The Billionaire's Lily

Not A Couple

"Go away Theo!" Mona mumbled in her pillow but the dreaded doorbell kept ringing making her curse as she decided to get up and attend to her annoying early morning visitor.

It'd been a very hectic week, thanks to her insufferable boss and she was only too glad it was over when the weekend came.

Frustration, unexpressed anger, glares, clenched teeth and fists characterised it all. And so she wanted to use the weekend to recharge her batteries and get rid of the thousand ways she thought of killing David Black before Monday came. She was happy when he didn't mention their appointment with Juliet too, leaving her weekend totally free.

But with that loud doorbell her plan was already falling apart.

She dragged her sleepy self from her bed to her apartment's door, wishing she had put a do not disturb sign on it last night.

"You know I hate to be up so early on a Saturday morning." Mona mumbled as she fought to open her almost dead lock that had needed changing for centuries. She peeked at it for a second and sighed when it didn't budge.

"This is why I don't want to wake up early." She eyed her messy apartment lazily, looking for her magical second key to the lock. And when she found it, she picked it up with relief and headed back to the door. With one click the lock opened with no protests.

"Ah huh! Got ya." She did a little celebratory dance after picking her own lock like a thief. But her dance ended mid air when her door revealed her visitor and it was not her sweet Theo. Nope, the guy looked nothing like her scruffy looking, old building manager.

"You!" She croaked out, while she blinked several times at their blinding impeccable dressing.

"It's ten in the morning."

"What?"

"It's ten in the morning and that is not early." Her boss stated with a straight face and she just stared at him incredulously.

"Do you have anywhere to be today?" His familiar business tone drew her P.A self and she straightened up.

"What?" Mona couldn't seem to come up with any other answer as she stared at her boss wide eyed.

"Cancel it."

"Cancel?"

"All your plans for the day."

Her boss strode into her flat like he owned the place.

"You do realize he is too rich to own such a shack right?"

"That's not the point." She mumbled to her own mind.

"And what is the point?"

Mona turned around and found her boss throwing her a look that said nothing about what was going on in his heavy head until he blinked. She realized his eyes were on her excuse of PJs that she had for like forever.

In her defence, she planned on buying new ones once she got paid.

"Yeah, that was like ten or twenty paychecks ago."

"That's not the point either." She glared at her own mind. "I just don't get paid enough." She mumbled.

"Are you negotiating a pay rise?"

"What?! No!" She exclaimed.

"I really need to stop thinking aloud." She mentally scolds herself.

"It's just that this is my day off and I was hoping to catch up on my sleep." She almost whines.

"So money is the point?"

"Yes. Well, no!" She sighed loudly. He was really confusing her.

"Here." David Black reached into his pocket and retrieved something that he handed to her, but she just frowned at it.

"What is this? I don't need your phone." Mona sighed in frustration. The jerk was not listening, as usual.

"I just want to sleep, peacefully."

"And neither am I offering it. Just punch in your account details."

"What?"

"Are you hard of hearing or something?" Her boss looked kind of frustrated and she did as he asked hoping to keep his terrible mood away.

And when she handed back the phone, her own phone pinged indicating a message and she frowned. No one sent her messages so early in the morning.

"Meet me outside." He said before taking a displeased look at her clothes that have offered her nights the best comfort for years.

"What?" She pretended not to be affected by his judgemental look.

"Five minutes, no more, no less." And with that he walked out of her excuse of an apartment leaving her wondering what the heck that meant.

"Five minutes?" She walked over to her apartment window, trying to figure out what just happened.

Her boss exited her building and was walking to a shiny black expensive executive ride parked up front.

When he got there, his driver opened the door for him but he declined. He instead leaned on the car and she found herself staring.

He appeared different from the beast that had given her hell in the first week of working together.

Something about him being so...quiet and peaceful.

She wondered what he was thinking about until he checked out his watch.

"Meet me outside...five minutes…"

"Oh snap!" Mona's eyes went wide when she finally realized that he was actually waiting for her.

She ran back to her bedroom in a flash while curses escaped her lips at his impossible and absurd request. "Five minutes is not enough for anything." She complained despite having spent part of it staring out at her boss.

"And where exactly are we going?" She frowned as she checked out her limited wardrobe for something to wear.

With no time to get that info, she settled for a brightly coloured knee length peach dress and flat pumps. Boss or not she had no intentions of suffering in heels. It was her day off after all. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail to give it some sanity and grabbed her purse and phone.

"Done." She eyed herself in the mirror and smiled. "Not bad." She mumbled as she decided to check her phone.

Five thousand has been credited to your account. Login to check your new balance.

"Woah!" She exclaimed as she blinked at her phone, wondering which soul just mistakenly transferred their hard earned money to her account. Her payday was still days away and the amount was way more than what she was expecting, so she knew this was definitely a mistake. But while she wondered about the transaction, an unread email notification caught her attention and once she read it she flew out of her bedroom and out of her apartment.

"What's this for?" Mona waved her phone in her boss's face, as she tried to catch her breath from the short run to his car.

"Why? Is it not enough?" Her boss answered nonchalantly.

"That's not the point." She snapped, annoyed at his cool demeanour and accusing tone.

"You really need to learn to get your point across quickly. This is bad for business." Her boss curled an eyebrow at her and she hated that she found that look...distracting.

"Business?" Mona blinked and let out a sigh of frustration. She was usually on her A game but somehow David Black had got her off balance and she was failing to keep up.

"Maybe you shouldn't answer questions with questions." She narrowed her eyes at him as she tried to redeem herself, and he looked taken aback but only for a moment.

"I always pay for services rendered to me, Miss Myers." He looked up at her stone faced. "Consider that as p*****t for your services on your day off."

She should have been happy about the generous amount given to her, but she hated how he made this p*****t sound like she was his escort and he was paying her for that service.

"Take it back." She typed away on her phone and once done she handed it to him to complete the transaction but he only stared at it for a moment before averting his eyes.

"The Oasis hotel, Jeffrey."

"The Oasis hotel? That's still happening?" She blinked at her boss wondering why in hell he didn't let her know she was still needed.

"You did agree to the meeting, did you not?" David quirked an eyebrow at her, making it sound like it was her fault she was getting her day disturbed.

"I thought you didn't need me holding your hand." She sneered and his face soured instantly. It was a low blow but Mona thought he deserved it.

"Get in." He demanded and gave her a look that said it was not up for discussion.

"Jerk." She huffed as she headed for the front seat. There was no winning with him and she had no intentions of sitting next to him either.

"We have things to discuss, Miss Myers."

"Sir?" She stopped and turned to him wondering what he meant by that and he simply patted the space next to him that would be too close for comfort.

And knowing that her protests would fall on deaf ears she got in but sat so close to the door in an attempt to keep away from him. Even though that didn't work as she expected. The guy was still too close for comfort and she could only hope they got to the hotel quickly.

The ride was quiet despite him saying they had things to discuss and she realized that was just a way for him to get her to ride at the back with him. She scoffed at the thought and decided to catch up on her sleep knowing their destination was at least half an hour away. But that changed instantly the moment her stomach let out a very mean growl.

"Oh God." She stiffened, embarrassed and hoped to God nobody else heard it, which was clearly wishful thinking with the silence that was surrounding the car's interior.

She decided to look out of the window to hide her embarrassment but her boss's voice let her know there was no way to escape it when he asked their driver to stop at any coffee shop for breakfast.

"Oh I don't need that." She mumbled but her boss simply dropped his eyes to her belly as if to say that part of her body disagreed.

"Well, I get to decide when I eat." She retorted but David Black didn't even bother to argue with that. He simply typed away on his phone, ignoring her altogether.

"Jerk." Mona glared at him, wishing she could do more than that.

"We are here sir." The driver announced, making Mona look out of the car.

The coffee shop came into view and she got ready to have a few minutes of peace having her breakfast. But that went down the drain when David stepped out of the car after her.

"I don't need you to hold my hand and I can buy my own breakfast." She curled an eyebrow at him but he simply walked past her and headed inside the shop leaving her to run after him.

"Good morning Miss, what can I get you?" A waiter greeted her happily the moment she entered, but before she could even open her mouth to answer a hand grabbed onto her, leaving her stunned.

"She's with me." David growled, forcing the waiter's smile to fade instantly while Mona stared at her boss with wide eyes. If she didn't know better, she'd think David Black was her boyfriend and a possessive one at that.

Her cheeks burned at her own thoughts and she struggled to hide it.

"O...Of course sir. What can I get the lovely couple then?"

"We are not a couple!" Mona almost cried out.

"Nothing, we have already ordered." David glared before turning and walking over to a table with her in tow. He didn't even bother to correct the waiter.

"But we are not a couple." Mona surprisingly felt the need to correct that the moment they sat down.

"So?" Her boss sat back in his seat with arms folded and looking totally annoyed.

"You made him think that we are."

"I don't owe him an explanation. Now eat, we don't have all day." He snapped and she glared at him.

"You are not my father." She wanted to say but figured her job was more important. If there was one thing she had learnt about the insufferable man, it was that such decisions were easy for him to make. He wouldn't exactly think twice about firing her if he thought it was necessary.

She instead decided to take care of her rumbling stomach before facing more embarrassment. She frowned though when she scanned the table. It was filled with food which even if she was extremely hungry she couldn't possibly finish.

"I didn't know what you preferred." David grunted, when she eyed him questioningly.

"So you let them serve everything?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Well, not exactly, I just don't like wasting food that's all." She shrugged her shoulders. "A piece of cake and a coffee would have been just fine." Mona mumbled and her statement earned her a thoughtful look from her boss.

"What?" She shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze.

"Nothing." He replied. His thoughtful look got replaced with a stone one in a flash and Mona wondered how he did that.

It's always the same each time. One moment he appeared like a relatable human being and before she could catch on, his beast took over and ruined the entire atmosphere.

She decided not to stress over it though and just enjoy the meal which was to die for. She hadn't had such a hefty breakfast in like...never.

In her defence, it was never necessary, not when she knew that her parents and siblings needed the money more.

"Thank you." She looked up from her plate.

"No need to thank me, you are working and I'm paying."

"Ouch." Mona dropped her folk loudly on her plate, catching the attention of the customers around them.

"What?" David curled an eyebrow at her and Mona marvelled at how insensitive he could be.

"I'd rather buy my own breakfast." She snapped and got up without sparing her boss a glance. She regretted it though when a waiter bumped into her and poured hot coffee on her.

"What the hell, are you blind?!" David roared as he rushed to Mona's side.

"I...I'm sorry, sir, ma'am." The poor waiter stuttered.

"Sorry? You think that excuses what you've done?" David was seething and Mona stared at him shocked, her pain from the hot liquid forgotten.

For an insensitive jerk from a while ago, this side of him was quite unbelievable.

"You are fired."

"Sir?" The waiter's face is filled with horror while Mona was shocked at how her boss could fire someone who didn't even work for him.

"Mr. Black...goodness what is going on here?" A middle aged man showed up and from his heaving chest Mona could tell he must have come running.

"Derrick, I don't pay for such incompetent staff." David stated and Mona noticed the manager's face fall at the statement.

"He's done." David pointed at the waiter and when the manager only nodded Mona realized that the coffee shop must be owned by David too.

"Geez, it's just coffee. No need to fire the guy." Mona jumped in, hoping to save the waiter from the unfair judgement. After all, it was her fault for not watching where she was going.

"You could have been seriously hurt." David glared at her.

"By a cup of coffee?" Mona scoffed, earning herself another glare from her boss but she just ignored him. "Sir please…" She turned to the manager. "I forgive the guy." She smiled sweetly, forcing the manager to do the same.

"Mr. Black?" The manager turned to her boss who was seething, making the manager's smile falter.

"That will be all." He dismissed them with gritted teeth before dragging her outside. All eyes in the coffee shop were on them and Mona forced a smile, hoping to assure everyone that the whole scene was really nothing.

Once they were outside however, David turned to her, his face cold, making her swallow hard.

"Never question my decisions, are we clear?"

His voice was threatening but Mona found his closeness more threatening than anything. His heaving chest was causing her head to malfunction a little.

"Are we clear?" He stepped back seemingly after realizing just how close they were.

"Y...Yes sir." She replied, her voice barely a whisper.