Quote of the day: Have strength within yourself to overcome that which you fear the most, only then would you become a stronger individual.

  Ashley Wells stood in front of the mirror assessing her look, señor Cordova said to dress casually. Today was the third day they were spending in Madrid and she hadn't left her room since that night. She was avoiding the stupid Greg, the only close contact she had come to any human was through señor Cordova who had been nice enough to bring her meals to her. The man had enjoyed doing so saying it reminded him of when the sweet Nora was here, she wasn't sure about that, since the first impression she had of Nora was anything but sweet. Who knew maybe the men around her were blind. She hadn't gone sightseeing also, and she had promised herself that she would come visiting another time.

  Now she really needed to focus on what to wear, since she didn't want to anger Greg again by being 'too sexy.' Señor Alejandro had asked for another meeting, and they were to meet at a fucking basketball arena. Like what the heck was wrong with all this Hispanic men? 

   Ashley went through her suitcase again, she had only come with professional clothes which was way 'too sexy' for her boss, and the only thing close to a casual clothe she had brought was a pale pink jumpsuit. She decided she would wear it all the same, and Greg can do whatever he wanted.

  She stared at the mirror looking at her reflection, she looked nothing short of sexy which she couldn't help. The jumpsuit top was off the shoulder and it hugged her curves but not like the gown she had worn that night, she adorned a simple neck lace and wore silver sandals to complete the look.

  She smiled, this was casual enough for her, "Greg Marshall can go fuck himself for all I care," she said out loud looking at the mirror.

  She stepped out of the room to see Señor Cordova waiting for her, "señor Marshall is waiting for you in the car," he said motioning for her to follow him, and she followed.

  On getting to the parking lot, she didn't know what to expect, but waiting there was a Lamborghini, she smiled. "I'm so enjoying this car ride," she thought to  herself only for her to see Greg sitting at the driver seat looking so heavenly gorgeous in a white pant and a pink shirt. Whoever said pink was for girls hadn't seen Gregory Marshall in a pink shirt. She looked at herself and realized that they match, she felt overjoyed at first only to be faced with the harsh reality that she was inevitably 'stuck with him.'

  She walked around to the passenger seat and got in, she muttered a short greeting to him, which he blatantly ignored. She ignored him also and said, "well two can play this game."

  The car ride was disgustingly silent, she so much wanted to put on the radio, but she clearly doesn't know what will piss Grumpy Greggy up, and she wasn't ready to find out either. She brought out her phone and focused on scrolling through her Instagram feed, checking what her favourite celebrities were up to now.

  Ashley didn't realize when they got to the wiZink center but she saw Greg maneuver the car into a space that VIP was written boldly on.

  Coming down from the car, she saw so many amount of cars, and several people trooping in through the second gate. She began to wonder why Señor Alejandro would want to discuss business in a crowdy place like this.

  "Miss Wells," she heard Greg's impatient voice calling out to her. She turned and saw him giving her a hard glare, "we don't have all day so will you stop gawking at everyone and let's go in." He walked into the door that had 'private' on it.

  She followed him all the same even though he was been unnecessarily rude, she couldn't complain, because he was her fucking boss.

  As they stepped into the stadium the first thing she noticed was how noisy it was, she cringed at the noise. There were a lot of people coming in through the regular door and they definitely weren't quiet about it. She followed Greg who led her into a VIP box seat, as they got there she saw the gentleman señor Alejandro already seated, she recognized him from  the picture on his file.

  Señor Alejandro stood up as they got to the box, he had a smile on his face. Señor Alejandro was the definition of 'Spanish beauty,' if something like that existed, he had hazel green eyes, and his brown hair was curly. He looked very dashing in a blue flannel shirt and black pants. 

   "Greg, glad you could make it, the game is just about to start," Señor Alejandro said to Greg giving him a side hug. The man turned to her with a smile and she fought to stop herself from blushing, this man was too gorgeous. "And you must be the beautiful Ashley Wells, señorita," he gave her a peck on her right cheek, then left.

   "Its nice to meet you, Señor Alejandro," she said.

  "Oh please call me Gael," he said lightly, sitting down. Greg did the same and she sat down beside Greg.

  Ashley looked around,  she noticed that wiZink center was indeed huge. It was known as one of the most popular sporting center in Spain, she didn't know she would one day visit it. She  saw that the game was about getting started, there were a lot of cameras around and press, she didn't know much about basketball but she knew, that it was the second most popular sport in Spain after football and that a lot of people loved to watch it, she had a hard time understanding why.

  Greg and Gael had started discussing a few things, she wondered how they were able to think straight with so much noise around, she clearly couldn't.

  "Welcome... I welcome you all to the last game this season, and this game is between the 'Bilbao basket,' and... " she heard the commentator's booming voice through some speakers. She couldn't help but cringe, she hated it.

   "This had better be good," Greg muttered beside her with annoyance, when was this guy ever happy? 

   "It will be trust me," Gael said looking at the arena as the teams started to appear one after the other.

  She had a hard time choosing a side, she didn't have a clue about basketball and she wasn't going to start showing interest now, and it looked like Greg wasn't also interested in it.

  The game started and everywhere seemed to fall silent for a few minutes, and for that few minutes she bath in the silence, but soon enough the noise was back with everyone cheering their favorite team on. She had at this point lost all interest and started people watching, that was something she loved doing, she loved looking at people, whenever she does, she gets filled with questions and lots of questions at that. She was clearly the most curious human ever.

  And right now she was still fucking curious about why this man sitting beside her was suddenly all hostile, and why he was stealing glances at her now.

  She could feel his eyes on her and whenever she turns to look at him he looks away. She was getting rather pissed.

  Ashley looked at him for a few minutes and saw him make light conversations with señor Alejandro, he would smile once in a while at what he said, but she could see that Greg was anything but interested in the conversation.

   She returned to watching people and after some time, her eyes fell upon a very familiar face that was staring back at her.

  She froze, she recognized those eyes, she would recognize it anywhere. Those eyes that were similar to hers.

  She rubbed her eyes wanting to be sure she was seeing right, but he was still there, sitting there in the opposite direction among the many people. She saw him watching her as she had been watching people earlier.

   She became scared, she hadn't expected to meet him ever again, she couldn't even believe she was seeing him again.

  She prayed he would just disappear and he will just be a figment of her imagination, but he was still there, he stared at her with pure hatred. The same hatred she had grown used to over the years.

  She started shivering.

  Her hands were shaking and she couldn't seem to steady them.

He continue staring at her with those hazel eyes.

  Then it all came flashing back, all she had to endure from him.

  He had left her at her own mercy two years ago, and now he was staring at her from the crowd.

  Why the heck was he in Spain?

"Are you fine?" she heard Greg voice asking her, there was concern evident in his voice which happened to be of a shock to her, but she had no time to be shocked. 

  "No, I'm not," she wanted to yell at him, but she didn't, she just kept on staring at the man.

And at that moment she wanted to be out of there, away from everyone.

Chapter fifteen.
Mary Aden.