Chapter 9 Nine

"Where to?" asked Alexa.

"Just a moment," Ray said.

He folded part of his sleeve up to his elbow. As he was about to leave, his eyes caught two pairs of pitiful eyes in the corner of the warehouse glistened at their savior. Lips muttered, 'boss' quietly.

Alexa still had her arms crossed. "Just talk here, my work isn't finished yet."

The warehouse is actually the most anti-Ray place. To protect his pride from embarrassment, he did not reveal the reason. Instead he said, "How did you know I like red?"

Her face showed a mix of daze and shock.

Spying on Ray Sanders five years ago, how could she miss such a small thing. Even though she wasn't sure, Ray seemed unaware several times that his accessories were almost always red. For example, the clothes he wore today.

"They told me," she glanced at the two mice pulling the balloon. "Give them an extra month-end bonus."

Ray looked at the two people, then Alexa. "I will do it." Then he approached the waiters. "Can I have two balloons?"

The first young waiter handed out a balloon with starry eyes looking at Ray. "H-Here, Mr. Sanders."

"Thanks."

The balloon had a silver ribbon, which matched the dark red balloon perfectly. The balloon was given to Alexa.

"What?" She was shocked.

"Give this to Fillo."

"Oh, thank you." The balloon was well received by her. "Why did you give me two?"

"One balloon is for you as a thank you. If you don't like it, you can give both to Fillo."

"Again? You're too much, Ray. I'm just doing my job."

Alexa refrained from scoffing. His demeanor in her eyes was like that of a small child with an adult body, still very pure and innocent. Wait a minute! This must be a fake too, right? The totality of this bastard.

Ray shrugged. "I knew you wouldn't accept another gift without being forced to."

"You can give me money," Alexa answered freely.

"I forgot that I haven't paid you yet. I'll send the entire event fee to your account now."

It was a pity that she didn't care. To be honest, she didn't really need money right now, after all the event would still start tomorrow. But when her phone rang alerting her that money was coming into her bank account, she immediately frowned.

"You're actually sending it now?"

"Men can't break promises, right?" Ray said casually as if the money was just small change. "This way I won't be the same as your ex."

This man is crazy!

He really doesn't like being compared to other people.

Alexa immediately left the warehouse when she realized that it was almost late. She and Ray walked hand in hand out of the warehouse while discussing unimportant things, then separated because she had to quickly finish decorating. In the kitchen, she even took care of the chef who will make the tiered tart cake.

This was the first time she had entered the kitchen since decorating the club in the morning. Several garlic appeared to be placed haphazardly at the corners of the kitchen, attracting her attention.

"Why do you guys throw garlic in the corner? Don't you have a trash can?"

The head chef, who was arranging the cake ingredients, looked at her. "That's to keep cockroaches away, Miss."

"People here doesn't know about pest spray?" She frowned.

On the other hand, the head chef, who has a big body, laughed, who knows what's funny. "Mr. Sanders always made sure we checked to see if there were any cockroaches left. So we asked to put garlic in every corner."

If she hadn't heard this, she wouldn't have known that garlic could repel cockroaches.

"What's wrong with cockroaches?"

"Mr. Sanders is afraid of cockroaches."

A loud laugh suddenly burst from her lips. Strong, masculine men can be afraid of cockroaches too, apparently.

"It's childhood trauma." The chef smiled a little embarrassedly, his hands sorting out several items. "It's common knowledge here."

"Why did I just find out?" she muttered amusedly.

"Excuse me?"

"No, I mean ... he's such a big guy ... how is that possible?" Her stomach clenched from laughing.

Her fresh laughter rubbed off on the middle-aged chef, causing him to smile at the memory of his boss. The name tag on his oversized shirt had his name written on it; Gerson Walter, gleaming under the lights.

"He said that when he was little, a cockroach crawled inside his blanket while he was sleeping, then because it was ticklish, he woke up and screamed." Gerson started to tell a story.

"Oh, my gosh. And then?"

Alexa tried to hold back her laughter as best she could but failed. Gerson looked happy as he continued, "The blanket was shaken vigorously while shaking, but the cockroaches flew to all corners chasing him as he ran."

"I can imagine it." She pounded the table while laughing loudly, her eyes watering. "What a shame, Ray."

"That's right, what bad luck." Gerson was satisfied.

"So?"

"The door to his room was locked at that time and everyone in the house panicked because little Mr. Sanders screamed continuously in fear and did not respond when his parents called him. This incident lasted almost an hour until their parents called the police." This part drained her stomach the most, but she continued to listen as he continued, "Thinking there was a child kidnapper, the police immediately broke down the door to the room, but what they found was him lying stiffly on the floor because there was a cockroach above his eye. His body was shaking badly, he also wet the floor and—"

"Hahahaha." Alexa raised her hand to cut him off. "Enough, enough! I could die from laughing. Really."

The tears at the corners of her lids were quickly wiped away, she could barely stop the rest of her laughter and she patted her cheeks firmly.

"Oh my gosh. Thank you. Believe it or not, you cheered me up quite a bit today." She sighed. "I have to get out or I'll keep thinking about cockroaches."

As soon as she came out, she immediately called one of her male employees who was busy with the spotlight. On her face there was still a trace of laughter about cockroaches.

What a mess.

"Sorry, Boss, the cable isn't long enough, that's why this—"

"No," she interrupted quickly. "Did I call you to scold you?"

The man understood, in his heart he said, 'It's usually like that, right?', and he immediately showed a relieved face. "What is it, Boss?"

"You go out to buy extra cables, and also buy toys for Fillo."

"Toys?"

Alexa nodded, giving the money. "Yes, you heard me; toys. There should be toy cockroaches in the supermarket. Buy two for me."

In the fastest half an hour, two packs of toy cockroaches were already in her hands. Previously, she had marked Ray's current whereabouts. His assistant said that the man was now walking around looking at her amazing decorations. He also said that Ray was very impressed with her employees. And even though she was praised, she didn't feel flattered.

When she finally found him, it turned out that the man was alone with his arrogant fiancé, standing near a small stage near the pool where one of Alexa's subordinates was still installing the sound system.

Alexa froze for a moment, feeling angry, that bastard was just happy there while for five years Alexa had endured suffering.

She can't let him go!

'That bastard!'

Her steps stomped towards him, the packaging used for the toy was thrown away carelessly, caught by her employees who saw it. Still with hasty steps, she headed near the stage with a dangerous look, without glancing right or left, not caring that her employees were looking at her in confusion. She continued to advance as if she were charging into a battlefield.

The two toy cockroaches were thrown forward, at Ray's fiancé's face. Unfortunately, the cable snaking across the floor got caught in her leg and she lost her balance. Her eyes widened in surprise and looked for a handle.

Along with the sound of water splashing against a heavy object, Alexa fell onto someone's strong chest and together hit the smooth floor.

Alexa closed her eyes ready for the pain.

But she couldn't find that feeling.

A hand held her shoulder, accompanied by a soft voice. Other sounds automatically disappeared, as if there was only her and that voice. Her eyes opened slowly.

In front of her was Ray. Staring at her. Asking, "Are you okay?"

His face was a little worried.

Alexa was dazed, shaking her head.

"I'm … yeah, I'm good."

No one remembers how a woman named Hailey Tatum fell with two toy cockroaches into a pool of water very beautifully.

... to be continued ...