Taken By The Arrogant Billionaire

They had found out Layla was a hacker around the end of college. A skilled one at that. They watched as she furiously tapped on the keys, not stopping for even a second. Valerie became dizzy from staring at the codes too much and looked away. She soon broke out in sweat and after what seemed like an eternity, someone’s profile appeared on the screen.

“Is this her?” Layla pointed at the lady in the picture.

“She should be”

“Ava Hughes. Ugh. Even her name repulses me”

Layla scrolled down.

“Damn”

“What is it?” Valerie asked.

“She is one rich wench. Her father is a multimillionaire. It says here that her father owns a Winery” She tutted. “Now I see why that bastard left you for her. How I wish I could cut off his balls”

“Now that you know who she is, what do you want to do?” Sandy inquired.

Valerie shrugged.

“Nothing”

“Just forget about him, Val” Sandy implored.

“It is not that easy!” she snapped. “I’m trying to get him off my mind, but it’s just not happening, don’t you get it?”

“So you’re just going to let him win?” Layla asked.

“When you two were dating, everyone around you knew how much love you gave to him. Ivan knew. But he still cheated. He most likely knows you won’t be able to move on anytime soon. Are you really going to let that happen?”

Valerie was silent.

“I… I want to be alone” she said and exited the room.

She slowly closed her bedroom door, rested her back and slid down with a heavy sigh.

She didn’t know a breakup was this gut-wrenching.

‘… everyone knew how much love you gave to him. Ivan knew. But he still cheated’ Layla’s voice rang in her head.

Valerie hugged her legs close to her chest.

‘Forget him, Val’ Sandy’s voice said and Valerie slowly shook her head.

“I’m trying to, but it’s not working” she said to herself. She was clueless as to when she slept off.

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

The sun rays seeped into her room as she slowly opened her eyes, trying to get used to the light.

She was definitely not on her bed, as the surface she was on was hard.

She sat up, realizing at that moment that she had slept on the floor.

She rummaged her bag, searching for her phone.

It was 7:30 already. She had received permission from her boss to resume by 9am.

She has a shower, wore a while pencil skirt and a blue shirt. She styled her hair and exited the room.

As usual, Sandy and Layla were in the kitchen.

Sandy noticed her first.

“You’re okay?”

Valerie slowly nodded.

“I’m off to work”

“Won’t you have breakfast? You skipped dinner last night” Layla pointed out.

“I’m not hungry”

“Are you sure about that? Look what I made” Sandy flashed a plate of whoopie pies in Valerie’s face. Her face immediately brightened up.

“Whoopie pies!” She exclaimed and snatched the plate, gobbling up the content. In two minutes, she finished 4 pieces of the pie.

“Can I have more?” She said sheepishly.

“Sure” Sandy chuckled and stuffed her plate with four more pieces.

She left the house in a better mood.

Arriving at the entrance, she cheerfully nodded at the poker-faced security men.

She entered the office at nine o’clock sharp.

Valerie walked into Jared’s office and placed a very hot coffee on his desk. Something she had been instructed to do every morning.

She returned to her cubicle and began the day’s work.

About five minutes later, Jared arrived, looking as handsome as ever.

Her cubicle was facing his office, so she saw him.

She was about to head over to his office when the telephone rang.

“Come to my office” His deep authoritative voice sounded.

She knocked on his door thrice.

“Come in” she cautiously turned the knob and entered.

“Good morning, Mr Smith” She greeted. He replied with a nod. Then Valerie noticed something. His suit.

First, it wasn’t custom-made like most, maybe all of his clothes.

Second, the suit looked awfully familiar.

She squinted and cocked her head to the side as Jared watched on, enjoying every bit of her actions.

He had worn it intentionally to see if she would remember. He smiled as she pouted her lips.

‘So cute’ he thought.

Slowly and slowly, she traced back her memory.

‘Where have I seen this before? On someone? Perhaps at the mall? Wait…. The mall…’

It all came rushing back as her eyes widened in horror.

The guy who stared weirdly at her few weeks ago…was this man!

Jared fought back a chuckle at her reaction.

“Are you okay, Miss Gardner?”

“Huh? Oh yes, of course” she managed to say.

“What is my schedule for today?” He asked.

Valerie cleared her throat and looked through her note pad.

“This morning, you have a meeting with Mr Spencer of Blue night Winery at 10:30 and in the afternoon, you have a meeting with the CEO of Sawyer Corporation. Then in….”

“Cancel all my meetings after those two”

“Okay sir”

“You can leave now” he said, taking a sip of the coffee.

Valerie hurriedly left the office. Her heart slammed against her chest repeatedly.

She tried to remember if she did anything rude that day.

“How could it be him? God, this is embarrassing”

She sat down staring at the mountain of paperwork on her desk.

She began to work in earnest.

Her face was glued to her laptop until it was lunch break. She wasn’t even half done yet.

She watched as her colleague left for the cafeteria. She continued typing furiously, as if that would speed it up.

The break was almost over, and she lost all hope of eating at the cafeteria.

Her colleagues were already returning.

Suddenly, a brown paper bag was thrust towards her.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

She looked up and met the eyes of a cute-looking lady. She had lensless glasses on.

“Have it” she said, noticing her confusion, as a dimple appeared on each of her cheeks.

Valerie tentatively accepted it. She opened the bag and stared at the content, surprised.