Steven Richards

There she stood, her back facing me, carrying on with her work so casually like she had not just leaked the video of spoiling my reputation in front of the entire world. She did not even flinch at the loud bang of the door or my loud voice, it was like she was expecting me to come and confront her. Did she do all of this to spite me, entice me, to get a reaction out of me?

Besides her stood yet another one of her puppets, the beast of a dog, glaring me down ready to pounce on me the minute he gets order from his master aka the devil. I am stunned with her ability to not even acknowledge my presence.

Out of frustration and irritation I snap at her "Hello Miss Arrogant, I am speaking with you! What are you playing at Miss Oberoi?"

There he is now, full on barking at me. I'd be lying if I said I was not a little scared of the dog. Would she stop him from pouncing at me, I doubt that. I am not a huge fan of dogs and you surely won't love dogs if one of them is aggressively barking at you, ready to kill you.

"Dex, calm down honey," and the devil speaks. Her voice, it seemed very familiar, I couldn't quite place it though. The dog whose name I now assume is Dex stops barking but continues to glare me down.

"What are you talking about, Mr Richards,?" she says slowly turning around.

The moment I look at her its as if I have stopped breathing, my tie suddenly starts to feel too tight. I am so startled I take a few steps back, so many things start to run in my mind, that night, how beautiful she looked, the way she spoke, the emotions in her eyes, her smile, her dance, the sound of her laugh, her disappearing and then my attempts at searching for her everywhere, her scarf that was the only proof of that night, it is like I am completely paralysed, nothing seems to make sense. I don't know if I am happy to finally see her again or angry that she was just a few metres away from my office, my house and yet in these 10 months we never crossed paths.

She looks as beautiful as she looked that night. Her mid-length brown hair with streaks of caramel falling in perfect waves, she is wearing a dark peach tight skirt reaching just below her knees and a white off the shoulder top exposing her sharp shoulders and collar bones looking mesmerising, her coat resting on the back of her chair. I still couldn't believe it is her.

Even though she looked the same her eyes were somehow different, her brown eyes didn't look the same. That night her eyes spoke so much, more than words ever could, her eyes showed so many emotions from sadness to longing from hurt to strength, they looked vulnerable but at the same time fierce. Her eyes were so expressive so beautiful to look at but today all I could see were a pair of brown irises, cold and devoid of any expression.

The worse part is that they didn't even show recognition of that night, making me think if I was seeing a dream, if she was not really standing in front me. It happens right, when you think about someone so much they end up coming in your dreams in the most twisted way which does not make sense at all. If it is a dream, it is very difficult to say if its a good one or not. I don't like seeing her so devoid and with no memory of us, of that night more so because I hold that night so close, there's not been a day I haven't I thought about it.

I always imagined what I would say to her when I meet her again or what she would say, well this is definitely not what I imagined, "Hello, Mr Dramaqueen, I am speaking with you! What brings you here for the third time in a day, Mr Richards,?" She says with raised eyebrows folding her hands beneath her chest.

She really doesn't remember anything from that night maybe because she was drunk. I don't understand why it makes me so upset that she doesn't remember anything. I try to put everything aside, if she doesn't remember anything, even I won't bring it up, especially not now when I am super pissed at her. I am already having a tough time realising that she is the same girl I met that night, when she is acting nothing like her.

I won't let one fun night come in the middle of fighting for my honour which I have taken years of hard work and sleepless nights to build.

"The sole owner of Zainav Fashions is ought to be courageous to atleast accept what she's done proudly, didn't think playing dumb is your style. You just prove I was right about calling you a coward, Miss Arrogant," I know it is probably childish calling her names like this, but I couldn't help myself, she called me 'Mr Dramaqueen'.

"Firstly, I really don't know what you're talking about. Secondly, office hours are over, all employees have left, there's no one to watch your drama, so stop wasting my time and come to the point and please keep your voice low, Dexter doesn'tlike people screaming and shouting," she says with a smirk on her lips.

She keeps taunting my previous behaviour throwing it in my face everytime she speaks. Did she leak the video to the press only for revenge or does she have some other agenda?

"See for yourself, Miss Oberoi," I say showing her the ongoing news on my cell phone. On one side the tabloid keeps showing my encounter with Miss Weber and on the other they have pictures of me with different girls that I dated in the past pointing that I didn't respect women and played them like a toy.

I have never mistreated anyone, always been clear with any woman I dated on where we stood. One mistake that I make and people start questioning my entire life.

"I made a mistake and I wholeheartedly accepted it, apologised for it and you tried to use that opportunity to ruin my reputation." I say infuriated with the things the media kept saying about me.

As an investor I need to keep my reputation clean. These kind of scams can deter the trust the companies have in me.

She does not speak a word staring at my phone screen deep in thought, her hands are now by her sides, one holding a pencil in a tight grip.

"Nothing to say now, right. I understand all your tactics Miss Oberoi, its classic. You want your company to come in the lime light and you got an opportunity to use me to gain sympathy from the audience. How a rich investor disrespects a poor female employee of a newly blooming company! I hope you got all the attention you wanted for your company, by showing Miss Weber being a victim." I state with all the pent up anger and frustration.

She looks me in the eye, the first emotion that I see there is anger. She bends the top of the pencil with her thumb breaking it, a small piece of it pricks in the pad of her thumb. Seeing the blood drip from her thumb all the anger melts away and replaces itself with concern. I move forward to help her when she raises her hands stopping me in my place.

"You make a lot of assumptions, Mr Richards. Making assumptions is not problem, your problem is you act on those assumptions. People should always act on facts not assumptions," she says throwing the broken pencil in the bin near her desk.

"Don't try to play with words. I want you to clarify publicly about this video being a mistake." I say with finality.

"You know, you have one more problem, you pass judgements before entering the court and listening to both the sides," she says calmly taking a seat on her chair.

I seriously don't get her, one second she is so angry she breaks a pencil and another she is calmly telling me about my flaws.

"You don't know who you're messing with. You know what your problem is, you are young and naive to not know that you should never call war with someone who is ten times your own power, because that only leads to doom." I say leaning on the opposite side of the desk looking her in the eye.

The dog who was only glaring before starts barking again and starts to move towards me. She looks at the dog and motions for it to sit down. Wow, look at her having control over every freaking thing.

She stands from her chair and leans on the other side glaring me in the eye and I see that anger raging in her brown orbs. Her face now closer to mine, her eyes reminding me of that night but I let my anger push it away.

"That's it Mr Steven Richards! You may own half of the city but this is my workplace and I give you no right to question my age and experience. You better listen now very carefully because I am about to show you facts that will prove your assumptions wrong and show you the truth that will render your judgements void," she says slowly with clenched teeth.

I take a calming breath then nodding and taking a seat on the chair opposite hers indicating I am ready to have a civilised conversation. I decide to hear her part, to get answers on why she did what she did.

"Firstly you should watch both these videos, the one from my CCTV and the one that the media is showing. If you have a good eyesight I am sure you will be able to see that both these videos are completely different. The CCTV in my company or any company for that matter are always installed on the ceiling giving the video a top elevation. This video that the media is showing clearly has a front elevation meaning it is recorded from the front by somebody."

She is right, the videos are different but it still didn't prove that she did not get them leaked.

"You could have got the recording from one of your employees who were at the store." I say challenging her point.

"Have you even watched the video they are showing properly? It starts right at the time when you enter the store. Now I am pretty sure none of my employees are magicians to know that Mr Steven Richards aka Mr Dramaqueen is going to create a scene and they should stand with their cameras ready."

I hate to admit but she has got a point again. Does this mean all of this was pre planned? Susan, that bitch!

"Secondly, Mr Richards it is my employee, my company that has been insulted on national television. My employees are not slaves who are paid to get insulted they are paid for their talent and hard-work. I am not so petty that I would publicly let Evelyn get humiliated for attention and sympathy. My company is my pride and getting sympathy attention to grow big will be insulting and downgrading myself. I maybe young Mr Richards but I am not naive."

I am embarrassed, utterly embarrassed for the second time in a day but this time it feels more gut wrenching and shameful. She is right I stupidly acted on the assumptions I made without thinking. I massage my temples out of irritation, this time with myself.

"I...I don't know what to say Miss Oberoi. I acted out of anger, without seeing sense for the second time in a day. I can't believe Susan plotted all of this, but why!"

"You got played, she probably knew how you would react," she says with a thoughtful expression.

"There are two possibilities, why she did this either she wants to disrupt our relations or wants to spoil our image with the help of the media. It could be both. She is my sister's friend, why would she do that to her!"

"Whatever the reason, she has dragged me, my employee and my company into this mess and she will have to pay for this," she says clearly annoyed by Susan's actions.

"I am sorry Arayna, I promise I will sort this out, with Susan, with the media, everything, its my responsibility." I say with complete sincerity not even realising that this is probably the first time I said the word Sorry without trying that hard. Her name sounded foreign but still pleasant on my lips.

"Before that you should go and take care of your sister. Susan has betrayed her and hurt her more that any of us. The pain when someone close to you betrays you is not easy to deal with." She says in a soft voice her mind looked already drifted somewhere else.

This woman kept amazing me every single time. She is smart, confident, curt with her word hitting you straight in the face but also very thoughtful. She is concerned about my sister being betrayed and hurt even after all the drama that I created today. I still do not accept the name Mr Dramaqueen, though.

"I don't know how to say this, but I'll be really grateful if you still designed my sister's wedding dress. I mean I would understand if you didn't want to but..."

She cut me off by saying, "I have nothing against Stellary and I respect my work. I have promised her, her dream dress and I will give her that."

"Thank you, Arayna. I appreciate that and I am extremely sorry once again." I say with a sheepish smile.

"I didn't know we were on the first name basis Mr Richards." She says stressing on my last name and there she is cold and detached...again.

"I should take your leave, Miss Oberoi." I stress on her last name turning to leave.

Just as I am about to close the door of her cabin behind me she says in a low voice that I have to strain to listen, "Anger ruins everything, Steven, relationships, lives, everything," and just like that she is back in front of her canvas showing her back to me.

She says somethings like that, which seems like she is talking from experience but it is so difficult to comprehend. She is so complex and intriguing.

Its been a long long day, I got played and tricked by a woman, lashed out at two women, got in trouble with Stell, she thinks I don't have faith in her, saw Mitch being a complete dick and aruguing with him on that, saw my reputation being tossed in the bin by the media, apologised twice to two different women, even said the word sorry, found out that the woman I've been searching for is none other than Arayna Oberoi who is still a mystery to unfold and who also doesn't remember anything about that night. It has indeed been hell of a day and its not over yet.

There is one more difficult thing to do, telling Stell, Susan's truth. I mean, I know they are like not the closest best friends like me and Mitch but still a friend and it will definitely break her to know this.

I drive back home and see Stell sitting on the couch in front of the TV still playing the same news, Mitch sitting by her side. She gets up from the couch when she sees me entering the living room, there are tears in her eyes, wait does she know everything, why is she crying?

"Stell?" I say not knowing how to break it to her that her friend has played such cheap games.

"Steve, Susan did all of this, right?" she asks stuttering a little.

"You know?" I say still not understanding how she knows.

"Yes, Mitch came over and asked for the video Arayna sent and we sort of figured it all out, it all started because of her, I tried calling her dozens of times she won't pick up, it just made more sense." She says trying hard to stop the tears.

"Hey, come here." I say hugging her tightly. "We will sort this out okay?"

"I considered her my friend Steve, I do not even know how to make friends, I had one and look what she did! This is the reason you don't have faith in me right, I trust people too easily and therefore you have to fight and care for me so much." She says hugging me back.

"Stell, its not your fault she betrayed your trust. You are a very beautiful person, you accept everyone with open arms, its their fault, they do not deserve you. You see only good in every person and its not easy to do that. You are amazing Stell." I say wiping her tears looking her in the eye, so she knows I mean everything I'm saying.

"For the first time today, I agree with Steve, Stella." Mitch says smiling at Stell.

"You guys just love me too much." She says acting annoyed.

"Stell, its been a long day, you should sleep. Your wedding is in two months, I'm sure you need your beauty sleep." I say teasing her.

She hits my shoulder lightly and moves towards the stairs to go to her room.

"I am too tired to drive back, I'll just take the guest room." Mitch says stretching his arms.

As tiring the day has been, its going to be difficult getting any sleep. As I lay in bed her scarf in my hand I cannot help but think about that night, about her whose name I now know, Arayna, her name as beautiful as her.

Hola!

Another long long chapter, what do you guys say?

Finally they meet, was their first meet worth it...tell me?

Tell me all that you're thinking about it, I am soo excited to share this one and equally nervous.

What do you think about Steven's reaction on the leaked video and lashing out on Arayna?

When you're angry out of your mind you really don't think before you speak or act, do you agree?

From now on, there will be a lot more Steven and Arayna scenes, Excited?

Attached in the media is Arayna's outfit for the day.

Disclaimer: The image above does not belong to me, I have taken it from pinterest.