The Golden Rule 2: The One That Got Away

The Office

" Miss Alvarez, would you like more tea? " Marco's secretary asked for the third time since Ari sat down on one of the oversized sofas in the lounge area of the management wing.

" No, thank you, " Ari said graciously holding a cup and saucer with both hands. " I haven't even finished this one. "

" Right, " the lady nodded smiling at her sheepishly. " If  you need anything, please do not hesitate to let me know. "

Ari smiled at the woman and slowly nodded her. " I will let you know, thank you very much. "

The woman grinned and was about to head back to the direction of her table when she suddenly spun around and looked at her curiously.

Ari raised an eyebrow and looked at her questioningly.

" I don't mean to pry, " she started. " But aren't you my boss' fiancee?"

Like some awkward teenager, Ari felt herself blushed. It has been six weeks since he asked her to marry him, or rather she asked him to marry her but it still felt surreal being Marco's fiancee. She has not fully gotten used to the idea of being part of a couple and the idea of becoming someone else' wife has not fully sunk in yet. She was alone for so long that having someone else in her life felt almost...impossible.

" Yes, " Ari replied after a moment.

The woman's eyes widened with her admission and she quickly straightened herself. She flashed Ari a smile and hurried to her desk and began typing furiously on her computer.

Ari found her reaction strange but she decided not to make anything of it. But when several employees came into the executive wing pretending to do some business with Marco's secretary while casually throwing her a glance, Ari knew something was up.

The secretary has probably informed the entire office that the boss' fiancee is in the house and she was sitting right there, across her.

Ari shook her head in amusement as she flipped through the magazine that she was reading, ignoring the not-so-subtle stares visitor number nine was throwing her way.

A shadow fell upon her a moment later and Ari gave a resigned sigh bracing herself for more curious looks and probably a barrage of questions.

" What are you doing here? "

The masculine voice made Ari snapped her head upwards and found Marco standing in front of her, a surprised and concerned look etched on his face.

" Oh, I didn't realize that was you, " Ari said as she closed the magazine on her lap and stood up to his height. " Did you finish your meeting? "

" Shouldn't you be resting? "

He answered her question with another question. Marco quickly reached out and touched the back of his hand against her neck. " You still feel warm. "

" I'm fine, " Ari replied tugging his arm down. " I wanted to get some fresh air and ended up in the area. So I thought I'll come up and see if you wanted to get dinner. "

" Did you drive? " Marco frowned. " Ari, you were nauseaus and having dizzy spells, you could have gotten into an acci-"

" I'm fine, " Ari interrupted. " If anything, being cooped up in the house for days was making me feel more sick. "

To her relief, Marco didn't press on the matter. He studied her silently before nodding his head towards his office. " Come on, let's go inside. "

Marco placed a protective hand at the small of her back as they started to make their way to his office. They were walking past his secretary's desk when he suddenly halted. Ari stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him.