A Trade Of Hearts |✔

CHAPTER 31: Win

VANESSA

I sat in my chair, frozen for what felt like an eternity. The journalists began to look at each other, confused why I wasn't answering and I was not sure if the whispers I heard were just in my head or a reality. I felt heat rise up to my face and I could have done anything to run out of there but I knew that my legs, which were shaking by now wouldn't cooperate.

How did I not remember about my stage fright due to which I had ruined an entire play back in middle school? I really thought that after more than a hundred presentations I was over it but I guess big crowds are not really my forté afterall, especially when I haven't learnt a speech like I had done for the party.

Suddenly, I felt something warm brush against my cold fist and I loosened my grip on my blazer. Instantly, that warm hand slipped into mine, under the table and I didn't need to look up to know whom it belonged to. Afterall that very hand had been in mine less than a day ago though his fingers had not been entwined with mine like they were now.

Adrian gave my hand a comforting squeeze and suddenly it was like in that entire hall, there was only him and me. I had never felt this way before or had this level of comfort with someone, someone whom I just had a quarrel with especially but my anxiety just vanished into thin air.

So, with a deep breath I began my answer, "Hi! You have quite a question there. Sorry I took some time, I just wanted to think my answer through before I spoke.

Well, as some of you know I shifted to London three years ago and I am currently the Head of that branch. I felt a level of comfort working at a good position in a place I was well accustomed with, considering the fact that I spent an important part of my childhood there and also went to college there.

Yes, I agree that I haven't had many press interactions but I have most definitely been actively involved in the company's functioning and I assure you that in my family, like any other family everyone is very supportive of each other. This competition between me and Nate is actually, surprisingly very healthy and whoever may become the future face of Hudson enterprises, we wish each other a bright future." I smiled, satisfaction evident on my face.

However, I skillfully masked the fact that almost every word that I had spoken was a blatant lie, from the reason why I left to the fact that Nate and I were on good terms.

It is sad how I wished that each one of these lies were actually true but was helpless because I couldn't do anything to change my current circumstances.

Next, a few questions were posed to Adrian, both personal and professional and he answered them with confidence and as much sarcasm as he could gather making me giggle more than a few times.

Finally, the executive management took over to answer the technical queries. While we were waiting for the meeting to get over, Adrian unlinked his hand from mine but still not letting go, he went on to absently draw circles on the back of my hand and this weird feeling that I couldn't put my finger on, began to grow in my stomach.

Something close to fluttering butterflies but yet so much more.

At 6:30 pm, the conference finally concluded and drawing his hand away, Adrian put them in his pockets and walked out of the hall.

Yeah! It was like none of this ever happened. Afterall, Adrian has this uncanny ability to be indifferent and impervious to a situation.

I knew that but I don't know why my hands felt so empty when he left them?

I sighed, shook my head and then walked up to the board room for the PR Meeting.

This meeting was about me. The public relations team of the Greys and Co. who have been saving Adrian's ass in front of the press for as long as he has been labelled as the playboy CEO. They may not have been able to redeem his image, the various personal questions from today's event being a major proof but as long as he is not making tabloid headlines for all the wrong reasons, I guess that it was acceptable.

For the first half of the meeting, they told me what not to do in a public event. For example, get flustered when interviewed, like I had been today or to take a wine shower and and get called a bitch in front of hundreds of guests. We concluded that the best and probably the only way to win over the board members was to improve my social footing because if I was to be the face of my company, people would invest money in it only if they could trust me and had good relations with me.

So, our agenda now was to make people forget about the wine incident and I had to be at my best social behaviour in future gatherings like this. The launch party for Adrian's Lot Navigator was one such event but that was not until Christmas.

The other extremely important event was the annual Global Bussiness Meet which was going to be held this weekend in Cairo, Egypt. I already had my tickets booked and dad, who was also going had got me, himself and Nate a room reserved in the prestigious Najmat hotel owned by Erik Sokolov, a Russian billionaire cashing in on hotels and airlines allover the world and also the person in charge for the meet and throwing outlandish two days long after parties every single year!

He has been doing this for over fifteen years but this would be my first time attending the after party since only the VVIPs get invited to it and being next in line for the CEO position for the Hudson Enterprises did get me and Nate a spot on the list.

So, we needed to devise a way to overshadow Nate's presence and that was so not going to be easy but anyways, they continued giving me pointers and I jotted them down while Adrian left the meeting midway for some stuff that came up.

At about 9:00, the meeting ended and I dragged my sore feet back to Adrian's cabin to ask him when was he leaving. I needed a ride back home since my heels were digging into my skin and every step I took now was painful and finding a taxi at this hour was as difficult as looking for a pin in a hay stack.

I had no idea if I should still be mad at him or not but I decided to go with a passive aggressive behaviour. So no ranting or laughing as I would normally do.

I knocked on his door and once he said, "Come in." , I entered the room. I walked up to his table on which there was a clear folder with a contract for today's project and I couldn't help but smile. Someday, such a contract would be lying on my desk too.

Noticing me looking at the contract, Adrian said,"We got the deal. Thanks for the help."

His voice was so distant that I almost lost the smile on my face. I asked, "When are you leaving?", trying my best to mirror his tone.

"I have some pending work so not for a while. Why?"

"Oh! Nothing.", I said as I turned around to walk out of there but right then the door opened and entered a grey-eyed bitch!

I looked back at Adrian and asked with an amused expression, "Work, huh?"

I shook my head and then made my move towards the door, passing Rebecca.

When I pushed the door handle, she called me and I paused, turned around, folded my hands across my chest and spat, "What?"

"Baking Soda and Hydrogen Peroxide.",she gave me a half smile.

I shrugged, "Huh?"

A menacing smile flashed on her face as she said, "The recipe to remove wine stains."

Ouch!

That unforgettably delightful moment when I was drenched in wine and just an inch away from loosing my position of the CEO came back to me.

I don't think that I had ever been angrier than I was at that moment, not even three years ago! I knew this for sure because even then I had resorted to mean words like I always do in a fight but right now, something snapped in me and what I did next, I don't think I, Rebecca or Adrian were ever going to forget...