Hey people! *waves a skeleton* And vampires and werewolves and witches and ghosts and zombies and creepy pumpkins! How you doing? *swats away a witch flying on a broomstick* So... I've been feeling this Halloween vibes since the whole week and these monsters *ducks in time to prevent a pumpkin thrown by one of the monsters* uhmm... these non-human fellows have been invading my mind. *blocks the mind link* Anyways, wish you a cool and creepy Halloween! XD. Don't forget to vote and comment! Bye! *trying to get rid of the cobwebs tangled in the hair.*

It was exactly 8:30 on Monday morning when I received a package containing fresh blueberry muffin and a cup of takeaway hot chocolate with a note that said:

Mission: Friendship... contd.

Current progress: 10%?

#Bribe2.1: Internationally renowned, hot, sexy and unbelievably dashing Adrian Stone wishes you a tasty good morning with your favorite tasty delights. Accept this delicious blueberry muffin and mouthwatering hot chocolate as a small bribe for the above mission. I hope your day goes great. ;)

I rolled my eyes at the note. Guess he forgot to add immensely modest to his list of attributes, I thought dryly. Even though, I couldn't help but smile at this gesture as heavenly smell of blueberry muffin filled my nose.

I took a bite of the muffin and found myself wondering if that was what people called 'a slice of heaven'. It sure tasted like one. The hot chocolate was even better. It tasted better than any hot chocolate I'd ever tasted before. The taste seemed somewhat familiar to me, like I'd tasted it sometime a long ago. I shook the thought away. That was not possible. Maybe I'm going nuts.

I finished them quickly, pouting a little when I eyed the now empty cup of hot chocolate. Maybe I could blackmail Adrian to tell me where he bought these from, I mused.

Just then, Leah walked inside, eyeing the package with a knowing look in her eyes. It just occurred to me that she must be the one to deliver it on my desk, as she was only the one who had a direct access to my office. She must've let the delivery guy inside.

I made a mental note to ask her about that later but right now, I had an important meeting with one of the silk importing companies. Leah informed me that they were already settled in the conference room so I quickly collected my necessities and walked towards it with her trailing behind me.

***

"If we are to have this deal, I need 20% shares on the profit. No less."

I raised my eyebrows at the blonde, middle aged man sitting to my right. From what I'd deducted so far, Christopher Peterson was one cunning and greedy human being. The man had been dropping hints as to why Eva's was in need of his company more than the other way round and I was getting irritated by this.

"I refuse. Like I said, you'll only have 15% of the profit, and that's final. Mr. Peterson, you and I both know which one of us has the upper hand here and let's not forget that, alright? If you want the deal, we'll do it my way, that is 15%. If not, you might as well leave." I stated and saw his face turn red with rage.

"That's outrageous!" He exclaimed, standing up from his seat. His secretary, who was sitting beside him and was most likely nodding off, suddenly jerked forward hitting his elbow on the table. That earned him a nasty glare from his boss and I wondered if it was his first time falling asleep amidst an important meeting. I was suddenly grateful for having Leah. At least she wasn't that ignorant.

"There were many companies far better than this, willing to give me 30% of their profits. But I refused them all for this one, only for you to give me a mere 15%? I don't agree with this!"

"Very well then. If that's so, I think you might want to call them back and reconsider your decision." I said calmly.

He hands, which were flailing around with his words, suddenly froze mid-air and he slowly turned his gaze to me.

"Pardon?"

I stood up from my seat and realised with satisfaction that he was a couple of inches shorter than me in my heels. I looked straight down into his eyes with my cold gaze. That made him see who was the important one here, judging by the small slump of his shoulders.

"Mr. Peterson, I had made it known clearly even before we had this meeting that you were to only gain 15% of the profit, provided that we set the deal. And my word is always the final one. But since you seem to feel that you deserve more than what my company can give you, I think it's time you go to the company that you think you deserve. Because as far as I've seen your products and your reports, I don't think you deserve anything more than what I offered. So, I believe this discussion is over."

While his face was red before, it suddenly became pale white and for a second, I had to wonder if he was some shape shifter zombie. Now that would be a thrilling problem, I thought disdainfully.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, seemingly at loss for words. He finally took a deep breath. "Forgive me, Ms. White. I seem to have mistaken our former agreement for 20% instead of 15%. Fine, I'm willing to have this deal for 15% of the profit."

I shook my head. "That's all good, Mr. Peterson, but I'm afraid we won't be having this deal now. As you said, you deserve more, and if there are companies better than Eva's that are willing to give you what you deserve, I wouldn't want to stand in your way. You can call them for negotiation. I apologize for taking your time."

I nodded to Leah, a signal that the meeting was over and she began collecting the files. Just as I'd expected, Mr. Peterson was not about to let this go without further attempts. He tried one more time. "No, Ms. White. I... I'm fine with 15%. Such a successful businesswoman like you must've set the benchmark after examining my products, of course. So I think that's very fair. Let's set this deal according to your say, only 15%."

I looked at him again, his words only making me feel more sure of my decision of not setting the deal with him. He was only successful in showing his character as a greedy opportunist by his words, and there was no way that I was dealing with people like him.

"It's good to see that you've realised your worth, Mr. Peterson. But like I said, my words are final, unlike yours. I never back out from my words. So it's better if you save both of our time and see yourself out of the building. There are refreshments available if you wish, but please take them out of my office. Thank you, and have a good day, Mr. Peterson. I'm sure the other companies will have no qualms agreeing to your clauses."

I walked out, leaving him standing there and his assistant dozing off once again against his chair.

Once I entered my office, I rubbed my temples and sat down only to stand up in surprise when I found a vase containing a bunch of white roses on my desk. My favorite flower. I looked around to find a note near the vase.

#Bribe 2.2: Hope you're still in a good mood after #bribe 2.1. But if not, then these will definitely improve your mood. White rose reminds me a lot of you, y'know. Beautiful to look at, but can make you bleed if you press a wrong button, or wrong part of the stem. XD. Anyways, I'm learning how to prevent it. Hopefully I'll find one without thorns someday.

Have a good day, friend. ;)

I shook my head with a small smile and made a move to remove the vase from my desk as I liked my desk clear of anything else except my laptop and the files I was currently working on. But when I picked the vase up, I found myself unable to remove it. I looked at the flowers closely and was suddenly hit by a wave of nostalgia. I suddenly felt like I had a deep memory with this flower, but couldn't pinpoint what.

Now that I thought of it, I realised that Adrian knew things about me that I hadn't told him. I didn't think much of the muffin and the hot chocolate thinking I might have told him someday or he might have assumed that blueberry muffin was my favorite since I'd always order it when we eat together and I'd taken it on that celebratory party. But now these flowers and that somewhat familiar taste of hot chocolate made me feel that Adrian might know something about my past. Or he might be hiding something from me.

I was a little creeped out by the realization but even then, I felt that I was safe around him. That was one thing that had been bothering me since long.

My phone suddenly rang with a reminder tune, distracting me from my thoughts about creepy Adrian. I remembered that I had to meet Dr. Marshall today. I left the vase at its place and quickly closed all the files. I let Leah know that I'd be gone for the day and walked out of the office, mentally reminding myself to have a talk with Adrian when I meet him again.

I got into my car and drove to Dr. Marshall's hospital. Once I reached there, the receptionist showed me the way to his cabin. He was already in a meeting with someone so I waited for a while, praying to God that everything worked out well for my sister.

"No way! I'll accompany you to the parking lot."

I was startled by a male voice that sounded like Dr. Marshall's coming from the other side of the door followed by a female voice as the door opened to reveal Dr. Marshall himself and a woman with a swollen belly. I couldn't see her face as she had her back to me, but her lovely golden hair that was flowing down in small waves made me think that she would be beautiful. That must be his wife, I thought to myself.

The woman turned to the side and rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up, Brand. I'm not some crippled one-legged lady. I can ride the elevator to the parking very easily."

Dr. Marshall was about to retort but he suddenly spotted me sitting outside and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, Ms. White, you're here!" He said, looking surprised, as if he'd forgotten about my appointment.

At his words, the woman turned around and I almost gasped out aloud. Not only was she incredibly beautiful with her soft brown eyes, I felt that those eyes were familiar to me. Like I knew them from somewhere. I immediately shook that thought away. I swear I was seriously losing more and more parts of my brain every day. Maybe I need to talk to Dr. Marshall about a good psychiatrist after Eva's treatment was over.

"Oh my God! You're really Evelyn!" The woman shrieked and before I could react, she was suddenly hugging me tightly. I tried hard to conceal my surprise and freaked out expression from my face but judging by the way Dr. Marshall was looking at me carefully, as if trying to figure something out, I suspected that I wasn't doing a good job.

The woman pulled away after sometime and when she did, she had tears in her eyes. She caught both of my hands in hers and gave me a watery smile. "I can't believe you're here, Evelyn. After all those years, I've finally met you!"

I was growing more and more confused by her behavior. I couldn't remember meeting her but couldn't say that out aloud without sounding rude. I awkwardly removed my hands from her grip and gave her a half smile.

"I'm sorry, but... have we met before?" I asked carefully and watched as she stilled suddenly, her eyes wide open. She gasped aloud and covered her mouth with her hand. Tears pooled around her eyes again and I felt bad for saying that.

All three of us were silent for a while but Dr. Marshall, the godsend that he was, broke the awkwardness by chuckling nervously. He put his hand around his wife and smiled at me. "I'm sorry, Ms. White. This is my wife, Jade. She is actually obsessed with Eva's clothing. And apparently you are the CEO of Eva's. I didn't know that until recently." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly at me.

"So my wife is just excited to finally meet you. She's being a little emotional. You know, pregnancy hormones." He continued, earning a glare from his wife, which was softened as soon as he whispered something in her ear. They looked so much in love with each other that my heart felt lonely even being near them.

"You sure you can go alone?" He asked her again, earning another eye roll from her. "I'm not going alone, Brand. I'm only riding the elevator alone." She corrected him. The woman turned to me once again and narrowed her eyes at me, as if trying to figure something out, pretty much in the same way her husband had looked at me a few moments ago.

She scrunched her eyebrows and was about to say something to me but Dr. Marshall whispered something to her again, making her change her mind. She shook her head and with a small peck on his lips, walked away, but not before giving one more look my way. I didn't know if I was imagining it, but her last gaze seemed accusatory and I felt bothered by it for some reason.

"Sorry about that. Please, do come in, Ms. White." Dr. Marshall led me inside his cabin and I took a seat opposite him on the other side of his desk. There, on the table was his wedding photo on a small frame. His wife looked beyond beautiful in the white dress and so did he, as the both of them smiled at each other, seemingly unaware of the surroundings.

"It's a lovely photograph." I commented honestly. Dr. Marshall followed my gaze and smiled as he looked at the photo. "Yeah. That was the happiest day of our lives." He said. His eyes alone showed that he considered himself lucky to have her as his wife.

He shook his head and smiled at me. "I'm sorry about my wife, by the way. She... uh... seems to get too emotional these days." He said and I couldn't help but wonder if he was hiding something from me. I killed my curiosity as it wasn't my business at all and I didn't want to be rude by prying.

I registered his words and shook my head. "No, that's okay. I hope she's doing good?" It came out as a question, and I was once again hit by a feeling of guilt that he had to leave his wife to come to my aid.

If he was bothered by it, he didn't show. Instead, he smiled at me. "Yeah, she's fine. We are currently staying in her parents' home so that she always has someone with her. Her brother has also moved temporarily to stay with her so all is good. You've got nothing to feel guilty of, Ms. White." He gave me a knowing smile, which I returned rather sheepishly.

"Anyways, enough about my wife. Now, let's get back to business and talk about your sister instead." He got up and walked to the shelves on the wall, which was stacked with various files. He rummaged through them and picked up one, which I recognized as Eva's by her first name written in bold letters on the side.

He sat back on his seat and turned the pages, studying something. It was silent for a while apart from the rustling of papers as he turned the pages. He finally finished after sometime and closed the file as he turned his gaze to me once again.

"Okay, so I've studied her case thoroughly and I think that it's best if we perform the surgery sooner rather than later. First, I need to do a series of other tests on Ms. Evangeline and observe the effects on her. That would roughly take a week. So we can schedule the surgery for next Monday, if that's alright with you?"

I thought for a while and nodded my head. "That's more than okay, doctor. I also want this to be over as soon as possible. I just want my sister to be able to walk."

He nodded solemnly. "I understand. So if that's settled, then I'll start my observation for a week starting tomorrow so that I can know of her strength and possible complication. You'll be required to sign a consent form later this week and then we'll proceed with the surgery preparations. Hopefully everything turns out well."

I was about to thank the doctor when the door burst open suddenly followed by a very familiar voice.

"Brand! I heard that Eve-"

I turned around and my eyes widened as I saw Adrian standing at the door. He immediately stopped what he was saying as he saw me sitting there.

"Adrian? What are you doing here? And do you know Dr. Marshall? " I asked him and saw him close his eyes for a brief moment before he opened them again, a smirk forming in his face as he walked inside.

"I'm here to visit my b-. I mean, my friend. Brand is my... friend. So I'm here to visit him." He said and I had this strange feeling that he wasn't telling the truth.

I narrowed my eyes at him and turned to Dr. Marshall who chuckled nervously as he looked between me and Adrian. The both of them looked like they were having some secret conversation without words. He finally sighed and looked at me.

"He's right, Ms. White. We're... uh... we are... friends. Yeah. I take it that you know each other?" He asked and I pursed my lips.

Before I could reply, the devil with verbal diarrhea beat me to it. "Oh, yes. We know each other very much. Don't we, dear friend?" He smirked at me and I suddenly wanted to tear off his entire mouth and part his cheeks permanently so that he wouldn't be able to smirk his whole life.

I looked at Dr. Marshall who was looking at us in amusement. I promised him to continue the conversation some other day as the idiot who didn't know the meaning of privacy had invaded his office and I had no intention of talking here.

I thanked the doctor again and walked out of the hospital, only for the devil to follow me to the elevator. I looked at him sharply and he raised his hands in surrender.

"To think you'd be in a good mood after my bribes." He sighed dramatically. I once again narrowed my eyes at him.

"What exactly are you really doing here, Stone?" I asked him as the elevator started to move.

"I told you, Brandon is my good friend."

"Why don't I believe you?"

He dramatically gasped and put his hand on his chest. "You always wound me so much, madam. I feel like this heart is full of scars now!"

I rolled my eyes. "You were about to say my name before you saw me. What were you going to say? Do you know why I'm here?" I asked hesitantly. I was suddenly afraid that he knew about Eva. No one knew about her except Allie and the doctors and I wanted to keep it that way. I didn't doubt that Dr. Marshall would keep his word but I couldn't take any risk.

He let out a small laugh. "Oh, dear Evelyn. I think I'm rubbing off on you. The world doesn't revolve around you, as it doesn't run around me, dear. I was going to say evening, not Evelyn. I was about to ask his about this evening as we had plans but seeing him busy, I decided that I'd ask later. And do you even think Brand would do anything against his ethics, for anyone's sake? Never. And besides, even if he was somehow willing to tell me, I wouldn't want that. Because I want to hear it from you." He gave me an intense look and I tried my best to keep my blushing mechanism under check.

Just then, I remembered that I had to talk to him about the observation I'd made earlier regarding creepy Adrian and decided that now was the time.

I looked at him and said, "I need to talk to you, Adrian."

He suddenly stopped smirking and searched my eyes for something. Finally, he let out a sigh and nodded. "Okay, you're returning to your office, I presume?" I gave a slight nod and he continued, "alright, then. I come pick you up later. I would come with you right now but I need to drop someone off and she's waiting in my car at the moment. I'll see you later, alright? Bye."

The elevator opened and he walked towards his car where I could see a woman sitting on the passenger seat. I couldn't make out her features from here but judging by the way Adrian smiled at her, she must be someone important to him.

I told myself that I wasn't a bit bothered by it and that it was not my business whoever's Adrian let in his car but even then, my salivary glands produced something that tasted bitter left a bitter taste in my mouth.