Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Alexander Martinez's pov;

In office meeting,

"Sir, our company's stocks have doubled in profit from last three month's profit. The partnership with FY company is a good idea that you came up with, Sir." Mr Hayes said.

I gave a nod and listened to the members in the meeting.

"Sir, the GU firm sent proposals regarding the partnership contract. I heard that GU firm is a well-known company in cosmetics, Sir. If we accept their proposal, I'm sure our firm will become popular among people internationally, Sir." Mr Smith said.

"I'll think about it. Any others want to say something?"

Mr Tony started, "The Rodriguez corporation is facing a loss recently, if we hire the employees from that company, we'll be having more employees than them, Sir. Since you've worked there, the employees will accept your proposal and work for Martinez corporation, Sir."

"We aren't gathering employees, I started this company with trust. And I want everyone to be part of it. Listen, if any company faces a loss, even if we can't help them directly, we shouldn't use that time as our opportunity to make them fall furthermore."

"Sorry, Sir."

"What if our firm faces a loss, will you all quit here and go looking for a better one?"

"No! Sir. We won't."

"No, Sir. We stand together and help the company to get back to its position, Sir."

I gave a nod and said, "That goes as well to other companies too. If you really want to help them, help them with advertising their products."

"Yes, Sir."

After the meeting got over, Mr Johnson asked, "That was a good speech, Sir."

"Will you quit if I go bankrupt?"

He was surprised and said, "No, Sir."

"After going bankrupt, I won't be able to make payments. Will you still work for me?"

He nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes, Sir."

"How did Mr Tony get the idea of hiring people from Rodriguez corporation? Do you know?"

He shook his head and said, "Maybe, it's because of his wife."

"What?"

"His wife works for Rodriguez corporation, Sir. Maybe, Mr Tony got worried about his wife and asked to hire employees from Rodriguez corporation, Sir. Sir, do you want me to buy stocks from Rodriguez corporation like before?"

I gave a nod.

He said, "Yes, Sir."

I came straight home after the meeting ended.

When I entered the house, I saw Isabella walking across the hall with a vase in her hand. What is she doing? Where is she taking that?

"What are you doing?"

She was surprised after hearing my voice and dropped the vase from her hand. Before the vase shattered on the floor, Ethan came out of nowhere and caught it.

Ethan asked her, "Are you alright, did you hurt your hand?"

She shook her head and looked at me.

"Where are you looking?" Ethan turned his head towards my direction and saw me and walked towards me while asking, "Brother! You're early today. I thought you'll be late from work."

"Why are you still here?"

"Ah! Again with this topic. Brother, listen to this, I can't stay outside. You know how bad I hate hotel food. And, it's only for a week. What's bothering you? Oh! Is it about the girl?"

I turned to Mr Johnson and said, "You may leave now."

"Yes, Sir." He nodded and left the house.

I climbed the stairs to go to my room. When I was in the middle of the way upstairs, I turned and looked down at Isabella. She was talking with Ethan. I ignored them and proceeded to my room.

After a little cold shower, I came out of the bathroom and sat on the bed to go to sleep. Someone knocked on the door. I ignored it and laid on the bed. The knocking stopped after some time. Was it Isabella?

I got out of the bed and rushed to open the door. After the door was opened, I saw Isabella leaving.

"What are you doing here?"

She turned and made her way towards me and asked, "I thought of helping you to sleep but you didn't answer the door so... I thought of leaving..."

"What day is it today?"

"Huh... Um... Sunday."

"Was Sunday mentioned in the contract?"

She shook her head and stood silent.

"Work according to the contract."

She gave a nod and waited for me to continue.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Nothing."

"What were you doing earlier? Carrying the vase around the house. Are you trying to break all the things in this house?"

"I-I was helping Ethan."

"You just met him Today but you're addressing him with his first name already?"

"He was the one who said to call him by his first name. That's why I did."

I said it too. But you haven't called me by my name since that day.

I said, "Go to sleep. You have school tomorrow."

"School?"

"Weekends are over already."

"B-But..."

"Go to sleep."

She gave an upset look and tried to leave.

Seeing her leaving, i tried to close the door but she kept her hands in between the door and got hurt. She screamed in pain when her hand got stuck between the doors.

I opened the door and asked, "Are you blind?"

She looked at me with teary eyes. I took her inside my room and made her sit on the chair while I was holding her hand.

Opened the wardrobe and took the first aid kit and stood in front of her. She wasn't crying but her eyes were still teary. Is she holding back tears because of getting embarrassed in front of me?

I took her hand by holding her wrist and looked at her fingers. Her knuckles were as red as tomatoes but there wasn't any bleeding. I dipped the cotton in the medicine and nabbed it on her finger knuckles. She flinched a little but still didn't let out any sound of pain.

"I'll do it slowly."

She nodded and said, "Okay."

While I was covering her wound with a band aid after applying an ointment, she asked, "You look pretty good at this, Mr Martinez."

"I got hurt a lot when I was little so my mother taught me how to treat it by myself."

She let out a little chuckle.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. Getting hurt a lot sounds like... You must be naughty when you're little, right? It was funny imagining you like that, Mr Martinez."

She looks good when smiling.

"I wasn't naughty. It's just I wasn't careful with things."

She punched my shoulders softly and said, "Oh, really?" And looked at my eyes.

"It's done," said after putting a band aid on her finger knuckles.

She turned her hand front and back and smiled looking at her hand.

"Are you still teasing me?"

"No, I didn't smile because of that. Look at my hand." Showed her hand in front of my face and continued, "It looks like a mummy's hand. Came out of a coffin." And laughed.

I let out a sigh and took the first aid back into the wardrobe.

"Okay. I'll leave, Mr Martinez."

"Wait. You didn't say the reason for stopping me from closing the door, yet."

"Um... Your hair looked wet. So i tried to remind you but you were closing the door so i tried to stop it and got hurt. I don't know why I did that too, Mr Martinez."

"Don't do stupid things like this hereafter."

Isabella gave a nod and left the room.

I closed the door after she left and walked into my room.

I touched my hair and it was wet like Isabella said. I forgot to dry it after the shower. I took the hair dryer and started drying my hair.

I heard some noise in the corridor. I kept the hair dryer on the bed and walked to check the noises.

When I opened the door, maids and Butlers were carrying the furniture together.

I walked to them and asked, "What's going on here?"

They stopped working and stood still.

The head of the maid came forward and said, "Mr Rodriguez asked us to shift these furniture to the room on the left side, Sir."

"Where is he?"

"He's in the storage room, Sir."

"Ask him to come to my room..."

Isabella, "Ethan, do you really want this lamp in your room? It's so heavy."

I saw Isabella's whining while carrying the lamp in her hand, after seeing me, she ran quickly into the room.

Even after I told her to go to sleep, she's still helping him. What is she thinking in her head?

I heard Ethan calling out Isabella's name while he was walking towards me.

"Hey, brother! You're still up. Can't sleep?"

I gave a stare and asked him, "What are you doing?"

"I'm changing my room."

"What's with the previous one?"

"That room is on the second floor and there's no one to speak to. But here, You and Isabella are there so I wanted to stay on this floor too."

"You're changing a room for a girl?"

He laughed and said, "I'm just shifting my room, brother. Not courting her."

"She's not listening to me so send her after sometime. She has school tomorrow."

"Got it!" He gave a wink and went inside the room.

Courting her? What does he mean by that?

I went back into my room to sleep.

On the next day,

I came downstairs for breakfast. The house looked silent.

I asked the maid, "Did Isabella go to school?"

"Ms Garcia hasn't come downstairs yet, Sir."

I looked at the time. It's 7.15 am.

I called on the butler and ordered, "Wake Isabella up and convey that she has to be here before 7.50 am in her school uniform."

"Yes, Sir."

The breakfast was served on the table.

While I was eating, Ethan sat opposite me and said, "I have an important thing to do, so I'll be late tonight."

"What about the company? Aren't you going to the company?"

"I have more important things to do than going to work."

"Do you know the situation of Rodriguez corporation? Do you know what's happening inside the company? Your company's facing a loss right now, don't you want to compensate for that?"

He let out a sigh and said, "You know I was never interested in the business. Then, why are you wasting time on this? Aren't you late for your work?"

I ignored him and continued eating the food on my plate.

Ethan's food arrived and he started eating it.

Isabella rushed down from the stairs and stood in front of me and said, "Was it 7.50 yet?"

I smiled and said, "Have a seat and eat your breakfast."

She gave a nod and sat on the chair. She kept her bed beside and started eating breakfast while saying, "Wow! It's delish. Thank you for breakfast." And continued eating breakfast.

Ethan asked her, "Is your school uniform?"

She nodded while eating.

"It looks cute. By the way, why does your bag seem so heavy?"

"I didn't go to school for a week so I took every subject."

He gave a nod and asked her, "Which school are you in?"

"GU high school."

"Sounds familiar. Gu... Where did I hear it?... Ah! It's where yuyang is studying, right?"

"Yeah! You know yuyang?"

He smirked at her and said, "Yuyang is Noah's daughter. How come I don't even know our manager's daughter, huh? Do you think of me as your Mr Martinez?"and laughed.

How did my name end up in their conversation?

"It's not like he didn't want to know, maybe he was conservative."

"Conservative? Not bad for a school girl. Why are you speaking for him?"

"I'm not speaking for anyone. I'm just stating the facts."

I said, "Dining table is for eating and not for having conservation."

They both became silent and continued eating their food.

Ethan asked her, "Bella, how do you go to school?"

"I'll take the bus."

"Bus? Really? I'll drop you at school."

"It's fine. I've always taken the bus to school so it's never a thing for me."

"Hey, I dropped Yuyang at school. And, I have to go past the school anyway so I'll take you to the school today."

"What about tomorrow?"

"I'll take you."

"What about the day after tomorrow?"

"I'll take you."

"What about next week?"

"If I'm free, I'll take you."

She let out a chuckle and said, "Taking a bus is not my choice, it became one of my routines. If someone interrupts your routine, will you be okay with it?"

"If you don't like to come with me, you can say it to my face. You don't have to beat around the bush."

"I don't want to come with you. I'll take the bus."

"Woah! Learning so fast!"

"I'm a quick learner."

I let out a sigh and said, "Finish your breakfast quickly. It's time for school."

"Okay." and continued eating quickly.

When i came out of the house, she was sneaking to the car while looking here and there. What was that routine speech about if you're taking the car.

The car started and left the house.

"Okay, brother. See ya."

"Wait."

"What is it brother?"

"Don't use your flirty tricks on her. She's a school girl."

"Why? Do you like her?"

I ignored him and walked to the car.

He walked beside me and asked, "What's your relationship with Bella?"

"We don't have any relationships between us."

"Then why is she here? At your house?"

"I bet you've already known the reason."

"I know. I think you haven't heard properly what I asked, why is she in your house and not at some hotel?"

"I want to keep her safe."

"You could have sent her to Noah's residence if you only cared about her safety, Brother."

"What do you want to hear?"

He gave me a smirk and said, "Nothing, brother. Um, coming to Isabella, she's fun. I'm kinda interested in her."

"What do you mean you are interested in her?"

He laughed and said, "You're so talkative today unlike your usual nature. It's fun to see you like this. See you soon, brother."

I gave a death stare at him while he was leaving in his car. What does he mean 'interested in her'?