"h.e.l.lo? Who is it?" this time the voice was much clearer. It sounded melodious and somehow had a strangely soothing effect. From the voice fluctuations one could easily tell that the person just woke up."Umm, oh sorry. Hi! I am Alex, your cousin, the one you are going to stay with. Did I wake you up by any chance?" Asked Alex in one breath.
A low chuckle could be heard from the other side of the phone. "Hi Alex, Siana here. Don"t worry its"s fine. Though, being the good cousin I am, do let me give you an advice. Next time, not to p.i.s.s of anyone else who is not as kind and as forgiving as me, check the time zone differences before calling," came Siana"s reply in an amused tone.
For a moment Alex just stared dumbfounded at his phone. He was now sure that Siana was like all the other girls of high society: self-centered, full of herself and one h.e.l.l of a haughty and arrogant girl. Yep, he did not need much to judge her character. He met too many of these kind of girls. Now with his usual colder tone he continued, "Sure, will take into account. So, anyways wanted to check with you what time are you arriving?"
Siana continued talking with amus.e.m.e.nt still apparent in her tone, "Oh, I feel neglected here." She said deliberately adding a feeling of hurt to her voice.
She could get from his cold tone filled with contempt what his thoughts were of her and she was truly amused at how fast her cousin jumped to judge her character. Afterall, he was a world known businessman how could he judge someone based on a single sentence that was meant to be a joke? Well, it"s not like she minded it, afterall she knew how easily women of her background were judged. If he thought of her as a pampered princess she didn"t mind playing along.
All these thoughts pa.s.sed through her mind in a matter of seconds and she soon added in her hurt tone, "I thought you would have asked from uncle and then made a reminder in your phone and a time slot in your schedule just for me. Seems like I am the only one excited to meet my dearest cousin. Anyways, I will arrive at the central airport of Veturia at six in the evening."
"Well, sorry I didn"t do that. I will take that into account next time," Alex said and there was a momentary pause as he was contemplating his next words. He could hear Ren on his side letting a low sign. But he totally failed to notice, that Will, who had been sipping on his wine and not really paying attention to them all this time, had now stopped and directed all his attention to the voice on the other side of the phone. "Interesting..." he thought.
"Well you see Siana, tomorrow there is this huge corporate ball that celebrates the collaboration between my company Avalta and my business partner Almona. It starts at 8:30 and is held in the Royal Hotel of Veturia. The entrance is couples only as we wanted the amount of men and women to be equal. Well, anyways. I asked one of my friends to be your date and he agreed. So just get a dress and it should be fine." Siana"s next words, however, were completely unexpected to Alex while they caught Ren"s interest and made an unnoticeable arc form on Will"s lips.
"That sounds like a plan. But there is no need for that. I am grateful to you and your friend for going to such lengths to take care of me but I don"t want to force myself on anyone. I can just stay in a hotel for the night and move to yours on the next day so that our parents are ok with it."
After taking a moment to process her words Alex said, "it won"t do. Even though there will be no media in the ball my dad has his ways of checking whether you are with me or not. He and your dad made clear that I should take care of you personally and I cannot refute their request. And I am sure you will be more than happy to attend with my friend, as it is none other than the CEO of Harding corps, William Harding." Every word was said deliberately and his last words were filled with unmasked contempt, followed by a smirk. He wanted to make it clear that it was because of his dad and uncle that he was taking care of her. After saying Will"s name he was expecting to hear screams of excitement from her, afterall, Will was one of the most handsome men in the world and one of the richest too. But, once again, he was in for surprise, as his cousin started dropping the act and acted just the way she was.
"Alex, you seem to be completely misunderstanding me as a person. I was fine with you a.s.suming that I am some sort of ignorant princess but I don"t like being perceived as a clingy woman who uses her connections for her own good and screams and shouts of excitement because of some guy.
I know that you were forced into this and I am sincerely sorry for taking your time for the upcoming week. The conference I am attending is very important to me and I cannot miss it. But due to some events that happened recently my dad doesn"t want me to stay alone.
As for William Harding, I am grateful for his magnanimity and I accept that he is the eye candy and the dream guy for many. But, not me. I know close to nothing about him so there is no way I would scream and shout from joy having him as a date.
As for tomorrow, just send your driver to take me to your place. I will explain it to our parents personally, afterall, I have a 14-hour flight so I can act the pampered princess you imagined me to be and just take a break. Anyways, sorry for the long talk. I am hanging up. Will see you later."