Clara felt all the air knocked out of her lungs as she sat frozen on the chair. Those deep hazel eyes looked lifeless as they stared at her.
In these four years, she tried her best to erase every little detail of this man but fate played a cruel game by bringing her in front of him.
His presence was like a deep nail piercing inside her heart that kept throbbing as it remembered him.
Watching her sit still without moving Adrian smirked. After all these years, he finally saw her again and now he wouldn't let her go until he got his revenge on her.
His eyes darkened as he kept staring at her
*****
THUD!!
Clara slammed open the restroom door and entered with a stumbling foot. She was still trying to process her thoughts after what she came across a few minutes ago.
"Adrian Emerson is her new boss" she mumbled sprinting to the wash basin and standing in front of the mirror holding the marble island.
She could feel her heart pound against her chest and her breathing hitched at the mention of his name.
Clara had no idea how things turned out this way. The man she knew back then turned out to be a CEO of a multinational company and she had no clue about it.
Reaching her trembling hand to turn on the tap, Clara cupped a handful of water and splashed it on her face. Her mind was in complete chaos as she tried to connect the dots from her past where she would even come across one truth about this man.
"No!! I can't work here" Clara snapped looking at her face in the mirror. She didn't want to come across any person from her past that would open her wound, making her fall apart.
With this thought, she wiped off her face and adjusted her appearance before stepping out of the restroom.
*****
[Austin's cabin]
"I can't do anything, Miss Mathew. You've already signed the contract" Austin couldn't help as he was tied by his boss's instructions.
"But I have a right to change my decision. And I decided to not work here" Clara snapped as she couldn't remain cool after meeting Adrian.
Austin kept his face straight but deep inside he felt like crying. Why was his boss so overbearing, he thought recalling his words.
'Make sure she doesn't come back and ask to cancel the contract. If she does then be ready for extra work' Austin cried mentally and looked at the woman who also looked the same as his boss.
Who would've thought behind an innocent-looking face there was a tigress hiding?
Composing his thoughts, Austin passed the documents she signed before agreeing on the job." Didn't you read them before signing?" he asked.
Clara creased as she looked at the papers she signed a while ago and opened them only to get another shock of her life.
"I wasn't told about this" Clara looked at Austin in horror.
She was so into her mind on getting the job that she forgot to read the papers and signed them without going through the clause mentioned in it.
"Which was why, I asked you to read them earlier. Now you know that if you cancel the contract you will have to compensate" Austin smiled when he saw the fatigue appearance on her face.
'It's working... it's working' he felt squealing but held back his excitement.
Clara's face turned pale after reading the compensation she had to pay for breaching the contract.
'For god sake, she was yet to start working' Clara felt like crying as she finally read the entire contract. There was no way she would be able to compensate him this huge sum of amount.
"Fine! I will work" she declared after going through much thinking.
She wouldn't get bothered by his presence around her as their relationship would purely be of boss and assistant. Apart from that, she had nothing to do with his life.
Getting up Clara walked out of the cabin making Austin finally breathe a sigh of relief. Squealing at his victory he immediately rushed to inform his boss about the final decision.
*****
Stepping out of the building Clara booked a cab and headed home. She was mentally tired and wanted to rest.
Never she had thought, that one day she would come to meet him again who would also be her boss. But now, she can't erase the fact that she was his assistant and would be working for him.
"You can do it" she mumbled to herself as she drove to her place.
Once she entered the house, tossing her bag on the couch she slumped on the couch tiredly.
She was still skeptical of him being the CEO of Skylar Corps. Quickly getting up she pulled out her phone from her bag and searched for Skylar Corps but couldn't find Adrian's picture anywhere.
There was only a handful of information about the successor of Skylar Corps apart from that everything was hidden.
"Argh!! He fooled me" Clara suddenly felt cheated. In those days of being together he never once told her about his identity and now when he stood in front of her as the multi-billionaire she felt like everything about him she knew was a lie.
Through her phone, Clara felt like venting her anger on something. She was such a fool to get attached to someone who from the very first day lied to her.
*****
[Adrian's Cabin]
"Boss this file contains every information related to Clara Mathew" Passing the file to Adrian Austin took a step back.
Looking through the information, Adrian smirked," So it was her. No doubt I felt a familiar feeling" he mumbled under his breath making Austin observe Adrian suspiciously.
He still couldn't understand why his boss asked him to get Clara's information when everything was already mentioned inside her profile.
"But there is one thing I couldn't find about" Austin paused when he saw Adrian look at him sharply.
"What?" he asked with a deep cold voice.
"After moving from this city, she went underground for almost a year and no one around her knew about it" he finished making Adrian's face turn darker.
Austin felt like standing on a lump of burning coal as his boss's dark intense aura started making him feel hot.
Adrian seemed like thinking for a while when he opened his mouth averting his eyes at Austin," Keep looking, and don't stop until you find everything" his words were calm but there was a glint of warning lingering in them.
Getting the unseen threat Austin bobbed his head and dashed out of the room before he first due to uneasiness.
Pulling back his attention to the file in front of him Adrian looked at Clara's image. She looked different than before. Her slim petite body had turned curvy from the right part. Even her chest seems bigger than before.
Adrian couldn't help but feel captivated by the way her appearance changed in these four years. Was it because he saw her after so many years that he couldn't take his eyes off her face or.... she looked more alluring than before?
Just a small glance at her and he found his heart palpitating. The feeling he had been suppressing all these years began to surface again.
Forcing them back, he stood up from the chair and pulled out a cigarette strip before walking to the window. Lighting it, he took a long puff and blew out the air as his eyes kept watching outside the busy city.
Adrian wasn't a heavy smoker but to relieve his stress he would end up taking one. Once he felt better he closed his eyes and took a deep breath when Austin's words crossed his mind.
'Where did she go in that one year' he thought and opened his eyes as they darkened remembering the past incident.