Chapter-10

Lucas Alberto's POV

I am sorry, Lucas. I have promised our team members I will go with them.

I can't even seem to get her to have lunch with me. Mm.

Okay, Angel. Enjoy your lunch!

I reply back. I am not going to give up that easily. Picking up my phone, I dial his number. He answers after a few rings.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Piccolo."

"It's a Good afternoon in fact, Lucas. I have to thank you again for employing my Bell." He had already thanked me once last night. I didn't expect him to be so happy about it. But if he is, I wonder why he didn't take the step to do it first. My Bell. I envy him for calling her that.

"No worries."

"But, seriously. She is so happy and excited about it. I have to thank you."

"Well, I am thinking about us all having lunch together. Just so, she doesn't get intimidated by all the work and her new boss." He laughs at the last part. I am her new boss and she does seem a little intimidated by me.

"Anything for her. But it's my treat. You have already done enough." There is finality in his voice and I can't deny. "I have a few things that I need to speak with you."

"Sure." Mm. What can it be?

"I will call her."

"Will meet you at lunch."

"You too," he says and cuts the call.

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. I was nervous? Why? I hope I didn't come off too desperate. Who cares? I want to have lunch with her and I will do just that.

A wicked smile plays on my lips. I am looking forward to our lunch.

Annabel Piccolo's POV

"Really?" Alessandro asks. "We are going to have lunch with Mr. Piccolo?" Everyone is now near my desk as I tell them that.

"Yes. I just spoke to my father. He asked me to come down in a few minutes." I stand up and pick up my bag.

"Wow!" Aria says in wonder. "I can't believe this."

"Me too. I am going to have lunch with The Piccolo." Nicole says. I didn't know my father was that popular. I look at them puzzled. "Really, your father is the sexiest man for his age in this country." I look at her bewildered by her words.

"Nicki." Aria stops her.

"What? You said so yourself once." Nicole says and I smile in amusement.

"What's wrong with you?" Micheal says. She pauses before sighing.

"So much." she says. Well, he is just my father, no matter what. Everyone gets up and we all get into the lift. My phone pings.

See you in ten!

Oh my! Lucas! He is going to give me a heart ache.

"Also, Mr. Alberto will be joining us for lunch." I inform them. We are the only ones in the lift.

"What?" Almost all of them say in unison.

"Oh no." Alessandro says. "This is bad." Aria responds. "Come on, it's on that bad." Daniel says. They all look at him like he lost his mind.

"Senior!" Nicole says, nearly stomping her foot.

"It is that bad?" I ask. I don't know why they are getting so tensed.

"Lunch with the Devil. Doesn't sound so good." Aria says.

So, they feel just like me. We are all scared. Me for a different reason and them for a different reason.

One side, I can't wait to have dinner with him and other side, I feel nervous to meet him.

Just the thought of him puts a smile on my face. Oh stop, Annabel! What's wrong with you? My heart is slowly racing at the thought of having lunch with him.

We all go to the sandwich place just five minutes from the office. I messaged Papa that we will meet him there, so that he didn't have to come pick me up. Once we go in, I see Papa and Lucas sitting near a large table, talking. Lucas's back is facing us.

"Here they are." Papa says as he sees us coming. He turns around. He is wearing dark shades. The place is filled with windows and since it's afternoon, the sun is too sharp and falling inside through the glasses. As I see him like that, my heart stops. It just... Stops.

He removes his glasses and everything slows for a brief second. He looks so handsome! Once his eyes meet mine, everything seems fuzzy. Suddenly I forget how to breathe. I tell myself to look away, but I couldn't.

"Hi Papa!" I go and give him a brief hug. "They are my colleagues. Alessandro, Aria, Daniel, Nicole and Micheal." I introduce them all and try not to look at Lucas. They greet him back.

"We are excited to meet you." Micheal says smiling. "Good afternoon, Mr. Alberto." They all greet Lucas.

"It's good to meet you all. Come, join us." He invites them. I was about to sit with them, when I hear Lucas speak.

"She can sit here." He says getting up and leaving a chair beside Papa for me to sit. I sit between him and Papa. Did he do it intentionally, just so I can sit beside him? He holds the chair for me and everyone at the table except Papa is watching in shock. I turn red like beatroot. My palms get sweaty. I am sitting right next to him. I never sat this close to him. I can almost smell his cologne.

Oh my, my!

"Always a gentleman." Papa compliments Lucas. "It's nice to see her making friends." He says addressing my colleagues.

"She is Sweet." Alessandro says. I give him a smile.

"She will mould perfectly with us." Daniel says.

"That's true." Aria adds. "Right, Nicole?" She says and we all look at Nicole looking at my father, just staring. I can't help but feel amused for some reason. She looks smitten. I see Papa squirming in his chair. If only Felisa sees this. She would kill her. Aria gives her a nudge.

"Yes, she will." She agrees once she clears her throat.

"I won't hold you guys here longer. I know you guys have to get back to work. Shall we order?"

"Yes." They all agree and we all give our order. Soon our food arrives. I start taking small bites feeling conscious that Lucas might be looking.

Papa and Lucas start speaking to each other, while all the others are talking with each other. Then Papa turns to me.

"How is the work there, Bell?" He asks and I see Lucas turn his attention to me completely from the side of my eyes. I feel nervous. Why does he make me so giddy?!

"I like it, Papa. It's like he knew what job would be perfect for me." I turn my attention to Lucas. "It's like he knows my capabilities and chose me for this job." I know and he knows, that I am answering Papa's question, but I am talking to Lucas. I can see it in his eyes that he knows.

"That's good then." Papa says and my gaze shifts to him. He looks like he is thinking something.

"I will take care of her, Mr. Piccolo. You don't have to worry." Lucas says and holds my hand under the table.

My heart is exploding! It's beating so fast like I have just run a long marathon! Stop it, stop it, STOP it, you stupid heart! It's like I am suddenly feeling numb and all my senses are heightened at the same time. What is happening to me? What is this? What next? Are we going to talk? Oh my! My throat goes dry at the thought. I don't let go of his hand.

"You know Lucas, Bell reads too many books. You should have seen her room. It is filled with them," Papa says and I bite my lips to stop the small smile appearing on my lips as I recall the time he was in my room and how it made me feel.

"Yes, I have been there once, when I came to pick up Gemma a few days ago." Lucas responds. "That's when I thought that she would be perfect for the job."

"Really?" Papa says looking surprised and sits up in his chair. Oh no! "I hope Gemma is not causing you any trouble. I know how naughty and hard she can be."

"Of course not. After all these years, I am used to her." Lucas answers. "She is quite difficult though."

"Tell me about it." Papa agrees and looks at me with gentleness in his eyes. "Bell is the complete opposite of her." He looks away as though he is thinking something. There is that look again. He must be thinking of momma.

"Gemma is Sweet." I defend my sister. I know we don't talk much, but I understand her and she never insulted me. Never. She never looked down on me. I know that she can be kind when she want to. She doesn't show how much she cares.

"My precious girls." Papa smiles. "Bell, why don't you tell Lucas about the new paper that you are working on." I stare at him blankly.

"Paper?" Lucas asks.

"Yes, she researches on several different topics and publishes papers on them. So far she has written papers on markets of software and electrical communications. I think she is working on construction industries now. Isn't it, Bell?"

Oh my God! Is this it? We are going to talk now? Just like this? I turn to look at Lucas and he is eagerly waiting for me to speak. A smile of amusement is dancing on his lips. Curiosity and excitement fills his eyes. Why does this feel like a war? Like the first one that speaks, loses. Then am I losing? I don't mind though. I am just nervous. His grip on my hand tightens. I know that he is feeling just like me.

Our silent conversations are going to end now. Just like that.

I open my mouth nervously to speak, but am stopped by Daniel.

"Wow! They are really different topics. She must have a lot of knowledge to write papers in such different fields." Daniel says. "She is so right for this job. Research is the right department for her."

I look at Lucas. He looks annoyed and looks down for a second. "That's wonderful." He says looking at Papa and puts that little smile back on his lips again. My heartbeat slowly goes back to normal a bit. I didn't realise that my tongue went dry until I took a sip of water from my glass to drown down the tension.

"When we go back, maybe we can talk about it?" Daniel asks.

"Sure. I would love that." I respond. I turn to Papa. "Papa, we will leave. I think it's been nearly half an hour and I don't want to anger my boss with my tardiness on my first day of work." I hear chuckles and feel a gentle squeeze on my hand. My heart flutters at that sound and I feel happy that he felt amused by my joke. He knew that I was talking to him. Papa laughs.

"He wouldn't like that." Lucas speaks to Papa, but the words were meant for me. I look at him and this time, meet his eyes.

Bye.

So soon?

I have to.

With that, I stand up and so does the rest of my colleagues.

"Thank you, Mr. Piccolo." Nicole says swooning. This is amusing and weird at the same time. "Thank you, Sir." Alessandro says.

"You are welcome." Papa says and they nod at Lucas respectfully.

"Bye Papa."

"Bye Bell. I will pick you up once you are done. Give me a call."

"Will do." I give him and smile and look at Lucas. He has a serious expression on his face, but gives me a smile.

Bye.

Bye!

Once I come out of the restaurant. I take a deep breath and leave it.

That was intense.

Lucas Alberto's POV

I wish I could give Daniel a kick. Right when she was about to speak... I didn't know that I was waiting for her to speak to me this direly, just she almost did. I wanted to talk to her. That's why I wanted to have lunch, to finally break the tension between us. But it felt as if I swallowed my own tongue.

It's like we have more words to speak in silence that actually using our mouths to express.

I felt giddy. I... I can't believe it. When was the last night I felt giddy or nervous? I don't recall. But she... She has that power on me.

Oh Angel!

She wrote and published papers. That has more value. It proves her worth. I still don't get why she didn't go out and get a job. She could easily get a job with such valuable certifications. I thought she will be good for research when I saw the books in her room. I thought she might find it interesting and will have some reason to come out of her house. But I didn't know she was this good at analysing.

When will I get the chance to get to know you?

Mr. Alberto offered to drop her at home. I wanted to do that. But, of course, she is his daughter. I know this is going to be a regular thing. He will drop her off and he will pick her up. In the office, she will be working and I will be busy, so I will not have any time to spend with her.

She is this close to me, yet so far.

I have to do something about it.

Once they all leave, it was just me and Mr. Alberto. I wonder what he wants to speak about.

"Isn't she a sweet little one?" He asks as he watches her leave. The love for his daughter is clear in his eyes. Who wouldn't love her?

"She is." I don't waste a minute in responding."

He sighs and looks at me. "We need to have a meeting about our joint company." I look at him in confusion. We don't have a joint company yet. Father has been planning on it, but we never got the right project or funding. "I spoke to your father today morning. Maybe he will talk with you about it later. Our team came with two ideas of exports and imports and oil and petroleum."

"They are good ones."

"They are. But we are planning to launch it at a larger scale. Let's have a private meeting this Saturday at my house. We can discuss and come to a decision." He finishes.

"That sounds good. I will be there." Alberto and Piccolo. A company together. Everyone has been expecting in the business industry for us to build a company together. I think it's time now.

"Now, I want to know something. This concerns Gemma." His voice is serious. I nod at him to go on. "You both have studied graduated and post graduated from same colleges."

"Yes." Where is he going with this?

"What do you think of Gemma?"

I feel surprised, but I don't show it on face. "She is my best and most trusted friend, Mr. Piccolo."

"Mm. Good." He hums in response thinking I hope he didn't notice. "Okay. Let's meet this Saturday then."

"Sure. Also, Mr. Piccolo, I will be dropping Gemma home today, so I can drop Annabel too, if that's fine with you.

"Really? That's really nice of you. But why is Gemma coming to your office?" I didn't expect him to ask that.

"Um... She is helping with analyzing some details of a few projects that we recently took up." I didn't sound convincing to even myself. What the hell? He looks like he is analysing what I just said.

"Alright, I have a meeting after five in the evening, but I didn't want Bell to go home alone. That would be really helpful if you do." He smiles.

"It's no problem at all."

Oh, I wish to see your face when I tell you this Angel. I can't help the smile on my face.

Once we are done with the lunch, I take out my phone and send her a text.

I will be dropping you home today, Angel;)

I call Gemma.

"What now? What did you do?" Annoyance is clear in her voice. Only she speaks to me like that. We have been good friends since childhood, so she practically knows everything about me.

"You can come to my office today. I will drop you home."

"What? What for? Why?"

"Just be my wingman today, Gem."

She doesn't speak for a few minutes. "You will owe me big someday at this rate." I can feel her rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I will pay you back."

"Is this going to be an everyday thing now? You are really serious about Annabel?"

"You ask too many questions. Just drop by after five. Bye."

"Bye." She cuts the call.

Even if we speak or not, I just want to be in her presence.

Oh, what have you done to me, Angel?

A/N:

Hey my cute dumplings!

My heart just flies when I write about these two. Tell me what you think.

Please VOTE and COMMENT.