"You always support her, grandfather."
"She is a copy of your father," the old man laughed.
"You know I'm sitting right here," another deep voice sounded in the room
"Close your ears," the old man retorted with a mocking and playful tone.
"It's my office. Get out." Marcus retorted with seriousness in voice, not taking his eyes off his laptop.
Just then, Cristian shut Marcus's laptop to earn a deadly glare from him.
"You need to be serious about this, dad. You know how badly she's been avoiding you people after the last match making."
A deep chuckle sounded at the mention.
Talking about the night four months ago was no less than taboo. Not because something bad happened, but it was humiliating and torturous for their guest who fled with his tail between his legs.
Back in her office, Ivy was on the 5th floor, showing Goldie's designs to the designers and passing instructions.
Soon, editors from the 7th and junior designers from the 3rd floor joined them. A meeting was decided for tomorrow at 9 am.
Seeing it was around 4 pm and that she was going to her family mansion after several months, she decided to go to the mall and get some gifts.
She could get something from her company, but she wanted to get them something they hadn't heard of yet.
Entering the mall, she got her mom and dad a perfume, newly launched by the brands they liked and always used. She was sure they hadn't gotten it yet as it had only been two days since it had come out and they don't follow such news but rather of criminals, deaths, attacks etc. which was of their forte.
She smelled the trial perfume and was sure it would be the best choice.
She got her grandfather a set of tie brooches. Even at his 60s, he looked like in his late 40s and was as stylish as her.
There were three tie brooches, one had a gold-plated feather at the end, the second had the fallen autumn leaf which was also gold plated and the third had a silver-plated deer face at the end.
The three were highly detailed and she examined them thoroughly for any mistake she could find, but there were none.
She entered a famous leather shoes store and bought handcrafted brown leather shoes for her brother.
They had a dark brown sole with a good grip and had a rich shine throughout. It was a new design, and she knew her brother would love it.
He liked leather a lot. He could even have made an entire house from leather if it was possible.
She had been smiling to herself the entire time while shopping and remembering her family and their tantrums.
They may seem cold and indifferent to the outside world, but it was only behind closed doors that their faced would come off and they'd laugh and have meals with joy like any other close family.
She was in her own world as she was walking to the exit of the mall when she bumped into someone.
Looking up, she saw grey orbs on one of the most handsome face she had ever seen.
She thought the jogging devil was the most good looking but in front this man's looks, they were on the same level but a high pedestal.
Well, it was mostly the eyes which led to this conclusion.
Ivy has always been fascinated by eyes and the more beautiful the eyes, the more good looking the person in her eyes. And she loved grey.
Moreover, the man was wearing a suit in the shade of grey without a shirt. Ivy could see the toned muscles which peeked underneath his waistcoat and was left awestruck.
"Sorry." She heard the deep, calm yet monotonous voice of the man, breaking her stupor and felt herself shiver lightly.
"It's okay, it was my fault anyways." She was surprised to have not stuttered at all but felt angry for speaking in such a soft, mellow voice.
She noticed the man wasn't looking at her and followed his line of sight. There was a bakery serving various cakes, muffins, bread and whatnot.
Suddenly remembering Cristian wanted her to meet someone, she realized she bought nothing for him or her. She didn't know who it was or the gender. It could be another man they wanted her to date, or some girl Chris was interested in or perhaps his girlfriend.
These were the only two conclusions she came up with and the first one made her wanna claw the man's face before he steps into her parents' sacred villa.
It wouldn't be nice to gift her family and not the 'guest' whom she didn't want to meet at all, fearing the worst. She decided to get something from the bakery.
She looked at the man she bumped into. Seeing he didn't reply or say another word, she took it that he was done with her and walked to the bakery acting as if she just didn't care about a certain stranger.
She picked a variety of cookies to be packed in a single gift-like box and chose some different scones and cupcakes to be packed in separate boxes each.
She didn't care of the flavors mixing up as she thought of ways to torture the 'guest' if they were to be a man and make him run for his life without violence.
Having everything packed, she left and saw the 'grey man' now gone. He didn't enter the bakery, nor didn't anyone else after her.
Claiming him weird, she left to her family mansion. It was already 7 pm and she dreaded how fast time went by.
She drove to the family mansion lazily as she felt irritated by everything around her but thinking about her family, she felt better.
Entering the mansion gates, she parked her car herself and walked to the living room, gifts in hand.
Many servants bowed and greeted her, to whom she responded with a polite smile or nod.
Just as she entered, she saw Michael energetically telling a man in a navy-blue suit about her and her hobbies. How amazing and well-mannered she is, how hard working she is, and God knows whatnot. Bullshit.
"She is an 'overnight succ-,'"
"Grandfather!" Michael got cut off by his granddaughter's sudden sharp exclaim and greeting, but that did falter his mood one bit.
"Oh! My loving granddaughter is here," he exclaimed coming to her with open arms and engulfing her in a warm hug.
Ivy only reached his shoulder and hence, couldn't see the man's face when he turned since she was already in the old man's arms.
Just as Michael let go, Cristian pulled her to him.
"you're finally here!"
"I don't remember being late, it isn't even 8 yet." She stated in matter-of-fact tone.
"You bought us presents!" Cristian exclaimed not finding any way to retort to her statement and pulled the bags from her hands, placing them on the table.
"How have you been doing?" a cheery voice came as the speaker took Ivy into a hug as well.
"All well, mother. Good evening father." She greeted her father with a slight nod of the head.
"Don't be so formal," Isobel chided her daughter for the formal greeting towards Marcus who simply nodded his head.
The father daughter duo weren't specifically close and had a formal relation on the outside. They did help each other and care for the other but didn't really know how to show it.