Bon weekend, Amores! Enjoy reading. 🧡

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2 months later

SABINA's POV

I looked at the building in front of me and chewed on my lower lip tensely. Today's my first day at work and I was nervous for some reason.

"You can do this, Sab. You've been looking forward to this for so long so you should do your best." I told myself before taking a deep breath.

When they accepted me two months ago, I thought I was going to start right away but according to them, I had to wait for some time before I could finally start.

Well, it worked on my favor because I was so sad because of what happened to Rex and then Novell family. Until now, I still couldn't believe what happened. Just like us, everyone in Claudette ranch was in shock too.

Some believed that Rex was the one who attacked Mr. Jean-Claude Novell but some never believed it.

The police said that Rex was one of the prisoners who died during the fire but Ellie refused to believed it. For some reason, I too.

Thankfully, Xzavier remained on my side during those moments and he helped me a lot to recover from what happened. Rex was my friend but Ellie was his lover. My heart ached knowing how devastated and hurt she was.

Xzavier's dad came back a week after he came over and he talked to his son inside the study. I didn't know what happened but after their private conversation, his dad calmly exited the house without saying anything harsh towards me.

"Good morning." I greeted the man at the front desk upon walking into the lobby and he greeted me back with a friendly smile.

"You need to log in here before going to your respective department. I'm guessing, it's your first day today at work?" I pressed my finger on the biometric time clock and my picture on the screen popped up, indicating that it was done recording my arrival time.

"Yeah, it's my first day today. Thank you for your help." I was about to walk towards the elevator when he spoke once more.

"You're welcome, Sabina."

My forehead crinkled. "How did you know my name?"

"Because of that." He pointed at the biometric time clock. I chuckled.

"Ah, yes. I forgot. Anyway, I need to go. See around."

"You can call me Mark. Mark Evans."

I smiled. "My name is Sabina Martins." I then turned my back on him and quickly strode my way towards the elevator to go to the 5th floor which was the accounting department.

When I reached my floor, I met my co-workers-to-be and they seemed to be nice. Later on, my nervousness disappeared as someone oriented me about my work.

I didn't even notice that the time went by so quickly because of the load of work that I had to finish. When the lunch break came, I went to the cafeteria to eat together with two of my co-workers.

"Here we go again. Another beauty has caught the attention of all the gentlemen here in CXM and the beauty of the ordinary women like me are being ignored like a stale fish." Sandra, one of my co-workers complained, sounding a little bit sad.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I inquired curiously.

"Isn't it obvious that she's talking about you? Look at the guys around. Their attentions are focused on you." Vivian answered. My eyebrows furrowed and looked around. I could feel my cheeks blush shyly upon seeing that they were indeed staring at me.

"They're just curious because I'm a new face here."

"Well, maybe. But I'm sure that most of the guys here are drawn by your beauty." Everyone of us turned our heads to look at the one who spoke. Mark. He was holding a tray full of food.

"Mark? You eat here too?"

He smiled. "Sometimes. I usually eat at the cafeteria on the ground floor but I decided to come up here today to be with my sister, Sandra."

"To be with me or to be with Sabina? Looks like you two are already acquainted. You're like the other guys here. Just happened to spot a beautiful woman and you're already beginning to execute your moves." Sandra pointed out and Mark chuckled as he sat on the vacant chair.

"Hey, I came here to give you something but you're right. Half of the reason why I came up here is because of Sabina. Luckily, I didn't need to search for her because she's with the two of you."

"Whatever." Sandra even rolled her eyes.

"So, how's your work as an accountant analyst, Sabina? I guess, it's pretty hard, huh?" Mark asked as he began eating.

"So far so good, I guess."

"That's good to hear. If you need anything, you can approach me."

"And what can you help Sabina with, brother? You're a front desk officer and she's an analyst of the accounting department." Mark laughed because of what his sister had said.

"I'm talking about something else."

"Hey, last week, you were this friendly with Ms. Smith because during her first day at work. And now that you saw Sabina, you're doing the same thing. You guys are the same. As long as the woman is beautiful, you'll swarm around them like bees." Vivian commented while shaking her head.

"Ms. Smith?" I parroted.

"Well, she's a newbie here too but she started last week. Just like you, she's beautiful. It didn't even take long for her to wrap all the guys here around her little finger. Even the married ones are obviously smitten by her. I can't believe it."

"Hey, it's not like that. We're just being friendly. She's new here and—" Mark defended the other guys.

"—Yeah, right." Vivian interested him; seemed to be unpleased.

"Look. She's here." Sandra informed us with a small voice and I followed her gaze just to be surprised when I saw whom she was referring to. She was holding her tray of food, looking for an available table. The other guys were asking her to join their tables.

"Akira?" It was as if she heard me because her gaze flew to my direction. Her face brightened upon recognizing me and excitedly approached us.

"Hey, Sabina. I didn't know you already started. I've been looking for you ever since I started last week." She enthusiastically said.

"I just started today. Anyway, join us."

"Thank you." She then sat on the vacant chair next to me. To my amusement, Mark, Vivian and Sandra were staring at us with furrowed eyebrows as if they were surprised that we were actually acquainted.

"Akira, these are Mark, Vivian and Sandra. Guys, it's Akira." I introduced them to one another.

"Well, in her short period of time here, everyone already knows who she is." Mark chirped.

"Really?"

"Yes. She's the one we were talking about just now." Vivian whispered to me and my eyebrows arched. Well, it wasn't that surprising that everyone already knew Akira because of her beauty. She wasn't even trying but she's still stunning.

"What was that?" Akira inquired and Vivian smiled.

"Nothing. Let's just eat." Everyone agreed and while we were in the middle of eating, Mark dominated the conversation, talking mostly to Akira and I and Vivian and Sandra seemed to be unhappy about it.

"I can't believe that we actually got accepted here together. What is your work here in DXM anyway?" I curiously asked Akira while we were on our way to the elevator together.

"I'm a software engineer here." That surprised me.

"Really? Wow. That's cool. How's the job?"

Akira smiled. "It's hard but I really enjoy it because I love what I do." She then pressed the open button of the elevator.

"I feel that way too. It's really a good feeling when you love what you do. Even though it's hard, you really can't feel it."

She chuckled. "I'm with you with that."

We entered when the doors opened and continued chatting. Mark already went back to his job around 5 minutes ago while Vivian and Sandra went to the restroom to retouch.

"You know what? Why don't we go out sometimes? I've been wanting to experience the nigh life here in Lyon ever since I arrived here but I didn't have anyone to be with."

"Why? Don't you have friends here?" I asked curiously. She seemed like the person who has a lot of friends. Even though, she wasn't that outright talkative like Sandra and Vivian, she was friendly enough.

"I don't. I'm just a new comer here by the way. When we met at the mall around three months ago, I just arrived here in Lyon that time and was looking for a job."

"Where are you from then?"

"I'm from the Western part of France. I don't have anyone back at home so I decided to start a new life in another place. My first choice was Paris but when I got there, I didn't like how crowded it was so I decided to come here. What about you? Where are you from?"

"Here in Lyon." That automatically came out of my mouth. Ever since we moved here more than three years ago, I already considered this place my home.

"Cool. You should tour me around town then. I still don't know my way here yet. I tend to get lost whenever." She answered laughingly.

"Sure. One day, we'll do just that." Shortly after that, we parted ways and I resumed my work. It was 5 pm when I finished my work. When I reached the lobby, I passed by the front desk intending to say goodbye to Mark but someone else was on duty. Maybe, he already went home, I said to myself and was about to head out when I noticed that familiar figure standing outside.

I exited the building and when I saw his face up close, happiness surged within me.

"Xzav?!" He looked at me and he smiled boyishly.

"Hi, my Ina." He walked closer towards me. "For you." He then said as he handed me that beautiful bouquet of flowers." Instead of accepting, I threw my arms around him full of longing.

"Oh, God. You're finally home. I've missed you so much, you know." I then tilted up my head to look at him before tipping on my toes and initiated a kiss. He groaned and kissed me back full of passion, heat and love.

"Wow. I should go on a business meeting every now and then so that I could get a delicious kiss like that from you." He naughtily said as he wrapped an arm around my waist.

I pouted. "I thought you would stay in the USA for another two days more? You could've informed me that you would come home today. I haven't had any decent sleep since you left because I've been missing you so much. At least, I could've slept in peace last night if you informed me knowing that I would finally see you today." He laughed heartily and planted another soft kiss on my lips.

"Because I wanted to surprise you and I got the reacted I expected. Can you please kiss me one more time?" He even puckered his lips teasingly.

I sneered at him. "We already kissed. Besides, people are already looking at us. Can you see? Thankfully, no one from my department saw us. I don't want to get the unwanted attention and hear rumors about me just because my boyfriend is the CEO of CXM."

"I don't care about them. Don't worry. The only one who saw us was the guard. I can easily talk to him. The others were just passersby. Anyway, aren't you interested in accepting this? I even bought this specially for you." I chuckled and pulled away from him to accept the bouquet.

"Thank you, my Xzav. Hmmm. It smells heavenly."

"Just like you." He whispered to my ear naughtily.

"Xzav!"

He laughed heartily before cupping my face with his hands and kissed me one more time.

"Fùck. I missed you so much. Let's get out of here." His voice was husky and full of yearning. I was about to answer when I noticed someone staring at us as she came out of the door.

"Akira?" I mumbled.

"Huh? Akira? Who's that?" Xzavier asked curiously and followed my gaze. Akira smiled and walked up to us.

"Hi. I see that everything went well with you two." She teased.

"I know you. We met you at the mall before, right?" Xzavier said, staring at Akira with knitted eyebrows.

"Yes. That was me."

"Xzav, she is Akira Smith and she works here as a software engineer. Akira, meet my boyfriend, Cryxus Xzavier Montaño." Akira's jaw dropped.

"Cryxus Xzavier Montaño? You mean, the very owner of CXM?"

"Yes, that's me. It's nice meeting you again, Ms. Smith." Akira smiled.

"I feel the same. Anyway, I have to go. I need to run to the grocery store before going home."

"Okay. See you tomorrow, Akira." I answered and she smiled. Upon taking off, Xzavier took my hand and led me to his car.

"What about the car I used to come here?"

He smiled. "Don't worry about it. I already asked someone to drive it home." He was even the one who buckled me up to my seat.

To my surprise, we went straight home.

"I thought, we were going to go somewhere? I should've just driven the car."

"I told you, someone will take it home. C'mon, let's go." Even though I was getting weirded a little bit, I just went on with the flow. I thought, we would head directly to our room but to my surprise, we went to the rooftop and my jaw dropped when I saw a chopper on the helipad.

A guy wearing black suit opened the door for us.

"Don't tell me, we're going to ride this one?" I asked in awe and he beamed.

"Yes, my Ina." He extended his hand for me and I reluctantly gave him my hand.

"Wow. This is my first time getting inside a chopper." I admitted while we were inside, getting buckled. Again, he was the one who did it for me.

"Good. I'm glad, I thought of doing this then." He winked at me and began operating it.

"Are you sure, you're going to drive this? Oh, gosh."

"Why? Don't you trust me?"

I chewed on my lower lip tensely. "I trust you. I'm just uncomfortable, probably because of my ignorance in this kind of ride." He chuckled and brought my hand to his lips, kissing it.

"Just enjoy the ride, my Ina." I smiled and nodded my head. Later on, the chopper was already up in the sky, floating freely like a big mosquito, bringing us to our destination.

"Welcome to Geneva, my Ina." I snapped my head to his direction in shock.

"Geneva?!"

He smirked. "Yes. We just entered Geneva. We'll land shortly. By the way, we'll spend the night here."

"What about my work? Oh, God. I know that you own the company where I work but I can't just miss my work like this. Today's only my first day."

"Oh, my. And you forgot that tomorrow's a holiday?" I closed my eyes shut in embarrassment.

"Did you miss me that much that you even forgot about that it's a holiday tomorrow?" He teased. My cheeks turned scarlet knowing that he hit the nail on the head.

"Stop. Don't tease me. Those nights without you made me miserable."

He turned serious. "I was the same, my Ina. You have no idea." His eyes bored into mine as we smiled at each other. Moments after that, we landed at an airport.

A black car was already waiting for us at the tarmac.

"Where are you taking me, Mr. Montaño?" He threw me a glance and smiled.

"Let's have dinner; I'm already famished."

I raised an eyebrow. "You brought me here to Geneva just to have dinner? Wow, fancy."

He chuckled. "Because you're this special to me, Ms. Martins. I'll do anything just to see you smile." He kissed the back of my hand and my heart reacted crazily.

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