Behind Closed Doors - Chapter 2
At the exact moment, Darien got out of his car and walked into the tall, imitating building. He ignored the stared he received from the women passing him and walked straight to the reception desk, where Seiya was waiting for him.
In a large, graceful wave, Seiya Kou extended his arm in a friendly matter to Darien Shields. He was waiting for a handshake from the new president, he received none. Looking nervously around at a stone face Darien, he continued with his talking. "Hello, in case you forgot, I'm Seiya and I will be given you a tour of our excellent branch," he nervously said. He was insecure about what to say, because Darien was examining him under watchful eyes.
"I know who you are," Darien spoke up under gritted teeth. "I plan to spend one hour examining your 'excellent branch,' and words of advice-don't mess this up." Seiya swallowed the bile rising up and motioned for him to begin his tour. A wave of relief washed over his face when he saw that the new president stopped staring him down and follow him to the elevator.
It was a grueling three minutes up to his new office. No one spoke during the whole ride up. They finally made it to the top in one piece. The secretary welcome them in and unlocked the newly remodeled president office, that laid barren for a few months. She quickly left, the two alone to discuss his plan about raising the company up.
Seiya tried offering coffee to him. He was turned down. Any mention about personal life was left answered. No friendly talk was exchanged between them, only straight, business talk. He gulped nervously, he never done business in such a intense environment. He constantly looked at his Rolex watch and he silently counted down the seconds to lunch.
"You're imposing on my time by looking at your watch, every single minute," Darien spoke up to him in annoyance. Seiya was surprised by his piecing eyes and quickly pulled down his sleeve. "What can be more important, then this conversation about this company?"
Giving a nervous glance around the room, he replied, "Nothing, I have a important lunch date in about ten minutes." In a fake look of shock, Darien replied, "My apology, I must have lost track of time." Seiya was about to reassure him that wasn't the case but was interrupted again. "Since you imposed on my time. I'm going to return the favor and impose on your 'lunch date.'" He continued, "We should starts making our way to lunch, shouldn't we? We can take my car." He then, walked to the door and motioned Seiya to follow, they stood waiting for the elevator.
He couldn't say to 'no' to the new president. He did deserve this, since he devoted his to time to watching his watch the whole time. Being in the office alone with him was tense enough, but having lunch with him was going to be worse. How was he going to explain this to Serena. It was suppose to be they alone time together, instead he was bring the most, unemotional guy along. He didn't even fall for his charm.
They walked to the car. Seiya almost opted for the backseat in order to avoid Darien's stare down. He was forced to sit next to him. The five minutes car ride to the Italian restaurant was the longest car ride, he had ever been in.
Serena was already seated at a booth and waved at him. Nervously, he went to her and gave her a big hug. He whispered to her his apology about bringing the new president here on their lunch date. She shot him a death glance and motioned for both of them to sit down.
Giving a small wave at the seated men, Serena introduced herself, "I'm so glad you guys could join us for lunch. I'm Serena, aka Seiya's fiancee. If I knew his new boss was going to be here, I would have dress nicer." She looked down at outfit, it was simple: a solid t-shirt, jeans, and sandals. Nodding at her, he replied, "Darien Shields," and he took a drink out of his water. The waiter came and took their orders.
"Welcome to Antonio's," the waiter approached the booth carrying a basket of bread sticks and laid it down. "Have you decided what you wanted," he gave a glance around the table. "We're having a lunch special on chicken alfredo. It's what, we're famous for," he flashed them a smile, hinting at what, they should order.
Returning his smile, Serena was the first to order. "I would love to try your famous, chicken alfredo." He scribbled down the order and pointed at the two males on the other side, waiting for their orders. Seiya played it safe with the classic, spaghetti and meatballs; while, Darien chose the mushroom ravioli. The waiter quickly left to place their orders.
The table turned silence. Serena tapped her foot waiting for someone to say something. No one did, she decided to break the silence by herself. Turning toward Darien, she spoke up, "Mr. Shields, how do you like Tokyo, so far?"
"Judging from my few hours here; it had been decent," Darien replied in a stern voice. "But, certain aspect could be improve," he was looking at Seiya when he said that. Serena ignored his body language and continued with her personal interrogation of her fiancé's new company president.
Giving a slight smile, she replied with energy, "Really, I fell in love with the city within minutes. There's so much to do," see looked at Darien and continued. "How could Tokyo improve, in your opinion?"
Seiya was silently praying that she didn't mess up his chances to get on the president's good side. He really needed to keep his job. He softly kicked Serena's shin under the table to remind her, that she was talking to his boss. She returned the favor, by kicking him back, a lot harder. He was trying to quietly wail in pain; it didn't work. Darien raised his eyebrows at his grunting, while Serena ignored him.
Looking up, he saw the waiter at the foot of the booth. He tried to act normal by nodding his head at the waiter to pass out the plates; his face was still red from the humiliation and pain. The waiter took away the barely touched breadsticks and passed out the delicious-smelling plates. He quickly left, after making sure the foods were up to their standards.
They ate in complete silence. Seiya wanted someone to break the ice but no one did. The air surrounding them was tense. Serena nervously looked around and was silently hoping the lunch was going to end, or Darien could leave, so she could spend some alone time with her fiance; it never happened. She was going to have a talk to him, once they got home.
"I have only been to this city for business reason," Darien's piecing voice broke the silence. He was staring at Serena. There was a long pause, before she answered.
She was too busy playing with her leftover sauce from the afredo; she was drawing little flowers on it. She felt an intense feeling coming from the men, looking up, she noticed that both men was waiting for her to reply. With a confused look, "did I miss something?" She looked at her fiancé for some answer.
Without hesitation, he answered, "While, you were so gracefully finishing up your plate. Mr. Shields asked you a question," he gestured toward him. He proceeded to pick up his and her plates and stacked them up. "He was wondering, what could be so wonderful about Tokyo. I believe he have a free week to discover it before returning as the new president of the company. I think you should give him a tour of the city, during your off day this week," he flashed her a smile. If the tour given by his fiancée went well, then he would be a guarantee a spot on Darien's good side. Something he wanted badly.
"I would love to," she flashed both of them with her thousand-watt smile. She always like exploring the city during her off day and having company with her was always nice. Taking out her cell phone, she handed it to Dairen, "Here type your number here. So, we can make plan for my amazing tour of the city." Looking at the pink, girly phone; Darien hesitated for a brief moment before typing his private, personal number. He gave it back to her and in a few seconds, he received a text from her, with her personal contacts.
The waiter came back with the check. Seiya paid for lunch and left a hefty tip before leaving. He gave his fiancée a kiss on the cheek and told her, he would make it up for her during their dinner date. They walked out the restaurant together.
Serena extended her hand out to Darien, "Pleasure meeting you; I am looking forward to our tour coming up soon." He replied, "Likewise," and both men headed for Darien's car. The ride back to the office was in silence. The car ride back was more intense, then the one before. Both left as soon, as the car pulled into the company's parking lots. Seiya quickly opened the door and almost ran to his car. He was relief to leave Darien's watchful eyes, he wanted to return home to Serena. He went over the speed limit, while driving home.
Darien watched Seiya run to his car and sped away. He sat in his car thinking about his lunch with him and his fiancée.
She looked like an angel and whenever she spoke, it was always full with energy. He could feel it radiate out of her, whenever she spoke. He wasn't interested in any romantic relationship for a while, but he wanted to start one with her, after their lunch. She was going to be the perfect opposite to him: yin and yang; the perfect match.
A realization disturbed his deep thinking. She was about to get marry to Seiya. He left go of his controlled emotions and went mad. He hit the steering wheel. His romantic relationship was over before it even began.
His cell phone beeped. A new text message: "Hey, it's Serena. Can we do the tour, tomorrow around noon? Please text back." He smile after reading it. His chances with her could still happen. She wasn't marry, yet; it was still fair game. He texted back: "Yes. Let's meet at the company's parking lot at noon. Bye."
He started his engines and drove to his penthouse. Tomorrow was going to be a productive one.
He always get what he wanted at the end.
Seiya walked into his house. A large majority of his house was filled with smoke from what he could see, taking a sniff of the air, he smelt burnt food; which he guessed was Serena's failed attempt of cooking pasta in the oven.
Rubbing his temple before descending further down the house, he took out a napkin and covered his mouth with it. He slowly approached the kitchen; a gust of smoke instantly hit his face. In the center of room was Serena, trying frantically to put out a small fire.
He heard her say, "Welcome home, honey. I'm just cleaning up my mess. It should be almost finish. Go out and have a seat." Taking a look around the kitchen, he wondered, why didn't the smoke detector went off? He looked up at the ceiling and noticed the smoke detectors' batteries were taken out and laid on the floor; that answered him question.
The whole lower level was surrounded by smoke. He couldn't see her, anymore. With a worried expression on his face, he circled the room, and yelled. "Serena, dear, can you hear me?" He heard from the corner, "Yes, I'm right here. Just go back out and sit there." More smoke was coming out from the oven and the oven's fire got bigger. He was starting to worry. He opened all the windows and fans to air out the smoke; he went to spray the fire down; the house almost looked normal. The food that was being made was sprayed down and wasn't even recognizable.
Serena came out of her hiding spot, fuming with anger. Before she could say anything, he quickly tried to make amend. "Let's eat out, today. I heard about this amazing place, we need to try," looking at the clock on the wall, it was about to turn two. "And, beside it's only 2 PM, we have plenty of time to eat." He was walking on delicate ground; one thing he learned was to never insult her cooking or talking about how much she ate.
"My food was almost finish cooking before, you decided to drench it," she shouted at him, as she was examining the 'food.' "You should have waited outside like I told you and we wouldn't be in such a big mess, now, we have to eat out." Her face was red from screaming at him. He noted that she was covered in gray smoke and looked like she came out of the war zone. At the sight of her, he laugh loudly with tears starting form from his eyes. "Serena, you almost burnt the house down and you're yelling at me for ruining your burnt meals. Go upstairs and clean up. And then we can go have some real, editable food."
She was still depress because of how her cooking came out, but she could see her fiancé's point: she couldn't cook and it wasn't the first time it happened. With a defeated expression on her face, "My cooking didn't come out as expected. Reading the cook book was boring, so I attempted to use my own method. I really wanted to cook for you, when you came home, I really did try. So, where do you want us to go?"
Walking toward her with a happy expression, he grabbed her hands and stared her in the eyes. "I still love you, whether you can cook or not," she was staring deeply in his eyes. "In that case, you can't cook, even if your life depended on it. Now, go upstairs and clean up. I will be waiting down by the car for you." He quickly left before she could slap him for insulting her cooking.
Walking outside, he pulled out his phone and speed dialed the cleaning company. They would arrive shortly to clean up the kitchen. He closed the phone, when he saw Serena walking down wearing her, new, bright colored summer dress. He was attracted to her like a moth to a fire; he went up to her and held her hands to the car.
At least, he had her to embrace when he came home from the business world. She was his relief from his other life. He was escaping reality whenever he was alone with her.
A/N: Hopefully this chapter made up for my last chapter. I thought it was a decent, short intro to the characters and their relationship.
As always, read and review, and tell me what you think about this chapter.