Chapter 10

**

Nathan

Marisa led us to an enclosed room which seems to be used as a conference room or a meeting room. It had a rectangular table with four chairs place on either side of it and one chair place at the small side of the rectangle. One side of the room had frosted glass so that the passerby could not have a look inside. There was large TV on one side of the wall with a projector place at the center of the large table. The walls were painted white with company logo prints over it.

My observation was broken with a harsh sound of the door closing. Instantly, I turned my attention to a fuming Marisa who looked ready to kill me. I simply rolled my eyes and leaned against the table with my legs crossed over and arms crossed against my chest.

"What the hell are you playing at?" She bursted as soon as we were confined in the room.

"I am not playing at anything. It's not my-" I was cut off when she made a sound at the back of her throat. She probably thought it sounds like a growl but it was more like a meow to me. But that did not stop the small annoyance of being interrupted to crawl at my chest. I pushed it down for the sake of being professional.

"Oh please," she scoffed. "If that were the case then you wouldn't have pushed the deadline to a week instead of 2 months."

"You talk as if it was my decision." I harshly reply. "Because trust me if it were in my hands, you wouldn't have any part of it."

She flinched at the last part but kept her glare firmly on me. I could telling she was seething in anger as her breathing came in short pants and her hands clenched into fist by her side.

"I don't believe you!"

"I don't care what you believe. It was a collective decision from the board and my brothers. I am here to convey the news because I am incharge from my company. And since we are the only investor, you have no option but to oblige." I said, looking straight in her eyes. I stood up from my leaning position to showcase that I was not joking.

"Why would the board suddenly change their decision until it comes from the leader of the project himself?" She cross questioned. She stalked towards me with a finger pointing at my chest. "I'll tell you why. Because you basically coerced them to. You have never wanted me to be a part of it; you said it yourself right now. So, you're pulling such cheap tricks to have me off this project by cut-shorting the deadline. That way I would seem incompetent. I never thought you would stomp so low for revenge on your ex-girlfriend."

My teeth clenched as she mentioned being my ex-girlfriend. She was the reason why she is my ex and now she has the guts to phrase it as if all this was my fault. Having no real idea why the timeline has changed, she has no rights to throw accusations at me.

Snacking my arms around her waist, I turned us around so she was pressed against the table. Dropping my arms from her body, I leaned down and placed them on either side of her waist so I was eye level with her.

My sudden action seemed to surprise her as the now angry expression was replaced by a surprised one. Her wide eyes were staring at me in shock with her mouth slightly open. Her hands instead of being clenched in a fist were now holding on my suit in a tight grip. Her back was slightly bend backward away from my ascending face.

"You shouldn't throw accusations when you do not know the whole story." I started in low yet firm voice. She visibly gulped but thankfully did not interrupt me. "The deadline was pushed early because Sophia and Will decided they wanted to go for their bachelor in a weeks time. Apparently, something about weather being nice and sunny."

The shock look on her face waivered off replacing with confusion and disbelief. The hold on my clothes loosened automatically as she processed my words. Not having the support of my clothes, she almost fell backward with a yelp. My hands automatically stopped her movement by wrapping them around her and pulling her straight to my chest.

Her face was barely an inch away from me. I could see every little detail from her freckles to the slight makeup she had applied.

Being this close to her did something to my heart. They were strangely beating faster than usual. I was liking and hating both at the same time. My hands craved to touch and my body begged to be pressed against her.

Unconsciously, my eyes drifted to her parted lips. They looked soft and red as they were begging to be kissed and I wanted nothing more than to fulfill that wish.

"Nate." Marisa whispered, her lips slightly brushing against mine.

My eyes slides back to hers upon hearing her say my name. Instantly, I knew this was a bad idea. Quickly, I pulled away from her after ensuring that she was stable on her feet. I moved back few steps to have a breathing space. Turning my back to her, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I can not lose control. This was Marisa, the woman I hate and will continue to hate all my life.

Reopening my eyes with determination of not getting distracted and reminding myself of this visit, I turned to face her with a passive look, erasing any traces of touching or being close to her.

"I'm actually surprised Sophia did not mention anything. Maybe your dramatic self-obsession that I want to ruin you would not be displayed so embarrassingly in front of me and your boss out there." I grated, straightening up my suit and dusting the area where her hands touched. "Quite pathetic if you ask me."

"The opposite actually." She muttered, crossing her arms and avoiding any eye contact. That's when I noticed her face had gone red. Her stance was defensive and she was biting her lips, clear signs of embarrassment. An amusing smile took over my face but I quickly wiped it off before she could see it. "Anyway, so you are saying the project is being pushed because the love birds want their bachelor party?"

I nodded, finding the reason just as much ridiculous as Marisa with the look on her face. There was something we both agree on.

"Why the bloody fuck am I friends with such a person!?" She muttered under her breath but loud enough for me to hear. "Is there any other way to talk to them about it? A weeks time is very soon. I hope you understand."

I didn't say anything and just looked at her. Having her spoken those words, I could see the stress lines on her forehead and tiredness in her eyes. The bags under her eyes were well hidden with makeup but the slouch in her form was very much visible.

"How long would you need if not a weeks time?" I questioned, surprisingly myself. Generally, I would have jumped and straight away refused but for some inexplicable reason, I wasn't able to.

"I can meet half way and say 2 weeks. Would that work?" She asked, hopefully.

"Fine. Let me see what I can do." I affirmed.

Before I could process, Marisa threw her body on me with her arms tightly wrapped around me and her face buried in my neck. She kept repeating 'thank you' over and over again.

I blinked a couple of time, caught off-guard. Awkwardly, I patted her back not really sure what I should do. This was clearly inappropriate in profesional terms. Was she like this with everyone at work?

A small knock on the door broke us apart. Marisa jumped 5 feet in the air and landed some 200 kilometres away from me with wide eyes. I rolled my eyes at my own over-dramatic thinking and straightened up.

"Come in." I called out, already having a fair idea on who it would be.

Just as I expected, Arnold stood at the door glancing at the two of us. Stopping his eyes on Marisa, he raised a questioning eyebrow. "So?"

"We have decided on two weeks. I have extended the time to two weeks and I hope that would suffice now?" I answered in place of Marisa but directed my question to her as well.

She frantically nodded her head in approval. Giving a her a small nod back, I turned to face Arnold. "I'll have someone from my company speak to you soon regarding the schedule prepared for the launch. Me and other people will be helping you during this two week so nothing goes wrong. I'll be in contact."

Arnold nodded and shook hands before I left. While on the way to office, I knew I have an argument waiting for me on silver platter. Will is not going to be happy with his arrangement postponing for a week. His obsession of having something over us first will be a serious case of murder series.

I sighed. What has gotten into me?

**

Just as predicted, Will was not happy at all. The moment I stepped into his office and broke the news and declared we would be needing to postpone this vacation, he was up on his feet and his hands clenching my collar as he threw accusing glare at me.

"You are trying something like Ethan too right. He stole marriage from me and now you want to steal my bachelor's too!"

I rolled my eyes and freed myself from him. "I would need a woman for that."

That was enough to calm him down. He still argued and cursed me to give in but in the end agreed upon calling Sophia and explaining her Marisa's stand. As soon as she heard her best friend's name, she was all up against Will to convince him that waiting one more week would bring us no harm. Like a fool he was, he begrudgingly agreed. With that started the two long weeks of hard work and no sleep.

Everyone on this project stayed overtime and helped prepare for this launch. Our company came up with multiple marketing strategy while the King's Inc focused on product development. We had few meetings to discuss the USP for the product by sitting in room with marketing and production team of both companies.

There were nights where Marisa and I would be the only one left looking over the pending work. To both our surprise, we fought less and agreed more on few points.

"Here." I said, bringing a cup of coffee for her as it was late and we still had few things to go over.

"Thanks," Marisa muttered, pausing her finger from furiously typing on the laptop. Two weeks were about to end soon which was causing everyone to stress more as the day came closer.

Marisa took a sip of her coffee and made a face. Watching her reaction, I raised an eyebrow at her. "What? My coffee is not up to your mark?" I couldn't help the sarcasm to stop. I tried this for two weeks now.

Marisa did not utter a word. She just forcefully gulped and stopped. Suddenly, putting the cup down she got up and rushed towards the trashcan near the door. Pouring out her dinner, Marisa vomited her heart's content.

Concern at her sudden vomit, I moved closer to her pulling her hair back and softly rubbed her back. "Are you okay?" I asked once she stopped throwing up.

"I think so." She muttered weakly.

"Come on." I said gently and pulled her up from the sitting position. Ignoring her protest, I wrapped my arms around her waist and leg and pulled her up, carrying her bridal style to the washroom. Marisa rested her head against my chest and closed her eyes. I glanced down at her tired face and sighed.

After helping her clean up and giving her water, I ordered her to rest on my couch while I wrap up the pending work. Marisa protested but I paid her no mind. Eventually, she fell asleep.

As promised, I completed the pending work of the day and wrapped the reports and papers neatly in a pile to be reviewed tomorrow. Once the table was neat, I rolled my neck and stretched my hands above my head to hear a satisfying crunch before sighing and lowering them.

Marisa was right when she said that it was going to be a lot of hard work to get this ready before the assigned time period. Two weeks were less time to have this event perfected. However, with my pride, I would never say this to her face because knowing her, she would not spare a moment to gloat that in my face. Damn Will for putting this pressure on us.

Taking a look over at Marisa who was sleeping peacefully, I just stared at her. I was conflicted with my feelings for her from the moment we slept together. I know I said I was tormenting her for revenge but it seems like the effect was almost the opposite. This was affecting me as much as it was to her.

Just like that with an unknown feeling, I got up from my place with my suit jacket in hand and covered her with it as I saw her shiver slightly due to the cold air in the room.

Convincing my heart to hate her was going to be harder than I thought.

**

Apologies for the late update.

Hope you like it. Until then.

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