Hate To Love You My Billionaire Lover

Arianna was the only one left in the large office by eight in the evening. It was dead silent except for the sound of her tapping the keyboard of her laptop.

The security guard had already patrolled the floor for the second time. She could hear his steps growing louder as he walked towards her again.

“Miss Jenkins, are you still doing overtime? It’s definitely safer if you head home now.” He said nervously while scratching his beard. He sounded so concerned for her safety.

She smiled at him and thanked him for his concern. He walked away, feeling like he had received a gift.

Arianna was doing well in the company. She had excellent business capabilities and a good work ethic and never scrambled or gave up. Her colleagues enjoyed working with her, too.

But she seldom attended parties held by her colleagues, nor did she reveal any personal details about her life. Moreover, she never signed up to take on extra work or projects, so she never got promoted.

She also took a lot of vacation time during the year, sabotaging her own chance of winning ‘Employee of the Year.’

However, Arianna didn’t mind such an award. She liked keeping a low profile at work and was happy that people left her alone for the most part.

She was a mysterious, low-key, shy, and unthreatening woman in the office. She didn’t have any close friends, nor did she have enemies.

The office phone suddenly began to ring. She waited several seconds before picking it up and politely stated her name and department.

The call was from her boss. He was promoted only several weeks ago, but she thought he was doing a great job.

He said to her kindly, “Arianna, you’re still in the office? Is anyone else there with you?”

She pondered the thought a little and replied, “Nope. Just me and the security guard.”

“Mike and I are still here too. Do you want to come with us for dinner? We are going to wait for you here.” Mike was his secretary.

Arianna kindly declined his offer, saying that she had already eaten. But she was rather afraid of gossip. If people heard that she had dinner with the boss and his secretary, all sorts of rumors would make their way through the office. She doesn’t like to be in the spotlight or gossip.

The only reason she was doing overtime was that she requested the next day off. Her boss told her it was no problem as long as the day’s work was done before. She thought that was fair. Plus, her coworkers would be mad if she didn’t do her part of the project.

She was working in the boardroom so she could spread the papers across the large, wooden table. She was pleased that the work was straightforward and could be done quickly.

After an hour of good work, someone knocked gently on the door of the boardroom. Arianna looked up, expecting to see the security guard again.

Instead, she found Mike. He stepped over to her, passed her a take-out box, and said, “Hi Arianna, the boss asked me to order you one too. I hope you like the one I chose for you. He also said you can go home now. You’ve done enough work for the day.”

Arianna stood up and thanked Mike. When he left, she opened the box and found it was filled with fried rice and vegetables. It smelled delicious.

She hoped that Mike would pass along her, thanks to their boss, as she thought it might be too late to call now.

After eating half of the food in the container, Arianna was full. She packed up the rest, thinking it would make a great lunch for tomorrow.

But she decided to ignore her boss’s request to send her home. It bothered her to leave work undone even though she was beginning to feel tired and sick. She felt slightly sore on her back, too, but she had to endure it until she could finish her work.

As she continued to work into the night, her cell phone rang. The sound filled the entire office space, echoing off the walls.

Arianna was very keen on numbers. Though she didn’t have it saved, she instantly knew it was Ryan Cooper calling. She stamped the final page of the report before picking it up.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

Ryan always spoke with a respectful tone, “Miss Jenkins, are you home now?”

“No, Ryan. I’m working overtime tonight.” She lazily responded to him while looking at the report file in her hand.

Ryan hastily says, ignoring her response, “Mr. Cooper would like me to pick you up. I will wait for you downstairs?”

She sighed heavily, “I’ll be home in half an hour.”

“Got it.”

The call ended like that. She badly wanted to refuse this time, but she knew Travis would not accept rejection. Arianna began to pack up the papers in the boardroom. She organized them into neatly labeled files so her coworkers could easily find them tomorrow in the filing cabinet.

She placed her laptop on her cubicle desk and sat down in her chair. Her eyes landed on her bulky desk calendar. She raised her hand and gently ran her fingers on it.

Her colleagues usually kept a weekly or monthly calendar, not a daily one like Arianna did. She loved the satisfaction of ripping off a page day by day. It was like throwing away yesterday’s memories and beginning every day fresh. She longed to forget her bad memories; however, being with the man she hated the most was like a bitter pleasure that kept poking her painful past.

Travis was also good with numbers. He could effortlessly recite the phone number to a billboard ad he had only seen once. He took pleasure in reminding Arianna of some dates she would rather forget.

Arianna walked slowly to the parking lot and stood still for a few seconds next to her car. She closed her eyes and felt like her body was moving. She did not feel well.