Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty - One

Ava POV

Mark started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. I turned sideways and began staring outside of the window like I always do.

All of a sudden, I heard a throat clear.

“Ava.” Jasper called me.

I turned to the other side, and looked at him. He had put his phone down and now had his whole attention to me.

“About what happened earlier, I did not mean that as an insult.” He said and rubbed his neck. He glanced in the rear-view mirror before turning back to me. Probably trying to see if Mark was listening to our conversation or not.

“I liked your cooked food. It is just that I don’t like seeing guest work in my house.” He told me. His sentence gave me mixed feelings. He liked my food but he saw me as a guest?

I was a guest. I reminded myself. I need to keep it inside my brain.

I gave him a small smile.

“That’s alright. I understand what you are saying but I think I should start contributing to the work in your house now. After all, I am staying in your house as a paying guest. So, I have responsibilities of one now.” I told him. It was only fair that I did the work in the house I live in. There was nothing wrong with that. Also, if I could not repay in any way then I will pay back this way.

Jasper shook his head.

“No, you do not have to do any of the chores. I’m letting you pay because you wanted to pay. Otherwise, I would never let you pay for your stay in my house as a paying guest, let alone make you work as one.” He said. Taking a second's break,  he continued.

“I want you to stay without a worry in my house. At least until you are still pregnant.” He told me. My pregnancy did not make me That fragile.

I wanted to argue his decision but he merely shook his head.

“I don’t want to have any debate about this. I have enough money that you could live without worrying about doing chores.” He said as a way of ending this conversation. I looked down at my lap. And try not to overthink anything that he was saying.

He sighed out loud.

“I understand that you are a proud woman but I am a proud man as well, Ava. I can’t see a pregnant woman working, especially the one who had asked for my help.” He told me calmly. He must be keeping that tone with me on purpose. Probably, thinking that I was going to have a melt down.

“I won’t interfere in your life or your decisions. But this is final. You can work in my office but you would not work like a servant in my house.” He told me. It was  finally over. He had decided it. I was not going to do any chores in his house.

“Okay?” He asked me.

Reluctantly, I agreed. I mean if he wanted me to not work that badly and not do house chores then I would not do it. It was his house and I was more or less, his paying guest. I had to follow his rules. What can I say about it?

His wish my command.

“Okay.” I told him. He gave me a nod once and pulled out his phone once again.

I went to do my own work and looked outside the window once again. After this we did not talk to each other for the whole ride to the office. The entire ride was in silence.

Finally, we arrived at the building and the car came to a stop. As soon as Mark parked the car in the private parking lot of the company's office, I opened the car door and jumped out of it. I did not wait for Mark to open the door for me.

“I should go inside first, or else I will be late.” I announced to Jasper with a smile. Then without waiting for his answer, speed walked, no, I almost ran out of there.

With the speed of light, I entered the building with my employee card and entered the normal employee’s elevator. When I reached my office floor, the elevator opened and I stepped out of it.

I heaved out a sigh of relief.

What did I do?

No idea.

Why did I do it?

Still, no idea.

I had no idea why the hell I just ran out there like a coward and I had no idea why I was feeling relieved that I did. Shaking my head on my stupid actions, I walked inside the office. Almost all employees were present already.

Like always, I ignored all of them and strolled over the counter of dress fittings. I knew that after some time I had to warm up to the rest of the employees and talk to them but not today. Today, I wanted my day to be as uneventful as possible.

So, I bowed my head and began looking at the dresses that I was working on previously.

Somebody tapped on my shoulder. I glanced up to find Kevin smiling down at me.

Oh, lord, No.

Not him again.

“Hi.” He said to me, I forced a fake smile on my face, so fake that I hoped he could see how unwelcomed he was, and replied with an, “Hi.”

My gosh, even I could hear the annoyance in my voice, how come he managed to not notice that?

“So, did you decide?” He asked with an annoying and ugly grin. Then he proceeded to place one hand on the side of my table, caging me in.

I backed off from him a little because his face closed on mine with this action. The corner of my lip tucked up in disgust and I straightened to my full length. I sided out of his cage and crossed my arms around my stomach while I stared at him with a non-nonsensical look.

“About what?” I asked in a hard voice.

“About going on a date with me this weekend?” He answered me. I almost growled at his answer.

Oh, my god. This dude was insane.

He was delusional. A complete psycho.

Had he not been listening to me? Had not he not understood by now that I was not interested in him? Had all of my signs been so subtle that he could not catch that I did not like him?

My face turned into an ugly scowl.

“When did I ever agree to go on a date with you?” I questioned him. I was beginning to get angry at him.

“You did last time. When you told me that you will go on a date with me.” He told me.

“I never agreed to have a date with you. I told you that I had a boyfriend. So, leave me alone.” I told him, this time angrily. I could not help my anger anymore, I just could not. This was getting ridiculous. I had tried every way to tell him that I was not interested in him but he seemed to turn def to my words.

I had used every method. I had told him politely, professionally, plain out rejected him but it was like these things were not going into his brain.

“What do you mean by that? I know that you are lying about your boyfriend. Otherwise, your boyfriend would be the one to drop you off daily and not the CEO of this office. Or wait, maybe your boyfriend is the CEO of this place.” He said in a mocking tone.

I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face.

It was completely on instinct.

Everything around us stopped and all the employees turned to look at us. Their gaze held a disbelieving and a wondering look. Like they wanted to know what was going on.

I pointed a finger at his face as I spat my next words on to him.

“This is the last time I am telling you, stay away from me. I don’t like you. I would not like you in a thousand years. Get it inside your head and keep it there. I don't like you. Did you get me?” I finally snapped back at him. I had enough of his shit. I had enough of this person. Just because I had been behaving politely to him does not mean that I will take anything from him.

His face morphed into a furious one and he glared at me. He still had the audacity to actually GLARE at me.

Like I was the wrong one in this situation and he was the victim.

I stared right into his eyes and glared back with the most hated expressions.

“I. DON’T. Like. You.” I punctuated every word with a harsh, cold voice.

He stared at my face for a second then spun around and marched outside the office room.

Oh, Man. This can’t be good.