Reuben's POV ...
I stare at Aliya for a while after she says she has no fear, no care, and no softness, unlike every other woman I have been with.
"Shouldn't you have delivered it earlier than this instead of waiting to deliver it late just to see me?" I ask her with a grin.
"What made you think I want to see you, Mr. Reuben?" Aliya questions me.
"I can tell from looking at your eyes that they are all written there that I interest you in some kind of way, and you just can't figure out what exactly interests you about me," I tell her while walking quietly towards her.
Aliya looks at me for a while, probably thinking of what to say to defend herself.
"You are just a VIP. What made you think I don't act the same towards other VIP customers of the company?" She asks me, dodging the fact that I am probably right about what I said.
"I just met you for a day, and on that very day, you seem to leave your blueprint all over everyone as if you wanted it there," I respond, taking the designer clothes from her hand.
"Wow, I didn't even notice that, but you seem to be more interested in me than I am. Probably you are trying to figure out if I am the same as your little toys. Is this what you tell all of them?" Aliya asks me.
I scoff. "Not giving in, right?" I ask, pointing the remote in my hand towards my door to open it.
"You should be careful of me. I shouldn't interest you, or else you will get addicted to me." Aliya tells him.
Her words actually surprise me, and I find myself laughing as I move towards my car with the designer clothes in my hand.
"Just to let you know, I am not wearing the designer clothes tomorrow because it's for the red carpet. See, I told you. You just wanted to see me. That's why you fell into a trap set by someone. The secretary from the office already informed me that the clothes will be sent to me tomorrow after my talk show event. If it wasn't given to me today, I guess she wanted to test if someone can be an errand girl, and you walked right into it." I tell her with a grin as I enter my car to drive it in.
I drive the car silently into my mansion, crossing her as she watches me enter and park in my garage, still looking at me. I come out of the car, staring at her, wondering what is going on in her head at that quiet moment of hers.
"I hope you aren't expecting an apology from me because I am bad at it?" I ask with a grin.
"Not at all. I am wondering why you rushed to see me even when you were busy. You should probably have told whoever informed you to hold on to that dress instead, since you wouldn't need it. That way, you wouldn't have to stress yourself coming over here in a hurry, or do you want to see me?" Aliya asks me, surprising me. I wasn't expecting that question out of the blue. It's like she read me.
"You must think you are smart enough and untouchable. I am going to get you fired and see how desperate you can be." I tell her.
"Well, I will come work for you because you would probably need my company. Please make sure I don't get fired if you don't want to see me." She tells me, making her way out of my mansion.
"I am not going to walk you back home," I tell her as she is already leaving without my permission.
"I am five times more dangerous than a kidnapper, so I wouldn't care." She says.
I watch her walk until the darkness swallows her silhouette and shadows.
I bring out my phone and send Cece a message, "You owe me a lot of money for tonight." I say.
Ten minutes later, after I have gone inside my house to freshen up, Cece's message comes through. "What? Seriously! I am going to make her pay me back the money I lost to you in some way." She has messaged.
***
Aliya's POV...
A few minutes later, the taxi I had entered stopped at the destination I had told him. I paid him his fare before walking out, pondering my own thoughts.
"Now I know Felicia is trying to control the team leader of the fashion designer, and I walked into her trap instead. How would she react if she finds out I went instead of her? It would be so fun to watch her burst into anger." I said, laughing at the thought of it.
I wandered off from that thought to another.
"What really interests Amanda about him that she goes all in for him? Knowing Amanda likes Reuben makes him very interesting to me. He is probably all she sees and her weakness. Her mother, who is also my biological mother, would have thought she had escaped the past, which is me, and now have everything perfect. It's going to make me happy if I break both of them and show them they can't actually erase their past mistakes." I thought to myself, laughing at my own thoughts.
I pressed the doorbell when I got closer to the door of the person's house I wanted to visit.
"Who is there?" A familiar voice asked from inside after a few minutes. I probably had woken them up from sleep.
"Open up now," I said.
The door opened for me. She probably had recognized my voice, and I could tell she was really surprised to see me.
"What the hell? How did you find me?" Debra asked, looking around outside to see if anyone had followed me.
"You think you can hide from me after trying to ruin my first day in my new position?" I asked, coming inside, with or without her permission.
"I must have forgotten how evil you were, Aliya. You threatened me one year ago and made me refer you to my secretary and manager so you could take my position, while pretending you weren't aware of everything." Debra angrily said.
"With or without me intervening, the CEO would have found out you were sleeping with the VIPs and extorting money from them to buy drugs. You are an addict. You are lucky I didn't send that VIP over to your address after getting him to piss me off." I told her, removing my flat shoes.
"Whatever. What brings you this way? It's far from your house and work too." Debra asked me.
"Just something I needed to be sure of. I will sleep over here tonight and leave before you wake in the morning." I told her, going inside her room. "You are injecting yourself again with drugs. Should I call the police for you?" I asked.
"Please don't. I promised I will stop; I just haven't been myself after those abuses." she told me.
"That again? You need to withdraw from it before someone finds you dead one day in your apartment." I told her, lying down on the bed.
"I am not going to die knowing you are still alive somewhere, trying to use them the way you use me to get what you want." she told me.
I chuckled. "You know I won't. My biological mother couldn't even kill me in her womb because I had surpassed her taking me out. She abandoned me, not caring whether I am alive or not, just to have her perfect life. And look at me, crawling back into her perfect life after her efforts. It's difficult to take me out." I said to her, creeping her out.