Chapter 7

Ava's POV

Maggie walked closer to my desk and stared at me for a while, "Oh honey, have you been starving? You look very pale like you could give up any minute."

I scoffed and glared at her, "What do you want Maggie?"

"I heard the news Ava so I quickly came by to see how you are faring, you know I care about you," she said and winked at me.

"Since when did you start checking up on me?" I questioned her, giving her disgusting looks, "Or are you drunk?"

"Hey calm down honey, I didn't come here to be insulted so watch your tone," she warned and the smile on her face eventually disappeared.

"Then why are you here? I have work to do," I asked once again.

"Well I came by to remind you of my offer," she said, looking at her nails like there was something interesting on them, "It still stands and all you have to do is say yes and sign a few papers."

"I have told you before Maggie that I am not interested in your ridiculous offer," I shot at her which made her look up at me in shock, "Get out of my office and don't you dare come in here again."

"Ava?! I can't believe your stupidity. Are you really rejecting my offer after everything that is already happening?" Maggie asked in a surprised tone.

"Yes. Take yourself and your offer out of my company this instant! Get out!" I barked at her and banged on the desk.

"Jesus! You are crazy. I'm leaving," Maggie said and stood up to leave.

"Get out!!" I barked again. And with that Maggie scurried out of my office without looking back, shutting the door behind her with a loud bang.

Could this day get any worse?

"I'm leaving," I suddenly announced and Camilla turned to look at me.

"Why? Are you going somewhere?" She queried.

"I am going home before I go crazy. I have had enough for one day," I responded in a flat tone.

"Should I come with you?" Camilla asked and I stared at her with a questioning look, "I don't think you should drive yourself."

"Ah please Camilla, I'm not a young teenage girl who doesn't know how to control her emotions," I said as I picked up my bag and some documents from the desk, "I'll drive myself home and I will be fine so don't you worry about me."

"Alright then Miss Ava," she said and I sighed, "I'll see you tomorrow, please stay strong."

I managed a smile and replied, "I will. Bye Camilla. Make sure you go home early too and try to rest."

"Noted," Camilla said as she waved me goodbye.

I nodded and strolled out of the office. And when I got into the elevator I heaved a breath of relief – it was an awful day.

As soon as the elevator stopped, I got off and made my way into the lobby. But suddenly I heard someone call my name and when I turned to see who it was I was slightly surprised.

"Yes Amanda, is there a problem?" I asked in a taunt voice.

"No Ma'am, are you leaving already?"

"As you can see I am", I answered and noticed how uneasy she looked, "Is something wrong?"

"Oh no," she suddenly said and gave me a fake smile, "I ..errmm sent in my …errmm resignation letter and …"

I raised my hands to stop her from finishing her speech, "Amanda, let's talk tomorrow. I have had enough for today please," I didn't wait for her response and just walked away.

If I had ever asked for a miracle, now would be the best time to have it cause I am slowly losing my cool.

Eventually, I got to the parking lot and walked towards my car. I got in but I didn't start the car just yet instead I just sat there lost in my thoughts.

I don't know how to get my company out of this mess. Maybe I should just get married to Tom and forget about finding love. Love doesn't exist anyways so why bother?

After a while, I started my car and began the drive home. The traffic was light so I was sure I'd get home in no time.

As I drove home, I noticed an unusual rattling sound coming from under the hood of my car.

"What's that noise?" I mumbled to myself as I tried to pull over, "Something doesn't feel right."

I pulled over to the side of the road and stepped out of the car to investigate.

My heart sank when I laid my eyes on the engine compartment. To my surprise, the wires were frayed and it was clear that my car had been tampered with.

"Jesus!," I exclaimed in shock, "Who would do such a thing? This is unbelievable!"

At that moment, I didn't know what else to do – I was already tired and I just wanted to go home so without much thought I got into my car again and decided to continue my drive home. I was already close so I thought I could manage the car home without any problems.

As I drove on, my mind was still preoccupied with thoughts of my tampered car. Who could have done it and why? But I continued driving hoping to get home soon and put this horrible day behind me.

I was about to turn into a corner when my thoughts were interrupted by a sudden realization. My brakes felt unusually soft, and I immediately knew that something was wrong.

Panic started to set in as I saw a pedestrian waiting to cross the street ahead, "Shit!! No! Not now!"

I desperately pressed the brake pedal, but it failed to respond in time.

Time seemed to slow down as the pedestrian stepped onto the road. My heart raced as I tried to swerve narrowly avoiding a collision.

"Hey! Hey!! Watch it!" I heard a voice started to scream.

Shit!!

Tom's POV

I walked out of the coffee shop and was making my way towards my car when I noticed that something terrible was about to happen – someone was about to get hit and it seemed as though the driver's brakes weren't working.

"Hey! Hey!! Watch it!" I heard the pedestrian shout in fear as he quickly tried to dodge the oncoming car. The driver narrowly missed the pedestrian and collided with a nearby pole.

"Christ! That was close," I muttered to myself and shook my head. I was about to walk away when I saw the driver come out of the car and to my surprise it was Ava.

Amazing!! I beamed with joy as I saw her walk towards the guy she nearly hit. I had been wanting to see her after she walked out on me but I couldn't bring myself to call her. For some reason, I was scared to call but thank the universe for this incident.

I forgot about the meeting I had to attend in the next twenty minutes and quickly ran towards Ava. When I got closer to the scene, I heard her apologizing to the guy and asking if he was okay.

"I'm okay. Fortunately, you missed me," I heard the guy say as he brushed off the dirt off his clothes. He had missed his steps and fallen but he wasn't hurt.

"I'm really sorry," I heard Ava apologize in a brittle voice. 

"It's fine. I'm okay," the guy tried to assure her and gave her a thin smile, "I have to go. I have a class to attend."

"Thank you. I'm sorry," Ava said after the guy as he walked away.

"Shit!!" I heard her curse as she stared at her car in dismay.

"Hey there! Ava, are you okay?" I finally called out as I walked closer to her.

She looked up and when her eyes landed on me, her eyes widened in surprise, "Uhhmm Mr Tom, what are you doing here?"

"Oh …I errmm …I just stopped by to get coffee when I saw the accident," I stammered, I didn't know why I was nervous, "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"Well I'm fine but my car isn't," she said and I looked at the car. The collision affected the car and from the looks of it, she won't be driving it for a while.

"Sorry about the car. And thank God you are okay," I said and she gave me a pointed look, "What can I do to help you out?"

"Oh please don't let me bother you. I'm sure you have other important things to do," she replied in a flat tone. I could see from how she talked that she didn't want me there but I pretended not to notice.

I insisted and eventually, she accepted my help. I called the tow service and they came along to tow the car to where it was going to be repaired.

"So can I drive you home now?" I offered after the tow truck left with her car, "I wouldn't mind and I feel like we need to talk about the other day."

She shot me a look and opened her mouth to say something but she ended up saying nothing, instead she just nodded. 

I smiled and led her to where I had parked my car. I quickly opened the car door for her to get in before walking over to the other side. I got into the car, put on my seat belt and started the drive.

The silence in the car was deafening, I had to say something but what do I say?

"Errmm so where do you live?" I asked and noticed how she rolled her eyes.

"Just a few blocks away. It's …ermm a straight drive," she replied without looking at me, her eyes fixated on the road.

"Cool," I blurted out and immediately regretted it because I sounded so dumb. I could talk to ladies just fine and sweep them off their feet but with Ava, I noticed I had lost my cool.

I took my eyes off the road for a split second to look at her but unfortunately, our eyes met and I quickly looked away and held the steering tighter.

Damn!!

"You can stop in front of that tall building there," she suddenly said and pointed to the building she was referring to, "thank you very much for the ride."

I sighed as I stopped the car in front of the building. Why was her house so close by? I hadn't even told her what I wanted to say yet.

As she was about to take off the seat belt I cleared my throat, "Ava remember I told you that we needed to talk," I began and she looked up at me, "Yeah well can we still talk before you step out?"

With her brows raised she stared at me for a while before finally nodding.

Seeing that she agreed I turned off the car engine and turned to face her, "About the other night I'm sorry," I started and she gave me a pointed look, "You didn't even let me finish and explain myself, you just shut me out and walked out on me."

"Yeah well. What do you expect when you just say something like that?" She asked and scoffed, "I wasn't expecting a proposal so pardon my shock."

"I get it and I'm sorry," I responded in a soft tone, "I'll just go straight to the point so please listen. I want us to get married but it's going to be a contract marriage."

"A contract marriage? I don't understand," she replied, shaking her head. 

"I can't explain in detail just yet but I need to get married before I can have access to some of the properties my dad had left for me," I explained, hoping she'd understand and not make me talk too much.

"I still don't understand," she stated and I sighed.

"Okay. I'll explain. The thing is …." I went on to explain everything to Ava as much as I could and by the time I was done, she looked like she understood me a little.

"So you are saying that the marriage will only have to last for just two years?" She queried when I was done talking.

"Yes Ava, just two years and after that we get divorced and go our separate ways."

"Hmmm, and you will invest in my company if I agree to this?"

"Of course, I will. We both have nothing to lose."

"Well …uuhhmm are you sure about this? Are you sure problems won't arise in the future?"

"If we play our cards well then there won't be any problems. Please Ava just say yes, I really need this."

Ava went silent for a while and I waited for her to say something. After about five minutes of silence she sat up and cleared her throat, "Fine then, we have a deal," she stated.

I couldn't believe my ears at first, "What? Seriously?"

"Yes," she said with a smile and extended her hand for a handshake.

I quickly took her hand, "Thank you so much, Ava. Thank you. I promise you won't regret this."