Arranged marriage : Married to an unknown man

Ariana

The following day, the GBN team arrived before the anchor herself and began to prepare the interview room. The team had set the stage and adjusted the equipment accordingly. They also placed a moveable backdrop on the stage on which GBN and XDS AUTOTECH was written.

My duty was to supervise the preparations in the interview room. Scott was with Daniel in his office. Lauren had gone to the party venue to check on the preparations. She didn’t want to go there as she’d be bored without any company, she wanted to bring me with her but I had to refuse because my presence was compulsory here in the interview room.

I had been observing the preparations being done on the stage when someone spoke from behind.

“Hey, beautiful… would you mind giving me the side?” I turned around to see a man standing there with a big white light-equipped umbrella with a stand-in his hand.

“Oh, I am sorry.” I stepped aside so he could place the umbrella in the place.

“No problem, beautiful.” He said with a smirk while eyeing me up and down. I frowned. Why is he calling me that? And why is he looking at me like that? I felt uncomfortable under his gaze. I stepped a little more aside. He then placed the umbrella stand in its place and then again turned to me but before he could say anything, I walked towards the door to exit the room.

As soon as I opened the door, I bumped into someone.

What’s with me and my bumping into people?

“What the hell? Watch where you are going.” I flinched at the high-pitched female tone. I looked up to see a woman who had shoulder-length blond hair and was wearing a one-shoulder white body-con dress that ended a little above her knees and was wearing pointed heels.

“Don’t you have eyes? You could have ruined my dress.” Saying that she bought me back in the present.

“Umm…I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to-” But before I could complete my sentence I was cut off by someone.

“You are so clumsy, Ariana. Can’t you walk with your eyes open?” Bianca snapped at me.

“Next time watch where you go.” Diana snapped looking at me.

Bianca and Diana both worked in the Public Relation department and mainly handled the media relations of the company.

“Who is she?” The woman I bumped into asked Diana.

“Miss Sarah, she is Mr. Knight’s P. A. Ariana Jones,” Diana replied.

Oh, She’s Sarah Park.

“Oh, you are the one I talked to yesterday? Well, you don’t look like a P. A. of the most influential and powerful businessman here. I am even surprised that Xavier employed you as his P. A.” She scoffed sarcastically, eyeing me up and down in disgust. I shifted uncomfortably. I felt humiliated.

“Well, whatever, move aside and where are your bosses?” Sarah Park asked, pushing me aside. Sarah, Diana, Bianca, and another woman who came with Sarah entered the room.

“Mr. Knight and Mr. Peterson are in urgent video conference meeting and Mr. Adams is in his office. They will be here in five.” I replied, walking behind them.

“Then what am I doing here? You should have informed my assistant. Isn’t this your work? And do you think I’ll wait for them here? You should have prepared a VIP waiting room for me.” Sarah snapped at me. I looked around to see everyone’s attention was now on me. Bianca and Diana were snickering.

“It was Mr. Knight’s order to bring you here directly as he won’t take long to come here,” I replied as politely as I could.

“Then you better go and inform him that I have arrived.” She snapped.

“I’ll just go and inform him.” Saying that I rushed out of the room.

I reached the top floor, rushed to Xavier’s office.

“Sir, Miss Sarah Park has arrived,” I spoke. He looked up and stared at me for few seconds then spoke,

“Is everything set for the interview?”

“Yes sir, everything is set.”

“Can’t you-” He sighed out loud and ran his fingers through his hair then again spoke.

“Whatever…” He didn’t complete his sentence. What was he about to say?

“Have you informed Daniel and Sean?” He asked standing up from his chair.

“Yes, I called Scott and asked him to inform them.” He again stared at me clenching his jaw. Did I say something wrong?

“Then, let’s go.” Saying that he walked outside. We entered the private elevator, he stood beside me and started scrolling on his phone. I just stood there silently.

When we reached the fifth floor where the interview room was present. We stepped out together and marched to the interview room together.

When we entered the room, I saw Daniel and Scott had already arrived and Sarah was kissing Daniel’s cheeks. Then she looked at Xavier and smiling brightly, she rushed to him.

“Oh, Xavier it’s been ages since we met.” She said sweetly and kissed both of his cheeks. I frowned, just a while ago she was snappy and now she was behaving all sweet. Her demeanor changed so fast.

“Xavier, You don’t have time for me these days, do you?” She pouted and touched his arm with her hand. She was standing way too close. Why doesn’t she step back?

“Sarah, you know I have an empire to run, I barely get time for myself, but don’t worry I’ll make it up to you,” Xavier said as he took a step back, creating distance between them.

“You better make it up to me.” She said playfully.

“Sure, now let’s start with the interview.”

“I came here to take three of yours interview but only two are here,” Sarah said.

“Where’s Sean?” Xavier asked Scott.

“Sir, I have already informed Mr. Peterson, he said he’ll be here in a minute,” Scott replied.

“He’s taking a lot of time. I even called him but he’s not picking up his call.” Daniel said annoyingly.

Xavier looked into his wristwatch and turned to me. “Go and bring him here as fast as you can.” He said to me. I nodded my head went to Sean’s office.

When I reached in front of Sean’s office, I saw the door was slightly open, so I knocked twice and entered without waiting for his permission to enter. Sean got startled and abruptly stopped whatever he was doing.

“You startled me, Ariana.” He spoke, rubbing his face with his palms.

“I’m sorry. The door was open so I just knocked and entered without asking for your permission.”

“No, It’s okay that was my mistake.” He sighed.

“Umm, okay, so, you are being called for the interview,” I said.

“Yes, I know. I’ll be there in a minute.” He sighed out annoyingly. What’s the matter?

“You said that to Scott too but you didn’t come so I was asked to bring you there. Is there any problem, Sean?”

“Umm.. no.. actually …. yes…. no it’s not a problem…well.. yes it’s a problem actually.” He rambled.

“Sean?” He never rambled. I wondered what’s the problem?

“Umm, actually Ariana, I needed help with something, can you help me?” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah sure. What is that you need help with?”

“Well do you know how to…how to…” I felt like he was hesitating to ask.

“How to what, Sean?”

“Umm.. you know how to knot a tie? He asked with a tint of redness on his cheeks. Is he blushing? This is something new. I guess he is embarrassed.

I approached him and gave him my sweetest smile.

“You know, you don’t have to be embarrassed. Not everyone in this world is perfect, everyone has their own flaws and not everyone knows how to do all the things. So, it’s perfectly fine to ask for help that too without hesitation.” I said as I knotted the tie around his neck.

“Yeah, and make fool of myself?” He said sarcastically.

“You didn’t understand what I said, did you?” I asked, looking at him.

“I do but you know being in such a high position, your life is not private and people always want to get on you to mock you for life. So, it’s better somethings to remain hidden from the world.” He scowled.

Well, I agree with him. A celebrity’s life is never private. The world is watching their every move and wait for any slight slip to make it a piece of news against them. But I can’t let him think negatively. I think he forgot what power he beholds.

“Okay, tell me one thing. Can those people say it in front of your face?” I asked him.

“They wouldn’t dare.”

“Exactly. They wouldn’t dare. So why does it affects you what they say at your back? People don’t know who you actually are, they don’t know what you can do or not, they will just blabber rubbish to gain some publicity, that’s all. So, it shouldn’t affect you even a bit because you know they can’t reach you.” I smiled.

“Here it’s all done.” I tapped the knot of the tie and fixed his shirt collars.

“Thank you so much. And you surely know how to make someone feel positive.” He smiled. Finally, he smiled.

“I just state the facts.” I shrugged.

“Thank you, Ariana. You are the best.” He said and kissed my forehead.

“Now come on, we should leave before your friends come up and drag you over there.”

“Ariana umm, can I request something from you?” He said while rubbing the back of his neck again.

“What?” I asked.

“Don’t tell this to Xavier or Daniel, especially Daniel. He’d make fun of me for life.”

“They don’t know about this?” I asked in surprise. How come they don’t know about this?

“Well, it’s almost impossible to keep any secret from them. But this is the only thing they don’t know.” He said.

“Then who helps you with your tie daily?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Well… I have many self-knotted ties. I use them when I am out of town or abroad. But on daily basis, Miss Hart helps me with this.” He blushed again.

“Lauren? Won’t she reveal it to anyone?” I asked in surprise.

“I made her sign a contract. You know how much she speaks.” A laugh escaped my lips. A contract?

“What will I get for this?” I asked with a teasing smile.

“Whatever in the world you want.” He stated. I tapped my chin with my index finger making a gesture as if I was thinking. But I knew what I wanted.

“Okay… for now, I just want you to rush to the interview room as soon as possible.”

“You want this?” He asked surprised.

“Well, yes?”

“Are you aware that you have a chance to ask for anything you want and I surely will give it to you? No one will ever want to refuse this kind of offer.” He asked in confusion.

“I don’t want anything. I think I have everything I need.” I shrugged.

“You are something else, Ariana.” He smiled and shook his head.

“Maybe. So, shall we leave now?” I smiled

“Yeah, we should. Let’s go.”

We entered the elevator together. Sean started scrolling on his phone. For a few seconds, we were standing in silence but I broke it by asking him a question.

“Sean? Can I ask you something?”

“Yes, anything.” He said without looking up from his phone.

“Am I the only one who saw you blushing?”

His head shot up quickly and he looked at me with shock. I tried to stifle my laugh. He looked like he had seen a ghost.

“I never blush!” He stated proudly. I then folded my arms across my chest and gave him an I-saw-it look.

“I was not blushing, I never blush and why would I blush? You are just imagining things. And don’t spend too much of your time with Daniel, he is spoiling you. You are asking a lot of stupid questions like him.” He frowned.

“Am I Sean?” I asked again ignoring his comment on Daniel. Daniel is not spoiling me.

“You won’t let this go, would you?” He sighed exasperatedly. I shook my head in no vehemently.

“Okay fine! You are the only and only one, happy now?” He said throwing his hands in the air.

“Very.” I gave him a toothy grin. He shook his head and smiled.

“You got me there, Ariana. Let’s keep this a secret too.” He said.

“Top secret,” I said doing the action of zipping my lips. He again diverted his attention to his mobile phone.

“Sean?”

“Now what?”

“I am honored.” I teased stifling my laugh. He looked up at me.

“Ariana?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

I laughed. Goodness, this is so funny.

Talking to him made me forgot the humiliation I felt in the interview room. I forgot the insults Sarah threw at me. I felt relaxed after talking with him.

I was really lucky that I got to meet them.

After a few minutes, we reached the interview room.