Chapter 2

• BRAELYN
• I was yet to sink my teeth into the chocolate tart when I felt someone shake me. Groaning, I swatted the hand away from me before stuffing my face again in the pillow.
• "You need to get your ass up. Now!" Brielle's voice reached my ears.
• "No. Go away!" I mumbled into the pillow. I hated mornings. As a child my Dad could never drag me out of bed for a morning jog.
• "You're going to be late for your office." As soon as the words registered in my mind, I sprang up to sit on my bed, my head immediately snapping towards the clock on the bedside table which showed half past seven.
• "Shit! Shit! I am going to be late." I kicked off the cover before jumping out of the bed. I hurried into the bathroom to complete my daily routine. As usual my dear sister had left the bottle of shampoo open after using it. I clicked it shut before wrapping a towel around me. I rummaged through my wardrobe, looking for work clothes but like every other day I was unable to find anything appropriate.
• Hey, no judgments there! I wasn't running out of clothes. Just that I could never find anything when I needed it.
• "Your breakfast is in the kitchen." This statement really caught every bit of my attention. I poked my head out of the closet and tilted my head to convey my confusion.
• "Don't give me that look. I can cook, okay?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest getting defensive, like she hadn't almost burned the house down in her last attempt.
• "You sure can." I raised my hands in mock surrender, her previous cooking conquests swirling in my head. Most of them were disasters.
• Brielle, my sister, worked as an interior designer in an architectural firm. Though she was all grown up and in some instances was more mature than I would ever be, I felt extremely protective of her. Since the death of our parents, I had not been able to shake that feeling off.
• "This should do." I muttered to myself after finally I had pulled out a lavender blouse with a black pencil skirt. Brushing my hair into a ponytail, I slipped into my black heels.
• Shoving a piece of toast in my mouth and gulping it down with a cup of tea, while the rest of the breakfast just sat there, gloomily staring at my back as I ran out of the house.
• Getting into my car, I drove off to the office.
• …………..
• "And I'm just learning it now?" I asked before taking a bite of the sandwich. Just a few minutes earlier I had learnt that PrimeSoft had been taken over. Well, considering that Mr. Cooper had no heir to take his business forward, change of ownership was it's inevitable future and a known information. PrimeSoft being ranked under the top ten software companies in the world, the market value was high. Naturally, who would take it over had piqued quite the interest of the media.
• From what I learned not moments ago the acquisition was over last night but something had kept me too busy last night to take a glance at my phone.
• "That's because you live under a rock?" Cora grinned to which I rolled my eyes and leaned back.
• "That's because maybe she had a date unlike your single ass." Cora squinted her eyes at Austin's remark.
• "Dude, like your ass is any less single than mine!" Austin flicked her forehead in response and she reacted by smacking his arm. If you haven't guessed already they weren't just colleague-turned-friends. They had been best friends since highschool, got into the same college and landed themselves jobs in the same office. I wondered how. I mean I don't remember my life ever going as I wanted it to.
• "Well, are you gonna tell me which company just took over?" This question seemingly excited Cora a bit too much. She sat up straighter and put her hands on the table, her eyes widening with the look that people have when they are about to share an important gossip with you.
• "Brae, you won't believe, he's so hot!" My forehead creased in response, totally clueless of what she was going on about.
• "The new boss!" She exclaimed while slapping her hand on the table, hinting something like I should have understood that. Austin threw his head back and groaned. Realizing that I should have probably checked on the internet for the information instead of her, I pulled my phone out of my bag.
• "I just googled him and bless my heart, he is the typical handsome billionaire boss tha-"
• I didn't remember the rest of what she was about. It was all over the news that the ownership of PrimeSoft had been transferred to Lewis Industries. They've got to be kidding me!
• I clicked on the article, still hoping that inside of the article would say something different, something like it was in the talks but some other company ended up buying PrimeSoft but how could I have expected such a miraculous happening! My eyes fell on his name and I felt myself going stiff.
• "Evan Lewis." I murmured the name, my head going blank.
• "Yeah, I told you that! He will be coming as the boss here. Wait! Are you looking him up? Tell me you agree that he is hot!" I pushed my face up from the phone and stared blankly at her. My brain was taking longer than usual to process her words.
• "Yeah—I'm not looking him up. It's..uhmm the article." I mumbled while scratching my forehead.
• It was him. Evan. He was going to take over this company. I learnt that but I wasn't able to accept it. I just wasn't ready for this. Not now, after four years. I wondered if I would ever be able to face him. I was broken out of my thoughts by Austin.
• "You okay?" I blinked multiple times before nodding my head at the concerned faces of my friends.
• "Yeah, absolutely, why not? Totally fine." I ended with a nervous chuckle. Both of them looked at me weirdly before hesitantly nodding.
• For the rest of the lunch break I had zoned them out, lost in my train of mixed up thoughts. I never thought I would have to face him again in my life although somewhere I hoped to, but now I was far from feeling excited at the news of his arrival.
• There hardly had been days when his face didn't pop up in my head. But I never craved to meet him. I couldn't, literally couldn't. What would I tell him? Would he even spare a minute for me? Obviously he wouldn't.
• Why would he, after what I had done with him?
• Just when I thought I could move on and lead a happy life, he was to take over. I sighed out of frustration.