Chapter Fifty nine

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"Oh my goodness Ariana you didn't tell me your husband was coming over!" Stephanie exclaimed and turned to Damien before I could respond.

"Good morning sir." A strange voice came through and we all turned to it. It was the head of the department.

"Good morning." Damien said to him with his signature blank look on.

"I'm afraid you might be causing a little bit of a scene over here, I'm going to ()have to ask you to leave." He said with a stern face. Everyone outside gasped and soon started murmuring in distaste.

"You're in charge?" Damien asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am." The departmental head said with his chin held up. He was newly appointed and he had been such a pain ever since.

"Good. I'd like to know why you had it in you to over burden my wife with an excessive workload that has her staying in the office much later than usual." Damien spoke, towering over the petite man who nervously adjusted his glasses.

"Te voy a matar Miguel." I muttered under my breath in frustration. (I'm going to kill you Miguel.) I really was going to kill him for yapping about all my work frustrations to his boss even when he said he would not do it.

I stifled a groan, trying to contain the embarrassment I was feeling.

"Well with all due respect sir, the fact that you're married to her doesn't make her any more special than the other workers here." Mr Levi said in a tone that held some sort of spite.

"Hmmm. Is that so?" Damien hummed and said in a mocking tone.

"I heard from a good source that you've had personal vendetta against her since you got appointed recently, I'd spew it out if I were you." Damien warned in his spine shivering tone.

"Well, I believe she doesn't deserve to work here and if she thinks otherwise she has to prove it by working extra hard." He said eyeing me in distaste.

I bit on my lower lip to stop myself from lashing out. So this was why I had to do extra work and there I was thinking that my job being demanding was just in its nature and everyone had a fair share of what I was facing.

"It's your audacity for me." Stephanie commented and a few others concurred.

Damien nodded curtly and picked up his phone.

"Hey man. Meet me in Ariana's office. Yes, right now. Just get down here already." We all heard Damien's side of the conversation.

"Stay still everyone, I have someone coming in to settle this." Damien announced to everyone as he leaned on my desk with his arms folded across his chest.

My eyes met his and it was almost as if we were communicating with them instead of our mouths.

His eyes told me not to fret, that he had it all under control. I don't know how I picked that out but I did, somehow. I was actually worried about things escalating out of control and him having to face the media for it, I did not want that for him.

"Good morning sir." Those words rang from all corners as Aiden walked in, shook hands and did a bro hug with Damien while he side hugged me.

"What's going on here?" Aiden asked looking around at the crowd gathered around the office.

Stephanie butted in at that point and reiterated all that had went down in quick narration. Aiden paid full attention and when she was done he turned to Damien heaving a sigh before he looked at Levi who looked like he would pee in his pants anytime soon.

"What do you want right now? Anything you want and it's done with immediate effect." Aiden said to both of us.

"Personally, I'd love for my wife to work in a healthy environment and working next to me doesn't seem to be such a bad idea." Damien said but I shook my head, I was not going to agree to such. Nice try husband.

"No, I still want to work here." I said to Damien determinedly."I want him fired then." Damien said, looking straight at Levi who was already pleading for mercy.

"Damien no!" I whisper yelled.

"Ai-, sir!" I corrected myself so as not to fuel Levi's accusations.

"There has to be a better way to sort this out, a warning maybe." I suggested, testing the waters and avoiding Damien's gaze of disapproval.

"Babe, I could have let him off with a warning if I wanted to but I didn't. No one messes with my wife and goes off unscathed." Damien said strongly and I almost blushed in spite of myself.

Stephanie already had a dreamy look on her face just like every other lady present. It was a reaction that was very much expected but why did I feel like Damien meant what he had said and was not doing this to give the public some picture that was false. It seemed too real to be some PDA shit.

"A demotion it is then." Aiden decided and faced the culprit. He went on to have his assistant type Levi a demotion letter, leaving the HOD position vacant before he turned and addressed the crowd.

"Avilla Corp is not just known for it's impeccability in its trade but also for its great work environment and I would not for any reason condone unhealthy work rivalry between any of the numerous staff I have all over the place. Do well to report to adequate authorities if you cannot reach me in case of situations like these. Staff welfare is one of our utmost priorities because Avilla Corp would be no where without your relentless efforts. Thank you." He concluded his speech and received a mighty applause. He gave Damien their signature bro hand shake and was about exiting the room with him when Damien told him to wait a second.

Damien came to me and before I could register what was going on, he had his lips on mine. My eyes widened in utter shock, did this man have no shame? I kissed back when he pulled me closer and bit on my lower lip slightly.

Wolf whistles, hoots and screams filled the room and it reminded me of our wedding day. I pulled away and hid my face in his chest. We broke apart and he dropped one more kiss on my lips before he left with Aiden.

The crowd soon dissipated as he left and I could hardly lift my head up. I was dying of embarrassment.

****

Damien's POV;

I smirked as I got into the elevator with Aiden. He shook his head at me.

"What?" I asked, confused at how he was staring at me.

"You like her." He stated.

"I don't understand." I was actually clueless.

"You are starting to feel something for her and it shows." He said to me and I frowned.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. All that PDA-" I tried explaining.

"-was not because of the contract." Aiden cut off my statement.

"The Damien I know would not just skip work to stand up for someone who he claims not to be attracted to." He pointed out. I scoffed.

"Of course I'm attracted to her, who wouldn't be?" I asked rhetorically. Ariana was an epitome of beauty and all round sexiness. I would be crazy to not be attracted to a wife who looked like that.

He shook his head still and I got even more confused.

"Damien, this is more than sexual." He said and I disagreed.

"You're talking nonsense, I don't feel anything other than sexual attraction towards her. Don't twist it man." I said as we walked into his office in steady strides.

"Yeah, whatever you say man." Aiden said apparently unconvinced but I was unbothered, he could think what ever he wanted.

"How did your trip to London go?" He asked as he sat on his chair.

"The deal was a success." I said and he shook my hand excitedly.

"That's great, congrats bro!" He said cheerily.

"Thanks." I said, not with the same enthusiasm though.

"Why aren't you excited though?" He prodded.

"Get me a drink and we'll talk about it." I told him as I exhaled heavily. He nodded in understanding and walked over to the mini fridge at one end of his office. He brought out two glasses with a bottle of vodka. He back to the table and placed a glass in front me and the other for himself.

He poured me a drink and I gulped it down in a rush, letting the cool liquid burn my throat in quick succession.

"Another." I said rushedly.

"Easy man, it's still early." He advised but I did not care. I picked up the bottle and poured myself a glass but sipped it slowly this time around.

"You ready to talk now?" Aiden questioned and I managed a nod.

"I messed up big time." I said with great difficulty as I rubbed my palm over my face exhaustedly.

"What happened Damien?" He asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"I don't know how but I had sex with Aleena and I know it's going to be a major problem for me." I confessed.

Aiden's eyes widened and he whistled.

"How the hell did this happen?!" He exclaimed.

"I don't even know man." I said with a tired sigh.

"Explain this to me, will you?"

I leaned back and went on to explain how things were before the trip, then the deal, how I went to have dinner with Gregory and his family and how I could not stop thinking about Ariana before I went to the club and drank so much, how I could not remember how I ended up in bed with Aleena next to me stark naked.

"This is really messed up man." Aiden said.

"This girl is obsessed with you and she could actually go out of her way to ruin things for you and Ariana."

"What does Ariana have to do with this? I just don't want her to go on and upload a sex tape of both of us, you know how messy scandals like these can get, I don't need anything like this tarnishing my image at this point." I explained my point.

"That's understandable. But, another truth is that you're worried about how Ariana would feel if she ever found about this." He pointed out.

In all honesty, I somewhat dreaded Ariana's reaction to this more than what I had just explained but I did not want to give Aiden the satisfaction of being right so I vehemently disagreed.

"So you're telling me that if Aleena showed Ariana any evidence of you two having sex, you would be totally unbothered about her feelings?" He asked and I swallowed.

"It wouldn't hurt her because doesn't care about me." I said with so much difficulty but I had to tell myself the truth.

"You've heard all the things she's said to me, I took her freedom to live like a normal person so she surely reserves some hatred for me. Worse still, I keep controlling her once peaceful life. I'm sure she can't wait to finally annul our marriage at the one year mark." I opened up on my thoughts while Aiden listened with rapt attention.

"Is that why you're so afraid of admitting to yourself that you have developed a soft spot for her?" He prodded further.

"Maybe." I shrugged and sipped on my drink.

"Damien, I understand that you've been through a lot but you really have to slow it down and let your heart love someone." Aiden was in lecture mode now and in as much as I hated it, I just had to listen because he was mostly right at times like these, I was just the stubborn one.

"You have to first accept that you care for her, get to know her better, know what she likes and dislikes, do nice things and take her on dates if you have to and even if she does not reciprocate your feelings in the end, you know you tried." He counseled. I nodded in agreement for the first time.

I had to admit, he was right, running away from my feelings and telling myself they'd never be reciprocated was just me being a coward.

I was going to try and if I failed, I could tell myself that I at least tried.