A Piece Of Me

Chapter 5 "Unexpected Things Do Happen" (Edited)

Luke

I arched my brow when I noticed that she became serious all of a sudden. One moment she was acting unfriendly towards me then the next, she just turned into her all-business mode. Curious as I was, I looked into her eyes, trying to read what was going on with her, but I couldn't tell judging by her expression. She was good at masking her emotions and that left me fascinated by her.

How troublesome!

"You seemed very serious Ms. Forbes," I asked trying to start a conversation although my real intention was to see if I could crack her that easy.

"This is business we're talking about Mr. Lacela. This should be done seriously," she answered bluntly. She was right and that answered she wasn't easy to deal with.

I nodded in agreement. "I couldn't argue more. You must be very experienced in business."

She smiled wryly, "You're wrong. Actually, I'm not into business thingy but since I got into this situation then I must do my best to wrap this successfully."

"Oh, my mistake. So, what's your passion then?" I could tell she noticed my curiosity when she narrowed her eyes fleetingly.

She leaned in, looking at me with a serious expression. "I'm here to talk about business Mr. Lacela, not to share my passion and all." Even though she was giving me a cold stare, I still liked meeting her gaze.

We stared into each other for a minute, until she turned her gaze away and searched for something in her bag. She then pulled a black folder and slid it towards me.

"This is our company's proposal. Everything's stated in there, read it, unless you don't know how to read, so I don't need to explain anymore and if you have questions, which I prefer you don't have, feel free to ask me but I doubt I would like to answer your questions anyway." All I could do was frown at her statement as I didn't know if I should be angry at her sarcasm or be fascinated that she had the audacity to talk to me like that.

With conflicting emotions, I quietly opened the papers and scanned it carefully. It took me a few minutes to internalized the proposal and as a businessman, I had a lot of questions but it seemed like I couldn't voice out my inquiries after what she said earlier.

Putting down the folder, I looked at her seriously. I must say, their proposal was very idealistic. If we get to be partners, I knew they could bring a huge benefit to my company.

"Your company's proposal is very idealistic. I'm sure this will benefit for both companies."

"That's great!" She exhaled deeply. She must be holding her breath for some time now. I noticed her eyes sparkled and for a moment, her serious composure had slipped.

"Then let's talk about the signing," she said eventually.

"No need to hurry Ms. Forbes." I said calmly. I raised my hand and a waitress noticed me. She approached us and flashed a dashing smile.

"Ohhh mister, you have a very beautiful wife!" she commented which made me look at Rhel who looked totally flustered.

"You thought wrong Miss," she argued, "He's not my husband, in fact, he's hardly an acquaintance."

Ouch!

"Oh I'm so sorry, I thought you two are married." The young woman flashed an apologetic look, "You two looked perfect together," she complimented. I remained silent, watching the two in an interesting conversation. When I thought about it, having Rhel as my girlfriend, it wasn't so bad, after all she passed my standards.

"Well, can I take your order?"

"I'll have water." I said. "What's yours Rhel? My treat."

"Well then I'll have a glass of juice please. Oh and can you put a lot of ice?"

"Very well Miss." The waitress smiled and headed to the counter.

"I'm curious about your order. More ice?" I questioned. "This place is not so hot. Or maybe you find me hot Rhel," I said confidently, bobbing my brows as I chuckled in amusement.

"For your information Mr. Lacela, I ordered more ice because that's what I like, it's refreshing and for the record, I don't find you hot or attractive. For me, you're just like the other ordinary men I met." She slumped her back on the backrest of her chair.

Okay, that hurt. I felt like someone stabbed me on the heart. She just compared me to other guys she met. I didn't think I was an ordinary man, with what I had accomlished at this age, I was hardly an ordinary man. Why would she say that? She was the first woman who compared me to other guys. She was really different.

"You don't find me attractive for now, but I know you will Rhel." 

"That's not going to happen Luke." My heart fluttered when she said my name, it sounded pleasant to my ears.

"And why is that?"

"Because seeing your face just disgusts me."

"We will see about that." I smiled.

The waitress came and laid down our drinks on the table. She smiled before leaving us again. Rhel quickly took her glass and gulped down her juice while I was watching carefully at her. Butterflies took over my stomach when I saw her wet red lips when she finished drinking. 

Oh how I wished to taste those luscious lips of her.

"So, let's talk about the signing," she said snapping me back from my trance. I grabbed my glass and gulped down the water as my throat sddenly dried up.

"Like I said no need to rush. I will think about when will be the signing."

"What are you waiting for?" Her forehead furrowed.

"Nothing. I just don't want to be in a rush." Well, that was partly true. The real reason why I had to not rush the signing was because I liked to see Rhel again. If I signed the contract now, it would mean that I didn't have any reason to see her again because as what she mentioned earlier, her sister was on the business, not her.

"From what I heard, it's so not you Mr. Lacela. When you see potential investors, you normally wouldn't waste your time to tie them up to your company." I watched her, silently agreeing to what she said. It wasn't my style to waste time but now was different, I had my personal reason to delay the signing.

"Okay forget what I just said earlier. Since you're so impatient, in order for you to close this deal, I have one condition."

"And what is that condition?" she asked curiously.

"Before I will tell you, you have to say yes first."

"What? Are you bluffing? How am I supposed to say yes if I don't know the condition and what if i can't accomplish that condition?"

"Trust me. This condition is very easy and it's not risky. Just say yes."

She quieted down for a moment, probably thinking about the condition. I couldn't blame her though, even I couldn't believe myself that I came up with such a stupid condition.

She inhaled deeply before she gave her decision.

"Yes! Now tell me what's the condition."

I smiled. Yes! Finally!

"Since you agreed, you're going on a date with me."