BILLIONAIRE SCIENTIST & HIS NEW SECRETARY

CHAPTER THREE

PART TWO

Thank you for your kind patience and all your reviews! I have edited factual mistakes in my previous updates with regard to the plotline.

Ages

Ignore the books, I am not keeping to those ages or age differences. Daine is 24 years old. On Numair, Alanna and Jonathan's ages, etc, I am undecided. But I guess they would be in their early thirties.

Time Line

Numair has 2 months to come up with the new product. One month has passed since Daine started working for Numair, so Numair has one month left to come up with something. Varice is only supposed to come back after the product launch that is why Daine decided to let Numair find out for himself then.

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Daine walked towards Tortall Inc buildings, her skirt flapping gently against her legs. She was mulling over the enigma called Numair Salmalin. He appeared to be on his best behaviour for the past month and indulged in this, this queer habit of getting her little things now and then. Like some weird crow bringing knick knacks that caught his fancy to his nest. Of course it was nothing valuable or expensive, for she would have thrown it back in his face. No, it was little things.

Insignificant in monetary value, but… strangely kinda… well… cute… and thoughtful even.

It started off rather subtly. He brought back leftover food from his various meetings, no point letting the food go to waste right? Then it moved to snacks on sale ("it was three-for-the-price-of-one-and-I-can't-finish"), graduated to unusual food and knick-knacks ("I thought you might want to try this"). Slowly, it evolved to him just passing it to her without a word or leaving it on her desk. Perhaps he found it tiring to come up with excuses or perhaps because she stopped protesting. She was still wondering how he discovered what food she liked, when he had introduced her to a whole palate of tastes that she had never encountered before. (Tortall Inc really pampered their precious scientists during this period) At first, he got her a range of different food, but soon, he seemed to realise what were her favourites. He still got her unusual cuisine, but he seemed to know what she liked and disliked. She wondered how he found out that - was it because he occasionally hung around her table checking documents and saw her attack her favourite sour-cream and onion potato chips first and leaving the rest for later? She can't quite imagine him looking at her dustbin for the onions she threw away from the taco. Or going outside to talk to the other staff to see what food was left over from a food hamper from a client that he passed to her. Somehow, he just knew, he stopped giving her dark chocolates (which she disliked for its bitterness) and concentrated on milk and white chocolate. He even brought back a mutton burger without onions. (She knew he purposely ordered one without onions because of the scribbled instructions of the restaurant on the wrapper.)

He was nice, yet all this niceness was beginning to make her nervous. For once in a long long while, life was getting to be better, almost good even. Her generous pay check from Tortall Inc and money earned from tuition was going a long way in repaying her debt to Miri.

The clothes, oh the clothes. A gentle smile played around her lips as she remembered how she had first stroked the clothing when she first had the wardrobe to herself. It has been such a long time since she had such wonderful clothing. Even then, the clothes she wore in the past couldn't compare to the current ones. She blanched when she saw the brand names, and absolutely refused to check how much it was. When she first wore them, Numair actually did a double-take and told her she looked… acceptable. Blah, he was probably stunned that she had some sort of a figure – something which was buried under all the poor cutting of her previous clothing. Like the current woollen dress she was wearing. Awfully practical and warm, but made her look like some matron aunt. She felt a mild satisfaction at his surprise, but curbed any impulse to further dress up.

She frowned thoughtfully, 'If Evin didn't tell me that the clothes budget was a perk that senior executives at Tortall Inc enjoyed once they were permanently retained, well, I would almost think that Numair bought those clothes to sooth his guilt. Ha! As if I would accept charity like that. Harrumph, thinking that money will help make things better. Like I'm a mistress or something where a pretty trinket would easily put me in a better mood. Still, I only wear those clothes at work since they were meant for work.'

She gazed at her reflection in the tinted glass of the building and sighed. 'It is really such a challenge to dull down my look now that Numair has practically all but ordered me to use the clothing in the office.' She tilted her head this way and that, her minimal dull make-up made her look rather bland and devoid of colour. The blue-grey eyes that would vividly light up her face were safely hidden under thick lenses. A minimum of foundation and a boring lipstick from a convenience store. She remembered fondly of the days she had preened and dressed up, enjoying appreciative glances from… She shook her head, that was all in the past now, and she had to move on to the future…

"Oomph!" A stranger collided with Daine and the document bag he was holding fell onto the sidewalk.

"Oh I am so so sorry!" Daine immediately apologised and bent down to retrieve the bag. The stranger must have had the same idea, for when she straightened up, she found that he had similarly bent down. Thankfully, he was tall and they avoided a direct head-on-chin collision. Instead, she had smeared her lipstick from his collar (and to her great embarrassment) to his cheek. She jumped back and her spectacles, which were hanging precariously on her nose from her brush with him, fell off her nose.

She had a chance to inspect the stranger as he immediately retrieved the spectacles. He was tall, with short cropped black hair and was as Miri would put it, decent eye candy. Daine held out her hands to take back her spectacles, "I am sorry, I shouldn't have stopped in the middle of the sidewalk."

He looked her in the eyes and a smile slowly spread on his face. "Blue-grey."

"What?" Daine asked quizzedly.

"You have blue-grey eyes, quite uncommon for brunettes," he said, smiling engagingly. "Don't you know that if a brunette child has parents with blue and brown eyes, he would inherit brown eyes. It's a more dominant gene."

"Oh," Daine responded, amused. "I guess we're a dying breed."

He smiled and instead of putting her spectacles in her hand, to her surprise, he fitted them back onto her face. "You should really ditch your spectacles and go for contacts. You have really amazing eyes."

"Ah… sorry about the shirt," Daine replied, unwilling to be dragged into a mild flirtation with this strange man. "I will pay for the cleaning expenses. Just…" she dug out a piece of paper and wrote down her business contact number and name. "call me and I will handle the bill." She was tempted to write down her address or business address for him to send the bill to, but she wasn't too comfortable with the idea in case he had stalker tendencies. At least with a contact number, she could screen the calls or worse come to worse, change the number.

"The shirt," he examined it briefly. "Quite an unusual shade of lipstick. Well, it is alright, there is no need, but…" he took the paper, grinning. "I would like your number, thanks."

Daine looked at him incredulously, torn between being charmed or insulted, forgetting how dowdy she looked, "Please don't tell me this was a weird pick-up tactic."

He grinned, "No no, in fact, I am due for an important meeting soon. Meeting the big boss. Wouldn't be a great impression if I went in with a ruined shirt."

So feeling charmed it was and a great deal of contrite. "Oh dear," Daine apologised. "Why don't you buy a new shirt? I will foot the bill."

"No worries," he said. "I will give a go at cleaning it, worse come to worse, I will beg or borrow. Well, I better go."

"Alright, good luck for your meeting, err…" Daine said.

"Kaddar, the name is Kaddar," Kaddar supplied. "I have a feeling we will meet again very soon."

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Her brief collision with Kaddar made her nearly late. Fortunately, as she was using the private elevators, she didn't have to fight with the crowd, but still, she did an undignified sprint across the lobby. She ran a hand through her hair, a nervous habit, forgetting that she had tied it back into a bun. Her careless rake through the hair undid some of her hard work in taming her wild hair and some strands of hair fell loose from the bun. 'Whew,' Daine thought. 'It's stuffy in the elevator, the woollen material of my dress is not helping.' She undid the first few buttons of her dress and tugged at it to allow the air to cool herself.

As her luck would have it, she nearly collided with Numair, who apparently had faster reflexes than the stranger, grasped her arms to prevent her from colliding or falling over.

She blinked, "Good morning Mr. Salmalin."

He stared at her.

Then took a step back.

"Mr Salmalin?" Daine queried at the strange look on his face. "Is there something on my face or something?"

"Um, no," Numair said. "You just looked as if… well then. I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

"A boyfriend?" Daine yelped. "No, I am single."

"I am glad to hear that," came a familiar voice behind them.

Daine turned and blurted, "Kaddar?"

Kaddar walked forward and held out his hand, "Good morning Mr Salmalin, I am Kaddar, 4th division project leader. We're supposed to have a meeting this morning."

Numair gave him a slow appraisal, his eyes lingering on Kaddar's stained collar and cheek. His eyes flicked to Daine, then back to Kaddar again. He said in the coldest voice Daine had ever heard, "Get yourself cleaned up. You're an utter disgrace to Tortall Inc."

"Yes sir," Kaddar answered meekly as Numair strode off into his office.

Daine gaped, "I'm sorry, I didn't know he would take a dirty shirt that harshly." She pressed the buttons to reveal the toilet.

"Wow, how do you figure out which remote and button to use," Kaddar mused, impressed at her mini-collection of remote controls and gadgets.

"Ah well, toilet is the absolute first thing I learnt. The rest, well, doesn't really matter," she said distractedly, opening the toilet door. She dragged him inside and winced at his shirt.

"Yeah, I tried, but water doesn't make it come off, it just spreads the stain," Kaddar said. "Tried to wash it off in the toilet, the best I could when it was jammed packed with early morning workers."

"Your cheek," Daine gestured, passing him tissue paper. He turned to the mirror and grimaced, "No wonder he is so angry. I missed that in the toilet with the dim lighting and crowded conditions."

"Numair?" Daine said and blushed. "Thinking that you were out dallying or something?"

"No," Kaddar said, cleaning off the stain with the tissue. "Worse. He thinks I was dallying with you."

"WITH ME?" Daine screeched.

Kaddar sighed patiently and turned her towards the mirror. "You look…. like you have been thoroughly kissed." Daine turned a deep shade of red as she saw the hair that looked like a hand had run through it. Her lipstick was smeared and she looked hot and bothered (but it was from running! Not other exertions) with the first few buttons of her dress opened. He waved his arm, "The whole look, plus your unusual lipstick colour is on my shirt and you knew my name…"

"I knew things were going too well," Daine mumbled and quickly tried to repair the damage.

"Pardon?" Kaddar said.

"Ah nothing, just welcome to my life." Daine sighed and thought, 'He can't be that angry right? I mean, even if he really thought I dallied around before coming to work, that's my own private life. Wouldn't affect him one bit since he IS the King of Dalliance. As long as I work hard and explain things, he would return back to normal.'

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Conference Room…

"I told you so," Kaddar mumbled to Daine under her breath when the meeting stopped for a break. Numair had strode out of the room without looking at either at them.

"I'm sorry," Daine said helplessly.

"No worries, I said it was alright." Kaddar patted her hand. "He was professional. Civil."

"Yeah," Daine sighed, "Very very civil and very cold too."

"Anyway," Kaddar said. "My friend is rushing up with a new shirt so I can change during the break."

Daine gazed thoughtfully at Kaddar, thinking 'I better explain to Numair what happened. Maybe he has a no dallying around policy during this period. After all, I don't quite recall him dallying around since I started work, especially since I was told to reject all social calls and Varice is happily away on holiday. It's fine and well if he's only angry at me, but he appears mad at Kaddar as well. Argh! Darn cheap lipstick!' At least the stain on Kaddar's shirt didn't look like lip marks, it was a splotch of colour on the collar as it had spread with the use of water. She stood up, "I will be back."

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Onua's Office…

Alanna stared at Onua over their daily cup of coffee. "I am NOT double-dating both of them. Double-dating implies boyfriends and they are not my boyfriends."

Onua raised an eyebrow, "Well, they want to be. You yourself are not sure whether they are more than friends."

"Ha," Alanna snorted. "Both of them are just flirting around for fun. We're friends-"

"Friends do not kiss one another," Onua interrupted.

"I did not kiss them," Allan protested.

"Yeah, yeah," Onua said. "They kiss you, or at least Jon tried, and George succeeded. They should really exchange pointers. Both are not bad catches really, just choose one."

"Argh!" Alanna said, and busied herself with drinking her coffee.

"You can't run away from it," Onua advised patiently. "You can't stand guys who lead girls on and you are leading them on…"

"No I am not!" Alanna said firmly. "I never ever said I am interested in them nor offered anything that was not platonic."

"Yeah, well, your behaviour is omission. You are not telling them you are not interested, you are not telling them to back off when their behaviour becomes more than just platonic," Onua responded. "You are keeping their hopes up my dear, just by doing nothing."

Alanna hid her red face behind her cup.

"So are you interested in them at all?" Onua asked, kicking Alanna in the leg.

"Oww," Alanna yelped. "Alright alright, I must admit I have slight interest in both of them."

"So, which one interest you more? They are pretty different men you know," Onua said, "So it shouldn't be that much of a problem. Which type do you prefer?"

Alanna sighed and leaned back on her chair. "I don't know… I mean, it's like… high school… Jon is the most popular guy in school, your crush, the one that sends you swooning. Life with him is exciting, fun, full of highs. While George is like your constant guy buddy who has been by your side in high school, he is alright. You feel like, he's home, and you're absolutely feel comfortable with him. But, he is just missing that slightly dangerous edge sort of thing."

Onua grinned, "Just what I thought."

Alanna rolled her eyes, "I mean, Jon is like, the grand love of your life kind of thing which you could dream of when you are young. But, heck, when you grow up, realistically, you know George is a better choice. The kind of guy you build your home with and have forever with. I honestly don't know if Jon is looking at me seriously at all, he changes women like clothes. I'm not that cheerleading queen in high school and severely doubt whether I can sustain his attention for long. I don't like this… pressure I sort of feel when I am with Jon, to be different and interesting from other girls. With George, I'm afraid it'll be bland. Besides, he has to grapple with the whole my income and job is better than him. Guys have such an ego problem over that."

"Well, you got time to think about who you want to bring with you to the charity ball," Onua said in a sing-song voice.

"Ah shuddup," Alanna groaned. "I think I will just go solo. Solves the problem."

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Conference room...

Daine opened the conference room and went into a deep blush to see a muscular back. Kaddar turned around and finished removing his shirt. "Ah, my friend came with the new shirt," he gestured at the new shirt on the table.

Daine fought from blushing, he had a drool worthy body. "Well, I explained things to Numair," she said and averted her gaze to out of the window, "so things should be ok I think." She had found Numair in the nearby pantry, sitting thoughtfully in an armchair. He was cold and civil to her, barely looking at her. However, at the end of her story, with her pacing around and gesturing, he had suddenly grabbed her hand when she passed him in her mid-pacing. She lost her balance, and put her hand on his chest to prevent from falling.

Numair looked into her eyes and said, "Don't worry, I believe you." She felt so relieved and smiled. His face was so close to hers… his eyes started to have this dangerous light, then he suddenly pushed her away. She stammered an apology and escaped the room to find Kaddar. Kaddar who was distractingly topless.

Kaddar grinned, "Are you blushing? That's so cute."

"Mr. Iliniat, you are NOT paid to flirt," Numair's voice boomed harshly. "Stop harassing my secretary and put on your shirt!"

Daine thought she must have levitated for Kaddar did, and she could not bring herself to look at Numair. Her face was burning red and she quickly took her seat as the others started to file in. A senior scientist apologised profusely for Kaddar's conduct and Numair looked hardly appeased. Daine closed her eyes and barely restrained herself from groaning, 'I soo… want the ground to open up and swallow me now…'

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