Divinity || Draco Malfoy

26

A lot had happened over the span of one very tiring week.

Firstly, Averie had returned back home to California for Christmas. Nothing new occurred with her family, they still found ways to be disappointed in her. But what she definitely didn't expect was to come back to London being tied to her old best friend again. Her and Camila haven't stopped texting since Christmas, as it should have been all along.

On top of that, Theo was suddenly even more possessive, the first act of physically hurting her wrist imprinted into her mind. He was upset that Averie had left him for a few days, said he wanted to come with her. As if she would ever say yes to that.

And most suddenly shocking—Draco Malfoy had bought La Perla for her. He had spent almost a hundred million dollars just so she would work under him again. He still wanted control, but this felt different. She knew he wasn't doing anything out of spite, hatred. He had even bought her chocolates and her favorite flowers. She had no idea how he knew what her favorite flowers were. But the white roses perched happily upon their vase in her kitchen, reminding her of him every glance she took at them—which was a lot.

She took one last glance at the roses again before hurrying out the door, not wanting to be late for her first day back at Mature Divinity.

Averie was only a little excited for today. Sure she was happy to see Zara and Lucas, to be back in the setting that treated her well—not the people. However, she wasn't happy about Pansy Parkinson. Although Averie had almost forgotten about the grouch from hell, she knew Pansy would be more than dreadful for her to be back.

And Draco...well she still didn't know where she stood with him yet.

For him to show up at La Perla as the new owner, handing her chocolates and flowers and holding her hand, brushing her hair out of her face.

He was a completely different person than when they last interacted. The last time she saw him, it was him that teased her, threatened her. It was the day when she quit. It's been months since then, and now he seemed to be...different. It made Averie doubt her ability to sense something rotten, because the thing was that he wasn't. She didn't want to regret saying it, but he was being...sweet. She couldn't forget what happened, though. How he humiliated her for something he initiated. Most of all she was plainly confused now. Even more because Averie recalled that his touch felt comforting on her skin. Like she wanted more. How the fuck did that happen?

It was too risky for her. He was a ruthless man after all.  Her thoughts were always on the fact that maybe she hadn't seen the rest of his bad side yet. She was nervous that he was playing with her again, wanting to get into her head even more.

But Averie also figured that rivals like them don't spend millions on each other unless there were underlying thoughts, maybe feelings. She had always doubted that Draco Malfoy actually liked her in an intimate way, but then again he was always so unpredictable. She'd probably never know how he truly feels.

Since she was so conflicted with her feelings, Averie decided that she would observe him today, see how he treats her. If it was anything like yesterday, she was sure that it was him actually being genuine. His eyes had never been so soft when he looked at her, she hoped there weren't any hidden intentions underneath.

What Averie was considerably excited for was the fact that she wouldn't see Theo at work today.

She was grateful for the small break, though she was sure he would be checking in on her as soon as she left the building. That would be hours from now though, she thought.

Finally she was in Mature Divinity's lobby, immediately sighing with relief at the contrasting warm air. She had worn a small black skirt with an overlaying leopard printed coat. The coat was thin enough to wear all day in the office, meaning the outside was colder as well. And along with her black heeled boots...let's just say it took longer than expected to walk there.