Resisting The Billionaire

14. Meet Her Half Way

Diana stood frozen to the doorway, looking at Adrian at a distance, who also looked at her but with a different expression.

Diana looked at Adrian with quite the constipated expressions, which showed that she wasn’t standing by a choice but more of an obligation that her aunt and cousin had put on her, so that she would go forward and find out what Adrian wanted from her.

And Adrian on the other hand was rendered confused, slightly hopeful that Diana didn’t shut him out completely and he had a chance of getting his hands on her before his cousin Zion was able to. But he was confused as he looked at Diana’s face, who held a suppressed grin, that made her look quite creepy in Adrian’s perspective.

Diana felt a push from behind that made her stumble forwards and land on the walkway pavement. It was her aunt who had pushed her to not just keep on standing in the doorway like a dummy and move forward and march towards Adrian.

Stumbling forward at once, Diana immediately got a hold of herself and straightened up, walking forward towards Adrian, who also noticed her wavering moves but began walking back to get to Diana and meet her half way.

As the two walked towards one another, they both held different thoughts and expressions.

Adrian’s face showing calm and hiding the brewing storm of dwindling mercurial thoughts going on in his heads, Diana held a suppressive smile, that evidently seemed to be forced and showing off the thoughts that were going through her head.

Why the hell did he have to show up at the house? And why did he come now after ten years? Actually, why did he even have to come? Why is he here? what does he want? And why are Aunt Emily and Polly so excited and curious to know what he wants from me?

As she thought of her those complicit with her, the mother and daughter duo rushed towards the living room and stood by the corners of the large window, that looked right outside in to the porch of the house. Keeping the lights down and only slightly moving the drapes away, the two looked out of the window, keeping themselves hidden and an eye out on the events that would unfold between Adrian and Diana.

They could tell through Diana small steps that she was delaying and procrastinating meeting up with Adrian but the man took sharp and quick steps, reaching out for Diana and moving forward quicker than Diana was.

“Why is she being so slow?” Emily complained about her niece and then turned towards the guy who had captured their curiosities.

Adrian kept a very calm face as he finally reached for Diana and came in standing face to face with her. his face remained placid, all the while his mind held obnoxious thoughts, as he ran a gaze through Diana’s face.

Gosh! Am I sure about her? if I am not able to find a solution to the stupid clause put in by grandpa! I will have to marry her! Eww no!!! f**k this bastard Jared, he is also forcing me to do all of this. Why is he not helping me find a solution to all my problems and instead, he is forcing me to do something I don’t want to. Why couldn’t he pretend that he needed her or faked loving this dummy.

He screamed mentally but all the way he kept a calm face and stood in front of Diana, holding out the bouquet to her.

Diana looked down at the bouquet and moved a stand of her hair behind her ear, nervous and anxious wondering if she was supposed to take the bouquet, all the while pretending her best to keep up the faux smile.

Adrian on the other hand felt agitated and irritated, judging Diana and thinking that she was trying to act shy and hard to get by making Adrian hold the bouquet out for her a little longer.

Letting his impatience get the best of him, Adrian waved the bouquet furthermore, forcing a smile over on his lips and Diana looked up at him and then back at the bouquet.

With great hesitation, she finally grabbed it and held it closer to her face.

“Thank you!” she puckered up a smile, mustering up all the false courage she could, once she pushed her ego aside.

“You are welcome!” He matched her smile as she gently bowed his head, pretending to be a complete gentleman on the outside and hiding the fact that his insides screamed with repulsiveness against Diana.

“Umm… you came all the way here after we met at the salon…” Diana spoke softly, addressing the elephant in the room… not actually the elephant on the walkway, since they still stood out in the open.

“Yes, umm… well you must think I am a creepy stalker or something…” Adrian laughed at his own sentence, trying to humor out the whole situation which was true to what he had said and once Adrian noticed that Diana wasn’t joining him in the humor, he also straightened up and cleared his throat.

“I mean, I didn’t mean to startle you…” he began explaining himself and Diana kept her silence, which sort of irked and irritated Adrian, making him feel slightly nervous and he was someone who didn’t enjoy feeling anxious.

“You just left abruptly previously when I tried to talk to you and I felt like I couldn’t tell you or talk to you the way I intended to. And you may have misunderstood my intentions…”

“So, bringing flowers to my house and showing up unannounced when I don’t think I ever even told you may address. And I still should not misunderstand your intentions?” Diana asked, keeping her voice low and her tone polite and Adrian chose taciturnity at that point, knowing that anything said by him, could be used against him, since he had already taken quite a lot of initial steps that may show him desperate or may already have.

Standing in the living room window and looking at Diana and Adrian, Emily felt anxious, wondering what the two might be talking about. She gently slid the window open and craned her ear out and her daughter also joined her, by her side and stood close to her mother, urging her mother to listen to what Adrian had to say to Diana and his unannounced visit to her house.

“I get it! you must think that I am being too persistent and it may have led you to not only be freaked out but also almost call the cops on me.”

Adrian stated, making Diana’s eyes go wide. She bit her tongue inside her mouth and squinted her eyes lowly at Adrian, remembering that she had stated out and loud and considered calling the cops on Adrian, when he was still standing outside her door and she was speaking mindlessly right in to the intercom.

“Umm…” Diana slowly laughed out, trying to neutralize the situation, “I mean, I wouldn’t call the police on you.” she shrugged at him.

“And I also wouldn’t have come, had you given me your number…” Adrian suggested and Dianas face turned red, as she realized that the guy’s only goal to show up at her house was because he wanted to have her number.

Wow! He is so full of himself. He would show up and make any uncomfortable just for the sake of his own self. I am still right about him. and Aunt Emily is also right! He is here for some purpose of his own.

“Why didn’t Diana give him her number?” Polly asked her mother in a low whisper, as she two stood in the window and eavesdropped on the conversation.

“Because she doesn’t want to do anything with him.” Emily informed her back, “But he showed up at the house just for a number. That is even more interesting.” Once again, Emily was left with more intrigue.

Adrian took his phone out of the inner pocket of his coat and passed it down to Diana.

“Here…” he gave her his phone once again, not saying much and simply implying what was required to be done.

Diana grabbed the phone with great hesitation but held it still in her hands.

“You’re supposed to punch in your number…” Adrian reminded her and she once again faked a tumultuous laughter at him.

“I know…” she mumbled lowly, looking down at the number pad opened in front of her.

Sensing the delay in Diana’s agreeance, once again made Adrian lose his mind but he decided to be calm and handle things with astute and wit.

“You know, I found out about your salon and your house. It wasn’t hard for me to get your number.” He reminded her and the expressions on Diana’s face fell.

So, I should be grateful that you are being a partial creep?

Diana retorted mentally.

Gosh! He is such an egoistic, self centered jerk. He want me to be grateful that he wants to have my number with my consent. I didn’t consent for him to show up at my house or salon but he still did anyways.

But this time, instead of holding herself back or complying to Adrian’s demands, Diana decided to play back with him. she pushed his phone towards him and held a straight face.

“Then I think you already have my number as well and you just want me to comply with whatever you have in your mind and for whatever reason you showed up here.”

Anger flashed through Adrian’s eyes, as he heard Diana’s words. But he immediately blinked his eyes kept his face straight and placid, not giving away the fact that he was burning with rage.

Standing behind the bushes, Jared heard Diana’s words and even he cringed for his boss, realizing how hard the woman was to please.

“If you are doing all of this just to feel like a good person, who is trying to fulfill a promise then you don’t have to. Our pasts were already a mess and being on our own, has cleared some of that mess, at least for me. It is better that we don’t try and dive in to that mess again. We should stay where we are. Far and away from each other and one another’s life. And if you don’t have anything else or any other reason to be here, then we both should stay away from each other. I don’t want to be reminded of who I was before I came to LA. I have a different life now and I like that.”

With that Diana turned to leave and both Emily and Polly gasped in disappointment that once again Diana was rejecting Adrian with out getting the closure of what he actually came to LA for. And on the other hand Jared also felt his future plummeting down the drain, with Adrian losing the post of CEO and him losing the post of Head secretary in return.

Just as Diana turned to leave, Adrian saw his entire hard work reflect right in front of his eyes and he saw losing the battle of his life.

He worked hard, day and night, like a dog to be where he was and for what he was about to become. There wasn’t any way, he was going to let his hard work go to waste.

He immediately leapt forward and grabbed Diana’s wrists, pulling her back towards him.

“No wait!”

He told her, making Diana turn around and bringing out hope for all the spectators of the scene.

“There is something else, that I want to talk to you about.” He told her, making Diana look up at him with confusion.

But both Emily and Polly felt satisfied that they were right, there was something else that had brought Adrian to LA.

“What is it?” Diana asked and looked down at her wrist that Adrian still held firmly.

“Umm… not like this!” he told her, “I mean, I can not tell that to you right away.”

“Why?” now he had finally attained Diana’s attention and all that her aunt and cousin had told her definitely started to feel true.

“Why can we not just sit and talk in peace?” Adrian requested, “Trust me, I mean well and I just want to have a peaceful conversation with you, that’s why I need your number, so we can plan some time out and…”

“Fine!” Diana also gave in, realizing that there was no running away this time and she needed to have a talk with Adrian and give him the time that he requested.

“Tomorrow morning at ten, there is a coffee shop, right across the street from the salon. Let’s meet there.”

With that Diana turned on her heels and immediately sprinted back inside the house, leaving Adrian bewildered and completely startled.

He turned around began walking back to his car. He was completely lost in his own thoughts when he crossed Jared and didn’t even pause for him. Jared felt surprised, seeing his boss, that much lost in his trance.

He followed behind Adrian, who got inside his car, taking the driving wheel and Jared also immediately jumped right after him and got in to the passenger’ seat.

“Dude! What happened? Is everything okay?”

“That b***h!”

Adrian grumbled under his breath, hitting the steering wheel and at the same time, Diana stood in the small foyer of her house, where her aunt and cousin had circled her.

“Why didn’t you just give him your number?” Polly inquired.

“Because I want to see how desperate he is.” Diana stated, fiddling with her fingers.

“What do you mean?” this time, it was Emily, who wanted to know what was her niece’s strategy.

“I mean, he is desperate for something and he confessed it his own self. He won’t tell it and or give it away that easily, had I given him a source to contact me or keep on nudging me. That’s why I am making it hard on him, so that he gives in easily.”

“Gosh! You are more meticulous and smarter than I thought you would be.” Emily simply shook her head at Diana. “I took you for a dumb person but you are quite smart.”

Diana shook her head back at her Aunt, “No! I am nothing compared to him. he is Adrian Sarmiento we are talking about. He is the most malicious person on earth. He is someone, who would masticate and chew someone out just to get what he wants. So, there is no way that he is being polite to me only because he made Dad a promise. He is just desperate and I am also stalling and pressing his nerves only until he would give in and tell me what it is that he needs from me.”

With that Diana walked up towards her room, leaving both Polly and Emily rendered in shook.

“Hmm, seems like she does know a lot about this guy.”

Emily commented and left for her room and Polly also retired to her own chambers.

As Diana sat in her hammock swing chair and rotated his gently sideways, she rested her head against the ropes of the hanging swing and sighed with sheer sorrow, as the remembrance of the past clouded her brain.

A loud tear escaped down her eyes, as her heart felt heavy and in pain. Hurt was all that she could think of and remorse was all that she held as she thought about the past and all the silly stupid mistakes that she had made when she was blinded by her one sided affection that ended up destroying her entirely.

She felt belittled and hurt by Adrian’s mere presence.

The fact that he was back to get her, was only because he held an ulterior motive, scathed her old wounds. It reminded her about how only she was nothing but a mere pawn and an instrument that Adrian would use and scrape away, in whatever method he would please to but Diana wouldn’t let him do that to her anymore.

She blinked her tears away and wiped them off her face, determined to not repeat the same mistakes that she did in the past.

She got off the hammock and walked towards her bed, getting in it and wrapped her quilt around her tightly, as she closed her eyes and made up her mind with determination to chase Adrian off as quickly as she could and get rid of him for good.

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With Diana determined to get rid of Adrian and Adrian, understanding that she is not going to make it easy for him, what do you think Adrian would do next?

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