Ananya's POV

Its been 2 days, Alex has not spoken to me. I have been calling him frantically. And he hasn't been answering. I know I hurt him.
I haven't been to work either. I didn't want to face Nathan whose call I hadn't been answering.
I had told Maa everything. She had been trying to calm my nerves down.
I had my head rested in her lap and was watching TV after dinner. She ensured I had food on time.
"Darling..you know you have to go to work sooner or later. How long do you think you can stay at home.?"

I just closed my eyes and thought about Alex. No way was he coming back to work at the Swornwell's.
" I don't want to face Nathan. I am not sure if its a good idea. But I am bound contractually to work there for a year. And its just barely been 2 months. So i cannot event quit."
I burried my face in her lap with a pillow on my face.
"I hate my life right now. Make Alex talk to me pleaseeeee."
I took my phone out and peeked out the pillow just a little to see my phone screen and Alex was still not picking my calls.
I sighed deeply and closed my eyes.
'Pick up my calls Alex. I MISS YOU.'

The next morning when I woke up, I knew I had to go to work and that made it so difficult to get out of bed.
I got up took a shower and went downstairs when I heard Maa talking to someone in the kitchen.
"Its her favourite. You give her Banana pancakes and she is all smiles."

"Alex is that you?"
I was happy thinking Alex was here but then the colour on my face disappeared when i saw who it was.

"Sorry to disappoint you again Ms.Donavan!"
Nathan exclaimed with a broken smile.

"You..what are you doing here?" I gave him a confused look when Maa interrupted.
"Sweetheart have your breakfast. You both will get plenty of time to talk at work."

The entire breakfast was like a silent movie to me. I kept quiet but could see Maa and Nathan were talking like they knew each other since ages. I didn't hear a word they were saying. My mind was busy guessing the reason for Nathan showing up here and my heart was still waiting for a call or text from Alex.

Being with Nathan in the same room made me feel as if I was betraying Alex in some way.

"If you are done Ms.Donavan, shall we leave?" He raised his eyebrow at me with a smirk.
"Thank you. But I am not going with you. I will take a bus."

"Maa. I will see you in the evening." I gave her a hug, touched her feet and she kissed my cheek. "See you baby." She was smiling.

Nathan just hugged Maa and said his good byes.
I left them alone and got out to walk to the bus stop.

Nathan came running out after me. "Ms.Donavan. .. Ms.Donavan. ..wait."
I decided not to and kept walking.

He ran past me and stood right in front of me.
"Ananya..what would it take for you to talk to me."
I saw him signal someone to follow.

He kept on walking backwards.
Seeing him in front of me brought the memories of that evening back. The kiss in particular.
I couldn't help but notice how handsome he looked. The Armani suit he was wearing was as if tailor made to suit his perfectly shaped body. He looked different than what he did when he was not a CEO.
He was still walking backwards his face towards me. Running his fingers through his hair, he bit his lower lip when he suddenly stopped walking which made me bump into him.

"What was that? Who do you think you are?"

"Ok so finally we are talking. And to answer your question, I am your boss. So, you have to do as i say."

"Oh yes how can I forget. But are you even who you say you are now? Or its another of your little games we are playing?" I stopped and gave him a sarcastic look.
"Ok. I know you are angry at me. But we need to talk. Please let me explain. And besides, I am your boss so i order you to come with me rather than be late to work."

" No thanks. I prefer my bus. "

He left my side and went and sat in the car which was now driving along my side on the road. That was weird as it made a spectacle in front of the few people who were passing by.

In that instant amidst all the embarrassment I saw my bus leaving the stop, without me on it. I started to run after it calling for it to stop. But I guess i was too late.
I gave up after a few seconds of run and stood on the pavement holding my knees. I was exhausted to have run in my heels.

From the corner of my eyes I saw Nathan's Limo slowly pass by and park a little in front of me. The passenger door was opened and seeing no option I decided to get in.

"That's my good girl."

He was smiling through his victory.
But I chose to keep my mouth shut.

"What would you like to do for the day?"

"Excuse me? I have a job. In your company."

"Yeah, so I am the boss."

"Just drop me to the office and you can go wherever you'd like to."

He argued no further. The drive to office although uncomfortable was quiet thereafter.

I asked him to drop me off a block before office. I did not want to be seen with the boss. He smilingly obliged.
"We will be seeing each other soon."
I thanked him and walked off.

I reached my floor and had a deja vu of a similar situation i had been in before.
People were staring at me, which made me uncomfortable.
Did they see me get down from the Boss's car?

The walk to my cubicle was filled with staring eyes and gossiping groups.

To my surprise i found a bouquet of roses neatly placed in a beautiful glass vase on my table. I quickly looked out for a card hoping it would be from Alex and that he has forgiven me.
I found no card but the moment i turned my head up I jumped to see Grace standing over my table with her face covered with the biggest smile i had ever seen.
"Tell me who are they from?? My god... you are so lucky, this guy is desperate for your attention."
"They are just a bunch of roses Grace. Don't make a big deal out of it. And i don't know who they are from. So leave them alone."

"Oh dear. They are not just a bunch of roses. You have got to see this."

She took me by surprise and pulled me towards the break out area and what I saw there made my jaw drop to the floor.

The break out was filled with ballons and roses with a note hanging from the ceiling addressed to me.
'I love you Ananya. See you soon.!'

I let out a little laugh still not able to believe what my eyes were seeing.
It felt weird but good.

I tried not to make a big deal out of it.
" its just a prank I guess Grace. Forget it. Focus on work please."

"Ms.Donavan... this package is for you."
One of the facilities member handed me a beautifully wrapped box.

"Open it up please. We are waiting to see who this is all from. And by the way everyone knows now who Alex was. And Nathan, him too.
Girl you are one lucky girl. You had one billionaire as your best friend and the other as a possible boyfriend. We have a pool going on around who these flowers for you are from."

So they knew it all. My mouth went dry.
"Grace. This is none of yours or any body else's business. Please leave me alone."

I picked the package up and walked out towards the lifts. I pressed the button for the basement.
I so did not want to be in the situation that I was already in. I did not like people talking about me. I felt like running away.

I got out of the lift and entered the parking lot. I walked towards the far end and sat down on the floor with my head resting against the wall. I sat like that for i don't know how long.

"Here, have some water."
I opened my eyes and saw Nathan standing in front of me.

"So it was you?"

"Oh, were you expecting this from someone else?"

I gave him an angry look. Then I realised getting angry will not yield out anything.

"Ok. So I am sitting here and not going anywhere. You have your chance to say whatever you want to say."

"Thank you. But we are not going to talk here. We are either going out or we are going up to my office."

"I am in no mood to get my butt off this ground. So its either here or not at all."
I protested as I did not want to face anyone.

"Ok. So no I don't agree with you. We will do it my way then."

He bent down and lifted me on his shoulders. "Keep me down this instance Nathan. Or I am going to scream. Keep me down..down down.."

*****************************
Nathan's POV

She was hitting my back with her little hands. I pressed the top floor button for my penthouse in the private lift.
She was still not giving up.
But i did what I had to, as I needed to prove to her that I did infact love her.

I was not going to let her go like this.
It will be over only if I say its over.