06

Daniel Adams

At the launch event of the magazine, there were a bunch of people but my eyes were dying to see the only person I was interested in.

“Why are your eyes sticking to the entrance?” Sean’s voice rang in my ears.

“Just waiting for someone,” I mumbled without thinking twice, my eyes still not leaving the site of the entrance.

“Someone? He or she?” I jerked when he nudged my side. I looked at him to see he had a small smirk tugging his lips.

“You don’t have to worry about it Sean babe.” I teased him to make him forget what he asked otherwise he would have bugged me to death.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that.” He rebuked.

“You like it when a girl calls you that then what’s different with me?” I grinned.

“Just shut up.” He snapped. “Oh, see, the one you were waiting for is here.” He pointed towards the entrance making me look in that direction.

I saw Claire entering with her assistant beside her.

“I gotta go. Enjoy.” Sean smirked evilly.

“Please Sean, don’t leave me alone.” I pleaded.

“This is what you get for calling me, babe. Good luck.” He walked away. I silently cursed him and wished if Xavier was here. He wouldn’t have left me alone in this situation.

“Hello, Daniel.” Claire greeted me by kissing both of my cheeks.

“Hello, Claire. You look beautiful.” I gave her my usual smile.

“Oh, really? Thank you, Daniel. I spent a lot of money on this dress.” She said.

“I’m really happy that I’m working with you. This way I’m getting more time to spend with you.” She batted her eyelashes.

“Uh… Yeah.” I mumbled lowly, looking past her.

“So… Breakfast, Lunch, dinner, your pick. Well, I would prefer dinner.” She smiled seductively.

I was about to refuse her politely by making an excuse but my eyes caught the presence of someone I was waiting for. With her head held high, she strode inside gracefully, she looked so beautiful in her black body-con dress. And that red lip color of hers made my insides stir with an unknown sensation. What suddenly happened to me?

“Excuse me, Claire, I’ve to welcome the guests,” I said.

“You didn’t answer my question, Daniel. Okay fine, I’ll ask you after this event, you’re busy at the moment. So, let’s welcome the guests together.” She suggested.

“Claire, I don’t want the start of world war here.” I chuckled, thinking of the consequences when these two meet.

“What?” She frowned.

“Because she’s the one I’m going to welcome.” I smiled, bobbing my head in Eloise’s direction.

Claire grunted, “Aren’t you showing little extra interest in her?”

“What interest? It’s professional. Remember, like you, she’s too is the part of the project? Now, let me give her some company.” I was about to walk when Claire stopped me by grabbing my wrist. I glanced at her in confusion.

“I don’t think she needs any company. She brought one with her.” Smirking, she bobbed her head. I again glanced up to see Eloise was followed by a man who was walking too close to her.

I furrowed my eyebrows when I recalled the face of that man. He was the same man who was with her at the party as her date or rather a fake date. But why did she bring him here? Was I wrong judging the relationship between those two? Was he really her date or perhaps her boyfriend?

I don’t why but my heart constricted at the thought of that. It was weird though because that was something I had never felt that before.

Why was it even bugging me? She was no one to me, she was only a woman who succeeded in piquing my interest in her. That’s all.

Pushing those thoughts away I unwrapped my wrist from Claire’s grip.

“It doesn’t matter who did she come with. She has worked with us, so I must greet her formally.” Saying that I sauntered towards Eloise.

I made up my mind to be formal with her but when I reached near her, all the formalities got replaced by teasing.

“Nice to meet you again, Eloi.” I smiled at her. I kept my distance from her. I wanted to greet her by kissing those soft hands of hers but thinking what if she pulled that embarrassing stunt of pulling her hand away again. There were many pairs of eyes focused on us, especially the media, so it was better to have a distance from her.

“Ah, and nice to meet you too again, man.” I smiled and shook the hand of Evan.

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Adams.” He smiled.

“Sorry for asking… But you are here as?” I asked politely, not wanting to sound rude.

“Oh, I’m her manager.” He stated, making me look at Eloise.

“Oh?” I smirked at her. She played very well.

“I think I should leave you two to talk.” He said and shared a meaningful look with Eloise and left us alone.

“Wasn’t that a little rude to introduce your manager as your date, Eloi?” I asked, keeping all of the attention on her.

“You ain’t gonna understand what my name is?” She raised her eyebrows.

“This is something I don’t wanna understand. And you didn’t answer my question.” I remarked.

“It wasn’t rude, Mr. Adams. Can’t my manager be my date? It’s much better and sensible than to have a fake date.” She remarked. I was amazed that I didn’t hear any sarcasm or mocking in her tone. It was just a simple answer. Was she trying to be normal with me?

“You’ve got a point there,” I commented.

“Did you get my note?” I asked just to keep the conversation going.

“Wasn’t that note addressed to me, Mr. Adams?” She asked raising her eyebrows.

“Obviously it was!” I stated.

“Then obviously, I received it.” She finished which made me chuckle in amusement. She and her ways of answering. She could force anyone to think twice, before continuing the conversation with her.

“Finally, I got to meet you, Miss Nicole,” I grunted when I heard Sean’s voice from behind me.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Nicole. I must say you’re more beautiful than what it seems in posters and magazines.” He said shaking her hand.

“Nice to meet you too. Mr. Peterson. Heard a lot about you.” She said shaking her hand with him. My furrowed eyes were planted on their shaking hands. Furrowing, I glanced up at Sean. I couldn’t get to shake my hand with her but he? How did he do that so easily?

“I heard a lot of praising about your work. My bad, I wasn’t there to witness it.” Sean said, looking at her but I was aware of his side glance on me. And the most unexpected thing, they still were shaking their hand. Why wasn’t any of them letting go of their hands?

“Thank you, Mr, Peterson. It would have been great to work in your presence. It was a pleasure to work with XDS, hope to work with the company again… in your presence of course.” She smiled. Did she smile at him? With me, she acts like I’m someone who has an eye on her fortune.

Sean started to have a conversation with her asking about her work. Why wasn’t he leaving us? He left me alone with Claire then why not now? I needed him there not here. He’s a traitor. I started formulating murder plans which won’t end me up in jail.

“I think we should get on the stage. The media is waiting for us.” I said halting their discussion.

“Yeah, sure. Excuse me, but I have something to talk with to my manager before heading to stage.” Saying that she walked away.

“What was that?” I asked, glaring at him.

“What was what?” He asked acting all innocent.

“Don’t you have other work or other people to greet? You took a lot of time having a conversation with her.” I scowled.

“Who said I don’t have work? I was having a work-related discussion with her, you were here, listening, right? And why my talking to her is bothering you?” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“This is not what is bothering me. The point is why she avoids talking with me?” I mumbled.

“Do you by chance teased her?” He asked raising one of his eyebrows.

“Maybe.” I rubbed the back of my neck. Well, I nicknamed her in our first meet and called her grumpy in the second one.

“There, you have your answer.” He remarked. I made a face and averted my eyes. I heard him sigh.

“Daniel, not everyone understands your playful ways. Only those who know you better can understand the meaning behind your remarks.” He patted my back.

“Women who like to play around get interested in any kind of attention and that particular woman doesn’t seem like to be played around.” He added.

“Wait… Are you by any chance interested in her?” He asked in sudden surprise.

“Yeah, I am.” I accepted it in front of him. His eyes shot up in surprise which made me roll mine.

“Not in the way you are thinking.” I gave him a tight-lipped, fake smile. “I just want to know her that’s all…but it seems like she is not interested in giving me a chance,” I added.

“What’s so special about her that you want to know?” He asked.

“That is exactly what I want to know.”

“You’re acting weird.” Then he huffed and shook his head. “But you always do that.”

I scoffed then chuckled; he joined me too. We then went on stage to give answers to the media who were waiting for us to do so.

Numerous photos were clicked. Claire never left my side, she was with me in every frame but I wanted a separate picture with Eloise.

Making Claire busy with some other business associates I approached Eloise, who was standing with a group of people with Evan standing beside her.

“Sorry to interrupt in between but I’ve some matters to discuss with Miss Eloiii…” I stretched her name and peeked at Eloi who was silently glaring at me, “..iise Nicole.” Damn! It was really hard to pronounce her full name. But I had to do that otherwise she would have murdered me on the spot not caring about the audience.

“If you’ll excuse us?” I added.

They all excused themselves except Evan.

“What do you want to discuss, Mr. Adams?” She asked calmly.

“I want to be seen in a single frame with you.”

“What?” She asked in confusion and surprise.

“Picture… I want to give pictures of two of us to the media.” I clarified.

“But we already gave so many clicks to them.” She countered.

“Just two of us, Eloi.” She was about to say something to me but I faced Evan. “Would you please excuse us?”

“Oh, sure.” He smiled at Eloise and stepped back.

I didn’t give her any chance to speak as I called one of the media personnel to click photos of us. And the media being media, many of them gathered around as if clicking photos of us was some kind of competition for them.

Without thinking twice I put my hand on the small of her back; she stiffened at the contact which made me think about my action. I immediately made a small gap between her back and my hand; it seemed like my hand was resting on her back but in reality, it was hanging in the air. I also made a slight gap between us too.

I don’t know why but I felt disappointed. With all other men, she was excitedly clicking photos with their hands on her back but with me, she felt uncomfortable.

It was bothering me but waving those thoughts away I put a smile on my face to give the best shots to the media.

It’s better to smile every time in front of people who want to pull out your buried emotions. It is the only way to maintain the privacy of your thoughts and emotions. These people don’t deserve to know the darkness behind the sparkling smile. They just want something to gossip about.

I couldn’t let them know that internally I was feeling odd. I couldn’t show it on my face that Eloise’s distance from me was bothering me. Why? I had no idea!