Meeting Mr. Mogul: A Billionaire Contemporary Romance (35 page)

“Dad, I’m going to eat my lunch now. I’ll be back this afternoon.”

“Okay. I’ll be here when you get back,” he replied cheekily.

I chuckled at his light joke and got up from my chair to give him a light kiss on his forehead. I didn’t prolong the moment and got out of the room, walking at a fast pace towards the elevator, but the nurse on my father’s floor stopped me.

“Ms. Peterson, can I talk to you for a minute?” she called.

“Sure. Is there something wrong?” I asked as I approached her, hoping that it wasn’t about his hospital bills or another medication that I had to pay.

“It’s nothing. You don’t have to worry Ms. Peterson. I’m here to talk about your father’s progress and possible release,” she replied with a light smile.

“Oh! He can go home? I thought that…” I trailed off, speechless about this sudden news.

“It’s not sure yet, but the doctor has been talking about it,” she whispered in excitement.

I watched her in awe as I continued to stand there for a few seconds. “When would he be out?”

“Next week at most, if he continues to get good results,” she confided with a beaming smile.

“That’s excellent!” I exclaimed in excitement. The thought of home suddenly crossed my mind. Can we go back there and start all over?

When the nurse excused herself, I gave her a short farewell before skipping towards the elevator. I tried to clear my mind as the lift descended. When the elevator dinged, signaling the arrival of the floor, I took a steady breath and walked out. It took me a while to look for Kevin. When I saw his face, I smiled as I remembered our last meeting.

“Good morning, Ms. Peterson. It’s nice to see you again. The car is this way,” he greeted and gestured towards the main exit.

“Hey,” I nodded in greeting and allowed him to escort me out.

He told me to wait for a while as he got the car. I insisted to go with him rather than to wait for him to pick me up in front of the hospital, but he was adamant on doing his job perfectly, which I didn’t notice from our last meeting.

The drive to the restaurant that Alexandra and I were meeting at was silent. It took thirty minutes to arrive at a stately looking street. The building around us was designed mostly in glass and fancy brick walls. Kevin made a turn as he drove away from those fancy buildings, making me question my decision to go with him. A few blocks from that street, miles of green grass greeted us. I eyed the scenery in confusion.

“Where are we going?” I asked out of curiosity.

“We are going to Kingston Country Club, Ms. Peterson,” Kevin replied directly.

“Oh.” I pretended to know where that was. Though, at the moment, I had no idea where we were. Why did rich people like going to closed-off secluded places?

After driving a very long driveway, we finally reached a huge mansion that was mostly made of stones and glass. It had a similar design to the Maxwell Mansion. If Kevin told me that the Maxwells owned this place, I wouldn’t be surprised. Yet, I knew they didn’t since the name itself wasn’t under them but you can’t be too sure. I might be right.

Kevin parked the car in front of the mansion, where a man in a pastel yellow polo stood by the podium. When he saw our car approaching, he quickly walked down a few steps of stairs. He opened the door for me as the car stopped.

“Good day, Ma’am. Do you have any reservations today?” he asked with a big smile.

“Yes. I’m here to meet Ms. Maxwell,” I replied, giving him a soft, friendly smile.

“Oh... Ms. Peterson. She is waiting for you. This way please,” he lightly gasped in surprise, but gathered himself as he turned his work smile back on. Then, he gestured me towards the entrance.

I allowed him to escort me inside. He led me to a small glass room that had few seats and coffee tables spread around the room neatly. I glanced around and saw that it was empty until he opened another glass sliding door, which led to an outdoor veranda, where you can see a vast open field of nothing but green grass.

I was too preoccupied to notice Alexandra sitting a few meters to my right. I snapped out of my trance when I heard a familiar voice yell from that direction.

“What are you doing here?” William shouted in surprise.

I turned towards the voice, a little shocked myself. “What...” I trailed off in silence when my eyes landed on the only occupied table.

Alexandra sat at the head of the table with her fiancé, Michael Hamilton, by her left side. On her right side sat William with Maggie beside him. I continued to assess the small group from where I stood until Alexandra greeted me.

“Andy. Please take a seat.” She gestured toward the empty seat beside her fiancé. “She is here to help me and Maggie plan for this Saturday’s event so you two should get back. The ladies and I have some event planning to do,” she added sternly, glancing between William and Michael.

“Right. Okay,” Michael stood up, and gestured for William to follow him. “Come on, Willy.”

William stayed immobile as he sat still while staring at me. I stood in the same position, feeling trapped under his gaze. Since William didn’t make any move to stand up, Michael walked around Alexandra towards his seat. He grabbed William by his arm, forcing him to stand. His eyes finally broke contact with mine, snapping me back to reality. I quickly got to my seat as Michael and William walked towards the door.

When they left the area, Alexandra let out a strained sigh before her demeanor changed into business mode. I was taken aback by the suddenness of the situation. I thought that we were going to be talking about what happened this morning instead of planning an event.

I followed Maggie’s actions and wrote down whatever Alexandra decided and told us to do. I didn’t understand the situation, but I remained quiet in my seat as I listened to all her instructions.

“I know this is sudden for you, Andy. I forgot to tell you about it. This is supposed to be Maggie’s responsibility but I want to lessen her burden. I hope you’ll understand,” Alexandra blurted after we finished discussing everything.

“It’s okay. I’m glad I could help Maggie out,” I replied. I turned to face Maggie and gave her a small smile.

Maggie mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ while Alexandra was preoccupied by an incoming call. I mouthed back a ‘you’re welcome’ to her.

“You can go now, Maggie. You can ask Kevin to take you back to work. I have to discuss something else with Andy,” she ordered after she finished typing a text. “And can you call the waiter so that Andy can order. Thank you.”

“Okay, Ms. Maxwell. I’ll leave now,” Maggie stood up and pushed the chair back. “I’ll see you later, Andy,” she added softly.

I nodded in reply and sat silently until she left. It took a whole minute before Alexandra told me to move seats and sit beside her. I was hesitant but I moved anyway.

“I know that this morning was a little uncomfortable…” she started softly, which made me raise my eyebrow. “Well, it was slightly amusing to watch my brother like that, but I know it was uncomfortable for you.”

I remained silent and allowed her to continue. “Did you fall in love with my brother?” she suddenly asked, catching me off guard.

My eyes widened in surprise. “Ms. Maxwell…” I trailed off, unsure of how I was going to answer her.

“It’s not a hard question, Andy. Your feeling towards my brother is none of my business but let me remind you that my brother hasn’t been in a serious relationship for a very long time. Even though he seemed to have changed these past few weeks…” she insinuated seriously.

“I don’t care whether he was serious or not. Though, I know he isn’t now. The point here is, I don’t care about any of this, Ms. Maxwell. I do not have such feelings for your brother nor any other kind of feelings that might lead to a serious and intimate relationship,” I countered in the same tone. For some reason, I felt like she was challenging me into something.

“I see… Are you sure about all of this?”

“I’m sure,” I whispered in reply. I felt my heart race from my answer.

“Why do you feel the need to deny, Andy? I’m not going to eat you if you did tell me you had fallen for my brother. I would feel a little angry since I’ve lost the bet. And I’m sorry you had to find out about it that way. I didn’t mean to put you in this situation. My curiosity just got the better of me,” she admitted, abashed.

“So, the reason why you hired me was because of the bet?” I softly asked as I tried to get the facts straight.

“Part of it is the reason why I hired you, but the other part is because I see that I can trust you to get the job done, which you had. And thank you for that,” she replied shamelessly with confidence.

“No problem,” I whispered, feeling unsure how to respond to her confession.

“I know you felt that we just used you for some game that William and I invented, but you see, I wouldn’t be suggesting such a thing if my brother hadn’t reacted so much from your first meeting. I’ve got to say, you gave him a very lasting first impression,” she chuckled at a memory.

My eyes grew wide in surprise at that newly acquired information. I didn’t know I had such an effect with my first meeting with Mr. Mogul. And from the way I remembered, it was very eventful for me, too. It wasn’t something you could easily forget.

“Have you talked to William after this morning?” she suddenly asked, breaking me from my trail of thoughts.

“Ah… Yes, we had talked a little…” I stuttered in reply, caught off guard by her question.

“And did he apologize?” she probed in interest, her eyes slightly brightening in anticipation.

“He apologized,” I replied curtly, feeling uncomfortable with the current flow of the conversation. I hope she won’t ask about what we talked about.

“So, what did you talk about besides that?” she asked, confirming my hunch.

My heart rate rose from her question as I started to get nervous all of a sudden. It felt like I was in an interrogation room, being asked whether I had stolen something. I opened my mouth as I tried to reply casually but no sound came out. With that, Alexandra chuckled at my expression.

“You don’t have to force yourself if you don’t want to talk about it,” she stated, releasing me from my internal agony. I didn’t want to recount what had happened in that short car ride, even though it wasn’t life changing. I felt drained from thinking about William himself.

Before Alexandra could think about taking back that offer, the waiter appeared to get my order. It didn’t take long for me to pick which one I would eat. I stuck to the classic sandwich and water. If I would eat anything heavy with how I was feeling, I might throw it all up.

After I gave out my order, I was saved when Alexandra’s phone rang with an incoming call. I had escaped the inevitability of being asked another William related question. I knew that she wasn’t doing it to torture me. I didn’t get her fascination on wanting to meddle with her brother’s private life.

When her call ended, I was saved yet again as the waiter came in with my food and drinks. Our conversation turned casual as I tried to eat my meal. Alexandra had also asked me about my father, which I didn’t entertain much. I’ve never been someone who easily divulges my personal life. I think she only asked about him out of courtesy.

In half an hour, I finished my meal. There was a short awkward silence after I took my last bite until Kevin suddenly entered the veranda, looking all businesslike with his stern, poker face.

“Ms. Maxwell, your next meeting will be starting in twenty minutes. If we don’t go now, you’ll be late, Ma’am,” he informed swiftly and concisely.

“Thank you for reminding me,” She nodded and quickly stood up from her seat.

“Are you ready to go? Kevin can drop you off after he drives me to my next meeting,” she offered, giving me a small, inviting smile.

“Sure. That wouldn’t be a problem,” I quickly got up from my seat and brushed my wrinkled blouse to hide my discomfort.

I silently trailed behind Alexandra as she walked towards the main entrance. While Kevin had quickly disappeared to get the car, there was a short moment when Alexandra and I stood by the entrance as we waited for the car. I had a feeling she was going to bring up another topic about William. I let out a sigh of relief as she had her back to me again as she got in the car.

I stood outside for a second in hesitation. I didn’t know if I could sit with Alexandra in a confined space filled with awkward silence. If she filled that silence with another William topic, I didn’t know whether I could hold myself up and not feel irritated, annoyed, or just plain speechless.

“Aren’t you going to get in?” Alexandra asked, her body leaning towards me to get me a better view of her confused face.

“Sorry,” I apologized and quickly got inside the car.

As we drove off towards the main road, silence had filled the car as I had predicted.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you. Some of the art works had already arrived this morning. If you want to start with your official job, Kevin could pick you up tomorrow to drive you to your new work place. You don’t have to worry about the moving thing for my office this week. I’ll hire someone to do it,” Alexandra suddenly said.