My Perfect Lady

Jim sighed, then looked at Miya. He had called for another car, sent off Chenric and was now driving for himself to let off some steam. He was reckless in his drive too – but he wasn"t out of control. Miya sat beside him, unnerved.

She was however afraid for Ben.

Jim knew that, and after sorting out his thoughts on what he needed Park to do, he turned to Miya.

"Are you worried for Ben? Or is it the grounding?"

Miya shrugged.

"Ben, of course. I don"t care about the grounding, though I do think it"s incredibly stupid. We"re not kids, Jimmy."

Jim took in a deep breath and concentrated on the road ahead. After a second, he said, "I know. The last time I was grounded was ages ago – but… it"s mostly paperwork and I haven"t had a problem with it before. It"s taxing and mind-numbingly boring, but… yeah. I"m sorry you got into this mess."

Miya gave him a half hearted smile.

"It"s alright. It isn"t your fault. I shouldn"t have gone before your father dressed so half-a.s.sed."

"Well, it isn"t exactly that that got you into this. Th – There"s a contract, Miya. That I signed with my father, which lays down twelve things I needed to do if I want to inherit the Hunter Corporation. Our marriage is one of them of course, but –"

Miya gasped. Oh no!

Jim pursed his lips, looked at her deeply, and then nodded.

"Yes, dear," he confessed, "This is one of the conditions too. Till the time I inherit the Hunter Corporation, if I"m subjected to grounding, I need to do it. 47 hours straight. I"m bound. And of course, anyone of my a.s.sociation subjected to it should complete it too, with me."

Miya almost slapped her head.

This was ridiculous!

What was wrong with these rich folks?! Marriage in 24 hours, grounding at age 31?!

Were they even sane?!

Miya recalled the Chairman"s love for his kites and his obsession with trees. He had even invited them over to a restaurant called "Herb "n" Urns"! And he wanted them to attend a pottery cla.s.s…

Well, of course they weren"t sane.

And that old man"s brain definitely didn"t work right!

Jimmy saw the amazed look on Miya face, and he chuckled deeply.

"Don"t mind father," he told the girl airily, "Chairman Hunter might be smart, but he"s also the stupidest man on earth."

With that, he accelerated the car further, with a smug grin plastered on his face.

Miya was speechless.

When they reached the headquarters of Hunter Corporation, Miya she been transported into a dreamland. She stared at the suave, beautiful building for minutes, struck by how much the exterior of it itself spoke of Jimmy Hunter and the Chairman. It had a cold, detached elegance to it, one that made the place stand out like a piece of art.

Miya"s walk up to the elevator and into Jim"s office wasn"t easy. Especially since the man himself was with her, standing beside her with an extremely nonchalant air.

He didn"t even pay attention to the reactions of those around him. Meanwhile his own staff had fallen into a frenzy.

When Miya walked across the cabins and into Jimmy"s office, with Jimmy walking right beside her, she could hear out loud the gasps of all the workers. Some of them stared at them blatantly, the more professional ones stole glances while pretending to work.

Miya could feel their stares directed to her mostly, their gaze almost crawling up her skin.

The employees couldn"t wrap their head around it.

The boss! He had brought a woman with him!

They were wearing similar clothes!

And she didn"t exactly seem like she was here on business. The boss was holding her hand! Their hearts leaped to their throats, as they watched the two head inside the boss"s room, thunderstruck.

What was going on?!

While Jim courteously asked the missus to make herself comfortable in his too big an office, Miya was ready to swoon from the beauty of it all. It might have been the effect of staying with Jimmy Hunter for so long, but she had begun to appreciate his style. She even liked it now.

The husband"s office was a metallic bronze in shade, with a tiled floor, a plush couch, two tables, four chairs, and another door which Miya suspected was his own personal restroom. And of course, there was a book stand along with various file cabinets.

She was instantly in love.

Miya sat in one of the rolling chair and whizzed about the room in excitement. Meanwhile Jimmy was thankful his office wasn"t one with gla.s.s walls. When she had finally settled down, he asked her to find herself something to read while he whisked through some files.

"Can"t I help you with something?" she looked up at him queerly.

Jim shook his head, already in his workaholic state.

"Just feel comfortable. I"ll be done in a few hours," he said.

Miya pouted at that, but Jim didn"t notice. An hour pa.s.sed by, but she had nothing to do. She went through his bookstand and found nothing of interest. There was one other thing she did find out about Jimmy though – this man didn"t read fiction! All his books were finance, business, economics and international affairs. Some were magazines with his own face on it, while he stood with a trophy in his hand.

Somehow, she also felt proud.

While Jim stared at a file and took down something on a sheet, Miya took in his appearance. He was handsomer in person, she realized. The picture on the magazine didn"t do him justice.

Rolling the magazine and putting it in her purse, she slipped out of the room and quietly shut the door. She was in the Hunter Corporation, after all! This was once in a lifetime opportunity to explore!

Miya walked out of the office, almost forgetting about the strange people who were Jim"s subordinates.

Because she only had to walk out without their boss for all of them to openly stare at her. Immediately nervous, she wanted to run back and hide. But she stood rooted to the spot instead.

Alright.

For Jim.

She took in a deep breath and smiled.

Then walking to the nearest desk, which had a sweet, harmless looking lady sitting behind it, she asked, "h.e.l.lo! Could you tell me where the Chairman"s office is?"

The girl was instantly nervous. She stared at Miya, blinked a bit too much and then flushed. She said hesitantly, "The C-Chairman isn"t here today, ma"am. Er, you are?"

They wouldn"t dare disrespect her. She had walked in with the boss holding hands!

"Miya," Miya said shortly, smiling again, "And you?"

"Tessa. I"m –"

The girl was about to introduce herself, when someone came at Miya from behind. The person was huge, Miya could sense him sneaking up on her, but she withheld her instinct to reward him with a back kick. Instead, she took a sharp turn around and came with him chest to face.

The man himself was shocked by her sudden, yet accurate reflex.

"H-h.e.l.lo!" he said, surprised.

Miya looked up at the towering man, at his boyish face, with a slight beard and a square jaw. His eyes were droopy, and she didn"t like the look in them one bit. He resembled that Hartley something guy somewhat. She didn"t like that either.

She did however remain civil, and responded, "Hi."

"I heard your name. Miya. It"s beautiful!"

"Thanks. What"s yours?"

"Dave."

"Charming."

Miya didn"t mean it when she said that, but she did turn around to continue her chat with Tessa. It was only then that she realized something. This Dave had backed off, and was now showing a thumbs down to his colleagues, who were peering out of their cabins to have a look at her.

Really?

Miya had to hold in a laugh.

Why were they so interested in the girl their boss had brought? Or –

Wait!

The thought struck Miya. It could be because n.o.body knew anything about Jim"s personal life! Miya doubted he had one – but she herself had had difficulty finding out about him when she had searched for information on him. Could it have been the same for these office folks?

Miya looked back at Jim"s shut door, and recalled his stern, focussed face as he had read his files.

Of course. One time, back at the hotel in Country S, she had heard someone say that Jim had not brought a woman with him to his room, ever before.

Miya was bursting from laughter now. She could barely hold it in.

Her mischievous side did kick in though, and she decided to have some fun. Almost in a.s.sistance to her thoughts, two minutes later was the lunch break.

The girl grinned.

Time to bring out her interrogation skills!