"Ms. White, I think you should take a look at this." Leah came with a newspaper in one hand and her iPad in the other. 

It must have been another news or rather, another rumour about the ice cold CEO. I wondered what it was this time around. Other times, it was either my mysterious lover or my secret child. Once, there was a news about how I'd chosen fashion industry because my ex-boyfriend dumped me due to my bad sense of dressing. And they'd published a photo of my ex neighbour who worked at a thrift shop. That guy called me and thanked me a thousand times because apparently it was his dream to have his photo published in newspapers someday.

"What is it this time, Leah? You know I don't care about anything the tabloids have to say about me. As you can see, I'm busy right now. So please keep those things to yourself and keep the reporters away." I said, not bothering to see the news. They were always sprouting nonsense and I was fed up of the reporters trying to get information on topics about my life that even I was not aware of.

"But I think you might want to see this one, Ms. White." I raised my eyebrows. It must be something big for Leah to react this way. She knew better than to engage in gossips and insist me for something after I'd dismissed it. So curiously, I took the papers from Leah and saw the reason for the fuss.

There, in the front page, was the photo of me and Adrian from yesterday's restaurant. The photo just happened to be taken while Adrian had his hand on mine, when I'd told him about my childhood friend. Then there was the headline: 'Stone cold bachelor and Ice White beauty spotted warming up together' I rolled my eyes. Seriously? Stone cold and ice White? How creative of them.

Then there were more shots of us together in our celebratory party, in the parking lot of my office where he was handing me my phone, and there was also one of me and Adrian holding out our cards in front of the cashier in Maggs' restaurant last week. They really had a collection.

These articles described my secret relationship with Adrian Stone and how we were perfect for each other. Both are cold to the world but maybe they can help each other warm up? What were they looking at? A chick flick movie? Then they raved on about how I had trapped their favourite bachelor into partnership between our companies and voiced their doubt on my real feelings. They talked about how there was a high chance that I was in for money and status.

Then I looked at the iPad and saw the same photos plastered over every social media. The comments, however, were quite interesting. There were a lot of angry girls shooting colorful profanities at me. They even went as far as to accuse me of a bitch running after money and trying to pass my illegitimate child as his. I could literally imagine thousands of girls marching up to me with guns, knives, hammers, shovels and everything with evil smirks and determined to kill me and bury my body.

I mentally shuddered at the thought and immediately erased it. There were some happy comments as well. Their happiness was radiated by numerous exclamation marks and capital letters as they said we were the perfect couple. The most eligible bachelor and the most beautiful mystery together was their dreams come true. Their words, not mine. I wondered if they didn't have anything else to dream about that they were dreaming about us.

Just when I was beginning to think that the whole gossip column in the social media was populated by females only, I saw a bunch of comments from angry males.

It was like the operator of this thing sorts the comments out on the basis of their contents and gender. First their were angry females, then happy females and now angry males who thought that I deserved someone much much better than Adrian.

Apparently Adrian was just a random playboy going from one woman to the next and didn't deserve me at all. According to them, I was a rare gem and deserved someone who knew my true worth and treasured me for life. To be honest, these comments gave a little boost to my ego. I briefly wondered if these were the reasons for Adrian's big ego as well or if he was born with that quality.

I shook my head as I closed the iPad and folded the newspaper knowing that if I tried to go through every comment, it was gonna take a month or longer. I gave them both to Leah who was eyeing me weirdly as if I had suddenly grown pigtails on my head. I fully turned my chair to her and folded my arms.

"Okay, spit it out." I said calmly. Leah looked hesitant at first but when I raised my eyebrows again, she blushed a little and cleared her throat. "Uhm... I just... wanted to ask if... if it's true." She stuttered. Now it was my turn to look at her as if she'd suddenly grown pigtails. Reminding myself to be calm, I said, "After having worked as my personal assistant for almost two years now, you're asking me if the tabloids are true? Seriously? I thought you knew better than that, Leah."

Her gaze was accusing. "But it doesn't look so fake this time. You did say there was something to discuss with him about the project when you were having lunch together, holding hands." She mumbled quietly.

I clenched my jaw. I absolutely hated it when someone talked about my personal life in front of me, whether it was real or fake. I didn't really care about what tabloids had to say about my life but if someone dared to comment about my personal life to my face, I showed them the real face of the ice cold queen.

I fixed her with a sharp glare which had her cowering in fear and spoke in a cold voice. "Well, in that case, it's a good thing that I'm the boss here, not the other way around and I don't have to give you any explanation now, isn't it, Ms. Brooks?" She blushed deep red and stuttered a small sorry.

I looked at my watch and sighed. It was nearing 1 PM and I had to be somewhere. "Anyways, it's Wednesday today and I'm leaving. I hope you can take care of things here and do not call me unless extremely important. And make sure to schedule my meeting with the marketing officers for tomorrow. Also, I expect you to keep the reporters away instead of reading useless gossips in my office." And with that, I closed the file I was working at, picked up my bag and left the office without waiting for her reply.

I had just pulled out of the office when my cell went off with a call from some Hot sexy bestie. I scrunched my eyes in confusion but then rolled my eyes as I got an idea who that Hot sexy bestie could be. I put the phone in speaker and before he could speak, I beat him to it.

"When was the last time you had your regular health check up?" I asked.

"My what?"

"Your regular health check up" I repeated.

"Uh... a couple of months ago, I think. Why?" I heard the thick confusion in his voice and would've found it cute if I wasn't irritated.

"And there wasn't anything wrong in the reports?"

"No?" His reply came as a question. I swerved to right and smiled a little despite myself as it was getting harder to stay angry when he was confused as a little boy.

"Are you sure?" I pressed on, enjoying his confusion more than I should. "Maybe there's something wrong in your eyes. Or do you normally put on contacts?"

"No, Evelyn. My doctors believe my eyes are perfectly fine and I'm in no need of contacts." He exasperated.

"Ah, I see. Then, do you have mirrors in your home?" I asked, enjoying this a lot.

"Of course I have mirrors, Evelyn! Where are you going with this?"

I could tell he was thoroughly irritated by this point. "Oh. So you mean both your eyes and your mirror are perfectly functional. Then there must be something wrong with your brain. That's the only explanation."

"Explanation for what exactly, Ms. White?"

Back to Ms. White now, are we? I thought, amused. Who knew irritating people, that too, irritating Adrian Stone could be this fun. I tried to make my voice sound as serious as possible. "Well, there's no other explanation than that because I can't see any hot and sexy bestie around me. I'm worried you're going through some serious delusional disorders."

Silence. There was complete silence from his side. I was wondering if he'd hung up already when he suddenly gave out a breathy chuckle, as if he was trying hard to hold himself back. Then the chuckle turned into full blown laugh.

He laughed a long, full blown laugh and it was not like what I'd expected his laugh to be like. For a man his size and nature, I hadn't expected him to laugh at all, and even if he did laugh, I'd expected it to be some loud, obnoxious, boisterous laugh. But I was mistaken. His laugh was... melodious. It was quite soft and right then I decided it was my favourite of all laughs. Not that I had a lot to compare to. I was not some laugh obsessed maniac.

His laugh finally came to an end and I was brought back from 'Eves in the laughterland.'

"You're something else, Evelyn White." He said, laughter evident in his tone. How I wished I could see his face right know. I immediately deleted that stupid thought. Shift+delete. There. Permanently deleted.

His voice suddenly turned serious then. "Anyways, I was just calling to see if you were alright. I just saw the news and wanted to make sure you were taking it well. But judging by your unwavering wits, I can see that you're perfectly fine and lethal to my ego."

I stopped at the red light and thought before answering. "Well, did you think I'd be hiding out in a corner? Or squealing around looking at our photographs? This is not the first time I've been photographed with a man. So don't worry. It's cool. Although, I personally think that they should've hired a better photographer. The photo looked quite blur, as if he was shaking while taking our photos." I said as the lights turned green.

"No, that's... not what I mean. And yes, you're right. The photos are somewhat blur, aren't they? Wait... I can hear traffic. Are you going somewhere?"

"Yes."

"Can I ask where?"

"No."

"I thought you said I was your best friend." He said, sounding hurt. I could even imagine him pouting a little. Oh, how I wished I could see him n-. No. I don't want that. Delete.

"I gave you no indication of that, Stone. You assumed it yourself." I reminded him.

"Did you just call me Stone?" He asked, sounding shocked.

"Yes, aren't you one?"

"Gosh, woman! You're something else." He breathed out in disbelief. Then his voice turned playful and I could literally hear him smirking. "You know what I think? I think you're going to some deserted place where no one can see you. Then you'll be squealing with the papers in your hand, looking at out photographs. I bet you're going to gush over how good we look together."

I rolled my eyes. "It's amazing to see how your ego keeps on getting bigger and bigger."

"It's not just my ego, darling. Everything in me get bigger when you're around." He said in a husky voice and I was met with the empty dial tone.

Did he just-? I think he did. But did he-? Yes, that's what he said. That imbecile jerk!

I was fuming when I finally reached my destination. I parked my car at my usual place and took a deep breath to calm myself before getting out. I walked to the familiar building and greeted the familiar faces. A familiar old lady smiled and walked up to me as soon as she spotted me. I bent down a little and kissed her cheeks.

"How are things going?" I asked her. She squeezed my hands in hers and gave me a small smile. "Everything is good, dear. Still a troublemaker but is waiting for you at the moment." I thanked her and after giving her a brief hug, I walked towards the room that held the most important person of my life.

I stared at the mahogany door containing a neatly scribbled nameplate and knocked four times. I heard a faint come in and took a deep breath as I opened the door.

The person looked up from the laptop and smiled brightly at my sight.

"Right on time, as always."