The Billionaire's Heartbreak

18

Czarielle is still in daze at what Laxton Hendrix said over the phone.

Is he crazy? How should he say that when he isn't even courting her!

Her mistake was she left the phone on speaker while she was rescheduling an appointment. Their mid-sixties client chuckled a little bit while still checking her reaction.

She's still speechless when the woman breaks her silence.

"Your boyfriend really loves you, young lady. You should have told me you had a date and I will gladly come tomorrow and pay an extra fee instead." She smiled teasingly.

Freeda came to the rescue for her. "Their date was scheduled earlier, ma'am and you know, we shouldn't mix business with personal affairs, right? So she just went on and it happens that you came before her personal appointment."

"Oh, right! Is everything set?" The woman eyed Cza again.

Freeda nudged her on the side before she embarrassingly smiled. "Yes, ma'am. I'll just see you after two weeks. Thank you!"

After the client went out, Freeda squeaked. "Oh my god! When did you and the handsome CEO become a thing? You didn't even tell me!" She sat in front of Cza's table which is supposedly for clients.

"As much as I want to tell you, I don't know what he is talking about! How dare he call me 'love' when he isn't even courting me! He just texted me to call after five minutes but as you see, we're busy earlier so I called him after I saw the text!" Cza showed Freeda the text on her phone.

Freeda is still suspicious so she waited for her next burst out. She put both of her hands at the bottom of her chin as she listened to her.

"Is that their way of courting? Just asking out, buying what is expensive to lure women and use them for their own personal matters? Well, he can't lure me because of expensive food, dress or jewelry even if I'm not as rich as him! I have my own standards for men and he isn't my type at all!" Cza punch the table lightly with her small fist. Her pinkish knuckles turn white.

"You know the saying there's a thin line between love and hate? I will gamble my own future love life, but I swear you two are destined to be on each other's side!" Freeda smiled sheepishly.

"Don't curse me, friend! And I don't like you being excited with that even if I know myself that the possibility of me being his girl is just one percent." Cza rolled her eyes, gathered all the papers in the desk and put them inside the drawers below the wooden table.

"But a possibility is still a possibility. You wouldn't know what will happen next. Just tell me I'm right next time you want to tell your love story." Freeda gave her a flying kiss and went to their equipment room.

As for her, she got the broom near the lightning stand and swept the floor while her mind was wandering somewhere.

*****

With Laxton Hendrix's anger, he didn't go back to the table with his mom. He walked straight down to the parking lot. He took the emergency stairs because he knew that Tarzy might still tail him behind.

Its a good thing that he remembered to bring his coat with him and he knew his mother wouldn't dare to interrupt him after he went back to his office because there were five more meetings he needed to attend.

He swiftly drives to PhotoStudio to have a heart-to-heart talk with Czarielle. He knew she was confused and he shouldn't be doing it but what's done is already done. Besides, he promised his mother to meet her next week.

He sigh deeply and called Billy on speaker phone after he parked at the PhotoShop building.

"Hey, I thought you went outside to eat your lunch? It's past two in the afternoon and you're not back yet! I repeatedly remind you earlier that the next client meeting will be at two ten! You need to come back now!"

"I still have some things to do. If they can't wait for me, just tell them that I want the meeting to be cancelled and that's final! Don't ask me why because I won't tell you the reason!"

"Should I call Czarielle then? Maybe you were with her right now?" Billy's teasing tone annoys him, too.

"Did you forget that we have a line  and I told you not to cross our employer-employee line when its working hours? I will really fire you if you call her!"

Billy chuckled. "Fine, I won't. Just bring her to the meeting if you don't want to get a scolding from your father because he will also attend the meeting. Don't tell me later that I didn't tell you in advance. Ciao!"

"Shit! What should I fix first?"

He let his forehead bounce to the car horn a couple of times until he saw Czarielle walking out of the building wearing her usual short sleeve pink, sweetheart neck blouse with white slacks pants and a pair of black flat sandals on her feet. He noticed she brought her wallet with her so she's good to go.

Without further thinking, he got out of his car, walked towards her with poker face and dragged her left arm towards the car and urged her to go inside.

"W-wait, where are we going? I-I thought you're a kidnapper!" She glared at her suspiciously but she didn't demand an explanation. Instead, she just waits until they reach Vanderveide's own building.

"Yeah, I'm a kidnapper and I need you to go with me in a meeting because my father will be attending it for the first time since I became a CEO. That jerk who always played golf with his friends finally showed up!" He continues to drag her until they reach the reception where he only tosses his car keys to one of the staff  before they run to the closing elevator.

"Why do I need to be in your business meeting? I'm not even related to you!"

Laxton Hendrix abruptly stopped, causing her lips to touch his white polo shirt, leaving stained red lipstick on it. The elevator just closed down.

Laxton Hendrix rolled his eyes, checked his watch and mindlessly put his black coat on before he pushed her on the side of the elevator door. He knew that there were a couple of CCTV cameras around that corner and he purposely let it caught on cam to cause a stir of rumors around the office about the two of them.

Czarielle's lips were ajar and he took advantage of it. He kissed her  tempting lips and surprisingly, they're soft and cherry flavored.

Some of his employees who wanted to use the elevator just went away silently and took the stairs instead.

Still astounded, Czarielle didn't ask him because she's humiliated by his act when she saw two of his female employees glaring at her from afar.

She just went on inside the elevator with him while his arms were on her right shoulder. He even gets her right arm to encircle his own waist!

When they reach Laxton Hendrix office, Billy isn't surprised anymore. He just led them to the meeting room. Czarielle tried to remove her arm on his waist but when she heard his voice near her ear, chills ran down her body.

"Remove it and I'll kiss you again in front of my client. Do you want to be branded as my wife? Then do it!"