FIRST TIME WITH A COLD PRINCE

CHAPTER 4 - SHE'S REALLY PRETTY

“So?” Ash furrowed his brow as he watched Mikael, who had his eyes fixed on the ceiling, he had showed up at his door suddenly and hadn’t said anything since.

“Is this about the pixie?”

Mikael eyes finally moved from the ceiling and rested on his friend.

“Why would you bring her up” the night that they had shared together flashed in his eyes and he shut them. He had never thought he’d do such a thing and with a complete stranger.

“Is it Anna then?” Ash moved closer to him, taking a seat next to him.

“I tried calling off the wedding” Mika replied, his eyes still closed as he spoke.

“And of course it didn’t go as planned” Ash sighed. “the fact that you made the decision to do that is what I commend” he added giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Are you going to tell your mother?”

Mikael opened his eyes, sitting up properly. “I can’t”

His friend was quiet, just watching.

“If Anna would just end things herself, things would be much easier”

“That’s a dream that has zero possibilities of coming to pass… Do you really plan on staying single for the rest of your life?”

“I am just…” Mikael shut his eyes once more, he could never find the words to explain himself.

“Scared?”

“No the word” he sighed

“I am pretty sure I am spot on. You’ll feel different when you find the right one.”

“I don’t need advice from you” Mikael smirked

“What, I’m a ladies’ man”

“Exactly my point”

Mikael phone lit up just then with a call from his mother, his mood went down at the sight.

…

Mina stared intently at Kaya who was getting uncomfortable with the constant gaze.

“What?” she threw a chip into her mouth, eyes moving to rest on her roommate.

“You are acting weird. I know you are hiding something” Mina moved even closer to her.

“I have no idea what you are talking about” The incident at the hotel flashed into her mind and she struggled hard to get the thought out of her head.

“Oh my God, you are so red. Who is he?” the brunette was even closer. A wide glee on her face.

“He? I didn’t know you were that fast to jump into conclusions” Kaya pushed off from where she sat but was pulled back almost instantly.

“You know you can talk to me if there’s anything bothering you” Mina sounded so concerned and it only made her feel bad.

“I am fine, if there’s anything I would tell you… you know that” every word that came out of her mouth felt like a pin piercing into her skin. She didn’t want to hide anything from her friend but didn’t know how to tell her either.

“Are you sure?”

“Actually…” Kaya took a pause and she moved her eyes away, staring in a different direction. “… there is something but I’ll tell you when I’m ready”

“Must be really big huh?” Mina asked as she placed her hand gently on Kaya’s. “Alright, I won’t push you any further… take your time” she smiled warmly. “I should better prepare dinner, Shelia would be home soon”

Kaya watched Mina leave the room when a notification came up on her phone screen. She had a meeting with the director tomorrow.

“Why?” she blurted. It was getting so hard to avoid him at this point.

The next morning came swiftly and she couldn’t help the nervous tension she felt. She stood in the elevator, mind wondering on why he would want to see her but she couldn’t think of anything. She had already sent him the full report on the hotel and was more than certain that there was nothing wrong with it. The ding of the elevator as she got to the director’s floor caused her heart to drop to her stomach.

Slowly stepping out of the elevator, she made her way towards the director’s office and placed a knock on the door.

“Come in” his husky voice sent ripples through her.

“What’s this?” she asked herself trying to maintain her cool as she pushed open the door. Her eyes rested on him the moment she stepped in, his charming hazel eyes finding hers… she felt so captivated by his gaze. It made her wonder if she had gone mad.

“Good morning sir, you wanted to see me?” she took a short bow.

“Actually I’m the one who wanted to see you” the foreign voice caused her to look over to where the couch was situated. A young lady sat there with a warm smile on her face.

“That is Miss. Taylor Reeds, daughter to president of the Global Iron and Steel company” Mikael introduced.

“Miss Sinclair, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you” Taylor rose to her feet, offering her a handshake of which she accepted, although she was a bit confused.

“Taylor has heard of your works and needs your help in a project she’s working on”

Kaya felt a bit relief at this point.

“I’ll honored to offer my services”

“Beautiful” Taylor grinned “Maybe we can meet later for lunch to discuss the project and the terms of agreement” Kaya nodded to this effect, she wanted to leave as soon as possible. Might have been her mind but she felt Mikael’s eyes on her.

“Here’s my card, I’ll collect your contact from the HR department” Kaya took the card, her eyes meeting with Mikael’s before swiftly moving back to the card.

“I’ll see you during lunch then, I’ll send a location over to you later”

Kaya swiftly took her bow and existed the office, she could feel Mikael’s eyes follow her all the way to the door.

“She’s really pretty” Taylor’s voice called back the directors attention.

“Huh?”

“Miss Sinclair”

Mikael took his gaze to the door and then back at her.

“You know I can read you like a book and from what I see, it seems you two have some history” she watched Mikael’s eyes slowly move from her as he walked behind his desk, ready to busy himself with work. Taylor folded her hand walking over to the desk. “The Mika I know isn’t one that is interested in relationships so what exactly did I miss?” she watched him as he pulled out some files from his drawer. He was actually ignoring her.

“You are only getting me more curious. Come on she was totally uncomfortable just now and I know it had nothing to do with me and you didn’t seem like yourself either.”

“There’s nothing to know” he flipped the pages of the file in his hand, eyes scanning through each page.

“Come on, I won’t tell Anna. I mean it would only break her further” she said pulling down the file from his hand.

“She told you?” he asked finally lifting his head to meet her gaze.

“Actually no, she came home yesterday and went straight to her room, she didn’t even talk to me, it was obvious what had gone down” Taylor watched Mikael’s gaze move away from her again and frowned. “You know if there’s actually something going on between you and Sinclair… well I’ll feel conflicted but I’ll be happy that you finally found someone”

“Nothing’s up, we just had an awkward first meeting and although she asked me to forget about it, it seems she still feels uncomfortable” he thought of Kaya and how restricted she had acted. He wasn’t going to see her often so hopefully they’d grow pass that.

“I see” Taylor replied not truly convinced. “I should head to the HR department to get her info… I’d need a pass from you”

“I’ll get to it”

Mikael’s phone lit up, his mother was calling again.

“The remembrance is the weekend?” Taylor asked taking a glance at his phone. Mikael didn’t reply, shoving the phone into his drawer… he scribbled a pass for her.