fine, I was the one who left you alone" accepting his mistake, Noah saw Tristan's lips twitch.
Averting his eyes from Noah's dull face, Tristan looked back at the file and asked, turning the page," What did you want to talk about with me that you couldn't stop calling me."
After leaving Tristan in the club, Noah spent quality time with a girl. But the next day, when he woke up, he was bombarded with Gwen's endless messages asking for her brother, who didn't return home the other night.
And that made Noah and Gwen think deeply about where Tristan went when he wasn't with Noah.
"By the way, where did you go after I left," Noah asked, as he had no clue about his whereabouts.
If Gwen hadn't called him, he would have been in the delusion that Tristan had gone back home that night.
Tristan's body stiffened at his words, and he cleared his throat," I returned to the company to complete the pending work."
Noah's eyes widened in shock, looking at his highly boring friend who ditched the hot and sexy beauties in the club and returned to complete his pending work.
Noah knew that Tristan wasn't into clubs and parties, but he did not return to work the least he expected from him.
"Who on earth goes back to work leaving such hot beauties all around you" Noah could believe his friend.
Noah dragged him to the club just to let him relax and groom around, leaving that boring life behind.
Ignoring his overdramatic face, Tristan averted his eyes from him. He knew he wouldn't tell Noah where he was because this big-mouth man would keep teasing him throughout his life.
"Gwen sounded so excited imagining you being hooking up with some girl, but she was so wrong-" Noah's words made him jerk and lift his head.
"What!!.. Gwen knew I was you," he asked, not knowing that his little sister was aware of him going to the club with Noah.
"Do you think she will let me go without knowing where we were" Noah, who treated Gwen like his younger sister, couldn't ignore her blabbering even if he wanted to.
"That naughty brat must have told everyone at home about me hooking up with a girl. You shouldn't have said her anything" Tristan rubbed his temple in worry.
Gwen liked to poke her nose in Tristan's matter from the day she came to learn about Ashley. He was so upset when he found that Ashley already had someone she loved, and he had no chance to pursue her.
Gwen was the one who asked him to let the girl go and find someone else who was better than her, but even if he tried to do that, he couldn't erase Ashley's face from his mind.
It was like she had captured every corner of his mind, and he couldn't think of anyone else except her.
Noah, who saw Tristan blaming him, felt like he was being targeted for no reason. What was he supposed to say when Gwen kept a knife on his neck to make him spill?
He never understood why these siblings were so dominating, didn't let anyone speak in front of them, and liked to bully him.
Finding Noah zip his lips, Tristan shook his head, thinking about what all Gwen knew about him.
*****
Knight mansion
Gavin and Gwen returned after attending their classes. Being in the same college, they didn't prefer to take the same course as they didn't like anyone poking their nose in each other's matters.
Entering her room, Gwen slammed her body on her bed and closed her eyes as she had the most tiring today in her college.
"I shouldn't have spared a glance at him" Gwen heaved a sigh and turned her body, looking at her bag with a love letter.
Gwen knight was the college's most beautiful girl. She had many suitors who tried to woo her but rejected them as no one felt good for her.
She wanted to focus on her studies rather than getting caught with love affairs. She wanted to be like her big brother and join the company so she could learn so much more from him.
Thinking about her brother, she snaps and looks at the news, mainly about Ashley's ex and his current girlfriend, Jane.
"How could you fall for such a scum who didn't even feel remorse about his breakup and found another girl for him" Gwen never liked this Greg guy because he was the biggest hurdle in her brother's love life.
But not anymore... with Ashley being aware of his truth, she couldn't help but feel happy that Greg was out of her life and now her brother had a chance with Ashley.
She was busy feeling happy her phone began to buzz. Looking at the caller, her face broke into a big smile.
"Hello.. brother Noah.. what makes you remember this little sister of yours" Gwen had always treated Noah just like Tristan, and she admired how he solely went established his own company.
But even if she admired him, she still had a side that liked to bully him. He was someone who treated her like a kid from the beginning giving in to her every demand, which made her more naughty.
"You brat. Because of you, your brother just scolded me" Noah, who had sneaked out from Tristan's room after getting his deadly cold glare, felt like he was stuck in some icy hard place, and it was so impossible to run away from there.
Gwen, who was confused, didn't remember what she had done to make her brother upset.
"Brother Noah, I don't remember if I had done any mischievousness to make elder brother angry, so please will you enlighten me" she rolled her eyes and laid back on her bed lazily.
She knew Noah was a scared cat in that big hulk-like body, and she felt amused at how come he got the courage to fight with his father to open his empire.