Rivals

Chapter 9

~Noah~

I didn't have to wait for long. After about ten minutes, her personal assistant came to usher me to her office. She was a small and petite girl with cute blonde hair and blue eyes. But she was not my type. As I entered the room, Jessica stood up. But  her eyes widened as she saw me. I smirked. Her personal assistant excused herself and left the room, closing the glass door behind her. "I almost expected to see you have sex here secretly." 

She composed herself and forced a smile. "Why don't you have a seat and we can discuss?" I smirked and sat down in one of the leathers across her. I had to admit that her office was better decorated than mine.

"Well for your information, I'm here for drafting the contract for the project."

She blinked a few times. She was probably thinking why I was talking about this. She thought I had come here to argue with her or something. "Yes. Sure. First things first. Location."

"Well location is already picked. The contract. Twenty million dollars. Non-negotiable." I said, smirking.

She simply smiled. "Actually I was going to say fifteen million dollars, but sure I will accept yours." My mouth almost fell open. She was ready to do this for this small amount. I had underestimated her. I almost expected her to beg me to increase the price.

"Anyway," she continued, "I have already prepared a rough draft. As you know Mr.Takahashi has already brought the top floor of your mall so I will be juggling both. I was thinking maybe six floors. The sixth floor will be Takahashi's Foods, of course. The ground floor could be women's wear. The first floor will be men's wear. The second floor, kid's wear. The third and fourth floors could be women's and men's underwear respectively. The fifth floor, food court. I was also thinking valet parking and two basement floors for it. What do you think so far?"

I blinked and blew out a breath. I had come here to mock her and instead it turned out to be a professional talk. I might as well go along. "So, who will be the interior designer?"

"Richard Stevens for the mall. He is one of the best. Do you want to see him?"

"No, I'm good."

We spent the next two hours discussing how everything will go about. I had absolutely no idea about architecture and I probably made a fool of myself. It was totally different than I had expected. Well I had other plans too. I checked my watch. I had time to pick up Gabby.

I stopped in front of the school. Gabby came out of the school laughing and chatting with her friends. I honked once and she turned to look at me. She said something to her friends and got into the passenger seat of the car. A car honked behind me and I turned to see Jessica honking. She smirked and flicked her hand, gesturing me to move. I narrowed my eyes and took a U-turn around her car. As I passed by her car, she smirked and I just rolled my eyes. I pulled up on the highway and focused on the road.

"Why do you hate her so much?" Gabby asked beside me.

"It's a grown up thing Gabby. You wouldn't understand."

"Actually I do. You hate her because she is the only one who is strong enough to resist you. You want revenge because of that. She is competition for you."

"Wow." I never thought of it that way but I guess she was right. Was it really because of that? I shook my head. "Don't try to get into this. Please stay out of this. It's between us."

"Ok but I think I know what you're plan is."

I chuckled. "Yeah? Well, what do you think my plan is?"

"Do something so that she ends up in your bed?"

My eyes widened and I struggled not to turn to her. I stubbornly kept my eyes on the road. How could she have possibly known this?

I couldn't sleep at all. I kept tossing and turning in my bed the whole night.

The next morning my dad and I drove to the site to see that the construction workers had already started their job. Jessica was standing at one corner talking to a tall and lanky man who was about an inch taller than me. My dad bounded to her and I followed him with a sigh. She turned and smiled at my dad. "Hello. Good morning."

"Good morning." My dad replied with a warm smile. I just gave a brief nod and she nodded back.

"Anyway, he is Richard Stevens. The interior designer of the mall." Jessica introduced. We shook hands. He whispered something in Jessica's ear, excused himself and went away.

"I hope Noah has told about the things we discussed yesterday?"

"Yes. I agree with it too but now he is the owner of the company so its his decision."

That was when I realised that both of them were looking at me. Jessica was smirking slightly. "Yes of course. I agree with it too." Though I didn't know what we were agreeing on.

"Anyway since I have already seen the site before why don't you show my son also? I will be taking my leave then."

"Dad how will you go? We came in the same car."

"It's okay. I'll hire a cab." He said and walked away leaving me and Jessica alone.