ACTING COLD (VSOO FANFIC)

Chapter One

BELLA couldn't hide how annoyed she was right now while she's storming to go to the place where she had to meet someone—inside a huge mall in Pasay City—against her will. And the weather today was killing her vibe, summer in the Philippines was beautiful but so freaking hot!

If it was not because of her mother threatening her that she would not talk to her and cooked her favorite food whenever she came home in their house in Laguna, she wouldn't even blink an eye to meet the most annoying man alive on Earth... for her.

But because food is life and she loved her mother so much, she had no choice but to see the man even if she would surely hate every second of it. May the God help me survive this afternoon.

And even if she was old enough—she's already 27 years old—she was still scared of her mother's wrath, because when Beatrice de Lara said something she would never forget it.

So she rather made herself suffer right now than experienced the cold shoulder of her mother again. It's a nightmare! No, no, no!

Good thing she had a good night sleep last night because it was not her schedule to monitor the restobar that she owned along with her three best friends—it's called Caliber Shot. One of the famous places to hang out right now in the metro.

All four of them worked so hard to make Caliber Shot a house hold name. She even gave half of her own-earned savings as her share. Caliber Shot was their bloods, sweats, and tears.

Bella sighed and fixed the black cap that she was wearing, as she looked around. It was already twelve noon—the time that Filipinos loved to hang out at air-conditioned mall to chill and dine specially during the hot weather—and it's starting to get crowded as she expected.

But good thing she already saw the man that she was looking for—unwillingly—and she couldn't help but to roll her eyes as she noticed that he's on the phone. As always!

She let herself stare at him for a moment as she noticed that he was wearing his Armani suit, making it too obvious that he's not the type that spent his afternoons at the mall. The reason why most of the people—and mostly women—kept on looking at him like he's some actor or famous celebrity. They probably thought that he was here to shoot a film or something.

Well, honestly, it's not just his suit that the people kept staring at, it was also because of his handsome face and built. He's like a model standing in the middle of the crowd.

It's just a waste that even if he's handsome, his attitude wasn't.

Bella really wished to leave but she forced herself to walk and stood beside him quietly. She almost rolled her eyes again when he didn't even notice her because he was too busy talking to his phone.

This workaholic beast!

She was standing there for a minute now and still unnoticed—his back was slightly on her while scolding someone on the phone angrily. She decided to tap his shoulder to get his attention.

When the man turned to her, his eyebrows instantly frowned as he looked at her from head to toe, and spent some time at her face, then he hurriedly said goodbye to the one he's talking on the phone.

"You're thirty minutes late, Carabella! You wasted my precious time waiting for you, if I knew you'll be late—"

Bella just kept her eyes on his face but she was not listening to whatever he was saying. And while looking at him, she realized that it's been a long time since she last saw him, the last time she stared at his face this close. And just like how she remembered, he's always wearing his frowned face like he hates what he's looking at... which is her. Like he's always annoyed when he sees her... good thing we're on the same boat on that one.