[Three months ago]
Ari Moon glances up at the high-rise building that belongs to H Corporation and watches in amazement. The twenty-four year old, an alumni from S University, was desperate to land a legitimate full-time office job at the corporate company. Due to certain circumstances in the past, she had worked odd jobs. Ones where she's never allowed to tell others or disclose information about it. Therefore, her qualifications as of yet only lands her with minimal part-time jobs that lack employee benefits and job security.
After quitting that particularly unique lifestyle half a year ago, Ari was barely able to survive in the new, big city of Pearl Bay from working numerous part-time jobs due to various debts and obligations. Motivated to change her life around, she was determined to ace this interview.
The petite brunette was neatly dressed in a white blouse and black slacks paired with her favorite four inch heels. Her long, dark hair was straightened down while her makeup was effortlessly neutral—neither too dramatic or plain. Just a simple eyeliner, mascara, and a pop of pink gloss finishes the business-casual style.
Ari looks down at her phone and gasps. There is exactly twenty minutes until her scheduled appointment. She didn't know the layout of the building, so she needed extra time in order to not be late.
Rushing through the massive lobby after checking in with reception downstairs, she spots an available elevator. The door is starting to close so she quickly squeezes through, unaware of who or how many people were already inside the tight space. While jumping inside the elevator, she loses her balance and crashes into something—or rather someone—making the both of them fall straight to the floor. Just like a scene from a movie. For once, Ari regretted wearing those four inch heels even though they've been good to her thus far.
She is surprised when her arm is pressed against a large, firm chest instead of the hard, tile floor. Since the clumsy woman landed on top of someone, Ari wasn't in as much pain as the person underneath her. When her gaze looks down and sees an older, stern-looking man glaring at her, she immediately pushes herself off of him to allow him some space.
"I'm so sorry!" Ari quickly bows and apologizes to him when he gets up, flustered by the unexpected situation. While facing him, she is quickly mesmerized by his charming looks. Her eyes lit up with a smoldering glow when she finally got a better examination of him.
Oh my... Hot damn!
The young woman inspects the older man from head to toe. She gulps to regain some composure as a wave of heat soars through her. Despite his visible wrinkles and the fact that he was clearly twenty years older than her, he is very handsome. He is an incredibly tall man with broad shoulders and sports a classic undercut hairstyle. The man was professionally dressed in a navy blue designer suit that enhances his lean physique. Power and sophistication oozed from his presence. He could easily be mistaken as a celebrity or model due to his attractive looks.
If they weren't stuck in an elevator right now, Ari would have loved to take him somewhere private and thoroughly examine every single inch of his beautiful figure. She drools at the single thought of that while imagining how fine his bare body would look like underneath all those expensive clothes.
Her cheeks redden the moment his set of sharp hooded eyes met hers. She averts her eyes away from him. What the hell is wrong with me, she thought to herself as she felt her heart rate accelerating.
Her preoccupied thoughts come to an end when she hears his deep, husky voice.
"Do you not have eyes?" he questions her rudely while holding his head high. "Who the hell dangerously jumps inside a closing elevator like that?! Did you want to die or something? Are you always this stupid or are you making a special effort today?"
What?! Ari's eyes blinked in disbelief. She didn't expect that reaction from him. She has never met someone so cold like him before. Most men who she encountered have always been nice to her. They've always been immediately charmed by her beauty or her voluptuous figure. In fact, if it was an encounter with a typical man, they would have felt so lucky to have a beauty like Ari touch them in the slightest.
This man however was different. Far too unusual.
He notices her stale expression and is used to seeing people looking like that after he'd yell at them. Usually, tears would form in their eyes or they'd cower in fear by now. However, this woman's eyes were dry and gleaming with frustration. Ari was ultimately too pissed off to show her intimidation of him.
Unable to listen to the harsh words any longer, the shorter woman faced him head on despite standing almost a foot shorter than him.
"Excuse me"—she glares at his handsome face—"but who are you to talk to me like that, you geezer!"
"What?!" He was surprised by her tone and attitude. He didn't like that last word she had just said to him.
"Wow," she replies sarcastically. "You don't even look that old and you're already having hearing problems. I guess I wasn't wrong then," she scoffs.
"You're insulting me?!"
"No, no." Ari shakes her head and smiles mockingly. "I'm not insulting you. I'm describing you."
The businessman scowls at the catty woman. He is outraged that someone was actually talking back to him in such a daring attitude. His tone toughen, "Do you have any idea who I am?!"
"No, but you're a fucking asshole!"
A vein pops at the side of his forehead while his jaw clenches. Not only did this insignificant individual insult him, she also talked back and berated him. It is absolutely unacceptable. Unwilling to let the little lady damage his ego, he steps closer and glares at her with nothing but contempt.
If this was a normal situation where she knew who he was, then he would have easily scared her off. But this isn't the case. This bold girl isn't willing to submit to him. Neither is he.
Feeling a little creeped out, Ari slowly steps away from him. However, nowhere is safe since they were still stuck in the closed elevator. Shit! She glances at the elevator buttons and notices that he was heading to the top floor too. They were barely reaching the mid floors, so she quickly pressed the button number that is closest to their current floor level in order to get out.
Ding.
The elevator door swings open, allowing Ari to step out of the danger zone. Who would ever want to continue to be in that tight space with such an unlikeable man?
"I better not see you around anymore, brat," he warns arrogantly while acting all high and mighty.
Annoyed, Ari reaches for the buttons inside the elevator and starts pressing as many of them as she could, all at the same time.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
As the door was closing, the mischievous lady quickly moved away and stuck out her tongue. "Have fun!" She sports a mocking grin and raises her middle finger at the surprised older man to provoke him one last time.
"You little—" His eyes blaze with frustration and disbelief. He was infuriated with her immaturity and couldn't believe that someone would dare to mess with him like this.
Ding.
The door closes shut and the mysterious man finally disappears from her view. While busy looking at her phone to observe the time remaining, Ari failed to realize that she had just messed with the wrong person.
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