Chapter 2 Meeting a Rival

A few minutes later a blue sports car hurriedly left the office building and dashed through the streets until it got to Blue Neon, a high-end bar owned by James' long-time friend Walter Hew. James stepped into the VIP room where Walter and a few other people were drinking, together with beautiful women who were skimpily dressed and swaying their hips to the sound of sensual music. Walter took one look at James and realized that it was going to be one long evening and called upon Ria, his most talented hostess to serve James a bottle of the best whisky in town.

As James sat down, Ria appeared with a glass and a bottle of whisky and sat down on his lap trying to loosen his tie, but James pushed her hands away from his chest and snatched the glass from the table and gulped it down in one go. Ria was stunned because James being the playboy that he was, was always flirting with the women at the club.

"Someone had a tough day at the office, I see." teased Walter. James gave him one look and Walter threw his hands up in a "I give up" gesture and they continued drinking and making small talk for a few more hours before Walter put James into a taxi and sent him home. Walter knew that James was extremely disappointed with his plans for the project he was working on because that project meant a personal defeat of his demons. No amount of words could describe James' disappointment and Walter sensed this the moment his friend walked through the door. The next day James woke up with his mind buzzing with plans and ideas and he was focused on putting his plans in motion.

A few days went by, and Maya was completely swamped with work that she didn't even notice someone standing at the doorway of her office. James had found a way to keep her extremely busy and he demanded precision and attention to detail on all tasks handed down to her. Simone Clarke knocked on the door and walked in without waiting for Maya to respond. He threw some files on her desk and said in an arrogant tone, like that of his boss, "Mr Aslan would like you to review this information and prepare a report for him in the next three hours." He knew that this task would have taken Ms Parks, Maya's boss, at least a day to complete. Maya was stunned and before she could even contemplate a reply, Simone turned around and left her office. Not to be out done, Maya yelled out, loud enough for Simone to hear her "I will have it back to you within two hours." Simone continued walking but thought to himself that this wasn't going to be as easy as his boss thought it would be. In exactly two hours, Maya brought the file to Simone's office and in the same manner, threw the file on his desk but before walking out she turned around with the sweetest of smiles and said "Mr Simone, if there's anything else your boss needs, please do feel free to call upon me. With that smile still plastered on her face, she walked away.

James on the other hand witnessed everything from the other side of the passage and he clenched his fists in anger at the woman's arrogance. Just the thought of her having his father's support made him even more furious. Simone had been tasked to increase Maya's workload by giving her impossible tasks with equally impossible deadlines however for the past few days, she had not faltered once. Before James could walk out of the office, he received a call from Bethany Smit who was one of the women his mother had introduced him to. She was a blonde woman with a dashing personality and incredibly sexy however James always felt that she wasn't very sincere and not his type at all. Jill regretted this introduction however she couldn't stop the persistent Bethany from pestering her son. James needed to let off some steam after witnessing Maya's pompous behaviour, so he accepted Bethany's invitation to meet at a wine bar for drinks.

Most staff members were knocking off for the day and for once, Maya also left the office early. As usual, she was in a terrible hurry with her mobile phone stuck to her ear. She didn't notice the man walking in her direction and she collided with him in an instant. She briefly apologized without making eye contact with him and turned to leave however the man was livid and yelled out for everyone to hear him, "Next time, watch where you're going!" Maya turned around with apologetic eyes only to be met by James' furious blue ones. She ended her call and looked him in the eye and said loud enough for people around them to hear her, "It was an accident Mr Aslan, and I did apologise so no need to get all worked up about it. Anyway, enjoy your evening!"

Maya gave him a brief look before turning around and walking out of the office. James couldn't believe that Maya would talk back to him, again, in front of all his staff in the foyer of the office building. Everyone around pretended that they had not just witnessed the banter between the CEO and their colleague and scurried away. In fact, most of them were friends with Maya and knew her to be extremely friendly and kind. They also knew that their CEO was temperamental and unreasonable at times. James stepped out of the foyer and stared at Maya as she drove out of the parking lot. Maya just shook her head at him as she drove past him.

She dashed home for a quick change of clothes and rushed over to the hotel where she was due to meet up with some of her college friends. They had planned this get together for some time and she was looking forward to it all week. She wore a short dark blue dress with a plunging neckline and pulled her hair back with a touch of makeup to accentuate her eyes and cheek bones. She wasn't one for fancy jewellery and heavy make-up nor did she spend her hard-earned cash on prominent branded items nevertheless she still carried herself with poise, class and charisma. She ran towards the elevator and stopped it just before it closed only to find 2 people entangled in a deep kiss. Her eyes opened wide when she realized who was in front of her. She thought, "Of all people in the world, why did it have to be him. Twice in one day."

The moment she cleared her throat and walked in, she received a deadly stared from the blonde woman and an irate look from the man who was none other than her arrogant boss, James Aslan. He had to look twice at the woman before he recognised the beautiful woman standing before him. She was stunning in a blue dress which held her sexy curves perfectly. Her beautiful eyes were accentuated by light make-up and her hair was pulled back giving him a better view of her beautiful facial features. "Good evening Mr Aslan. Please, don't let me stop you from giving your companion mouth to mouth." She said with a sly smile on her face. "Jealous Miss know it all?" James sneered while Bethany refused to be ignored so she held tightly onto James' arm and pulled him close to her. He immediately felt repulsed by the scent of her perfume however he indulged her just to get a reaction from Maya however the later completely ignored their presence continued typing away on her mobile phone.

The elevator doors pinged open, and Maya elegantly stepped out into the classy wine bar at the top of a famous 5-star hotel. Her attention was immediately stolen by four people at a nearby table hence she sauntered over to them with a bright smile. James didn't take his eyes off her since she stepped out of the elevator, and this didn't go unnoticed by Bethany. Maya ignored them and walked out. "Maya Sharma, you vixen...long time no see and you look as ravishing as you did the last time, I saw you." The man walked over to Maya and gave her a peck on the cheek and a warm hug. "Raj, you scoundrel, you came to town, and you didn't contact me once." Maya retorted with a pout. James turned his head in Raj's direction and saw Maya hugging the man.

Raj and Maya met at a conference two years ago in New York and since then they kept in touch and became incredibly good friends. Calling upon one another when they had professional questions to ask one another or wishing one another well over religious festivals and celebrations. Raj was happily married to Glenda, and they have two beautiful daughters who, Maya met on her last trip to New York a few months ago. Since then, Glenda and Maya had also become close and chat to one another often via video calls. "I'm sorry Maya-ji, this was a last-minute business meeting, and we are flying off on the 2:00am flight to Zurich so we zipped over for a quick dinner and off to the airport. I promise to call you on my next trip. You look great. Hot date?" He asked. "Yeah right, with my schedule, dating is not top priority. I'm meeting a few friends from college for drinks. Anyway, I won't keep you. Have a safe journey and kiss the girls and Glenda for me." With that Raj waved Maya goodbye and turned back to his table where his colleagues sat chatting comfortably.

Maya walked towards the veranda seating area and was warmly greeted by her girlfriends. "Maya has never broken her track record of always being the last one to arrive so tonight she must be punished." said Grace, Maya's best friend since high school and James' younger sister. "Grace, you know that your brother is a slave driver and there's no way I can leave the office early." Maya scoffed. "Well, why do you think I chose to work with the cooler member of my family.... my mum." She said laughing loudly. Grace was an extremely warm person with a bubbly personality, and she absolutely adored Maya. She was a beautiful girl with a small frame and gorgeous blue eyes, just like her brother James. She wasn't aware of the strenuous relationship Maya had with James, however she could understand what Maya meant because even at home, her brother wasn't the easiest person to get along with. Although she felt his love for their family, he was always short tempered and difficult to talk to. To make matters worse, she was keeping a big secret from James and every time he came home, she felt on edge that he may find out and give her a hard time about it, so she tried to stay out of his way. Grace didn't know that he was at the bar and Maya didn't say a word to Grace about it as she didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to him.

James and Bethany were also seated on the veranda and from where James sat, he had a good view of Maya. The table was obscure, therefore he had failed to see that his sister was also at Maya's table. Although Bethany carried on and on about something or the other, James continued to stare at the beautiful woman at the far end of the restaurant. Although he found her extremely attractive, his hatred for her was overwhelming. He kept thinking back to his encounter with staff members in the past few months however he just couldn't remember seeing her before. Her insolent behaviour irked him however he couldn't fault her work. In the past few days, she had responded to all his queries meticulously in addition, she made clear arguments and assessments on proposed projects. He was certainly impressed with her abilities however he had to rope her in. The verdict on Ms Sharma was still out therefore he had to keep his eye on her.

The ladies were having a great time when Maya received a call and walked away to take it however just as she ended her call a waiter dashed in between her and another man. Maya dodged the glass of wine from splashing onto her dress however she got a bit of it on her beautifully toned honey-kissed legs and the man's shirt was slightly stained. Maya leaned forward to look at herself while the waiter apologized profusely. Maya just shrugged it off but the man was a bit upset and tried to reprimand the waiter however when he saw Maya in front of him, he changed his stance and asked her if she was ok. Maya looked at the stranger and gestured with her hand that she was good. Just then the man extended his hand out to Maya to introduce himself.

*Maya's POV*

"Hi, I'm Alex and I'm really sorry about this." The handsome man said to me with a sweet smile plastered on his face as he grabbed the serviette from the waiter and handed it over to me to wipe away the wine from my legs. I shoot him a wide smile and before I could say another word, I felt a warm hand grabbing my arm and yanking me away from Alex. "Isn't this a cosy meeting, huh Maya? How long have you two known each other?" James barked at me. "So, you are the Maya Sharma at FA Pharma," Alex chirped. "Nice to finally meet you Ms Sharma. I have heard a lot about you, and I must say, the report on your beauty was underrated. You are a rare beauty with brains, I see." Alex said while staring at James. To say that I was confused was an understatement.

These 2 men, both of whom were good looking and had a strong aura around them were staring one another down and I was standing there like an idiot not knowing what was happening.

"Mr Aslan, I don't know what you think is going on here, but a waiter just bumped into the both of us and Alex here was just lending me a helping hand." Maya tried to explain. "Alex. So you two are on a first name basis. Come with me right now." He yelled at me and yanked me towards the elevator. "Where are you taking me, you monster? You have no right to...." He shut me down by holding onto my jaw and lifted my head towards him. "You are truly something Ms Sharma. Playing all innocent and professional but how do you explain your relationship with that man. Huh? I'm waiting. What happened to that sharp tongue of yours?" I tried to clear my mind and think about all that just happened before the elevator doors opened to the top floor of the hotel.

James pulled me out of the elevator and dashed towards one of the rooms. He fished out a room card from his coat pocket and opened the door. As soon as we walked into the room, I was thrown onto the big luxurious bed of the suite. My head was still spinning from all the wine I had just drunk. James yelled once again while coming closer and closer to me. "Start talking Ms smarty pants. What were you doing with Alex Johnson of AJ Group?" I was stunned and tried to get off the bed, but James threw himself on top of me and held my hands above my head. His cologne and beautiful blue eyes were making me feel weak at the knees, but I had to fight the urge of getting lost in his dreamy blue eyes. I finally gathered my thoughts and yelled back, "Let go of me, you asshole. I'm not one of your cheap women who you can just command." He swiftly leaned in and kissed me furiously. I had never been kissed like that before. I felt my body levitating off the bed and drifting off. It could just be the effects of the wine.

I felt like my lungs were going to cave in from the lack of oxygen. I bit down on his tongue, and he immediately released me looking furious. "Firstly, I didn't know who he was until a few minutes ago when he tried to help me clean off the wine stains on my dress and secondly even if I did know who he was, you can't stop me from talking to him or anyone else for that matter. You are my boss, not my lover, now get the f&*k off me and don't you dare touch me again." I yelled at him at the top of my voice, but he refused to move and continued to stare at me. His stare was cold and piercing. I was still reeling from the domineering kiss however my anger towards him was stronger than my desire to kiss him back.

*end of Maya's POV*

James was furious and didn't want to back down now. He needed to know if Maya was indeed working with Alex and if that was the reason she sabotaged the new product registration. With venom oozing out of his mouth he said, "You are just his type of woman. A cheap flirt. A weakling just like him. What did Alex promise you? Money, property, love. What are you getting from that man? Tell me before I fire your ass and destroy everything you hold dear to you." Maya was confused, "What are you talking about? I have never met that man before in my life. After the meeting we had, I found out that AJ Group was also submitting a similar dossier for approval and our strategy was to get the registration earlier so that our company was first to market. But please believe me whe..." James cut her off by asking her to stop pretending to be innocent.

He didn't believe that she knew nothing about the rivalry between the two companies. Now Maya was even more confused as she had absolutely no clue about what the rivalry between these two men or the company was about. She knew very well that AJ Group was a new entrant into the market and that they were a normal business competitor, but she didn't know that this was personal. James felt distracted by the woman underneath him. She was beautiful and intoxicating and her eyes were so deeply captivating that he feared that he may get lost in them. Earlier, he couldn't stop looking at her from his table while Bethany was busy chatting away. The moment he saw Maya leaving her table with her phone in her hand, he made up an excuse and left a disappointed Bethany at the table.

He suddenly got off Maya, straightened his jacket and walked towards the door. He turned back to look at Maya before his hand touched the doorknob and said, "If I find out that you were working hand in hand with Alex to sabotage my company, you will regret the day you met me, Maya Sharma." He slammed the door shut and walked towards the elevator in long strides. As he arrived at the foyer, his driver was already waiting for him and hurriedly left to get the car. While, upstairs on the veranda of the wine bar, Maya walked back to the table where her friends were sitting, and she gulped down a glass of wine before turning to Grace. All eyes were on Maya, and everyone was wondering where she had disappeared to for such a long time. "Grace, we need to talk in private." Maya said and took Grace's hand in hers and gave her a look which sent shivers down Grace's spine. She had never seen the graceful, cheerful Maya this worked up before therefore she immediately agreed to go with Maya.