Bound by Tension
22

Hames just happened to be one of the weirdest people I had ever known. He still hadn't said anything about kissing me but instead apologized for everything he was. That was the weirdest encounter of my life. I raised my head from the files in my hands, glancing at him in perplexity.

"Mr. Hendrix," I called.

"Hames."

"Uh?" I quirked an eyebrow at him.

He set his laptop aside, folding his arms across his chest, making it seem like he was showing off his strong biceps.

"It's Hames. You should call me Hames, I prefer it." Dammit! It was confirmed; the world was coming to an end right this instant!

"Hames? You were so furious when I called you that on my first day."

"I know. You were so rude on your first day and I needed to let you know I'm your boss. I assume you understand that now so please call me Hames."

I gazed at him in befuddlement for a while. What had seriously gotten into this man? He apologized this morning, now he was saying I could call him Hames? What was going to happen next? He'd give his company out to me? "Hames," I nodded. "Hames, not Mr. Hendrix."

"Yes." He said with a 2-second smile I had almost missed seeing. Something was definitely wrong today. Very fishy. "When did you schedule our meeting with Mr. Carter?" He asked.

"Mr. Carter," I picked my laptop from beside me, checked for his work schedule for today. "That should be in the next two hours and fifteen minutes."

"Two hours and fifteen minutes?!" He exclaimed. "Why does time fly so fast?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, not understanding how that was surprising to know. It was totally normal to me.

"Why are you still here? Don't ladies spend about an entire day dressing and all? Hurry up, we shouldn't be late for any reason."

An entire day? Men and their exaggerative thoughts about ladies. Anyway, it meant I could take a break from this damn endless work I was almost hating.

"Yes, we do. I should leave these now to get dressed and do my makeup." I smiled sheepishly at him, setting my laptop aside, as well as the files, standing up from the settee and picked my phone from the center table.

I left for my room, feeling his light brown eyes fixed on me.

I shut the door to my room, dropped my phone on the vanity table, hurried to the bathroom, took a quick shower, returned to my room. After drying my body with a towel, I got into a peach shirt and a royal blue pencil skirt. I styled my hair and applied makeup on my face.

My phone rang from the vanity table. I picked it up and a smile appeared on my face, realizing it was Lila calling.

"Hi, Li." I grinned.

"Sup babe. You totally forgot about me?"

"Nah, I've been too busy with work.'

"You could've called."

"You could've called too."

"Well, I'm calling now. I've also been extremely busy but I'm calling you right now so you're at fault here."

I let out a throaty laughter. "You're dumb. Whatever, how're you?"

"I'm cool. How are you? How's your grumpy boss?"

"I'm almost out of life from overworking and I guess the boss isn't fine." I walked to the bed, sitting on it.

"Why?"

"He's been acting kinda weird lately." I was definitely not telling her about Hames' kiss yet. "He apologized this morning for always being so grumpy and said he hopes I can forgive him." I lowered my voice, not wanting Hames to hear me. "I said it; this dude has feelings for you." She said matter-of-factly.

"Silly, he doesn't. He's just..." I trailed off, unsure of what adjective could complete my sentence.

"He's just in love with you. You better believe me now before it's too late."

I scrunched my face up. "Hames can't have feelings for me, he's a heartless person."

"Probably one that doesn't express his emotions easily. Wait till he asks you to get married to him. I should be expecting to be an Aunt before you return from Australia." I heard her giggle from the other end of the line. "Lila!" I scolded. "You're outta your mind."

"As far as I remember, you said you stay in the same hotel room as him, right?"

"Not in the same room." I rolled my eyes, taking lipstick and applying it to my lips again.

"Still doesn't matter. I'm definitely going to be an Aunt soon."

"There's no point talking to you. I have a lot of work to do and would be attending a meeting soon. Bye." I ended the call before she could utter any more crazy words.

What on Earth always made Lila think in such a manner? Hames was definitely not in love with me.

I dropped the lipstick back on the vanity table, rising to my feet. I was about to leave the room but I paused to check the time on my phone. There was still an hour and a half left. I could do with a 30-minute sleep.

***

"Miss Mark, are you ready?" Hames' thick voice was accompanied by a loud knock on the door.

Wincing and groaning in frustration, I drifted awake from my slumber.

"Miss Mark," he called again. "We'll be late, hurry up." He sounded impatient.

I immediately jerked up from the bed, remembering the meeting.

"Miss Mark," he growled. "What on Earth is taking you forever?"

"I'm coming." I yelled back, running to the vanity mirror to fix my makeup as quickly as I could, wore a matching pair of black heels, and took my bag with me.

"Miss Mark," he knocked again, not sounding anything like a patient person.

I scuttled to the door and opened it. "I'm here." I grinned nervously.

"Were you sleeping?" He had a frown on.

"What? No way." I twittered.

He peered at me for a while. "Let's go. We'll be late."

"Okay." I nodded.

He started out of the room and I followed behind him. As always, he switched off the lights.

I caught up with his pace, walking beside him. We struted to the elevator, getting into it. It transported us to the ground floor. Once again, he was greeted by the employees. Why did they respect him so much?

We left for his car. A man opened the car door for him and he stepped into the Driver's seat, then I got into the back seat.

For some reasons, he waited, not starting the car already. He couldn't be waiting for the driver now, could he? After a few minutes, Kade and Jovi came into view, sauntering towards the car.

Kade got into the passenger's seat while Jovi got into the back seat as well. She glanced at me but surprisingly, she didn't glare at me or any similar facial expression.

"Finally." Hames rolled his eyes.

"So, Hames..."

"Shut up." He shushed him, starting the car. That was also weird.

***

"I'm certain we won't regret doing business with 'HamIX International' and 'RICARDO INTERNATIONAL"." Asa Carter, the owner of 'The Carters', grinned, rose to his feet, extending his hand towards Hames for a handshake. "Of course, Mr. Carter." Hames rose to his feet too, accepted his hand, giving it a formal shake.

Kade, Jovi, and I, as well as other workers of Carters, all rose from our chairs around the meeting table.

Asa extended his hand towards Kade too. Kade accepted it with a grin.

"Mirabel," Asa called. His river blue eyes shone with delight as he passed a signal to her by making gestures with his fingers, brushing his brown hair which had an equal amount of grey in it, away from his face.

The petite woman I could now identify as Mirabel hurriedly opened a box I hadn't noticed its presence on the table till now, taking out four black cards which had gold prints on them. She scurried to us, giving one of the cards to Kade, then Jovi, then me, then Hames.

"My company would be hosting a party. Those are invitation cards. You should come with your respective spouses, girlfriend, boyfriend, fiancee, or fiancé. It'd be lovely to have you there." He explained with a boyish grin.

"I'd be glad to be present." Hames smiled. He had been wearing a happy face that definitely didn't match his personality.

"Further information would be passed through emails." Asa said.

"Yes, Mr. Carter." Kade affirmed.

Asa began to lead the way out. Hames and Kade followed behind him then me and Jovi followed afterwards.

Once again, she glanced at me, still no glare. Was something wrong with her as well?"

We all left the meeting room, heading down to the ground floor. Hames and Kade were talking with Asa and laughing when it was probably needed. As expected, hefty men began walking behind us, serving as bodyguards. Hames cast a glance at me, returning to exchanging words with Asa.

They all stopped at the entrance of the building. "I'll see you at the party." Asa grinned for the umpteenth time, turning his head to me. "You too, dear. You're a sweet child."

"Of course, Mr. Carter. It'd be my pleasure to accept your invitation. Thank you for the compliment, sir." I returned his grin.

"Great. Goodbye." He gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Goodbye." We all repeated, not in unison.

Asa turned around, taking his leave while his bodyguards still followed behind him.

"We should leave now." Jovi stepped forwards, linking her fingers with Kade's.

"Let's stop by a restaurant, I'm starving." He rubbed his tummy.

"Me too."

"Hames, we'll meet you at the hotel. I'll call my Driver to bring my car down."

"Whatever." He replied without interest.

Kade and Jovi took their leave. I watched them as they were being so romantic till they were out of sight. Those two obviously loved each other so much, I wondered how they were going to work properly without being romantic. "If you're done staring like a lost person, would you let us leave?"

I shook myself out of my thoughts. "Uh... yeah." I slid my invitation card into my bag.

"Here," he handed his invitation card over to me. "Give that back to me at the hotel and fix the party to my schedule."

"Okay, sir." I nodded.

"We should go out for dinner?"

"Excuse me?" I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"As far as I remember, you have been so busy and haven't eaten a good amount of food today. I'm hungry and would stop by a restaurant. Would you accompany me? You need food." The coldness his face always possessed was still present. So much for attempting to be a nice person.

"Oh... okay." I nodded. Wow, so he could bother whether or not I had eaten well enough? Nice...

He didn't say a word afterwards, turned and started walking away. I scuttled shortly to catch up with his pace till I was beside him.

We returned to his car. I was amused when he opened the door to the passenger seat for me. Woah, he could be such a gentleman?

"Thank you," I said unsurely, getting into it..

He shut the door, turned around and got into the Driver's seat. Weird CEO. Sometimes, I wished I could see myself from other people's points of view. That included Hames. I really wondered what his thoughts about me were. I was so hungry. Thank goodness, I was going to eat at an expensive restaurant for free.