CHAPTER 9:

Monday morning Marc was at his desk typing while awaiting Willie's arrival. He knew she was going to have a hard time getting past the paparazzi outside wanting a comment on why her nuptials to Bradford were suddenly called off. He couldn't help but wonder what was with Willie on Saturday morning. 'Is she seeing someone?' He couldn't help but think who was the mystery man Wilhelmina was hiding? Was it one of her 'buddies'? If it was then why did she blush like a schoolgirl? The only person she could possibly be sleeping with is…

"Good morning, Marc" She said in a rather 'cheerful' way and it was confirmed

"Hi…Willie, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Marc."

"Really? Because you know you're…smiling"

"So?"

"Willie? You're smiling."

"So something has to be wrong because I'm smiling?"

"Yes. You called off a wedding three days ago and you're happy."

"I'm happy because I made the right decision, Marc. We both know why I was doing this."

"Are you seeing someone?"

"What?"

"Willie? on Saturday morning…" He reminded her "…and now you're cheery and smiling. The last time I saw that look on your face was…wait Willie are you seeing Ted LeBeau? Are you back together? Is that why you called off the wedding?"

"Ted LeB-?"

"Willie, the shower on Saturday morning, and the blushing, and you admitting that you were with a guy." Marc reminded her "Something is going on." She fell back on her chair.

"Okay, Marc. I am seeing someone but we decided to keep it under wraps until this whole story blows over. The media is still crazy and we can't go public…not yet anyway."

"Wow, so you two were having an aff-…"

"No, there was no affair. There were feelings but we did not have an affair. We got together after I broke things off with Bradford." She focused her attention on her work but he was still standing in front of her desk staring at her "Marc"

"Yes Willie?"

"Don't you have any work to do?"

"Oh… yeah." He hurried out of the room leaving a beaming Wilhelmina alone in the comfort of her office. She found herself thinking about her weekend with Daniel and then she looked in his office saw him settling on his chair and then he looked at her and smiled his boyish grin that she had grown accustomed to. She returned the smile and then focused her attention to her work but a few seconds later her blackberry rang.

"Daniel?"

"So…did you dream about me?"

"Daniel what did we agree on last night? No romance in the office."

"No this isn't romance, Wils. It's a legitimate question. Did you? 'cause I dreamed about you last night."

"Oh please, you've been dreaming about me way before we even got together, Danny boy. You're just telling me 'cause you're allowed to now. And no I had a dreamless sleep last night."

"Owwwww"

"Do you want me to lie to you? Because we can't start a relationship with lies."

"I know"

"We have to wait a couple of weeks for that." He laughed "Daniel please stop, you're making me blush and Marc is getting suspicious."

"He is?"

"He is giving me questioning looks as we speak."

"Hey after the meeting, How about we go to lunch?"

"During this media frenzy? Probably not a good idea."

"Well it's a business lunch. We're just editor in chief and creative director going to lunch like we always do."

"I just don't want the paparazzi on my ass right now, that's all."

"That's understandable, hey I was thinking…oh Betty's here…Should we do a late dinner then?"

"Sure, come by my apartment after work and bring your own dinner. Now back to business. Bye."

Ever since they became a couple Daniel and Willie were yet still to have their first official date. For the past week they've been spending time at Wilhelmina's apartment after work. They would eat dinner, drink wine, watch T.V, sit in front of her fire place while having a stimulating conversation and have sex (lots of it). However Daniel wanted to show her that he's interested in something more than the amazing sex. Although he had no problem wining and dining in the comfort of her home, he needed to make her see that he really cared about her- That she wasn't just one of 'Daniel's girls'. He needed her to open up to him because he noticed that every time he dug deeper into her personal life she would change the subject or she would shut him up with sex. That questionnaire they were doing when they first got together was as deep as he got into getting to know her. So he made reservations to one of the most romantic restaurants in Manhattan which he covered up as a meeting.

Sadly the evening didn't turn out to be what he expected or planned. Alexis had followed Daniel after being suspicious of his 'meetings' and 'lunches' that he spoke very little of. He tried calling and texting her so they could change their plans but her phone was off. 'She probably forgot to switch it back on after her important meeting with the advertisers.' Daniel thought.

So Instead of it being a romantic dinner it was a formal business dinner all about Mode. While they were sitting in the booth going on and on about Mode, Daniel and Wilhelmina kept stealing glances at each other and to say the evening was awkward would be an understatement. Daniel couldn't stand the tension anymore, so he excused himself to go the bathroom.

"So, Willie come out with it. What the hell are you up to?" Alexis began as soon as Daniel left

"What?"

"Oh come on, Willie. Don't play dumb, what are you doing with Daniel?"

"Whatever are you talking about?"

"Dinner at one of New York's most romantic restaurants for a business dinner? I think not. What are you trying to do? Get him to marry you next? Wasn't Dad enough? It hasn't even been 2 weeks and you're already looking for a new…"

"Listen Alexis, Daniel is the one who picked this restaurant, not me. All I came here for is…"

"Oh come on! Daniel doesn't do Italian for business even if it's not business, to Daniel Italian simply means a large pizza with extra, extra, extra, extra cheese!"

"Alexis…"

"And of all Italian restaurants in New York City, he picked one with red velvet seats, a secret booth let alone the sexy red décor? Give me some credit, Willie. You're trying to seduce him."

"You know what I'm leaving, I don't need this shit. Tell Daniel I say goodbye." She got up and picked up her bag and walked out. A few moments later Daniel came back and was surprised to find Wilhelmina gone.

"Where did Wilhelmina go?"

"She left."

"Why? What happened?"

"Nothing, she just…left."

"Alexis what did you say to her?"

"Why do you care if Wilhelmina left or not?"

"I don't!" It did hurt his heart a little when he said that. He was pissed at his sister but worked very hard at hiding it, he couldn't believe Alexis ruined his date after he went all out to plan it.

When she got home she was still a upset. She couldn't believe their would be 'first date' (according to Daniel) was ruined by Alexis. She knew that Daniel probably had no control over the situation. Alexis probably followed him to crash the party. She decided to cool off with a relaxing bath. While she was in the bath her phone rang

"Daniel, Hey."

"Hi. Look I'm sorry about what happened earlier, I don't know what Alexis said to you but I apologize. I just wanted a nice evening for us and Alexis showed up and ruined everything 'cause she's been spying on me. I tried calling you to change our plans but your phone was off."

"Daniel, it's okay."

"It is?"

"Yeah, I mean I was mad at first but I know it wasn't your fault."

"I'm still sorry though, I wanted it to be perfect."

"Don't worry about that."

"So what are you doing right now?"

"I'm taking a bath, it's been a long, stressful day."

"Aren't all your days like that?" He joked

"They were but since you've entered my life, I gotta say it's not as bad as before." She didn't realize it but she just said the most romantic thing Daniel ever heard from a woman in relation to him.

"That's good to hear. So can I come over?"

"Daniel, the reason you want to come over is because you wanna get your rocks off but I really am tired." He chuckled

"Are you sure you're not mad at me?"

"Hundred percent. I just need to sleep right after this bath."

"Okay. Bye."

"Goodnight."

"Sleep well"

The next day:

"Mandy have you…noticed the vibe between Daniel and Willie?"

"What? they aren't arguing as much as they used to? And they are always almost happy, not that it's easy to see on Wilhelmina but you know me I'm very talented at reading people's energies and auras since Jim."

"Mandy, you went out with that free spirit psychic for a week. That doesn't make you qualified to read energies and his name was Tim."

"Whatever. Seriously I don't know about Wilhelmina but Daniel has a new girlfriend."

"What? Pasty face has a girlfriend? How do you know?"

"He told me"

"He told you?"

"You know that he and I are fun buddies, right. So if neither of us is attached we hook up and…"

"Mandy!"

"Well I went to his office to seduce him and he turned me down"

"NO!"

"Nicely, Marc. Really he wasn't a jerk about it, he was…nice. He told me he met someone and he's trying to see if their relationship is going somewhere or the woman is attached or has kids or something. Anyway I walked out of there as soon as he started babbling about her"

"That's strange…you know Willie has been acting really strange too. She's always happy as of late although she's been trying to hide it, I know Willie and she has a man."

"Maybe it's Daniel." The two friends giggled at Amanda's 'ridiculous' theory not knowing that she was right on the money.

Betty overheard the conversation and her suspicions were confirmed. She has been suspicious for a while that Daniel has been seeing someone and keeping it a secret and she didn't know why because Daniel usually flaunted the models he dated. So why was he so secretive about this one? Her theory was that Daniel knows his relationship with this mystery woman, lady or girl is forbidden and he doesn't want to be judged. There was one woman she thought Daniel would be stupid enough to date and he probably wanted to keep it a secret for a reason. 'Oh, my God! Daniel is dating….HER?'