The Only Blood

Chapter 1 - The Meeting

I clearly remember the day I first saw him.

The whole office was in a hustle, people scampering here and there, collecting files, copying pages, barking orders to the cafeteria, carrying refreshments and oh, the self-proclaimed queen sprained her ankle and broke her stilettos. It was a business meeting, as usual, but the only thing that was not so usual about it was the man who was going to lead it.

Adrian Wolfe, the enigmatic and secretive CEO of the country's largest chain of hospitals: powerful, ruthless and what not.

However, unlike the men you found in cliché romantic novels, he was not a womanizer - what a surprise. There were speculations that he was gay because he was never seen around women, business clients excepted. The paps had been hounding his ass just in case they caught him lurking around with one woman, even if she was just a friend but they never found any. But then, I wasn't going to judge him on the basis of that, because I myself had maintained a platonic relationship with all the men in my life. No one particularly interested me to take a step further.

There were men who managed to attract me to some extent, but it was never enough for me to go ahead and pursue them.

I sighed, looking at the mess my workplace had become. Mr. Wolfe was going to arrive in an hour or so and these people were still working their asses off, when instead all of it could have been done a lot before. I wished I could help them but I myself had to set up the conference room for the meeting. I knew my boss would be here soon and organize the mess the others had made here. The conference room, at the other hand, was only my responsibility.

I didn't remember much of that morning; it was the second day of my period and all the pain down there had most of my attention. I was working mechanically the whole time, at least till the meeting, because once that man came into my view, it was as if I lost the world around me.

I worked for a company manufacturing biomedical equipment, and this was the first time that we were dealing with the Alpha Hospital chain. Just like its name, this hospital chain was the largest and consisted of the best hospitals in the world. They had the best of doctors, and it was like miracles happened there every day - nothing like people coming back from the dead, but they had the cure for the most impossible ailments. I knew the ambiance of that hospital; warm, welcoming and vibrant, contrary to the usual white and sterile surroundings of the hospitals. It wasn't white all around, and didn't smell of medications or death. I had been there when granny was dying of cancer. They had a special staff, kept specially for cheering people up.

Everything was set up to utmost perfection and we, as in me, my boss and my other colleagues from my department waited for the arrival of the oh-so-powerful CEO of the largest chain of hospitals across the world. It was an amazing opportunity for us to be helping them.

Mr. Singh, my boss, was cross checking if we had covered all the equipment in our presentation when we were alerted by the commotion outside the conference room. Adrian Wolfe was here, it seemed, but before he entered the conference hall, an enticing scent tickled my nostrils, and I found myself closing my eyes inhaling deeply.

Oh my God...

The scent was growing stronger, as if the source was coming nearer. I thought I was going crazy; just a scent – perhaps a perfume – and I was going crazy like they showed in those logic-less advertisements. I discreetly licked my lips; my brain had forgotten everything the moment the scent became too overpowering for my senses. My body hummed with awareness, and I wanted to reach out and follow wherever that scent was coming from. I felt dizzy – my blood was all rushing south to my core which was now begging for attention.