Revenge Rule #11: Hit right where it hurts them the most
Amy felt the urge to cry in the tense room; hours of work gone in a single meeting. She had worked so hard to secure the partnership with ROWEN, and Lilac was about to ruin it all. She couldn't help feeling a tinge of resentment for her.
Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut?. Amy had done a lot to secure this partnership, and even though she didn't mind someone else coming and taking over, she minded if the person tore apart her hard work.
"Boss, you should apologize." Amy whispered, expecting Asher to flip the table (not that he could; it was a big table) and storm...ahem, roll out. Unlike what they expected, Asher didn't fly into a rage; he just stared at Lilac. To be honest, it was the silent stares that intimidated people the most; it left them unable to react or expect the person's next move, and that was much more scary.
He suddenly raised his hands, making Amy flinch in fright. "Ms. Callen must be either blind or stupid, seeing as she doesn't know that I can and I use my two hands to draw. Just because my legs don't work doesn't mean I'm bad at drawing. That's a very foolish misconception."
Lilac couldn't say anything to refute him; her eyes narrowed, apart from that flash of anger when she called him handicapped. Asher didn't seem to have reacted at all; it was like he had no feelings, like a dead robot. Interesting. People like him always had some sort of weakness, and exploiting said weakness always filled her with glee.
"It seems like today's meeting ended in a failure." Lilac stood up. "We'll have to reschedule and properly discuss everything again, and I hope this time Mr. Self-Confidence can have more interesting designs for me."
"I'll try my best not to disappoint Ms. Ar...Callen."
Oh? Lilac eyed him suspiciously; she was sure he almost called her something else. Asher gave her a small fake forced smile in reply.
She walked over and shook his hand with a smile. "Then I'll be expecting it."
"Yes, don't worry about it." He shook her hand with equal, if not more, fervor.
Despite clearly disliking each other, they were acting as if they were on good terms.
Brandon, who had been silent since they started their argument, also stood up and shook Lilac's hands. "If possible, I'd like to invite Ms. Callen to lunch."
Lilac raised her brows. "Invite me to lunch? Why?"
"As an apology for wasting your time." Brandon smoothly said, flashing her a warm smile.
That's such a stupid excuse Amy gave Brandon a dirty look from the corner of her eyes; he wasn't as smart as he looked. Asking her out for dinner AFTER the cooperation failed was the dumbest thing a man could do...apparently Brandon fell into that category.
"Ah...there is no need for that. I'm not interested in dining with Mr. Rowen." She pulled her hand away from his grasp.
"Oh, then maybe next time. Also, please call me Brandon." Unbothered by her dismissive attitude Brandon said.
No next time. Lilac inwardly rolled her eyes. She wasn't a narcissist to believe Brandon fell in love with her at first sight; for him to want to invite her for lunch, that meant he wanted something from her, something she wasn't willing to give, obviously. "Well, goodbye then." With Amy in tow, they walked out.
"If you need me, I'll be in my office working." Asher left too, already having new inspiration.
Now alone in the conference room, Brandon's sunshine mask slipped, his expression changed to something far more sinister. He sat back down looking at information on his phone; something was off about Lilac suddenly taking over the project. She wasn't originally in CRM, but she joined just for the sapphire rose project. Even though the Sapphire Rose was a huge project, it wasn't worth that much compared to other projects CRM had dealt with, so putting so much importance on it didn't make any sense to Brandon. She wouldn't willingly take over a project that didn't have a huge revenue unless she wasn't there for the money but for something else.
Him?
Clearly, unlike Lilac, who wasn't a narcissist, Brandon was very clearly a huge one. Or maybe he just had a few screws loose in his head...{I guess we'll never know}
***
Lilac didn't know she was being overanalyzed, and even if she did, she wouldn't care. She was far too busy having fun with her darling friend, Maeve, who once again came to visit.
"Don't you have to go to the hospital and, I don't know, heal the sick?" She casually commented, removing her shoes.
"Excuse me, missus, I'm not God. Also, didn't I tell you? I have a whole month's holiday, and what better way to spend it than to stay with my darling, super-duper, loving, beautiful, graceful, elegant..."
"Okay, shut up." Lilac rolled her eyes, plopping on the couch beside her. "Oh lawd, I'm tired. Beauty is pain."
"I can't imagine wearing those tall heels for so long." Maeve dramatically shuddered. "You're a special breed of woman; I truly commend you."
"Tch. How long have you been here?"
"It hasn't been that long, maybe an hour? or two. Anyways, long enough to discover you have nothing in your fridge and long enough to feel extremely hungry, so order something, baby girl."
"At this point I'm your mother." Even though she complained, Lilac still whipped out her phone to order food for her dearest daughter.
"Haven't you always been?!" Maeve exclaimed dramatically, making Lilac sigh; her friend was so freaking dramatic. But she couldn't deny she loved her antics. She lay on the chair and placed her head on Lilac's lap. She had her Kindle in one hand while stuffing chips in her mouth with the other.
"So where did you go today? How was your day?" Maeve asked as they sat on the floor to eat. The delivery arrived a few minutes ago.
"I went out for business and met a CEO." Lilac teased. Maeve was a bookworm, not the kind that read physics textbooks or something intellectual, but she was the kind that read toe-curling-face-heating-body-hot smutty books...no, we don't call them smut books.
Romance with Spice.
"WHAT?!?!!? A CEO!??!?!?!!?! WAIT...WEREN'T YOU JUST IN A MAFIA CAR THE OTHER DAY BEFORE?! HOW DOES IT FEEL TO LIVE MY DREAM!?" Maeve howled.
"Girl...calm down." Lilac laughed.
"So how was he? Tall? brooding? cold? extremely mean to you? Ready to offer a hundred billion for your body?"
Lilac flicked her forehead. "Hand over your Kindle. You're clearly not well in the head."
"I'm very well, okay!?" Food forgotten, Maeve leaned to her, hungry for tea.
"He..." Lilac paused, remembering Brandon. He wasn't all that bad? "He was actually...a sunshine. Seemed pretty nice to me."
"Oh no." Maeve gasped. "You got the grumpy x sunshine trope."
"I am not grumpy." Lilac grumbled.
"Right, right." Maeve placated, going back to her food. "Well, I guess this CEO isn't all that special. SEE! This is why I read more mafia romance! Mafia men are just a special kind of men! BUT LIKE, not in real life, just fiction. I'd rather not meet a mafia man in real life."
"Like you'd know if you did."
"Of course I'd know! He would be injured running from an enemy attack, and then I'd save him, and he'll be wary of me at first but slowly see my good, sweet side and fall in love with me. And then kidnap me and force me to stay with him."
"Maze, sweetie, you just jumped into dark romance." Lilac guffawed.
"ANYWAYS!! That'd never happen." Maeve waved her hands dismissively.
Mini Theatre
The dear author hardened her heart and tightened her neck to ask Lilac
Mariah: Isn't feeling glee about exploiting people's weaknesses a bit...ahem, sadistic? Are you into that stuff?
Lilac: *plays with a knife with a crazed smile* Me? Sadistic? Do I look like it?
Mariah: *shakes head hurriedly* "No, no, of course not," *cries*
I can't believe my own character is bullying me