Billionaire Scientist & His New Secretary

Chapter 2

Part 2

I promised that I would give a longer update. But longer update means more time writing. Hope it's worth the wait.

I realise that as I write, the parts can be grouped together differently. So when I'm free, I will probably start lumping them together and labelling them as chapters. Easier for readers to read rather than having to click on so many parts!

Tamora Pierce owns all…

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A woman who was the epitome of aging gracefully sat in one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city. Her only display of any apparent wealth was not in her simple gold wedding ring, rather, it was the expensive cut of the clothes. They were deceptively simple, flushed in warm tones, but it was of little doubt that it was a Chanel classic.

She disliked it.

She did admit to some frivolous splurges now and then, but wearing an outfit that could easily support an improvished family for a year was quite another matter altogether. In her younger days, she had coveted the luxury brands that had splashed across fashion magazines, but the harsh realities of working life had quickly robbed her of that notion. She had become far too practical and thrifty with money to indulge in such "overpriced rags". Especially when most of the family's income had to be channelled to fund her precocious children's education and pursuits.

A mother's love knows no bound. This was why she was wearing the outrageously expensive clothes that her son had bought her for Christmas. He was now outrageously rich and she supposed, he has earned every right to spend his hard earned money. It helped a bit that he had started a scholarship fund in her name although she had complained that normally only the dead have scholarship funds in their names posthumously. As well as his regular donations to charity, this had curbed her tongue in scolding him in being too frivolous with money.

But this love was being severely tested by now. All that she asked for before she meets her maker, was to see her only son settled down. She supposed she was glad that he had procured a lunch at one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city as it had provided the privacy and security that other places could ill afford. This was hardly a discussion that was fit for the ears of the media. And even her, a woman whose only encounter with magazines were more of the living and homemaking kind, knew that Numair Salmalin was hot news. Especially when it came to his romantic life.

They were in a plush private room with a paranomic view of the city. The décor was decidedly oriental in flavour, with silk paintings and beautiful Chinese calligraphy adorning the walls. She had no doubt that her son was pretty capable of translating those words if he wished. He better be able to. With all the money she had spent on his linguistic pursuits. She also knew him well enough that he had specifically chosen this restaurant because of its famous succulent butter lobsters. Her favourite. He was always a smart devil. But this would not put her off the track on "gently persuading" him to discard his single status and welcome marital bliss. But what did put her off track, was this unexpected surprise that her son had sprung on her…

"Daine, how did my son propose to you?" the woman asked smilingly.

"Mrs-" Daine started.

"-call me Anna, we are going to be family soon, isn't it Numair?" Anna interrupted gently, smiling at Numair.

Numair smiled confidently at his mother, his arm casually slung over Daine's chair. Anna had suspicions about the authenticity of Numair's sudden declaration. Daine was a mousy thing, a nice girl, the sort whom you would to bring to see your mother. But contrary to Numair's… regular taste. She was his mother, but she was not blind to her son's apparent inclinations. Especially when they were regularly featured and splashed in newspapers.

Numair was either trying to fall a fast one on her, or he was truly utterly struck by love.

Daine blushed, something which Anna found quite endearing. Quite a marked difference from the experienced flowers that often adorned her son's arms.

Daine on the other hand, was sorely tempted to just jump up, smack her hands on the table and yell, "It's a scam! An utter scam! This six-foot-four man is utterly scared of his mother! For shame, oh shame! Trying to lie to his mother! All because he wants peace and quiet to invent this crucial period before the new range of Tortall Inc products are launched. Oh, and did I mention that he seems to have a thing against Tortall Inc's competitor, Carthak Corp?

How did I get dragged into this? Well, you see, your son, my dear lady, is not above blackmail. This morning. WELLL… Your son loves to tinker around with all these gizmos and gadgets. Not taking into consideration that it is not user friendly. One of this investors had went to the toilet and asked me to switch on the lights. Which I did. On this HUUGGGEEE remote control that is probably the wet dream of all the boys in the universe. Anyway, I accidentally hit the button that causes the toilet to auto-clean itself. Yup. If I had more money, I would have paid off the woman's spoilt expensive Prada dress. Yes. Prada. I can't understand how people can wear clothes that can feed an improvished family for a year. An outrageously expensive outfit that is ONLY dry clean. Imagine that. For that money, I expect it to survive on under circumstances, rain or shine. Heck, even auto-clean. I digress, your son naturally charmed his way into the woman's good graces and insisted on paying for the dress. He turns around and tells me that I don't have to pay him back anything if I just do something for him. Oh geez, to think for a moment I was scared it was of some sexual nature… Noo… silly me, why on earth would I think that when he made it very clear that he wouldn't approach me with a ten-foot stick."

Daine tore herself from this mentally delicious image. But she needed the money. Miri had already dipped into her savings to cover loss and this was only a temporary measure.

"Daine? Kitten? Are you alright? Are you cold? Do you need my jacket?" Numair asked solicitously.

Daine gave him a lukewarm smile and restrained herself from cringing at the endearment. "No my dear… snapdragon, I am fine. I am just caught up in the memories of how you proposed to me."

Anna's attention was focused on Daine and did not catch the flicker of warning in Numair's eyes. Unfortunately, Daine did not miss it and turned to Anna. She rested her head against her hand. Since she had nothing to go on, she might as well just speak about her fantasy of finally finding the one and having him propose to her. With a few modifications. Of course.

"Numair knows me very well," Daine said, her voice softening as she lapsed into deep thought. "As you can tell, I am not exactly… a guy magnet. It's embarrassing, but I haven't received a flower for Valentine 's Day before. He knew I had a soft spot for flowers and how I envied others who had copious amount of flowers for Valentine's Day. So one day, when I came to work, I saw a trail of roses. I followed them to a table where there were 24 red roses and a card. I opened the card and it said something like, I feel like I have known you a lifetime and regret that I had actually not. For each Valentine's Day, I would give you a rose to express my love. Give me this chance to make up for lost time and to be your true love on Valentine's Day for the rest of our lives."

Daine's voice lingered off into silence and she suddenly felt embarrassingly self-conscious and exposed. Vulnerable. That her secret thoughts had been laid bare. She mentally slapped herself that she had not spoke of a more sophisticated manner which was probably more of Numair's style. She could just imagine him, proposing over a candle light dinner with a huge array of diamond jewellery and probably indulging in some bed activities after that with the grateful recipient.

Daine plodded on and explained unnecessarily, "Well, um, I'm 24 and the 24 roses represented each year where he had not met me yet."

Anna suddenly burst out, "That is so sweet!" She healthily whacked Numair on the shoulder and said, "Well done boy!"

Numair raised an eyebrow and tried not to wince.

"Still," Anna said. "Still, this is quite… unusual of you… simple and sweet… rather than all flashy and showy. I was expecting some proposal on top of the Eiffel Tower."

Numair laughed, "Well, so was I, so was I… But," he turned and looked at Daine, amused, "A proposal comes from the heart and one never knows when love hits them."

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"Tough day eh?" Evin asked and propped his hip against Daine's desk.

She dragged her eyes away from her computer screen and leaned back in her chair. "You have no idea," she said wearily. The meeting with Numair's mother had gone relatively well, but Anna insisted that they were to meet up with her more often. To integrate her into the family and know its going-ons. Daine had briefly wondered what was so terrifying about that gentle woman that had sat across her at lunch that cause Numair to put up this pretence to get her off his back.

Evin leaned over and patted Daine on the hand, "Don't worry dear, I'm sure Numair will pick up the dry cleaning bill for Farrant's, Selda's and Mrs. Ohmus' clothes."

Daine gaped at him, "How did you-"

"Know?" Evin grinned. "That you bumped Selda into who spilled coffee on herself and Farrant. You also accidentally pressed the buttons on your remote control and got the toilet to auto-clean itself while Mrs Ohmus was still inside."

Daine blankly nodded her head.

Evin laughed and replied, "As I said, very little things escape the HR department, especially me. Quite a number of people saw what happened in the lobby with Selda. For Mrs. Ohmus, well, she was quite vocal about what happened and complained to the receptionists. Complaints about staff are directed to HR department."

Daine winced, "It was an accident… I really didn't know that I had hit the wrong button. Look at this thing! It's like, with the amount of buttons, I can fly an alien space craft with this thing!"

Evin grinned and reassured her, "Don't worry too much, Numair is a pretty laid back guy, he won't get too worked up over this sort of thing. He is only strait laced when it comes to disturbing him when he is in the midst of some discovery or experiments." Daine had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at that, promptly recalling Numair's conduct in the morning.

"Onwards to official business," Evin said and straightened up. "I am here to remind you, that this is going to be a crucial period. Tortall Inc has to launch its new line of products pretty soon. Unfortunately, there's much more pressure than usual because of Carthak Corp catching up with Tortall Inc and it's time for some new creations to gain back the consumers' market." He winced, "I can't believe that people will just go for snazzy packaging Carthak Inc comes up with, I find it so gaudy and tacky! But somehow people just like it as a manifestation of wealth. Yelch. So much for being subtle!"

"Anyway," Evin continued. "It is important that Numair not only attends all the pow wow meetings, but also, that he can work at his best. The bosses are waiting for some revolutionary product like the flat screen TV that he came up with a few years back. I'm afraid because of such pressing needs, you better buck up a bit. A lot of money is on the line, so HR would be checking on you to make sure that nothing goes wrong."

Daine blanched and nodded.

"End of official message, now to more fun fun things," Evin chirped. "Cheery up! It's only your second day and here's something more scintillating for you to chew on." He placed a thick folder in front of her.

"More readings?" Daine groaned. "On etiquette? Company code?" She looked at him hopefully, "An instruction manual on how to deal with Numair?"

"Ha ha. Nope!" Evin grinned. "Just the latest gossip on Numair's life. Remember I told you about handling Numair's calls? Well, it's time for you to get acquainted with what's happening. Take everything with a pinch of salt. Sometimes the media exaggerates what happens so it's pretty funny some of the things they churn out with. Inside are also the press responses that his PR manager releases."

Daine nodded and pulled the folder towards her. "Alright!" Evin said, "I'm now off to ready the refreshments for the big pow wow… Going to give business to a certain man that Alanna has an interest in."

Daine raised an eyebrow and Evin leaned in, "George. Some worker at DD café. It's awfully exciting. Better than the soaps on tv. Coffee boy v. CEO. Who will win the heart of the fair maiden?"

"Are you sure you are allowed to talk about this?" Daine asked, mildly amused.

"Oh please, don't you know this place is half held up by gossip? Without the winds and air created by rumours, I swear, this structure will just collapse. But don't say that to Numair since he designed it. Besides, I daresay I am one of Alanna's close acquaintances since she keeps visiting Onua and has to get through me. Ta ta!"

Daine opened the hefty file and started to pore through the materials. No wonder Anna had looked so shell-shocked and later, sceptical when Numair first introduced her as his finance. She was starting to see a certain trend among the various ladies that had the pleasure of his company. Judging by his response, Numair seemed rather heck care in the media's scrutiny of him… except… this one particular female.

Daine gazed at the photograph of a laughing Numair with a vivacious blonde. Although she was atypical of his "type", she was somehow different… It could be that she was, according to old reports, an old friend of his back in his university days. She was not someone famous or one that he had picked up in some event or another. Sure, she was not averse to showing some flesh and was certainly voluptuous, but she had a certain breeding to her.

Varice Kingsford.

A female that Numair seemed fiercely protective of, judging by the press releases and the uncharacteristic displeasure he had shown of the media invading into their privacy. A small voice in Daine's head said, 'Perhaps he loves her?'

Daine scoffed, ignoring an unusual twinge in her heart. Numair in love. Quite hard to imagine. He was in a prime of his life, happily sowing wild oats. The telephone rang and Daine cringed. Numair had explicitly told her that he was not to be disturbed at all. Although the receptionists outside had helped screen the first level of callers, Daine had to deal with quite a number of calls. She had to turn away all callers and had some unpleasant people who had no qualms in taking out their frustrations on his hapless secretary – her.

"Hello, Tortall Inc, Numair's office. How can I help you?" Daine parroted.

A rich velvety voice came through the line, "Hello, may I speak to Numair please?"

"To whom am I speaking to?" Daine asked.

"This is Varice. Varice Kingsford."