CHAPTER 6
1083 Words
Vanessa smiled and sent him a short message.
'Hello,' she typed. 'Xander, do you still remember me?'
After a short second, her phone buzzed.
Xander: Yeah.
As usual, he was a fan of short replies.
Me: Only a one-word reply when we haven't seen each other for so long?
Xander: Yeah.
When Vanessa saw his reply, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Me: I want to see you! How are you?
Xande6: OK.
Me: Can we meet? Maybe tomorrow at eight in the usual spot?
Xander: Okay.
Me: I missed you!
Xander: I missed you too.
Vanessa blinked then her fingers stopped typing. His unexpected message surprised her. Wow. He typed a reply of more than one word. What a miracle!
Feeling happy that she was going to have her little reunion, she didn't mind the intimate proximity of Kiran and Riana anymore.
When they had seated themselves at the restaurant earlier, Riana occupied the seat beside Kiran without hesitation, leaving Vanessa no other choice but to sit opposite them like she was their lightbulb and not the other way around.
But with the prospect of seeing an old friend tomorrow, nothing could dampen Vanessa's happiness at that moment.
However, she was completely unaware that someone had been staring at her since she smiled at her phone because of Xander's antics. And the man's dark eyes narrowed and turned colder.
Kiran hadn't heard a word of Riana's endless chattering, because he was too busy thinking of the woman across from him.
For a while, she seemed to be only bored, but she suddenly looked at her phone and flashed a radiant smile. Her fingers were rapidly typing, so Kiran knew that she was chatting with someone.
His hands clenched into fists under the table.
Kiran felt an indescribable urge to take away her phone, and it took all of his control to reign his temper back in. Riana had just arrived, so he didn't want to ruin her first day after returning to the country.
When Riana finally realized that Kiran wasn't paying any attention to her. She followed his gaze, and her eyes narrowed.
"Tell me, how did you and Kiran meet?"
Vanessa looked up from her phone when she heard Riana's voice asking her. So they finally realized that they weren't alone?
Vanessa smiled. "Just by a twist of fate."
A cruel twisted fate, that made her completely hate the man she loved.
"Just that?" Vanessa raised her eyebrows.
"Don't be so tight-lipped, Nessa. I have known Kiran since we were children, and I know I wouldn't be able to get the story from him since he's so quiet. You're the only one who can tell me."
Nessa?
Vanessa almost couldn't resist clapping at Riana's outstanding performance. She's being chummy with her even though she boiling with jealousy. How admirable! Not only that, she also managed to insinuate that she knew Kiran better than she would ever be because the two of them had a past that didn't involve her.
"I'm not a good storyteller, so it's better if you ask Kiran," Vanessa said with a smile, doing her best to look like a sweet, pampered fiancée. "I don't know how he was in the past, but he always seems to like talking to me."
Vanessa peeked a glance at Kiran as she said that, but he didn't seem to have any plans to contradict her. He was only calmly sipping his water.
"Oh, is that so?" Riana's smile turned ugly.
Vanessa secretly smirks.
Oh, would you look at that! Riana's on the verge of losing it and Vanessa was waiting for it.
But before the situation could take a turn for the worse, the food that they ordered finally arrived.
Vanessa's appetite revived at seeing the delicious feast in front of her. They were even steaming a little bit and looked very pleasing to the eye.
Riana was busy taking photos of the food, so Vanessa couldn't immediately dig in.
Riana even arranged them a bit and begged Kiran to take a selfie with her, but he refused.
"Just eat," he said, irritably.
Vanessa hid a smile.
Childhood friends? How come Riana didn't seem to know that Kiran was easily annoyed by cameras?
In her past life, whenever the paparazzi took a photo of Kiran without his consent, the newspaper companies that they belonged to quickly became bankrupt.
Riana pouted. "Xander you're such a killjoy."
Vanessa made a face and quickly finished eating the food before she lost her appetite again.
As expected of a Michelin 3-star restaurant!
Vanessa would have enjoyed the meal if not for the company. Riana might have been angry from Vanessa's jab earlier, so she doubled up her effort in cozying up with Kiran.
"Kiran, do you want to taste my crab crepes? It's good!"
"And don't forget Walter Reed's birthday is coming up soon. We should go together, and choose some amazing gifts for him."
"Look Kiran, you have a bit of sauce on your cheek!"
When Vanessa couldn't take anymore she abruptly stood up. "Excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom for a bit," Vanesa said then left.
She didn't want to be wasteful and throw up the delicious food she had just eaten. But when Kiran saw her walking away as if she didn't care, Kiran's face turned black.
"Kiran, there's a movie I—"
"Later," Kiran said coldly, and he stood up.
His dark eyes were cold, and the aura he was emitting was so frightening that the other diners who were near their table unconsciously shivered.
Because it was an upper-class restaurant, most people there were wealthy businessmen as well. So when they saw that it was Kiran, the youngest CEO and Chairman of the largest multinational corporation in the country, they quickly hunched down and nervously crossed their fingers, hoping that his bad temper wouldn't reach them as well.
Because if he decided to bankrupt them on a whim, it would simply be too easy for him to do so!
Generally in almost all companies, the role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer was not assigned to the same person, since it could create an inherent conflict of interest.
But the Lauder Corporation specially contained a provision for the appointment of the same person just for Kiran Lauder!
And although he was still young, Kiran singlehandedly made the company rise to unimaginable heights and proved himself again and again to be a dragon among men.
...............
- Writer
