one and only (Editing)

invitation(s)

"I'm leaving home to work now," I bent and kissed mom and papa's cheeks. They beamed at me.

"Be careful. Love you," mom said, refilling papa's cup with more coffee. "Love you both more."

I went outside after grabbing my red blazer and put on my red heels. From the day Adrian proposed me again in my penthouse, I invited mom and papa to live with me. I need them to be around me, to give me advices and the strength needed to face Adrian's comeback. But same goes to Eleanor, they also gave me a bit pressure with my love life, always asked and told me to think about getting married real soon.

Papa and mom have retired from the works as doctor and architect respectively few weeks ago. They have worked hard for years, and now it's time for them to rest and enjoy their life.

Soon after I pull my car at my private parking lot, I went straight to my office room. Mia was there, standing at her own desk outside my room when she saw me coming.

"Mia," I beamed. "How are you?" I pulled her into my friendly embrace. She smiled, nodding. "Getting better. And you Miss Elisha?"

"Better when you are here," I said jokingly.

I entered my room and walked straight to my working desk. A glass nameplate placed on my desk with "President, Elisha Alan" written on it caught my attention. It was shining and glimmering.

I shifted my attention from the nameplate to my desk when I realised there were tons of files on my desk. I settled on my comfy working seat and started to take the file on the top. I flipped to the next page, reading all details about the business I was handing. I was always like that, would always read even the tiniest details on any documents before putting my sign on it.

Few moment later, I heard a knock from the door followed by Mia's voice, asking for permission to enter my room.

"Come in," I invited her as usual because I knew she was going to give me a quick brief on what would be happening today. As expected, she entered the room while holding her black diary-look book.

She cleared her throat, flipping her black book page by page to the page with today's date.

"Erm, let's see what's for today," she said.

"But before that, what's wrong with my old nameplate?" I interrupted her with a question calmly, pointing at the new nameplate on my desk.

"Um about that, Liam told me that a client gave it to you as a present," she explained and continued, "a present for your hard work."

My instinct tried to convince me that it was Adrian's doing. I raised my left brow, "Our client from Exile Co?"

"BINGO," Mia snapped her finger, producing a weird snap sound.

My instinct was right. I rolled my eyes invisibly for Mia to see.

"Are you sure that there's no hidden spy gadgets attached on this?" I reached for it and rotated it, acting like I was searching for something. I was hoping that my question would be a good excuse for me to not keeping it inside my room. I usually accepted client's gift and put it inside my office room but a thing from Adrian was enough to make me felt suffocated in my own room.

"Hundred percent sure. I have already sent it to the security department and they have confirmed it that this nameplate is spy gadgets free," she curved a smile to assure me.

Trying not to make it obvious that the nameplate bothered me, I signaled at Mia for her to continue with her short brief.

"In less than an hour from now, you have a breakfast meeting with the Designer Team from Alahandra Shine to discuss about the design that the want to buy from us. During lunch time, you have a meeting with Mrs Sclare from our Marketing Department to discuss about our next month's plan to export our brand to Asia since there are lots of request from the local fashion company there. And then at night you have another meeting with the staffs involved in the preparations for our annual award ceremony to pick the ceremony planner to hire for that ceremony," she said, all in on breathe.

I nodded, jotting down few important points on my small notebook that I brought anywhere with me.

"That's all?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said and closed her book but then her expression turned surprised, as if she just remembered something.

"I almost forgot about it. Someone called few times this morning and said she have something important to tell you. Sounds very urgent so you better call to ask her," she informed me. I wrinked my foreheads.

"Do you have her number?"

Mia nodded, walked to the door and disappeared behind the door. She politely entered my room again before handing me a piece of small paper with someone's number phone written on it.

I reached for my phone after thanking Mia for her good job this morning. She left my room and went back to her desk.

I dialled the number and someone accepted my call faster than I expected.

"Hello?" a female's voice greeted me.

"Good morning. Elisha Alan speaking," I introduced myself.

"Elisha!" the woman beamed.

"Yes, I am. And who are you?"

"Delia, Delia James."

My jaw dropped as I heard what she just said.

"De-Delia?!" I stammered.

"Yes, I'm Delia. First of all, I want to apologize for everything that had happened between you and Adrian."

I bit my lips, ready to blurt out lies "no, no worries."

"The reason I'm calling you is because I want to meet you today, if you have some free time."

Without thinking about my other businesses for today, I agreed to meet her. She suggested a coffee shop, and I thought that it sounded good. We decided on the place to meet and the time, and I only have one hour left before meeting her. I didn't know why but the thought of what Delia's going to say is related to Adrian and it scared me.

I pushed the intercom button, asking for Mia to come inside.

"Yes Miss?"

"Please cancel all meetings and appointments for today and postpone it to another date. Tell them I have a very urgent business to settle and sorry for these inconveniences."

Without asking anything, Mia nodded obediently.

"I have to go somewhere now. If there's any emergency here, please tell me ASAP," I said, and once again Mia just obeyed without asking anything.

"Do you need a driver?" she asked.

I was on the verge to say 'yes' when suddenly a new notification popped on my phone's screen. I glanced at it and an unknown number just send me a message. I grabbed my phone and read the message.

Unknown number: "Good morning Isha. Aunt Sandra's here. I have something to tell you, can we meet anywhere today? I'm in New York btw."

My eyes widened. What's wrong with everyone today? They really scared me with these sudden invitations.

My hands were trembling as I started to type a reply for her.

Me: "Hi aunt. Sure, but I have to meet someone first."

Aunt Sandra: "No worries, I'll be waiting for you. Paradise Hotel Restaurant?"

Me: "Noted."