Taming the Playboy CEO

Yolanda's visit

On opening the door, Mariana sees Yolanda outside. Yolanda is confused about the fleet of cars parked outside Mariana's apartment. Mariana mouths to her to calm down that she would explain later and closes the door behind her. Yolanda says a quick hello to Ethan who was still seated in the sitting room like he owned the place before Mariana pushes her into the room and tells her to wait there that she would soon be back.

'And where were we?’ Mariana says to Ethan as she steps back into the sitting room. 'Oh yes, I recall now. You were asking for my contact information. Funny enough, I don't give my contact information to strangers, not to talk more of the ones that come waltzing into my apartment like they own the place and try to boss me around or literally force me into giving it to them'.

Back in the room Yolanda is confused if to eavesdrop on the conversation happening in the sitting room or not. She decides to listen in because she was curious as to who the man seated there was and if the fleet of cars outside belonged to him.

As Mariana finishes speaking, Ethan laughs. ‘I know you have a guest to attend to so I'm going to give you some time to sort out yourself and your guest. By evening, I shall return and I hope you must have thought clearly about my simple request. Who knows, maybe dinner in one of the finest and most luxurious restaurants in San Diego would help you change your mind. I will be here by 6 to pick you up. Enjoy the rest of your day, my darling'. He says and begins to leave the room. ‘Don't call me that’, Mariana shouts at his back as he steps out of the apartment. Ethan laughs. 'Soon sweetheart soon, you would be begging me to call you more than that’ Ethan says as one of his guards opens the door to his limousine for him to get in. Soon he and his entourage drive away.

Mariana is so angry as she watches them drive out of her driveway. She wonders what gave him the sort of authority he had to just walk in to her space and just order her around like she was his puppet. She is so angry that she does not even notice Mariana come inside the sitting room and take a seat on the couch. Yolanda on hearing them drive away had come out to ask Mariana what that was all about but instead she had met Mariana all annoyed and talking to herself. So she decided to just get a glass of milk from the fridge, sit and make herself comfortable while she watches Mariana till she was done displaying her new found madness.

Mariana turns to stomp her feet back inside her kitchen when she finally notices Yolanda on the couch. She is strartled as she totally forgot that someone else was there in the house with her.

She laughs as she sees how Yolanda had made herself comfortable with her eyes fully trained on Mariana. Yolanda asks her what tickled up her fancy and she explains. Yolanda sighs and asks Mariana what Ethan and his entourage was all about. Mariana, who had momentarily forgotten about him, huffs angrily again at the reminder of his existence. 'Chill out lioness', Yolanda says, ‘He is gone already, young woman. All this vexation will not get to him so calm down and talk. Let us find out how to tackle it together’. Mariana calms down a bit and tells Yolanda everything. Like every single thing, right from the beginning at the clubhouse. Yolanda is soon as pissed as Mariana was at Ethan. She asks Mariana what she had planned to do when he returns. Mariana replies that she was yet to even think of what to do but one thing was certain, she was neither following him out nor giving her contact information to him. Except if he gets it from another one of his sources as usual.

'Please, let's go and prepare for work and when it is almost time for him to come and pick you up, we will go for a stroll. That way whenever he comes, he would not find you or anyone else at home', Yolanda says. Mariana agrees with the idea and they both head to the kitchen to finish up with the rest of the cooking. As they cook, Mariana asks Yolanda about Jake. She blushes and Mariana uses the opportunity to tease her some more.

'Stop', Yolanda yells after blushing too hard. Mariana busts into a fit of laughter at how red her cheeks had become.

‘Jake and I are just friends and coworkers nothing more'.

“Oh really", Mariana replies, "keep on lying to yourself then. Girl, that guy is clearly into you. Have you seen the way he looks at you? Like you are his entire world. He looks at you like there is no one else around. He literally adores you. So please, stop fooling yourself, because it is pretty obvious that you like him too”.

" Is that obvious?” Yolanda asks, turning into a blushing mess again.

"Yolanda Adams, look at you. You are already blushing at the mere mention of his name. If that is not obvious, I don't know what else is”.

Yolanda laughs.

" What about you?” Yolanda asks Mariana. " I know it has been over a year since your fiance died. Why have you decided not to give yourself a chance at happiness by finding someone else? You are a very pretty woman, Mariana with curves in all the right places. I know for a fact that if you decide to put yourself out there again, you would definitely find someone. Please give yourself a chance to be happy again, Mariana".

Mariana remains quiet after Yolanda finishes speaking. The air is thick with tension before Mariana speaks up:

“Could we not ruin this happy moment by talking about me?", She pleads.

" No issues. But just know I care about you, Mariana. A lot more than you can think of”. Yolanda says.

" I will definitely have that in mind”, Mariana says as she turns to Yolanda for a hug to which she quickly spreads her arms for. They remain like that for a while until:

“Enough of all this mussy stuff. We have to finish up here quickly so that we can look through those files before it is time for us to step out", Yolanda says. " Wait, is it just me or do I smell something burning in here”. They immediately lose each other from the hug and run to check on what was on the fire. They soon round up the cooking before heading straight to work on the files.

They work for a while and then decide that it was time to go out before Ethan comes knocking. They decided to have dinner outside even after they had cooked already. They pick a local eatery that sells Chinese food that Yolanda had recommended close to Yolanda's apartment so that she could go home at once while Mariana drives them there and comes back home with her car.

Mariana dresses up as Yolanda packs up her stuff and some takeout food that Mariana had given her as an appreciation for helping out with the cooking. Mariana put on some boyfriend jeans and a polo as she was not going anywhere important and decided to dress casual. She picks up a coat just in case the weather gets a bit chilly. They got into Mariana's car and soon they were on the road.

Ethan gets to Mariana's apartment minutes after they had left. This time he went alone without his entourage but his guards were still parading around in the shadows. He gets to her doorstep and presses the doorbell but no one opens up. He presses it some more as he thought she was asleep but still nothing. He listens in for a while and does not hear a sound. He notices that the lights were off and that her car was not in the driveway. That was when he finally realized that she had gone out in an attempt to not go out to dinner with him and by chance get rid of him.

“f**k", he screams and kick the door in frustration. “How could I not have thought of this? How did I let this happen?”. He had totally underestimated her and was currently paying the price for it right now. He now had to find another way to meet her again as she would never let him into her apartment again. He notices his guards begin to move out of the shadows as they had heard his frustrated scream and thought that something was attacking him. He signals them that he was okay and stomped his way back to his car before turning the ignition. He sat in his car and did a hit more thinking. On second thought, he decides to wait in his car for her to return. As much as he knew he was shattering his pride, he also knew that it would all be worth it in the end.