'I am extremely sorry for being late.' I spoke in a very low tone. 'I was actually...' I stopped as I saw Nicholas walk towards me with his hands in his pockets. He looked damn hot in his business suit which was as crisp as a new banknote and dyed to a uniform shade of bleak grey. I retreated backwards slowly till I bumped into the tinted glass walls of the room.

Oh my god! It had to be today! The day I decide not to take a shower. Oh I must be stinking, regardless of the fact that I dived in the pool of a perfume. Correction: A strong perfume. God! Calm down, will you?Jenny look at the positive shit here! Okay, this is the moment when he says, babe I missed you. Oh my god! I am going to melt on the floor!

"If you want to be my partner, you have to start acting mature and come on time. AM I CLEAR?" I couldn't believe my ears.

Did he just shout at me? For sure I am going to melt on the floor out of heartbreak.

"Excuse me! Mr. Jackman, you can't interact with our colleagues in such a manner!"

Thank you God for blessing me with a boss disguised as my best friend.

"Oh I am sorry. But I am sure Jenny didn't feel bad. Right Jenny?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

'Of course not!' I replied sarcastically and rolled my eyes.

"Jenny can I have a word with you?" I nodded and left the room with Darren.

"Care to explain to me girl!"

'He is my ex!' I blurted out.

"Your what?" Darren gave me serious questioning look. Sometimes I would wonder if he was my best friend, my boss or my overprotective brother! I simply looked down.

Darren opened his mouth to speak a word but closed it as soon as he saw Ivy approaching.

"Jennifer ma'am, here is your coffee." She held the cup of coffee which I was going to spill anytime soon.

'Just buzz off!' I gave her a stern look. She chuckled and left!

Ladies and gentlemen, a tip: never be too friendly with your coworkers as you can see, it leads to this!

"Is he the one whom you broke up with around five years ago before shifting here, in Vancouver?" he raked his fingers through his hair. "The one whom you loved a lot, but you didn't want a long distance relationship?"

I took a deep breath and nodded in agreement.

"Great! No matter what, you are still working with him." I tried to speak in my defence but he kept his index finger on his lips. "No ifs or buts! Is that clear? Now go and start on the project."

Gosh I can hate Darren!

****************

The next few days were shit. Completely shit! I had a lot on my plate. I had to prepare the best designs for the fashion line this week, hence I was up many nights. Ana also stayed awake with me. We had coffee, her bakery items and talked about how evil Nicholas had turned. He never missed any opportunity to embarrass me in front of my people! However, since I am a very professional lady, I tried my best to put my personal life away from work!

I took a deep breath, picked up the important files and designs for the upcoming fashion line and headed to his royal fucking highness' room. Even though the room was filled with 9 extra people, it didn't feel crowded. We were sitting across each other on the same 12Ft long conference table. Everyone was present except Lucas Seavey, our finance head. As soon as we all realised his absence, Mr. Always- late- for- meetings entered. While rushing to sit in his position, he said with breathing heavily, "I. Am sorry. I agree. To all. Which has been said."

I laughed at him and offered him water. 'LOL! Don't worry Lucas. There hasn't been much said. Mr. Nicholas just wanted to know about our budget.' "Oh thank you, Jenny! Uhm, yeah about that..." I assumed Lucas wanted to enlighten us with the budget but he was interrupted by Nicholas. Nick turned to face me and coldly said, "I have a mouth! You don't need to speak on my behalf!" There was a deafening silence in the room. No one had ever insulted me in front of two people let alone the whole fucking council of 10 people. I felt my cheeks turn hot. My palms started to sweat. I gulped in a ton of air to swallow my hot tears that might as well flow in no time. I wanted to say a lot. I wanted to slap him, punch him and hit his head with a metal rod. This would have helped him gain back his memory which he had lost! I wanted to remind him about how he had almost beaten up a guy to death just because he name-called me in public! But all that came out from my mouth was a SORRY! Too bad Darren wasn't here. He continued with the meeting like he hadn't just stabbed my heart with a dagger. I sat there not speaking a word and was busy pleading, or bribing God, precisely.

Dear Lord, please don't let my tears fall right now! Please, please, please, save me this once and I promise I will stop wearing fur, and you know how much I love fur. I promise. Please!

I was brought out of my trance as Nick asked me for the designs of the winter collection. I handed them to him and he scrutinized each of them. I guess being an asshole was in his veins at the moment. He had the fucking guts to look at me say, "What is this? I asked for winter collection not autumn!"

Are you fucking kidding me? I spent not less than a month to work on these masterpieces and you say that! That's it! Jenny girl, you are not losing any fur!

"Oh –oh! Here comes the trouble!" I heard Lucas and that boosted up my confidence.

'Listen Nick, you are sick! Sick in the head! No one has ever discriminated my designs like this! Go get another designer because this girl isn't working with you anymore! BY THE WAY, YOU SUCK!' I bashed the table and left the room.

On the way to my chamber, I was planning his murder with hot tears.