Her Corporate Takedown: Entangled with a Billionaire

*CHAPTER 63: RELATIONSHIP DISPARITY*

Every fiber of my being shuddered from the prickly sensation on my lips and my mind went blank.

In a split second, my body reacted on its own and shoved him away. His fall violently rocked the balloon, and I fell on top of him.

Noticing my fall, he made sure to pull me away from the computerized burner system in the middle. By the time I realized, I was clutching his shirt tightly and I had stopped breathing. I believe I had enough panic incidents for one day but I was comforted by his hand, which gently held my head against his chest while his other hand still held on to the edge of the basket.

The first time in a hot-air balloon, I couldn't hold his hand, and the second time, I rejected his kiss. I regretted the first one, but the second one came with heavy commitments I was in no way ready for.

I didn't blame myself for that, but I didn't want to push him away either. I checked the bolts on Leiya's seal again and they were still intact. They were intact but yet, her emotions still controlled my body. It seems I just had to accept that I couldn't totally cast her aside.

"I hoped to prove without words that we could take the next step, but I suppose I'll have to ask the old-fashioned way."

I violently shook my head, which was still buried in his chest.

"You're answering me before I even ask. That's harsh."

I wanted to continue the mission, but I didn't want to go blind. I absolutely did not want to do the surgery.

"I know you're struggling with a lot of things right now, but we can figure all of that out later. I just want to stop playing this cat and mouse game and officially start a new life with you."

I want that as well, but there's too much going on, and too much to put on the line.

"Will you…do the surgery?" he asked again, sounding tense, likely because he already knew the answer.

My hair slashed against his hand that lifted off my head while I shook my head violently for the second time. My hands were also shaking as they continued to tightly grasp his shirt. I didn't want to let go, and I didn't want to look up at him either.

There had to be some other way for us to be together. I didn't want to think about the possibility that he might leave me if I continued to be so stubborn about the surgery, since this was very important to him. How could I ask him to keep compromising for my sake?

I couldn't neither ask him nor agree to the surgery and every time he asked me about it, I felt a searing pain in my chest.

After we stood up, we silently watched the city for the remainder of the ride. I felt like I didn't want to see or talk to him for the rest of the day.

As soon as we landed, Andrei, or Malik, in this instance, walked over to a booth where some workers were resting in the shade. I followed him without even watching where we were going.

I was still in my head and preoccupied with thoughts of my earlier rejection, which I felt terribly about. I wondered how long he would tolerate this selfishness. Or was I deliberately testing him?

"This is the person I mentioned earlier," Malik said to a woman in the booth.

I looked up to see who he was talking about and, of course, it was me. I was unsure about the context of the conversation, which I missed while I zoned out. I tried to send him a SOS with my eyes, since I didn't want to sound clueless.

"I'm glad you enjoyed your ride," the lady replied.

"We certainly did, thank you," I replied.

'We certainly did not, mind you,' is what I really thought.

"We are just starting a new business and she is the owner. Thank you for agreeing to work with us," he said as he exchanged one of my new business cards with hers.

Did we just get someone on board?! I was immediately filled with excitement that there was still hope for the new business.

"Thank you!" I also said, "We look forward to working with you in the future."

"Most certainly. All the best and I shall await your call."

Malik turned to look at me, his gleaming smile brighter than the sun's blinding rays. I suppose he wasn't feeling as dejected as I thought. However, he was also an expert at hiding his feelings. One minute, he would appear cheerful and then the next minute, he would hit me with a painful expression as heavy as a boulder.

That was an unexpected win for today, but only for me, and thanks to Andrei. In his mind, I'm sure he thought I was completely taking advantage of him, which I was, but I also wanted him to know how much I appreciated him and what he had been doing for me.

"Malik," I called out to him and he turned to face me. "This Saturday, I would like to invite you to dinner."

He could not hide his surprise at my sudden invitation given how shamelessly I asked him on a date after I had just rejected him.

"I humbly accept your invitation. Where will we be going?"

"That's going to be a surprise," I replied with a smirk.

"Oh. Saturday just became my favorite day this week. I can't wait." He didn't seem to be that excited by his tone.

It looked like he was fine after all. I thought that maybe Malik would have shown more dejection since we were actually on dating status, but it seemed he was still playing it cool…for now.

We left the landing site on foot to head back to our cars. After a few minutes of walking, I realized that Andrei would usually have his private valet park the cars here while we were in the balloon, so it was strange that we had to walk all the way back up the hill today. Maybe this was his way of getting back at me for refusing to do the surgery.

"Don't be ridiculous," he suddenly said. I had a feeling he was responding to the thought I just had. "Did you forget that I programmed your car so that no one else can drive it but us?"

Yes, I forgot. Well, that was a more rational explanation that didn't make me feel worse at my indiscretions.

"Although, if I had completed the self-driving updates in time, I could've used it today."

Indeed, you could have.

"I can't believe you made a self-driving car." I've been saying those first three words more times than I can count since I met this man. He was slowly but surely turning me into a walking paradigm of perpetual surprise.

We stopped for ice cream at the nearest ice cream shop. He ordered a caramel apple and chocolate ice cream for himself while he got me a banana, vanilla and mango double scoop.

"Where are you going?" he asked when I started to walk in the direction of the hill.

"Back to the cars." Obviously.

"Do you plan to walk all the way there?" he said, walking to a white car that had just pulled into a parking spot.

"Uh, if there's a better option, I am definitely not walking." I thought he was crazy...no, he was crazy, but thankfully, he called a Zuber.

The driver dropped us off at the top of the hill, near the parking lot. By the time we arrived, we had finished the delicious ice cream and we took in the scenery of the hillside as we slowly walked over to the parking lot. More people were still waiting for their turns on the hot-air balloon, but as for me, I think I had enough experience with hot-air balloons.

As for Malik who was walking in front of me, I felt as though I was walking on eggshells with him as I couldn't quite read his mood. He might be acting normally at the moment, but I had done him plenty of damage today, so I wanted to be careful with my next actions.

I hadn't given this much thought before, but if Andrei, of all people, were to now turn against me, my life would be officially ruined. The worst part of it was that I had no idea what could set him off. That's the hardest thing to predict about someone who was always exceedingly patient.

I had been running my mouth this entire time about doing whatever I wanted. Now, I had become far more aware of and somewhat afraid of the overwhelming imbalance in our relationship which I knew he was being very considerate of.

Despite all of that, I wanted to make my own decisions instead of simply yielding to his overwhelming power. I just hoped he continued to respect that boundary.

"So, tell me, how do you plan to complete the rest of the mission?" he asked as he sat on a bench in the small park beside the parking lot.

Exactly. In the end, I was just all talk. I wanted to hold firm to my resolve, but I lacked the means to do so. All I had to rely on was the man sitting in front of me, whose request I also just rejected.

Then, what in the world was I expecting to happen? I had no answers. Andrei always had the answers and I desperately hoped he had one for this dilemma. I stood in the silence of my selfish thoughts that were the complete opposite of his objectives.

As one with the power to do anything versus one with zilch, I had nothing else of equal value to bargain with, except the one thing he considered to be of such value. Sadly for him, that turned out to be the one thing I was not prepared to fork over.

In situations like this, I was the docile kitten. Although I looked to those eyes for sympathy, there was not an ounce of it present, only eyes that started to look tired of this game of whack-a-mole.

Fed up with the prolonged silence, he left the bench and walked to his car while I followed him.

Before he got in his car, he took out a small white box and gave it to me. I opened the box, eager to find the highly anticipated solution to break this stalemate, as long as he didn't disappoint by putting a ring in there instead.

The box had a small black case that had another pair of contact lenses. This had to be it. I almost teared up thinking that my wish had really been granted.

"This is merely an extension," he finally said, "I had these contacts created just for you. With these, you can see up to level five of the Undercode."

It seemed as though he gave up on trying to win this round. I couldn't find the words to describe how happy I was with the alternative he presented. Much to his loss, I gratefully accepted the contact lenses. I had no other option since I was not going to do the surgery. He sighed as he got in his car, while I smiled pervasively as I got in mine.

I should be able to continue the mission now without an issue.

But first, I should decide where to go for our date this Saturday.