Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Paris was still peacefully sleeping in her really comfy bed when she is harshly awoken up by the loud ring of her phone, expecting the call to be from Aaron she is deflated to see Baylor on the screen, she however picks up, Baylor’s thick husky voice had her heart skipping a beat as he said softly, his voice as calm as morning dew. ‘’Good morning lion heart’’. ‘’Good morning bay how was your night’’ she answers in a sleep laden voice, awkwardly wondering if the call was as awkward for him as it was for her. ‘’ Well I just called to ask if we could see later’’. ‘’See? later? How?’’ she wondered, mentally asking herself when he moved to New York, last time she checked, the dude was in Madison. ‘’ Well I called Amy’s apartment last night and she told me you moved to New York and coincidentally am in New York presently as I came for a meeting with a client so I thought it will be nice to meet up and talk…. besides we are both new in the same city so I thought we could grab dinner and chill out…and you still interested in filing that lawsuit right?’’ ‘’We also could talk about that, would give us a lot to talk about’’. ‘’ Yes, that would be amazing’’ she answers sharply. ‘’ So eight? Wait… is eight okay by you?’’ Hell yeah! ‘’ Hmmmm yeah … eight is fine’’ she answered. ‘’ Okay! Eight it is then! I will text you the address of our meeting place!’’ he says sounding very excited. ‘’Okay! See ya!’’ she answers trying to match his excitement, mentally rummaging through her wardrobe. ‘’ See ya snowy!’’ he says making her blush. ‘’ Okay, bye bay’’ she says nervously hanging up, suddenly feeling very disturbed about what to wear, she needed to look her best, after minutes of strong brain wracking, she decided to head to a boutique from work and buy a dress.

When she finally headed to work after grabbing a quick bite at a nearby café whose French name she gave up trying to pronounce after the twentieth try , she waved and smiled to chestnut Becky the grumpy receptionist who shot daggers in her direction as she walked by cheerfully and heading upstairs to Aarons office, she ran into Alexa the brunette who had been part of Aaron’s entourage the first day she got to the company , she was also the one who had eyed her suspiciously , feeling particularly cheerful she ignored the weird look she was been given and had introduced herself very politely ,holding out a hand which the brunette had reluctantly taken smiling weakly . Alexa finally speaks, her voice silky and sonorous, making Paris do a double take ‘’ What an enchanting voice’’, she thought to herself, imagining a halo around the brunette’s head. ‘’ Aaron is waiting for you in his office with the team… follow me’’ she says loud and clear in her singsong, authoritative voice and as she led the way Paris couldn’t help but take in her entire attire which she knew cost more than all the clothes in her wardrobe , wearing wide leg white pants with a shiny silver belt she had paired it with a white stylish off shoulder top, which showed off her extremely pretty collarbones and pretty shoulders with pointy transparent shoes which had a glass heel and round silver hoops on her earlobes , her shiny dark brown hair was pulled up into a neat high ponytail which highlighted her long neck , her beautiful face , her perfect nose and her sharp jawline and her clothes fit her slender body perfectly, she was the exact opposite of Paris as whereas Paris had a snowy complexion , Mrs perfect here was tanned , her golden skin.. shiny, clear and well pampered and standing at almost the same height as Aaron, she towered over Paris, her bare presence and her mature jasmine smell making the latter feel self-conscious, she looked more like a model than a company official. ‘’ Hell with her body shape she belonged on the runway’’, she said to herself smugly, making sure miss perfect didn’t hear…. Wait she thought to herself, the jasmine smell? … wondering where she did catch a wisp of that scent and realising it was from Aaron’s car the night he drove her home, what was the relationship between the two, she found herself asking ... were they lovers? On paper the duo would make a lovely, no perfect couple, but what if it wasn’t so? ‘’They are so much alike’’ she thought to herself beginning with their names which were both five letters and started with an a, going on to have two a ’s each. ‘’ A perfect match made in heaven’’ she thought sourly, the mere thought of them being lovers making her sad for some unknown reason.

Aaron had sifted uneasily in his seat at the sight of Alexa leading Paris in , the stark difference between the two hitting him square in the jaw , while Alexa cut the picture of a great life , a woman with good looks who knew her worth and made sure those around knew it too, elegant , graceful, polished , fancy and successful , Paris was a picture of a girl who had been toughened by a hard rough life, innocent , a woman who was so beautiful yet wasn’t aware of that fact ,a diamond in the rough , a presumed failure who was funny , spunky and totally capable of bringing any man to his knees , while Alexa’s eyes were a light brown, Paris eyes were a deep green which always reminded him of the lush green garden in his mother’s house, while Alexa was prettily slender , her leg going on for days , Paris was slender yet dangerously curvy but was slightly shorter, her long pale legs always making him giddy for no reason at all , both women were so clearly different that the difference between the two was even highlighted by their fashion choices… while Alexa was wearing a white palazzo and a white Valentino off shoulder top paired with a Bulgari wristwatch ,cutting the picture of a serious fashionista , Paris was casually decked in tight fitting blue jeans on which a SpongeBob crop top was thrown showing the creamy white skin of her belly and high heeled brown ankle boots which were a cheap knockoff of the original version and while Alexa’s shoulder length hair was wound up in a ponytail, Paris’s hair ran rain straight , touching her hips in a centre part which highlighted her perfect heart shaped face, a pretty padlock bracelet adorning her wrist and multiple gold rings adorning her pretty pale hands which were now painted a sultry nude , finding himself more intrigued with Paris’s overall effortless yet great look he motioned to her to seat directly opposite him , convincing himself it that wasn’t because he needed to look at her pretty face, moving slowly she waves shyly to Leo and Han who were watching the two women with great interest , Han focused solely on Alexa who he has had a crush on for years now and Leo on the extremely beautiful blondie with enchanting green eyes and wide hips who he was hoping to shoot a shot at later. Hopefully. Clearing his throat, Aaron announces ‘’ This is miss Paris flinch and like you all know miss flinch here is our newest model and the latest addition to our team, a representative of our brand and she will be partaking in our showcase so I hope we all can work together, miss flinch your training starts today and you will be introduced to your coach by noon but for now I will introduce you to the main team in charge of the affairs of the company’’. ‘’ Miss flinch, this is Mr Han Sung min our fashion analyst, the company’s partner and the man in charge of our publicity team’’. ‘’ Nice meeting you Mr Han’’ she said politely, shooting him an easy smile… he’s cute she thinks to herself with a nod. ‘’ Same here…. and just call me Han’’ he replied winking at her. Awesome! ‘’ And I see you have already met Alexa barrels our creative director’’ he said and she turned to Alexa who spared her a brief ingénue smile, a smile she knew too well since it seemed to be permanently etched on her mother’s face and just waved at her, waving back Paris smiled at her. ‘’ And this is the company’s manager and our design director Leo Zenas’’ Aaron said, turning to look at the handsome African American man with beautiful brown curly hair, caramel skin and flirtatious, glinting eyes who smiled coyly, stood up and hugged her tightly, leaving her shocked at the unexpected welcome which was cutting off her blood circulation as he wrapped his arms around her tight. ‘’ Welcome beautiful lady’’ he said happily, only to be told off by Aaron’s loud cough which paved the way for her freedom from the death hug. ‘’ She’s stunning ‘’ Leo added, spinning her around before letting go of her, as she tried to steady herself she saw Han trying to rein back his laughter. ‘’ No one asked’’ Alexa inputted, eyeing him darkly. ‘’ You need anything shorty, come to me I can always make everything better ...okay?’’. Leo added with a supposed seductive eye brow raise and smirk, which just made Paris even more uncomfortable, it was going to be a long, long stay here, Paris thought to herself with a frown. ‘’ Shorty? Really Leo? What year do you think you are?! I have said it before and I will say it again, staff and M and M employees are off limits’’ Aaron spelt out in anger. ‘’ Dude just keep it in your pants, maybe just this once, jebal…Paris stay away from this horn dog at all times …okay?’’ Han added amidst bouts of laughter and Aaron just groaned , a reprimanding look on his face and as he looked away from a smirking Leo he could see Paris shyly bite her lip , an habit he discovered when she read the clause last night, asking him why he thought she would be a good model or a good anything , he had replied that it was because she was good and because he believed she could be anybody she wanted to be , she had bit her lip then and softly said she didn’t have the typical rake thin body models have as she was curvy … He had then told her of a quote he read online: if you can’t fit into the world’s standard then set your own standard , become your own standard’’ words which had made her bite her lower lip even harder until she then sighed and put the pen to paper. ‘’ Over by the left is sherry Cole our senior designer, and right next to her is Adams, the V.P of publicity then seated by the end of the room is Daphne our marketing director, all together these people are known as the ace team of the company and they will be in charge of your activities.’’ ‘’ And this is the end of our meeting today, we should familiarise with each other, not intimately of course….Leo and let’s try to get along and work together, Paris your coach will give you a call by noon, for now just go with Alexa to the fitting room so she could get your measurements, Han ask bobby to come up to see me.’’ Aaron said, standing up and signalling the end of the meeting. Leo had then stood up and hugged Paris again, an action that made Aaron feel bothered, convincing himself it was not jealousy and that he was just being protective of his new employee he sighed loudly, an expression that made Alexa look at him with questioning sad eyes, after Han respectfully took her hand again in a welcoming handshake, Aaron came to the conclusion that he just didn’t like seeing like other people touch her and that thought alone threw him off balance. With a racing heart he had watched Alexa grudgingly lead Paris away and realised he was yet to respond to her request to have dinner together, realising he needed to put a tight lid on his growing feelings for the blondie, he decided to go on the date with Alexa.