Billionaire's Love Story

Chapter 12

Iris

‘I must be the biggest stupid in this world. Why did I hug him? What will he think about me? What was going in my mind? Argh..’ I scolded myself.

I could not handle his sad eyes and that broken smile on his face. But I must admit he has a good heart.

My heart was beating like crazy all the time when I was hugging him. I hope he didn’t notice it.

Today I will go on a dinner with Mr. Wilson. I am having bad feelings about this but now I can’t cancel it now. I hope he doesn’t have anything bad in his mind.

I entered in my cabin when I got a call on intercom. I received the call and Ace spoke from other side, “come to my cabin.” I said yes and went into his cabin after knocking on the door.

He asked me about some reports which he told me to prepare by evening today. I was already done with the reports so I told him I will bring it to him.

I was about to leave but I stopped in my tracks when I heard him calling me I turned around to find him standing behind me. How did he move so fast, I thought.

He asked me hopefully, “Are you free tonight? I wanted to have a dinner with you”.

“Oh I am sorry, I have plans for tonight.” And I saw disappointed flashing on his face. He nodded, “It’s okay, what about tomorrow?”.

I smiled and said, “tomorrow is fine.” And he also smiled.

“And another thing I heard Travis came here yesterday, why was he here?” he asked. And I told him that he came here to return my coat and apologize again.

When I told him that I have plans with Travis tonight I saw the disappointed in his eyes replaced by anger.

He wanted to say something but he is trying really hard to control his anger, I could see that. When he didn’t say anything I asked, “is everything okay?”.

He sighed deeply before saying, “Look I don’t wanna sound nosy but please be careful around him”. I knew what he meant so I nodded my head and came back to my cabin.

Day went by really fast. And strangely Ace was not himself after my conversation with him in the morning. He didn’t talk much like he does everyday.

When I went to his cabin in afternoon to ask him about lunch, he said he isn’t hungry. And it happened for the first time since I started working here. I thought it might be because of the death of his friend.

I went home to freshen up a little and wore a simple pink t shirt, blue jeans as this is just a casual meet with a friend.

I took my coat and purse and came out of my apartment to make my way towards the restaurant, of which he sent me the address this afternoon.

When I reached there he was already standing there leaning against his black SUV. He was wearing black shirt and blue jeans. Sleeve of his shirt rolled up showing his masculine forearm and few button of his shirt undone. He was looking dashing.

As soon as he saw me a smile made it’s way on his lips and he started walking towards me. When he reached where I was standing he smiled even more widely and said, “You look beautiful”. And I smiled a little while saying thanks for his compliment.

We made our way to the table which he reserved for our dinner. Like a gentleman he pulled out a chair for me and then made himself comfortable in front of me.

As soon as we sat a waitress came and asked what would we like to order. I noticed how she was trying her best in seducing him. And I guess he was enjoying it.

He asked me what I would like and after taking our order she went away before winking at him sexily. We talked about some work related stuff when food arrived.

We were eating silently when he spoke, “Grandma wants to meet you. She has been talking a lot about you since our lunch meeting.”

I replied while smiling, “I would also like to meet her”. He told me that I should go to their house on this Saturday which is 4 days away from today.

I agreed because I also wanted to meet Melissa. She is a very nice woman who makes you feel warm in your heart.

After eating he ordered some desserts which was soft chocolate cake and it was most delicious chocolate cake I ever had.

He asked, “Do you like it?” and I replied smiling, “It’s very delicious”.

He smiled, “It’s my favorite and I didn’t ask you what you would like in dessert because I wanted you to taste it. I hope you don’t mind”.

I said, “Oh, I don’t mind at all, it’s really good. You have a nice choice I should admit”.

He had the sweetest smile on his face after listening to my words as if he really liked my compliment and I didn’t know why.

He once again apologized and I told him to stop apologizing now. He offered to drive me home. I declined but he didn’t listen and at the end I lost and got in his car.

It was good having lunch with him and most importantly nothing bad happened for which I was worried about.

Drive home was silent. We listened some music and in between talked about some of our favorite music and songs. He opened the car door for me like a gentleman he was being today.

When we were both outside of the car he said, “I enjoyed the time together with you. I would like to be your friend if you don’t mind. I would like to hang out with you again in future.”

He held out his hand for handshake. I smiled and took his hand for a handshake and nodded. I had my doubts about him but it feels like he is not up to anything bad.

I waved at him and he smiled while waving back. When I reached my door he got in his car and drove off.

I changed into my night clothes after taking a quick shower. Then called my family and talked a little. After that I started thinking about Ace and his behaviour today until I fell into deep slumber.

I woke up early because of the nightmare I started having again. I am not able to sleep properly these days because of these nightmares.

I got ready to go to office. I got message from Ace that he will not come to office today and I will have to assist Mike today along with his secretary Sarah.

After coming out from elevator I made my way towards Mike’s office instead of going to my cabin. The door of his cabin was little open. I was about to knock on his door when I heard him taking my name and I stopped.

“You won’t believe me Riya what Iris did?” my eyes widened. ‘What did I do’ I thought.

“I am happy that he finally let out his emotions in front of someone” Riya said. And I frowned not understanding what they were talking about.

“You know after he found Iris again when they met in his hotel room, he has not slept with any woman. Just forget about sleeping he did not even glanced towards any women. All he thinks about and talks about these days is Iris”.

My eyes widened and my heart started beating at crazily fast pace.

“He even stopped drinking alcohol so that she will not try to push him away or she is scared of him.” And I heard Riya gasp and she said, “Impossible. He never once listened to us when we told him to stop drinking when he was not well last year. He didn’t let a single day pass without drinking alcohol in past years.”

I decided to stop my eavesdropping because I couldn’t take it anymore and knocked on the door. Mike smiled at me and Riya hugged me saying hi.

Mike said, “Good thing you came. Ace has caught the cold that is why I forced him to take a day off today. But I urgently need his sign on some of the documents. So please go to his house and bring his sign on these documents.”

So this is why he’s not coming today I thought and took file from his hands.

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Mike

I was really worried about Ace yesterday after we came to office from Danny’s funeral. We all cried to make it less painful and feel a little light in our hearts.

But Ace could not do that. He doesn’t cry in front of anyone. He doesn’t even share his inner sad feelings or thoughts with us.

He trusts me and Riya but still he can’t share his pain with others even when he really wants to. And we understand him. But we want him to open up with someone, anyone.

And I was happy that he found this someone. Tomorrow when I could not work in my cabin because I thought he was alone, I wanted to check on him.

But when I reached his cabin I found the door of his cabin open. I peeked inside and I was shocked to my bones when I saw him crying while hugging Iris tightly.

I couldn’t believe my eyes but I felt relieved to see him letting out his true emotions. They didn’t notice me and I came back to my cabin without disturbing them.

When Ace was repeating himself for almost past one month since he met Iris that she is different from others, I didn’t believe him.

I thought he is just attracted towards her because for past 7 years after Shanaya left he was never serious about any women. But today I know for sure that Iris is really important for him.

When I told Riya today about what I witnessed yesterday, she was also shocked because he didn’t even let his guards down in front of us or in front of Shanaya.

When Iris came into my cabin I wanted to tell her everything and wanted to ask for her to help Ace with his past problems.

But I didn’t want to ruin anything. I wanted it to be between them. And I didn’t want her to help him only because of pity.

I told her to go to his apartment so he can talk with her. Because since tomorrow afternoon he wasn’t himself. I asked him what happened and he told me the reason is because she went on dinner with Travis.

I thought, ‘is he getting jealous for Iris?’.

I was having the feeling that Travis was up to something bad.

I hope everything goes perfect between Ace and Iris.

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Author’s POV

Ace was lying down on his bed in his room of this apartment. He has his own mansion like house but he thinks it’s too big for him as he lives alone. That is why he loves in this apartment which is located at 20 min drive from his office but in opposite direction to Iris' apartment.

From inside it doesn’t seem like a apartment at all. It has beautiful Italian interior of gray, white and black color. It’s really classy. It has a living room, kitchen and 2 bedrooms with walk in closet.

He was thinking about Iris. Yesterday after hearing she is going to have dinner with Travis, he was going crazy. He was jealous. He was angry, not with Iris but Travis. Travis had bad intentions towards Iris, he knew it.

He was avoiding Iris after their conversation because he knew that if she’ll stay in front of him, he will ask her to cancel her plan. And stay with him.

He was already feeling like he would get sick yesterday morning because of bad wheather and he could not sleep a wink last night. That is why he is not feeling well.

Ace wanted to come to office not wanting to stay away from Iris but Mike didn’t let him. This is why he is here lying on his bed thinking about the girl who stole his heart in no time.

He didn’t know when he fell asleep. He woke up when he heard door bell ringing sound and came out of his bed to open the door for whoever it might be. He was wearing his black sweatpants and gray t shirt.

He opened the door and his eyes widened to see Iris standing in front of him.

He rubbed his eyes to get rid of all the sleep and tried to take a better look and it really was Iris. She greeted him morning and a very bright smile made it’s way to his lips.

He took a step aside while saying, “come in”. She entered into his apartment with a little smile on her lips. He was just to happy to even ask why she is here.

She started looking around his apartment and it was beautiful. It reminded her of the hotel room where they meet for the second time.

She turned around to find him staring at her with a lot of sincerity and different kinds of emotions in his eyes. Which she couldn’t decipher.

“Your apartment is beautiful.” She complimented honestly. He asked, “you like it?” and she nodded.

“Do you like Italian interior?” she asked. He nodded, “Yeah a lot, but how did you know?”.

She replied, “You had same kind of interior in your hotel room where we met for the second time and kis…” she stopped talking when she realized what she was about to say.

His eyes widened when she mentioned that day, almost mentioned their kiss. She quickly looked away to hide her flushed face from him.

After few seconds a smile appeared on his lips, looking at her attempt to hide her flushed face.

He asked hopefully, “Can we talk about it now. Are you comfortable..”. She cut him off saying, “How are you feeling now? Mike said you were not feeling well.”

He felt disappointed but covered it quickly saying, “I am good now”. She nodded feeling relieved that she was successful in shaking off the topic of their intense moment.

He told her to sit on sofa and he himself sat beside her leaving a little distance. She told him that she is here to get his signature on some documents. While handing him the file his palm brushed against her fingers.

Iris realized, he was hot. Oops, sorry. She realized he was burning in fever. She frowned and took his hand in hers, and it really was burning. She leaned a little to check his forehead with back of her palm.

His eyes were wide because of this behaviour of hers. It was really unlike of her. He never saw her touch any men since she started working here except for handshakes.

‘But she did hug you Ace last time when she was worried about you.’ His mind said to him.

‘Is she worried about me?’ he thought.

“You have high fever. Did you get any medicine for your fever.” She asked him worriedly making him snap out of his thoughts.

He removed her hands from his forehead and held them softly in his own, hopping she won’t remove them from his grip and to his surprise she didn’t.

He said, “I am okay. I would be okay if I sleep for a while. I don’t need medicine.”

She scowled at him, “You should not be careless with your health, you know. You live alone and I am sure you wouldn’t even have eaten anything since morning, right?”.

He was feeling like the most happiest person in the world right now. She was scolding him like a wife does to her husband, at least he thought that way.

He didn’t know anything about married couple’s quarrel but this idea suddenly popped into his mind, even he doesn’t know from where.

“And why are you smiling like this?” she asked frowning and he realized that he was grinning like a crazy person at his own thoughts.

He scratched his neck with his left hand as his another hand was still holding onto her.

She sighed at his reaction and told him, “I will make something for you to eat, can I use your kitchen?”.

He started “you don’t nee…” but stopped when she said, “please, you really have very high fever. You should take care of yourself. Weather is getting worst day by day”.

He stood up and said, “okay, I will give the files to Robert and he will give it to Mike”. She nodded and started moving towards the kitchen as kitchen was visible from the living room.

She saw that his kitchen was filled with grocery which she didn’t expect. He entered into the kitchen after handing over the file to Robert.

He said, “This girl never listens to me. I told her many times not to buy too much stuff but she never listens”. She frowned, “who?”.

“Riya” he replied.

She smiled because she knows how much Mike and Riya love him. She told him to take a rest until she is cooking.

He protested but he came into the living room after failing in his attempt to help her cook. He laid down on his sofa and after few minutes sleep consumed him.

After cooking some porridge and soup for him she came out to find him sleeping on the sofa in living room.

She sat on the other sofa and stared at his face. He was looking so adorable just like a baby while sleeping. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair but stopped herself.

After 3 hours he woke up and looked around and found her sitting on sofa. She was doing something in her phone.

She glanced towards him when she felt his eyes on her. He was staring at her. She smiled at him and told him to freshen up until she heats up the food and he nodded.

He ate the food silently while glancing in her direction from time to time. ‘She is a good cook', he thought.

After he was done with eating, she gave him medicine. All the while he was feeling very strong emotions since he woke up. He didn’t know what these emotions were.

He was liking her presence in his apartment. He was sitting on the dining table near kitchen island where she was washing the dishes all the while staring at her.

She turned around and started making her way towards him while wiping her hands with towel.

He couldn’t control himself anymore. He marched in her direction. Before she could ask him if he wants anything, he was standing in front of her.

He held her face in his palms making her eyes widened and leaned to kiss her on her lips.