Resisting The Billionaire

27. Butter Fingers

Diana gulped the lump of tension that formed in the middle of her throat, as she watched Adrian standing in front of her and looking at Ben, with a very calm and composed expression covering his face.

“She might not be dating me now but she soon will be.”

He repeated his words again and came forward to stand next to Diana. He secured an arm around her waist and turned her around, making her gasp out and loud, as he took her by complete surprise.

“Adrian Sarmiento.” He offered his free hand to Ben, who looked Adrian head to toe, noticing the crisp black suit and freshly style hair. The expensive watched, the shiny boots, that freshly clean shaved face of Adrian’s, coupled with the strong aroma of cologne, all pointed towards one thing only, that he was indeed a man rich enough to book an entire coffee shop for an afternoon and he was the man who took Diana to that coffee shop yesterday.

“Ben Glin.” He introduced himself back, with a suppressed tone, that Diana found to be quite surprising. She had always seen Ben as a chiming person, who was always full of life and very loud whenever he would meet anybody and introduce himself, so she couldn’t quite comprehend his lowered tone.

“Hmm… nice to meet you, Ben.” This time it was Adrian who chimed back and Diana only wondered if their spirits had been swapped, because none of the two guys acted the way, Diana was used to be seeing them.

“So, how do you guys know each other?” he asked, shifting his eyes towards Diana, who was still confused by the overly affectionate gestures that Adrain was showing.

“Umm… Ben works at the coffee shop across the street.” Diana informed him and Adrian then shifted his eyes back at Ben.

“Oh! I should’ve known by that apron, the girl from the coffee shop yesterday wore the same apron.”

Ben looked down at his attire and noticed the dark blue apron with light grey checkered pattern on it, that he had wrapped around his waist was their signature uniform.

Suddenly Ben felt belittled by Adrian’s words and it somehow affected his masculine ego, that a man, who may be as rich as Adrian looked down upon him due to his work and his uniform.

“So, what are you doing here Ben?” Adrian inquired and Diana answered instead, noticing that Ben wasn’t enjoying Adrian’s company much. Which was a shock to her as well, since Ben was polite even towards the rudest of the customers.

“He came to give me my regular coffee.”

She informed Adrian, who grabbed the coffee out of Diana’s hands.

“Oh, let me see…” he took it from her and before Diana could’ve said another word, the coffee slipped out of Adrian’s hands and fell right on to the pavement, making both Diana and Ben gasp.

“Ops! I am so sorry, it just slipped out of my hands.”

The coffee splashed right on to the ground and Adrian quickly moved Diana back, preventing her clothes from getting smitten by any coffee splashes.

“What the…”

She stated in a completely flabbergasted tone and at the same time Ben also jumped back, preventing his boots but it was already too late since some of the contents from the cup splashed on to his pants and boots.

“Really sorry about that. I guess I have a butter fingers.” Adrian smirked at Ben, whose expressions had immediately turned sore.

“I guess I need to go and wash.” He stated through gritted teeth and immediately turned and left.

Diana was rendered confused, wondering what made Ben, who was such a chiming and lively person, turn in to such a sore and glum person.

But little did she know that the person standing next to her, was an infamous devil’s advocate, who held a different kind of energy, not just the one that radiated negativity but the one that had the ability to suck and masticate someone else’s positivity.

Adrian held no mercy when it came to someone trying to eye or reach out for something that he had set his eyes on. What he did with Ben was nothing because what he had done with people who tried to cross him in business was worse.

For an instance, when he was just promoted as the Managing Director, the first project he eyed to get for their construction company was a port construction venture in the Middle East. But it was already bagged by a European company. Adrian traveled to Europe, had the project manager from the company kidnapped by his contacts with the Russian Mafia, forced him to sign off a waiver that the European company was incompetent to handle the task and once the company lost the project, he swooped in and got the project for his own company.

So, a little coffee to the clothes and shoes, was just like a slap on the wrist for Ben, according to Adrian, who looked down at Diana and smiled brightly, as she looked at him with wonder.

He tightened his hold around her waist and then the realization hit her, that he had been holding her for quite some time.

She immediately pushed him away and created a distance between their bodies.

“What are you doing here by the way? And why are you acting so affectionately, again?” she inquired, as she kept her distance from him and Adrian simply shrugged.

“Because I missed you and wanted to see you.”

Diana simply scoffed as she heard his words and crossed her arms across her chest.

“Huh! Missed me? That’s why you didn’t text me?”

She c****d at him but Adrian only grinned back viciously at her.

“So, you were waiting for me to text you?” this time, he was the one who held cocky expressions, while the smug look from Diana’s face vanished and she stood in pale horror, realizing that she had already revealed to Adrian that she was desperately waiting for him to text her.

“No! why would I wait for you to text me? It is not like I had begged you to take my number. If anything, it was the other way around. So, shouldn’t you be the one who should be anxious to text me. Since you showed that you were so desperate to get my number…” Diana huffed by the end of her sentence, trying her best to act nonchalant and cold but Adrian’s smirk told her, that he wasn’t buying anything that she was trying to sell it to him.

“Hmm… well, I did miss you and wanted to text you but then I thought why should I text? Shouldn’t texting me for the times when I couldn’t meet you or see you at all. Like when I would be out of town and since I am in town, shouldn’t I get to see you.”

Adrian presented his argument and Diana looked at him in shock.

“You can not just barge in to my work place anytime.”

“Why? Why can’t I?”

“Because… like it is my work place. A place where I literally work. don’t you have work to do? And don’t you have like an office? Would you like if I barged in to your office unannounced anytime I want? Isn’t that why you took my phone number so that you could plan things ahead or at least be like normal for once by texting first and then showing up?”

Adrian couldn’t help but roll his eyes, as he took his phone out and opened up a chat window and punched in a text.

Diana’s phone vibrated inside her bag and she picked it out, to find that Adrian had finally texted her.

But it was the only time that she was not anxiously anticipating that he would text her.

She opened up the message and read it silently.

Unknown: Hi! It’s me Adrian. I am about to show up at your work place.

Diana looked up at Adrian, squinting her eyes at him, showcasing that she is quite agitated with his actions but he only grinned back shamelessly.

“Now? Is there anything else that you want me to do?” he smirked and Diana only shook her head at him.

“No! I am just going to go in to the salon because I have a lot of work to do, okay?”

With that she turned to leave but Adrian immediately grabbed her wrists and pulled her back, making her gasp slightly.

“Wait! Before you go inside, I want you to take something with you.”

Keeping a firm hold on Diana’s wrist, Adrian turned around and gestured towards the Range Rover, standing only a few paces away from the salon.

From the inside of the car, jumped out two men, who then walked towards another Van that stood a few parking spaces away.

They went behind the Van and brought out two large bouquets, almost the same size as Diana herself.

She gulped hard, as she saw the two men approaching with the standing bouquets, that were larger than life, decorated and fluttered with nothing but elegance and showcasing richness in both love and money.

“This… this is… you do realized that I can not carry it on my own, right?” she looked at Adrian, who nodded at her.

“Yes! Don’t worry, they will take it inside for you.”

He then signaled his men to carry the bouquets inside and they did just so.

Diana only shook her head and placed her palm over her face, realizing that her colleagues, especially Tony and Gloria were going to emasculate her, demanding a solid reasoning for everything that was happening around the salon and in Diana’s life.

“You really didn’t have to…”

Diana stated lowly, as she tried to free her hand from Adrian’s grip but he kept his hold tight and with each attempt that Diana made to free herself, Adrian’s hold on her only tightened.

“Let’s go out for dinner tonight.” Adrian demanded.

“What?”

Diana stated and it wasn’t just her voice this time that echoed but a larger crowd was present there as well.

----------------------------

Thoughts on Ben?

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3