Taming the Playboy CEO

Girls Dinner

The same evening

Mariana is having the time of her life with Yolanda. They got there and decided to order differently. Mariana goes for:

Appetizers - Dumplings

Soups - Wonton Soup

Main Course - Kung Pao Chicken

Rice and Noodles - Fried Rice

Desserts - Almond Jelly

Beverages - Jasmine Tea

While Yolanda decides on

Appetizers - Wontons

Soups - Hot and sour soup

Main Course - Beef and Broccoli

Desserts - Egg tarts

Beverages - Green tea

They talk and laugh as they eat. Soon they are done with their dinner and they move to the side of the shop as they had an impressive display of Chinese ancestry materials ranging from teapots to paintings. After admiring the items for a while, they get a few souvenirs before calling it a night. Yolanda heads home as Mariana drives away.

Ethan is still waiting at Mariana's house so on getting home, the first sight that welcomes her is Ethan's car in her driveway. She is immediately perplexed as she had not expected him to wait for her to return. She makes a mental note to ignore him and just get into her apartment and lock the door behind her. She is successful as she runs as quickly as she could before Ethan could get out of his car. She gets inside and bangs the door behind her and Ethan is left to knock from outside. She ignores him totally till he decides to leave all by himself. She hears him drive away, she sighs and wonders if he was just daft or could not just get the hint. She goes to prepare for bed and her night routine.

The next morning

Mariana is already at work. She is on her way to report to her branch manager of her return. She gets there and sees him on a phone call and decides to wait till he is done. Soon he was done and he turned to her.

“Oh Miss Beth, you are back . Hope you enjoyed your break as I'm not sure you would be getting any anytime soon”, he says and chuckles

"Sir, thanks for the leave, even though as you have said I might not get another one, it was a welcome relief”. She says.

"Good to hear, Miss Beth, because as you have resumed work, we have extra duties for you “.

“And what could that be Sir?" Mariana asks.

" Well”, her branch manager replies, “as you may have already known, we are on the verge of signing a huge partnership contract with Greg's group of companies and the architectural section, which happens to be your section, is actually the center of the entire partnership. This means that you would be working hand in hand with the CEO of Greg's group of companies and his assistant”.

Mariana is speechless. When she finally finds her tongue, she says:

“Thank you sir for this opportunity. I promise to put in my best effort".

“Oh, I know you will, Miss Beth. That is why I trusted you with this project after all. You are one of our best directors and I know you'll make something splendid out of this project. Let me allow you to go and begin your work. As you are leaving, please tell my secretary to schedule an emergency meeting with all the other directors including yourself immediately after lunch break”.

" No issues. Thank you once again”. Mariana replies as she leaves.

As she leaves, she goes to her office to continue with work and also prepare for the meeting later on.

During lunch break, Mariana breaks the news of her offer to Yolanda who in turn is very happy with the prospect of working hand in hand with the CEO as it would be a good addition to their CV.

Soon lunch break was over and they headed back to their offices to pack up for the meeting with the branch manager.

They get to the conference room before their branch manager as usual and stand when he steps in with his assistant ahead of him. He settles and the meeting begins in earnest.

He first apologizes for any inconveniences caused at the moment and goes in straight to the agenda he had for calling the meeting.

“As you all had already known, during our last meeting with the CEO of Greg's group of companies, we had had certain casualties due to their CEO's ill health. Word reaching us currently is that he is now hale and hearty and is prepared to complete the meeting and in turn the presentation and sign the documents there by completing the paperwork. So he has picked a date to schedule the next meeting and it is in the next two days that is Friday. He had wanted it to happen tomorrow as the contract has been long overdue but I had to plead with him to extend it so as to give you all time to prepare well and fix up the things that went wrong last time”. The directors all acknowledge.

“Any other suggestions?", He asks, “In the absence of any other agenda, the meeting has ended". He stands from his seat and leaves the conference room with his assistant right behind him signaling for the rest of the directors to follow suit.

Presentation day

The presentation had already started as the second speaker was already in motion. Alex had taken his pills as prescribed by the doctor and had carried extra just in case. It is soon Mariana and Yolanda's turn to present and they successfully pull a straight face and presents with little to no glitches as Alex was having only a slight headache.

The presentation is soon over and Alex and the branch manager go into the office arranged for Alex in the company to sign the contract and complete the documentation of the paperwork. As they are done, the branch manager sends for Mariana and Yolanda. He introduces them to Alex and his personal assistant as the two people they would be working with as it was their section they were on. The branch manager leaves them after the introduction

Alex asks Mariana for her name and she replies. “So Miss Beth, your first task is to carry the rest of these files to my car and while your assistant and mine begin sorting through the files and things we would be needing. I would love to oversee the project so I would be supervising the entire work with your help of course. This means that we work together and you'll report to me, while our assistants work together and report to you and you in turn report to me. Do you understand?” He asks again.

Mariana who had been lost in trance staring at him as was talking, remains quiet. “Miss Beth, do you understand?” Alex asks again. "Yes sir", Mariana replies as she recovers quickly.

“Good, now let us get to my penthouse so that you could get familiar with the place as you would be coming there often as the doctor had prescribed days for me to rest too due to my health issues”. He goes out of the office and Mariana follows suit thinking about what he had just said. As much as she was happy that he was inviting her over to his place, she could not help but be worried.

“Miss Beth”, Alex calls when they get to the car. She looks up at him. “You should drop the files at the trunk and then go back up to carry your stuff as I or my driver would drop you off after we finish up at the penthouse”.

" But sir, my car……", she starts but Alex soon cuts her off.

“You'll drop off your keys with my assistant at once, so that I could send one of my men to drop it off at your place afterwards. Is that fine by you, Miss Beth?”

" Yes sir”, she replies.

" Now go get your stuff. I'll be here waiting”

As Mariana leaves to follow the instructions, her mind is still in turmoil. "Health issues?’, she mused silently to herself, ‘I thought the branch manager said he was fine. Which other health issues did he have? Did the collapse really affect him that bad? Or was it the accident he had?’. She was extremely worried and could not think about it all the way down to his penthouse. During the drive back, Alex makes a stop at the grocery store to pick up supplies. Mariana is left to wonder if he did not have a maid. As soon as he returns he stuffs them all into the trunk and continues the journey.

“I can guess the question on your mind”. He continues as Mariana remains silent.

“You must be wondering why I am the one doing the groceries and not my maid”.

" True” she replies," but how did know that was on my mind”

" Well, it was pretty obvious that was on your mind and logically anyone seeing me shop for groceries would definitely wonder the same thing. Well, to answer your question, I actually enjoy my space and having a maid would hinder that ”.

“Oh", Mariana says as she was still worried about his health.

After a while, she could not hold it any longer.

" Sir”, she asks, " are you okay?”