Gabriel never answered my question. According to him, he was not yet ready to answer my question, but he would soon. In addition to that, he promised he would never be rude to me again. I didn't know whether to put faith in that since he had once told me he wouldn't snap at me.
His excuse was that he'd been hungover, which had me questioning why he'd been drinking. That was another thing he had said he wasn't ready to talk about, but I had a feeling it had to do with the person he lost years ago.
After that day, Gabriel reduced the rate at which he snapped at people. Well, more like, he reduced his interactions with his employees, having the manager interact with us instead.
My colleagues thought it was my doing and they became friendlier to me, which is probably why, "Hey, Aria, we're all going out for a drink. You should come."
One of my colleagues whose name I haven't bothered to learn says. I'm about to decline when Nessa jumps in. "Yeah, we don't always need work to be the excuse to be around each other."
"It's a Friday night. Loosen up." Marcus throws his arm on my shoulder.
"I'll be there." Belle prompts.
Convinced, I smile at them and bring out my phone to call Hilda. Thankfully, she doesn't have anything else to do, so she's okay to look after Lucas for a few more hours.
"I'm not getting drunk though," I tell Belle as I pack up all my stuff into my handbag. My mind drifts to the last time I went out for a drink. That was the day I met Gabriel. If it wasn't for him, I may have been working as a waitress or a bartender at the moment.
"Of course," she agrees, but there's something in her tone that makes me not believe her.
As Marcus, Belle, and I approach the elevator, I'm about to press the button when it suddenly opens, revealing Gabriel. I stare at him, a question in my gaze. We agreed that he would stop coming to my floor, just to keep the rumors at bay.
He gestures for us to enter and we do. "I was just coming to meet you. Are you busy after now?"
Belle coughs and Marcus elbows her, shutting her up. I hold back a smile. "Kinda. I and the others are going out for drinks. It's been a long week."
I don't expect the next words that leave Gabriel's mouth. "Can I come?"
I look like a deer caught in headlights as I stare at my friends for an answer. I don't want to turn him down, but I also don't want to bring the boss to what is supposed to be an informal setting and ruin the mood.
"It's okay. You don't have to—"
"Sure." Marcus agrees for all of us.
My mouth parts in shock. "He can come?"
"He's our boss. Is that even a question?"
"You don't have to act like I'm your boss when we get there though. You can just pretend I'm not there and do what you'd usually do."
"I guess he's coming," I mumble under my breath and Belle nudges me playfully, wriggling her brows.
Gabriel offers to give all three of us a ride to a location after enlightening us with the fact that we'd be too drunk to drive ourselves home after drinking.
As we get to the bar, our other colleagues are taken aback when they see Gabriel with us. They don't know how to act around him and upon our arrival, they all stand up to acknowledge him, referring to him as sir. Gabriel cringes and I chuckle. "None of that here, please. Gabriel is fine."
Nessa throws me a 'what the fuck' look and I just shrug, nodding my head at Marcus. She raises a brow at him, making him shrug as well, mouthing, "He's the boss."
Nessa rolls her eyes, then she puts on a wide smile. "Alright, Gabriel. Knock yourself out."
It's odd to hear them call him by his first name when I'm so used to everyone referring to him as 'Mr. Hernsburg'. Is that how he feels whenever I call him Gabriel? It's just that I'm used to it and can't help myself. Besides, I'm sure he secretly likes the fact that I call him by his first name. He just won't admit it.
We join the rest of them at the table they'd picked out before we got here and we all order drinks. Just like Gabriel instructed them to do, they all act like he isn't present and conversation flows freely.
We talk about what our job is like and how it is working for such a huge company; the pressure that accompanies it, and the need to be perfect.
Even Gabriel agrees on the pressure thing, opening up about how he has to run the company better than his father did or he'd be considered a failure.
"Is that why you scold us for the smallest mistakes?" Nessa asks with an unnecessary big smile that has Belle making a face.
Gabriel returns her smile. "We all have to do better to make the company better."
After a while, Gabriel and I somehow migrate to the bar alone where he admits that while it's nice connecting with his employees on a deeper level, he mainly wanted to spend time with me.
"Is that why you came looking for me?"
"Yeah. I was hoping we could go on a date."
"A date?" I exclaim, startling the bartender. Gabriel apologizes on my behalf, chuckling at my reaction. "What will people say?"
"I don't care what people have to say."
"I work for you, Gabriel," I emphasize as it feels like he's not taking that part seriously enough. Gabriel is more popular than he thinks. There's no way an article won't come out of this and I don't want my face plastered on tabloids for any kind of scandal.
"Yeah, I shouldn't have employed you right? That was my mistake." Gabriel sighs, genuinely contemplating it. "I should've just linked you up with another company, so you wouldn't get all awkward when we finally get together."
His temerity mesmerizes me. "How are you so sure we'll end up together?" I question, thoroughly amused. He doesn't have any doubt that I'll reject him. I mean, I won't, but how does he know that?
"I knew it from the first night we saw each other, love." He takes my hand in his and rubs softly; a new habit he's grooming. I can't say I hate it.
I look behind us. "You'll give them the wrong idea."
"It's not the wrong idea if it's true."
"If what is true?" I ask, getting confused.
This only amuses him. "What's your dream workplace?"
We're changing the subject, okay? That one was beginning to get overwhelming. "Well, the goal was to run my own advertising company, but pursuing that goal would be completely abandoning Lucas and I can't do that to him."
"Speaking of Lucas," he glances at the expensive watch on his wrist. "It's quite late, is it not?"
I check the time as well. It's only eight o'clock, but Lucas should be in bed already. He has a habit of sleeping early on Friday nights so he can make the most of his weekends. This means he wakes up very early on Saturdays and forces me awake.
"Yeah, I should get going."
Gabriel stands up before I can and extends his palm. "Let me drop you off."
"It's okay. I only had one drink. I can call a cab."
"I insist, Aria."
I can't resist smiling. "Okay." I take his hand and wave bye to the rest of my colleagues as Gabriel leads me outside the bar. If Gabriel doesn't care about them seeing us together, why should I?
Gabriel, who had only water, drives me back to my apartment, even if he could have just dropped me off at DH Tech so I could get my car and go home myself.
I know it's not a good idea, but when we reach my apartment complex, he turns off the engine and offers to walk me inside. Together, we walk in peaceful silence up to my apartment, both of us stopping when we finally reach my door.
"So... goodnight?" I ask unsurely.
"Won't you invite me in?"
"And why would I do that?" I ask playfully, folding my arms across my chest. His eyes drop to my breasts and he keeps his gaze there as he closes the distance between us.
"I don't know. So maybe, I could say hi to Lucas?"
His eyes track the rise and fall of my chest and I feel hot all over at the way he's looking at me. He's never looked at me like that before. I like it. "My eyes are up here, mister." It takes everything in me not to stutter out that sentence and fake confidence.
He brings his gaze to my face, more specifically, my lips. "I know."
Then, he kisses me.