Meeting Mr. Mogul: A Billionaire Contemporary Romance (30 page)

I was enticed by the mini chandeliers inside the restaurant and vintage wall lamps placed on the side post. The square tables, which were painted in matte white, were very regal. The couches we were sitting on also had the same shade as the table painted on its frame with a lavender-colored cushion.

I’m literally confused about William’s behavior today. The breakfast in the morning, the baseball game, why was he still trying after all I’ve said to him? He can’t be that stubborn, but I’ve seen him do worse.

“So…” I started after I finished my assessment; my tone mirrored my suspicion.

“So…” he copied my tone, his eyes glistening in amusement. His eyes bore on my face as he tried to read my expression.

“I know what you’re thinking, Andy. I’m not softening you up after what I did. I know I was a stupid jerk, and I respect your opinion about me,” he stated after I didn’t say anything.

“Glad that we are on the same page…” I mumbled in agreement. “What do you want from me, Mr. Maxwell?” I asked, sighing in defeat and got straight to the point.

“You already know what I want out of this, Andy. I want a chance. A shot, just one shot, that’s all I’m asking,” he disclosed in desperation.

“Mr. Maxwell…” I interrupted his desperate plea, which was very out of character of him.

“Okay. I know it’s a long shot, and it’s a bad time for all of this, and very weird since I’ve been really awful with you in the start…” he murmured, interrupting me before I can say anything more.

“Mr. Maxwell…” I started again, my voice a little louder.

Finally, he stopped talking and looked at me.

“I’m willing to give you a shot. Is this not a shot right now?” I asked as I gestured at both of us seating across from each other.

“Oh. So, this counts as a date?”

“Didn’t you just ask me out? Dad told me about your ‘not so obvious’ plan,” I divulged sarcastically and rolled my eyes at him.

“Right. Thank you,” he mumbled shyly, a tone that I haven’t heard from him.

“Why are you being like this?” I asked him as I raised my eyebrow.

He scrunched in eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Why the sudden change of attitude? Don’t you play with me,” I warned as I glared him in challenge.

Before he could reply, the waiter appeared as he placed our drinks and meal in front of us. This stopped the conversation but the lack of words didn’t stop us from finishing the topic through our stares. I looked at him suspiciously and he replied with a look of innocence.

When we finished eating, he casually took small sips of his drink to refrain us from speaking. I was about to do the same, but I was in an irritated mood since I couldn’t get the answers I needed.

“Okay, Mr. Maxwell. Since you’re refusing to tell me anything, and this so-called ‘date’ is starting to go down south from here, I’d like to say something before we go back to hating each other again,” I said with a stern voice to boost my confidence. “I don’t get why you want to pursue me—whether it’s just out of curiosity or for fun—I want to make it clear that this is not going the way you want it to be. One, we are too different, and two, we live in two different worlds. I don’t want to get my hopes up that this is going to work because I know deep down that it won’t.”

“How do you know that as a fact when you haven’t even tried it? Maybe, it won’t go the way you think it’ll be.”

Now, I was speechless. Why was he so adamant on trying to make this work? I’m neither in his league nor am I an asset to him. I’m nobody and probably the most unlikely person that would be in any relationship with him.

“There is something more you aren’t telling me,” I contended softly.

“What if there isn’t and I just like you?”

My cheeks flushed as I looked away from him for a second, feeling embarrassed about our topic. “Okay… Why are we talking about the pros and cons about dating? From the way things are at the moment, we don’t have mutual feelings for each other.”

“You don’t believe that fact.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Andy. You wouldn’t be sitting here with me if it hadn’t crossed your mind.”

I rolled my eyes at his arrogant reply and looked away from him. “Okay. Maybe, at some point, it had crossed my mind… recently… but it’s not a good basis to have a relationship. And dating would be really hard after that episode with the paparazzi.”

“Well, wouldn’t that make things easier? We’ve had enough publicity and rumors of us being together. If another article comes out about us, the decision whether to admit it or not would be in our hands.”

I let out a deep sigh and placed my head on the table with my folded arm underneath it. This was the most frustrating topic I’ve ever faced in regards to having a relationship with someone. The last relationship I had was three years ago, but it didn’t work out in the end. He had willingly left me without any rational explanation.

Now, here comes a man, who used to be the person I loathed the most in the world, rushing into my life like a freight train and abruptly turning my hatred for him into something else. Even though we were just on our first date, we were already talking about being in a relationship. There was nothing remotely normal in this scenario.

“Mr. Maxwell… William…How about we see how this goes, okay? I’ll agree to at least three dates before entering into anything.”

“How about this…” William stated and trailed off, “this can be easy for both of us. You know that I like you. Do you feel the same way?”

His voice had a nervous edge as he asked his question. I eyed him bleakly. I didn’t know how to make him understand that I don’t need this kind of relationship right now. And I know if I admitted it plainly he would get his hopes up. I’m not ready for anything at the moment.

“William. I like you…” I started softly, and trailed off as his face broke into a huge grin.

“Let me finish…” I continued and warned him, “I like you. And, after all the crappy things we’ve been through, I somehow still like you. But I can’t do this with you. I can’t promise you anything but a dinner after work or lunches. I wouldn’t be that girl who would show up at every date looking pretty and classy because my first priority is my father,” I stated seriously, as I tried to keep my eyes on him.

His dejected eyes lit up with the last few sentences I said. Slowly, I watched the sadness fade away and saw his breathtaking smile. “I didn’t expect anything much from you, Andy. I know what the conditions are before I decided to want you. After all this time, I just want you and nothing else. I’ll agree to almost anything as long as you agree to be mine.”

My breath hitched as those words came out of his mouth. I didn’t expect him to have this side. I know he can be direct and stubborn but I never thought of him as reasonable and thoughtful. This situation is bad. It’s like a dart straight to my heart. He just made me like him even more.

When no more words can be said, William asked the waiter for our bill and paid. I remained silent in my seat and glanced at him under my lashes as I toyed with the table napkin on my lap. After he was done paying, he softly asked me if we should go, which I replied to with a curt nod. I was at that moment incapable of talking.

The walk out of the restaurant was awkward between us, but William handled it better than I. He had my arm looped around his while we walked back to the car. As we drove off back to my apartment, he started to ask me some questions that you usually read on any bio forms that you’d fill up. He asked for my likes and dislikes, my hobbies, and he even asked me about my passion towards art. Though I knew that he knew about all this from reading my background file, but the way he was asking with such interest made it less aggravating.

When the car slowed down as we approached our street, William’s scripted questions stopped as he shifted back to the topic we talked about in the restaurant a few minutes ago.

“I’m allowed to take you out on another date, right?” he asked in assurance like he hadn’t yet grasped that fact.

I chuckled at his question and replied. “Yes. You can take me out on another date if only you asked me nicely. I’ll let the first one slide.”

When the car reached my apartment, I felt hesitant to go. But I felt tired and the day had been long. I couldn’t believe many things have changed in just one day. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. William got out of the car to open the door for me. I gave him a small smile before going out the car and leaping towards him.

“So, this is goodbye,” I began after a few short awkward silence of standing by the door, looking away from each other.

“Ah, yes. I think it is,” William whispered.

I glanced up at him, curious about how he looked right now. As my eyes landed on his face, his eyes were already on mine. I felt the heat in my body creep up towards my face.

“I… Uhm…” I started, but coughed as I felt something in my throat. “Thank you so much for today. The game this morning really means so much to my father even though he didn’t really show much of it,” I said. This time my voice was clear.

“I think it was you who had more fun than your father,” he commented with a snicker as he continued to look at me.

“Right… yeah…” I agreed shyly and turned away from him, feeling another wave of embarrassment and blood rushing to my face.

“Well… Anyway, thank you so much again. You should go now and have some more rest. You still haven’t completely recovered, you know,” I reminded him, changing the topic quickly.

“Right. Yes.” He nodded his head in agreement and slowly took small steps back to the open car door. “Then, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he added, stopping his advance.

I nodded and said, “Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow. It was… fun.” I quickly turned away from him, embarrassed at the admission of my feelings.

I took big steps as I walked from the front door towards the elevator while keeping my head down. Since I knew for sure that there was someone in the reception desk watching us. Before the elevator closed, I saw a small glimpse of the poor girl’s dumbfounded face as she looked in William’s direction. I chuckled at her reaction. 
Yes, he is very handsome and mouthwatering.

That night, sleep hadn’t come as fast as it usually did. I kept on thinking about today and how the situations played out. I kept regretting a few things I did today yet everything played out well in the end. I don’t know what the status was between the two of us but I knew for sure that we weren’t just friends anymore.

The next morning, I felt like I woke up in a Disney movie. Everything around me was bright while the birds were chirping some tune—which was odd since birds were rare in these parts. I had the sudden urge to do a song number as I dressed up for work. As I got out of my apartment and made my short trip to the bus station, I was also humming a happy tune.

When I finally settled down on the bus, I stopped humming as my phone started to ring, breaking my cheerful vibe. I looked in my purse and quickly took it out of the small pocket I usually placed it in. I glanced down at the caller I.D. first before placing the phone to my ear.

My eye grew wide as I looked at the name flashing on my screen. I didn’t think twice and clicked the answer button. “Ms. Maxwell. Good morning,” I greeted quickly, my voice an octave higher.

“Andy, I’m glad you picked up,” she replied with a jolly tone. “I’m back for the week, so I’ll be visiting the office starting today. Please get me some non-fat latte with caramel syrup at the coffee shop across the building, if you’re familiar with it. And please place anything that I need to check or sign on the table,” she continued on after a short pause.

“Okay, Ms. Maxwell. I’ll get this done,” I replied, feeling the sudden importance of being her secretary. “Would that be all, Ms. Maxwell?” I asked after a short pause, remembering how Maggie asks this to William after he told her to do something.

“Yes, that would be all. Thank you, Andy. I’ll see you later at the office,” she replied with much enthusiasm, like she was smiling.

Before I could reciprocate, the line cut with a beeping sound. For a second, I couldn’t really react to the situation. I’ll finally be working with Alexandra Maxwell for the first time since she hired me. For a second my mind stopped thinking altogether and then a thought ran through my head. Did William know about Alexandra’s return?

I shoved the wandering thoughts about William and focused on my job. As the bus stopped, I hurriedly made my way towards the coffee shop across the street. I slightly cringed at the memory of the incident with the cute cashier and the paparazzi. I mentally prayed that none of the two were present in the vicinity.

When it was my turn to order, I was relieved to see a new face behind the counter. I quietly waited for my order, getting William’s, Maggie’s and my drink with Alexandra’s. As my order was announced, I didn’t think twice and walked out of the coffee shop before anyone could recognize me.

I stepped out of the elevator to my floor and jogged towards Maggie’s table and placed her drink and William’s, too. Maggie looked up at me in surprise.

“Andy! I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Is Ms. Maxwell here yet?” I asked quickly, ignoring her words. I scanned the room and glanced at the door to Alexandra’s office. There were no lights seeping under the door. With a sigh, I felt a wave of relief that she wasn’t here yet.