The Italian Director Next Door (CASTELLANO SERIES #1)

Chapter 5

I jolted awake to the ringtone of my phone that was reverberating through my eerily quiet bedroom. I pulled the eye mask over my head and reached over the bed side table, grunting. I flinched at the sudden brightness of my phone and squinted at the caller ID. Clearing my throat, I slid my finger across the device.

“Sophia, this better be urgent.” I hissed, smoothing a hand through my bird nest of a hair.

"Chief! I just a last minute call from our investors’ secretaries from Japan. I’m not sure if you were told but they were expected to be arriving in an hour and half at the Kennedy airport, way earlier than what they were scheduled for. Administration had a little mix up with the timing and right now the Marketing manager is down with fever and he can’t make it. Also, Rogue Japan had specifically requested to meet you and Mr. Castellano only.” She said hurriedly, taking in a deep breath after.

I groaned in frustration and kicked my duvet away from me.

"You mean we have to pick them up? From the airport?” I clarified and rolled myself to the edge of my bed.

“Please tell me you’ve also informed Mr. Castellano as well.” I clipped the phone between my ears and shoulder, frantically kicking off my silk pajama shorts and blouse, stubbing my toe at the bed side table in the process, looking for the light switch. “I’ve already done so. It’s all good, that is if he does not fall back asleep.” Sophia gushes over the phone.

“I’ll take it from here Soph, thank you.” I ended the call and threw my phone on the couch in my room and raced for the shower. I was so going to be late, I knew for a fact that Japanese culture prioritizes good time management and right now, I was nowhere close to it.

While I was struggling in getting into a fresh set of underwear after my shower, I received a text from my neighbour next door. I tapped on the screen and read his message.

'Are you awake? If you don't respond to this text immediately I’m gonna break down your door'

'Very much awake, we're carpooling today'

I knew for a fact that Castellano’s car was arriving in New York today from Italy and so he had to hitch a ride with me all the way home yesterday.

'I’m alright with that, chop chop mia cara’

I applied deodorant and put on a blue silk long sleeved Dior blouse with a high-waisted skinny jeans. After dabbing on some makeup, I made a bolt into the kitchen, getting a flask out of the cabinet and made a flask of instant coffee, there was certainly no time for freshly brewed beans today. I looked at the time on the clock on the wall and it was already 5am. s**t. I was late.

I grabbed my heels from the shoe cupboard and bag on the way out and slammed my penthouse door. There, my grungy-turned-hot neighbour was hopping on one foot outside his door tightening his shoelace.

"Don’t just stand there tesoro, go get the lift button!" he pointed with his chin and I quickly dashed towards the elevator bare foot, with my tote, coffee mug and heels in both hands.

We both clambered into the elevator and straightened our clothes. I threw my car keys at him and he caught them. "You drive, I need to fix my hair."

"Thank god, you drive like a tortoise." He commented and I didn’t even have the time to react. We clambered into my Maserati and he sped out of the parking lot. I braided my hair and sighed in relief when we were finally on the highway towards the airport.

"Can you set up the GPS? I'm not familiar with the roads yet." he said, taking a sip from the coffee mug. “f**k that’s hot.” He cursed. I tried to keep a straight face as I fixed the map on the screen display with Kennedy airport locked in.

Twenty five minutes later, we were walking through the entrance of the airport, wait, more like running towards the arrival hall. "You got that placard thing? “I asked. "Yeah." He answered, as I fumbled with my tote. "Oh come on Lizzy, you're gonna get us busted for being late."

With that being said, he grabbed my hand and we literally bounded through the airport together. If this was a slow-motion scene, it'd be much more romantic. Except that we were in a rush and I was pretty much out of breath.

"Good, the plane just landed and they'd take at least a couple of minutes before they get out here." Castellano scanned through the arrival board according to the plane number Sophia had texted us an hour ago, with their names and profiles which I had brief Castellano while we were on the way here.

He was right, within minutes; our two Japanese investors came through the arrival gate with their luggage. We exchanged our greeting first with a bow and a handshake after that. There were two of them, a man and a woman.

It was now almost 7 am and we decided we should head for breakfast. Castellano had a separate car waiting for our guest and once we settled their luggage snuggly in the trunk, he gave the driver instruction to follow us closely from behind.

We then headed to this place which sold the best big breakfast and coffee in New York, according to Yelp—Castellano’s now favourite app. We settled in at the café, flipping over the menu. From all that impromptu morning exercise this morning, I was already starving. “The idea of a big breakfast never looked so good.” I said under my breath, flipping through the menu. “Make that two, sto morendo di fame come un matto.” “Castellano you have to stop speaking to me in Italian, I literally did not get a single word you just said.” “Sorry, I mean to say i’m starving like crazy.” “Now that’s better.” I smiled, turning my attention back to the menu. After our casual conversation at breakfast, we decided that it was time to head back to the office for a further, formal discussion regarding our future potential projects together. Castellano also had the other head of departments sit in to explain our current projects and ideas on the upcoming magazine and past month reports on our sales and revenue and the list goes on. The entire meeting lasted almost 4 hours. By the end of it all, we were thoroughly exhausted, well mostly Castellano and I. I’d like to think that I, once again aced this future cooperation. Reigning in more profits for my company was my strength and all I had to do was to convince our investors why our company was worth their attention and money on and hopefully, get them on board with the other shareholders of this company. In the last few years, share prices on Rogue were skyrocketing non-stop due to the support of both local and international investors, and also because our magazine was widely popular with people of all ages, with exclusive interviews with celebrities, powerful women across the world, health advices from the best dieticians and many more.

Shortly later, Sophia had pinged me through iMessage informing me that it was time for lunch. She took the liberty of booking us at an exclusive Japanese restaurant that only took 6 customers in an hour. From what I understood, our new investors were Japanese and they have the same cuisines every other day, however they have heard that this famous restaurant chain had recently opened up in New York and were wondering was it as good as it is in the reviews.

"How are you holding up?" Castellano asked as he massaged the back of his neck, loosening his tie while we stopped at a traffic light. "I need more coffee." I tapped away busily on my phone replying an email and ignoring the message from my mom about dress fitting. I just didn’t feel like dealing with another wedding conversation in the middle of work. He took a quick glance and saw the photos of the bridesmaid dressed and he snatched my phone from me.

“Would you please rest those eyes of yours for a bit? You’ve been staring at the computer screen for the last four hours and we still have to endure lunch later.”

“So did you.” I said. I sighed and did what I was told, silently thanking him for distracting my thoughts.

“I’m fine. Also, I doubt they’d serve coffee at an authentic Japanese restaurant. Should we head to a drive thru first?" he asked.

"But we’d be late for lunch then." I said, biting my lip. "Don't you worry about that, according to Yelp, they have an outlet right next to the Japanese place."

"How'd you know what coffee I liked?"

"I asked your secretary of course." He shrugged. "Figured you were a coffee addict anyway."

I watch him silently as a smile crept its way to his face as he expertly turned the steering wheel with one hand the other way, heading into the drive thru lane. Once I got my drink I bounced in my seat.

“You’re that happy huh?” he asked as he turned right into the carpark nearby the restaurant for our lunch. “Of course.” I took a long sip and sighed, savouring the after taste of the cold liquid on my tongue. The car came to a gradual halt once we were parked. I was ready to unbuckle my seatbelt but he put a hand there, stopping me. I looked up.

"Hold on." He said, taking the coffee cup from me and gestured me to open up the lid of the flask I brought with me this morning. I watch him pour the iced coffee into the stainless steel container. “What are you doing?” I asked as I watched him fastened back the lid.

"Wasn't sure if we're allowed to bring that in."

His small thoughtful gesture made me appreciate him a little bit more today, especially when he had agreed to drive us both around. Frankly I don’t think I would be able to do it all by myself today.

We got out of the car and made our way to the restaurant, I noticed his tie was still loosened and I jogged a little faster, hooking my fingers on his coat. “Hold on, your tie is undone.” I said, while he came to an abrupt half with my coffee flask in his hand. He looked down at his tie without even realizing it. My fingers moved expertly around the silk fabric, adjusting it for him neatly at his collar. He watched me intently as I smoothed his coat once I’m done.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m only doing this because I don’t want you to look sloppy in front of my investors.”

“I didn’t say anything.” He looked at me, very much amused with his grey eyes trained on mine.

As we took our seats, we were served shortly with authentic green tea, freshly harvested and flown in from Japan and brewed to perfection every single morning. I was starving long before we even got here and I had stolen a few sips of coffee while we waited for our sushi. “Tesoro, don’t ruin your appetite with that.” He whispered under his breath.

The restaurant was relatively small but cosy; ancient Japanese drawings and wordings were decorate on each side of the wall. The seats were made out of bamboo and at the centre, there was a space created for the sushi chef while he prepared our meal in front of us.

“So tell me Mr. Castellano, how are you fitting here in New York?” Miss Yakamuri, our Japanese investor asked. “We were informed that you just moved here over the weekend from Italy.”

“It’s only been a couple of days and its still early to say.” He smiled, taking a sip of his drink. “I’m sure Miss Danvers here would bring you around, she’s been living here all her life.” Mr. Kirito said and I nodded. “I know she will eventually. Miss Danvers here is usually a very busy woman.”

I smiled politely as I kicked his leg with my heel and he placed a hand on my thigh, holding it in place. “Move your paws, perv.” I said under my breath. “Ah yes.” Yakamuri smiled. “We heard a lot about you Miss Danvers, and honestly, I am dying to meet your mother Charlotte Andrews. Believe it or not, she’s pretty popular and widely loved in Tokyo.”

I laughed nervously at the revelation. My mother was almost hitting 50 and news about her engagement was yet to break out to the media sooner or later. And like it or not, I’d eventually get dragged into the spotlight once again where people were about to hound me on what did I think about my mother’s 3rd marriage.

“Are you married Mr. Castellano?” Kirito asked and he had his brows raised. “No, I’m..no..not yet, I’m not even dating.” he shook his head. I remembered the Brunette from yesterday and thought it would be impossible for a man like him to settle down so quickly with just one woman. “I see, because Yakamuri and I had thought the both of you looked perfect for each other.”

I choked on my coffee while Castellano only chuckled and answered. “I believe Miss Danvers here thinks otherwise.”

The chef served fresh salmon, tuna, sea urchin and a whole other assorted sea creatures of which some I have no heard off before. He sliced the seafood with such delicate knife movements and placed them on top a roll of Japanese rice. “Why don’t you tell them you’re opposed against the idea of marriage?” Castellano asked before putting a sushi into his mouth. “And why should I?”

He shrugged. “Unless you want them to continue shipping the both of us.”

“Trust me, you’re the last person I would ever think of getting together with.”

He thought for a bit before answering. “I don’t know, I can’t say if I actually despise that idea.”

“I would never date a man who’s as annoying as you, and plus, anyone who looks the way you do usually never settles with one woman.”

“That’s not fair. You’re literally stereotyping me with all those men out there. Fine. I guess I too would never date a crazy loud, uptight, tone deaf Celine Dion wannabe woman like you who screams bloody murder at anyone who blasts Britney on their speakers.”

I know I said I appreciated him 20 minutes ago but now, I take it all back.

I snuck a tiny bit of wasabi with my chopstick and placed it under the raw fish while he was not looking as he was deep in conversation with both our guests.

I tapped Ethan on his thigh while I slid the tampered food to him. He didn’t even look at it and took a quick mouthful. "Wait." I winced, expecting him to only take half a bite first. He narrowed his eyes at me but then his eyes grew wide and he reached his hand below the table and squeezed my knee.

"Cristo, what did you put in here tesoro?" he hissed and gagged at the sudden spike of his senses.

I snickered quietly as I no longer felt any remorse after being called various names over the last few days by him. He subtly reached for my coffee flask and chugged down the remaining iced coffee.

"Is everything alright?" Yakamuri asked and Castellano nodded, assuring here that everything for alright. He, however did not loosen his grip on my thigh at all.

"Geez, get your hands off me, pervert." I whispered as I smacked his hand away. "Me?" his jaw dropped and looked around to see if anyone heard me. "p*****t?" he whispered and quickly moved his hand away. "You nearly killed my taste buds back there."

"You gotta enjoy the food, embrace the flavours Castellano. That’s the whole point of us being here." I exaggerated and waggled my brows at him. He breathed in a long sigh before saying these next words to me. "Sarai la mia morte, you’ll be the death of me, Lizzy."

After lunch, our investors were taken to their hotels by a driver and the two of us decided to take an early leave today and head home. It was a silent drive, maybe because I fell asleep on the way home or maybe he was still pissed at me for the whole wasabi prank. Okay maybe I did went a little too far.

It was not long later when I felt someone shaking me gently and unclasped my seatbelt. I hadn't realize the car had stopped as well and that we were already in the parking lot of our building, I barely could keep my eyes open and I was basically a walking zombie all the way up to my place.

"I’m making dinner tonight, be over by 6.” He said, pushing open my door after I tapped in the password on my keypad. I nodded tiredly without paying much attention to him and went into my place. Kicking off my heels, I made my way to the couch and dozed off immediately.

**

It was slightly after 5:30 in the evening when I woke up and scrolled through my phone for a bit. I was actually surprised there was not a single email that came in, even while I slept. I crammed in a short work out and hit the showers after. While I was towelling dry my hair, a text came through.

‘Dinner's almost ready.’

I got myself ready, smoothing my hair in the full length mirror in room, making sure I didn’t look like a complete mess. Wait, why was I even bothered to look nice for him? I then twisted my hair in a messy bun and applied some lip balm before heading over.

I pressed on the door bell and waited for him to get the door while I moved back and forth on the balls of my feet.

“Missed me?" he asked once he opened the door for me. I gave him a wry smile and answered, “Not even the slightest bit.”, making my way into the loft.

The smell of meat roasting in the oven wafted in the air. I glanced around his loft and noticed the entire layout was almost the same as mine but with everything in the opposite direction. The colours on his wall were mostly grey, black and white—basically what every bachelor’s man cave would look like.

I jumped when I felt something wet swiped across my feet. “What the...” I looked down.

"Is this yours?" I questioned as I watch the little tiny corgi circled around my feet and barked excitedly, wagging its tiny tail. “Oh that's mio amore, Emma." Ethan briefly turned his head, smiling at his pet. “She arrived this afternoon from Italy, if you weren’t so dead asleep, you would have heard her barking.”

“You had your pet shipped over here? I didn’t peg you as an animal lover.”

“There are still a lot of things you don’t know about me, Lizzy.”

“I guess so.” I said quietly as I came to a squat, reaching for the little puppy. Its large brown ears were twitching and it licked my fingers. She sped off and came running back with her toy carrot, dropping it at my feet. “Oh you wanna play fetch puppy?” I cooed at the pup who was barking excitedly. “Okay, here we go.”

I flung the toy across his carpet and Emma bounded clumsily towards her chew toy.

“Do you need help setting the table?” I asked while I waited for Emma to run back to me and I threw her toy again, this time a little further.

“Sure, the utensils are in the drawer next to the refrigerator.”

I began setting the plates, forks and spoon while I watched him move around the kitchen with ease. “Where did you learn how to cook like that?” I peeked over his shoulder, watching him mix some wine into a sauce he was making in the pan.

“My father made sure my brother and I learned the basics, his wise words as to not give my future wife a headache with my bad cooking.”

“Whoever she’s going to be, she’d be one lucky woman.” He didn’t answer to that statement, only smiled. “You mentioned that you have a brother?” I asked, leaning against the counter.

“A younger one, but he’s in Italy right now, he has his own company there.”

“Oh? What does he do?” I asked, imagining how his younger brother would look like. If older Castellano looked like that, I could only imagine as to how the other brother would look like. “Well, he’s in the Engineering business. Builds nothing from scratch and sells them to the highest bid.”

“And you’re in..fashion?” I trailed.

“This isn’t my only line of business sweetheart.” he chuckled, do all Italian men laugh so sexily? “You need to actually stop calling me that, people might think that we’re actually dating with all those pet names you’re calling me.”

“Help yourself to some wine.” He handed me a bottle of red and a cork opener, completely ignoring my last statement. I was actually surprised at how civilised we were behaving with each other considering we had just spent the last 72 hours pranking each other’s asses off.

“Thank you.” I popped the cork and poured him a glass first, then myself. “I wasn’t always in the fashion business. This too, is just part of my investment and I wanted to try out something I’ve not ventured in before.”

“Hold on, the previous director that left our company told me we secured an investor from Italy, by any chance, was that you?”

“Si, that was me.” He smirked.