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CHAPTER 19
That day had gone smoothly for Skai thanks to remaining cooked up in her office rather than bumping into Damien.
She did not think her nerves could take anymore of his silent tantrums. Not that she cared, or so she told herself but deep down, she was bothered.
After busying herself with all she had to do, she started to wrap up for the day. Then her phone rang.
Grrrrrr…!!!
Skai took a sideways glance to check who the caller was. The caller ID bodly displayed Ethan's name on the screen.
Her lips curled sideways a bit in a smile as she grabbed her phone and picked up the call.
"Hey Skai." His voice came in from the other end of the phone.
"Hello Ethan, what's up?" Skai replied.
"Done for the day?" He asked, disregarding her question.
"Uhmmm…" Skai started, but paused as she took a quick glance at her table. "Almost, why?" She asked.
"Well… I'm outside your office building, here to take you home."
"Really?" She asked, standing up to go take a quick look from her office window. "You didn't have to," she said, moved by his heart warming gesture.
Ethan had always been that way going out of his way for her even without asking for it.
"I'm here now, so…" he trailed off, waiting for Skai's response.
"I'll be down in a couple of minutes," she replied, returning to her table to quickly pack her stuffs, shut down her laptop and leave the office.
As she moved through the corridor to the elevator, she said her goodbyes to a few colleagues around and soon, she was walking out of the double revolving glass door that leads in and out of Sterling Corporation.
Just up ahead, she saw Ethan reclined against his black Rolls Royce Phantom, his face lit up at the sight of her.
As a gentleman that he was, he went around and opened the passenger door out for her.
*******
~5 minutes back~
Seated behind his glass desk in his office, Davion tapped lightly on his laptop, his mind completely off from what was staring at him on the screen.
He had a task to complete and right now he was thinking about how to rush work, travel for the needed meeting and then return to join Damien for another one on Monday.
A soft sigh escaped his lips as he brought his attention back to his laptop screen.
"I guess booking that flight it is then."
Knock! Knock!
"Enter."
A few seconds later a young black haired lady dressed in a simple office green chiffon blouse and black skirt, walked into his office with an envelop in her hand.
"Sir."
Sparing her a glance, Davion inquired, "Yes, Mitchelle?"
"Sorry to bother you but this just came in." She lifted the envelop slightly, catching his attention.
"What's in it?"
"No idea but it is from Ray Royal Enterprises," Mitchelle explained.
"Okay." He stretched his hand, waiting for her to hand over the envelope. Taking his cue, Mitchelle did just that and took a step back.
"If that is all, you may excuse yourself and pack up."
Her ears perked up slightly at his offer but Mitchelle did not wish to make a mistake and decided to ask again. "Sir?"
"You heard me. You can close for the day."
"Thank you."
He waited first for her to leave before opening the envelope to check its content. His eyes scanned through the content of the invitation card in the envelope but paused at one point, his eyes widening slightly.
"Saturday?" He asked no one in particular as he dropped the invitation card, running his hands through his curly black hair.
'That's the same day with my meeting in Los Angeles, which I can't miss, but then, I also need to be here. Knowing Damien, he definitely would not attend.'
Frustrated, Davion stood up from his seat and walked over to the full length glass window in his office, overlooking the city.
'What do I do now? What to do?' He kept asking himself, thinking of how best to handle the situation as both events were important to the company.
Just then, his attention was drawn to a figure, walking up to a black car, parked just outside the office building.
Skai.
His brows creased momentarily. Almost immediately, an idea popped in his mind, a mischievous smirk spreading on his lips as he shifted his gaze from Skai's figure entering into the car with whoever it was picking her, and to the invitation card on his table.
'That's it.' He voiced inwardly.
On a normal day, Damien would try as much as he could to avoid an event like this… unless he had an incentive or something that would compel him to.
And Davion might have just found out what it is, or in this scenario… who.
He chuckled lightly, his eyes glinting. "Damien there's no escaping this."
*********
Unlike Davion, Damien remained focus on the work he had to finish before heading home that day.
Rather than leave and complete his work at home, he did not wish to give Raphael a chance to escape and ruin things for him.
Should the latter resurface now, he knows he'd have no chance than to work.
Just thinking about how he had won over him the last couple of days made Damien's lips curl upward.
Knock! Knock!
Rather than answering, Damien remained focused on his work. A few seconds later, the door knob turned pushing open to reveal a smiling Davion walking in.
'What's he smiling about when I am choked with work?' Damien complained internally.
If he could wipe that smile off his face, he would.
"What east wind blew you in?" he inquired of him.
"The one from Ray Royals," Davion explained and handed him the invitation card.
All it took was a glance at the partly opened invitation card from Davion before glancing back to the culprit.
"I'm not going."
"But you have to. I'm engaged," Davion refuted as he pulled the chair close to him and sat down. "I need to be in L.A. this weekend," he added.
"Still…"
"We can't choose to not honour this, Damien. You have to go or you make the trip."
"Tsk." He gritted, finding it hard to back out. "I don't have a plus one."
The moment he said those words, Damien regretted it seeing the mischievous glint in Davion's eyes.
"Oh… but you do." Damien arched his eyebrows only to have his eyes widened shortly after. "Skai."