Chapter 41 - Who the FUCK are you?

Note:

- This chapter very much has absolutely nothing going on. Just words of horrendous description. I was going to continue but it was going to be too long so I'm gonna do it next chapter. Apologies lmao

- again, this is not beta'd so do ignore all the spelling/grammar mistakes. i usually write this at like 2 in the morning <3

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POV: Nero

I was late.

It's not completely my fault. Just partially. Initially, I intentionally planned to be an hour late until I found out the finance department was entering the hall place together in order to give some badass entrance, so everyone needed to be there. Which cued complete panic for both Aiden and I.

Yes, Aiden. Why Aiden you ask?

Because this man refused to let me go unless he got me ready. Oh, by the way, I gave the man hell for days for meddling. The hell included things such as cutting off his wifi for two days, not letting him sleep for another two, showing up to his work and pretending to be the brother of his ex who he got pregnant (which was unlikely since he prefers Ds over Vs) and much, much more. Let's just say, he's learnt to back off where he's not wanted.

Anyway, he apparently hated my fashion sense and every item I owned because once again, he threw me in his very expensive Armani suit. It was a very dark grey colour and it's paired with a similar suit jacket. The tie was made out of silk and it was a simple royal blue colour with no pattern, accompanied by a white shirt. He made me wear contacts which were meant to be coloured but I absolutely refused because it was going to be blue. Like why? We opted for normal prescription contacts.

He fixed up my hair so it didn't look like the usual shagged up mess that it is. It still looked kind of shaggy but a more purposeful shaggy. A neat and enticing shag. If that made any sense. Regardless, it definitely made me look a lot cleaner and sharper. All the bling on my ears, lips and fingers were mine as they actually looked nice according to Aiden. Gave me a mature bad boy vibe. The lip piercing would make me stand out from the rest of the crowd so I wasn't initially going to go with it but, Assden wanted me to be the best looking invitee which was a complete ass move since he knew how much I'd rather blend in. The only reason I agreed was because he called me a drama queen and now I needed to prove I wasn't a drama queen.

Aiden said makeup was also a must, putting on some eyeliner, brown eyeshadow and light pink lip tint. The concealer was avoided to not hide the freckles, as it gave me character according to the smurf haired fucker and if it was covered up, people wouldn't apparently recognise me. And I didn't doubt him because holy shit I did not look like me. There was no time to fret over it though because as soon as we were done, Aiden shoved me into the Uber and bid me goodbye before he went back to his work to work on some exclusive, important project (that's why I couldn't plus one his sorry ass. He cried about missing out for at least two days).

Which brought us to when I had to half sprint to the front of the Hyatt Hotel (A/N this is not the real life Hyatt. This is some made up 7 star hotel. Pretend. It's all pretend) because the Uber driver got somewhat lost. I'd usually be fine with it except I couldn't be late. He made me like twenty minutes late instead of ten. Regardless, I was in front of the revolving doors and as people walked past me in their best looks, I had my hands on my knees and I was trying to catch my breath. Aiden is going to flip if my hair and makeup is ruined before I even entered the damn venue and he'll know. He always does. I swear this guy inserted some sort of camera on my body. Cutting my thoughts short, I finally went through the revolving doors into the bustling hotel lobby.

Everything was so lively. Everyone is so lively. Lights bright, the grand hotel lobby made everyone a tad bit classier. Speaking of people, they're clearly wearing their best outfits and money had gone towards every aspect. I recognised some of the employees but there were also some celebrities, mingling with the normal civilians. It was a whack sight. People were either talking animatedly together or taking a shit ton of photos to create memories. Or make their Instagram look fabulous. I think it was more the latter. Considering how people are meant to be inside twenty minutes ago, the entrance is quite packed. If it's for photos, people's priorities really need to be reevaluated. I'm also really fucking glad I took some meds before coming here or else I'd be overwhelmed by now and probably frothing on the ground. That won't be a good look.

I resumed to look for my co-workers and panic crawled up my throat and overtook my heart. Holy shit please don't make me enter the place alone. I need friends! Luckily, I spotted someone that I recognised from the financing department and I immediately sighed in relief. He seemed to be walking to some huge crowd so I went towards the crowd myself, dodging incoming people left and right. Eventually, the faces of the crowds were beginning to look somewhat familiar and it wasn't till Mason's face caught my vision that my heart began calming down

As I approached Mason, Pearl came into view and I slowed down.

"Sorry I'm late. There was... traffic and the Uber driver got lost."

Everyone immediately turned to face me and Matthew also came into view. Everyone in the group looked very nice and cleaned up very well. If I knew their names, I'd probably have complimented them but I didn't so let's save the embarrassment. Speaking of which, I should've simped over the other two. Matthew looked like a completely new person with his facial hair trimmed neatly and I swore he cut his hair as well. He seemed to be wearing a pricey suit with a green tie complimenting the girl's dress, the girl that was on his arm It seems we finally meet the missus.

Anyway, the said man (and everyone else) were all looking at me oddly. I tried to decipher what was wrong but all I'm got was... unrecognition? That can't be right. Before I could question, Matthew asked in a very questioning but polite tone, "I apologise for my rudeness but who are you?"

You're fucking with me. Nah. You're kidding, right? My eyebrows twitched in disbelief but I was entertained at the same time. So I didn't bother hiding the amusement behind my voice when I answered back, "Wow! So you can be polite to people. They just can't be your employees, can they? I was truly worried that your mother didn't raise you right."

As soon as I finished, the helpless group of people's jaws dropped, especially my friends. Their eyes widened as their pupils directed attention to my freckles, then to my lip piercing and then to my neck band-aid that was still slightly peeking out. Recognition filled everyone eyes and they all screamed something along the lines of,

"NEROVSKY?"

"WHHHAATTTT?!!"

"EEEHHHHHHHH?"

"NOOOO WAAAYY!"

It captured the attention of nearby loiterers so we were all getting weird looks. I looked back at them, mouthing an apology before looking back at the rest and telling them to shut the fuck up. It seemed to work for almost all but three people. Good old dumb, dumber and dumbest. They pointed their fingers at me in disbelief as Matthew, Mason and Pearl say respectively,

"What the fuck happened to your face?"

"Are you secretly Bill Gate's son?"

"Holy shit you look fucking hot."

I retaliated back, "That's fucking rude Matthew. No, I'm not Bill Gate's son. It's Aiden's shit and thank you Pearl but are you saying I don't usually look hot?"

Everyone but Mason looked flustered at my response and Matthew's wife was laughing her ass off.

"ANYWAY, now we got that out of the way, can we go in? The introduction or whatnot is about to start and we need to go in?"

Matthew's jaw was still slacked open but he managed to punch out, "Yes. Ok. Inside. Go." WHAT'S THE BIG FUCKING DEAL?! I huffed in frustration and walked in front of the group, prompting them to follow me. They managed to pull that off (thank god) and as I finally opened up the grand door into the ballroom and—

"Holy fucking shit..."

(A/N I got lazy once again. think of this but grander and larger)

As we walked down a couple of stairs, I felt an arm sling around my shoulders and Matthew pressed into my side, whispering in my ears, "Aren't you glad that you came here?" His eyes weren't directed at me. It was locked to the left of us so I followed his line of sight and I immediately regretted it (kind of ). My eyes focused on the one guy I was hoping to avoid the entire night and just appreciate from a distance. Ohmyfuckinggodhelookshotheshouldntlookthishotwhyisthisallowedithoughtivealeadysaweverythingfuckyouuuuuu. I still hadn't registered that I'd frozen in place (and been left behind by my asshole co-workers), just blatantly staring at Leonardo. His side wasn't any better though because he was doing the same thing, openly checking me out for the first time ever (instead of it being completely one way). With his glazed eyes, he looked like he was ready about to pounce on me... from a ten metres distance.

You couldn't blame me for being entranced by him. You'd think the already hot guy could not get any hotter but boy, does he prove you wrong. The man was wearing a newly bought, expensive, maroon suit that fit him in all the right places, paired with a plain black tie. His pore-free skin was basically glowing and his golden-brown hair was shining under the soft lights. It was gelled up but made it look natural. It was one hell of a look. He also was wearing a couple of pieces of jewellery himself on his hands but it was hard to tell whether it was just a bracelet or a wristwatch (bets on Rolex).

Also in my defence, I was not the only one gaping at him. Ninety-five percent of the girls were doing the same or taking photos of him or discussing methods of approaching him. Don't forget the bent guys as well, who were shamelessly eye-fucking him and looked ready to tear his clothes off right there and then.

But he didn't even spare a glance because his attention was gathered elsewhere. It was gathered towards me and that's what I found astonishing. Out of everyone in this room, everyone who was probably looking the best they'd ever look, the person who'd caught his attention, was me. And that fact hit me like a truck and all the air was sucked out of my lungs. It was after this realisation that I was finally aware of my surroundings and I managed to snap out of it. I put my hands to my cheeks to find it overheating and finally broke eye contact to look for my table. I found it at the back of the room, opposite where Leo was standing and bolted towards it. Yeah, no. I'm not going anywhere near him tonight or else I know I'm going to say or do something I'm going regret and I'll have to quit my job. No sirey, I will just blend in with the crowd.

I got to my table and sat down in the one empty spot, in the middle of Pearl and Matthew. Once I got comfy, I looked over to Matthew, only to see him give me a knowing shit-eating grin which in return, made me flush redder and groan out loud. This is going to be a long fucking night. I blame Leo and his unfair, great body proportion and face.

POV: Leonardo

Nero had disappeared from where he was standing but I was still frozen in my spot, processing and savouring everything I witnessed. What my eyes had been blessed with. I backtracked to two minutes ago where I was practically running around like a ferret, trying to keep everything in order and not fuck the bloody thing up before it even began. I was on my way back out to the lobby before my eyes landed on the finance department entering the hall with as much grace and style as they do every year. My mind immediately jumped to Nero and began looking for him in the crowd and it didn't take much effort. Since the man right in front happened to be the target all along.

It actually took a while for me to actually recognise the man but when I finally realise who it was, literally all my breath had been knocked out of me. It was at that moment that I truly appreciated how fit the bloke was in his everyday life and how much fitter he could be when he tried a bit harder. Speaking of hard... cough let's just say it's not only my mind who agreed.

After the rooftop 2.0 incident, I spent time thinking about my sexuality properly and formally concluded that yes, I was indeed bisexual. It was always in the back of my head but it seems that a certain employee sped up the process. This clearly indicated that I happened to have a crush on the fellow that was slowly growing as the days go by and rapidly growing with every interaction we had. It's fast I know (considering the length of time we know each other) and it's definitely not something that I've ever experienced. It usually took me a while to open up to anyone, let alone fall for them. But something about him charmed me and it was annoying because I didn't know what exactly. Perhaps it was everything about him but I do know that it made me want to know more about him, discover his secrets but more importantly, it made me want to bare my own soul to him and that was terrifying. The amount of trust I already had for the man I just met was beyond normal.

Nero's eyes also landed on mine eventually and both of us were bewitched. It was like everyone around us disappeared instantly and even the venue began softening into a slight blur, leaving just the two of us. We're both looking at each other in shock which turned into hunger real quick on my part (and maybe his but that might be just wishful thinking). What I could say though was that we're both checking out each other, from across the room and we clearly did not give a single shite (A/N look, I could explain how hot Nero looks again. But can you just do me favour and think up the hottest yet cutest looking man alive. I gave the briefest description already. Yes, this is not how you story write but I just did a test and my brain is fried).

The word gorgeous doesn't do him justice. Or hot. Or sexy. Ok, maybe sexy because bloody hell, the way that suits fits him and the way the lip piercing is shining off. It's like he's asking me to pounce at him and snog him right there and then.

All of a sudden, Nero jerked up and escapes from the trance we were in, instead replaced with panic. The man's face was red and instantly put his hands onto his cheeks and went to look for his seat. Once found, he practically bolted away like a rapid being hunted by prey (it's not that off if I do say so myself), leaving behind me, a very confused and sexually frustrated president.

Once everything was processed, I went back to what I was meant to be doing with a newfound determination to ignore the other man because I just knew that if I kept thinking back to him, I was going to fuck up my speech and probably declare my newly found crush on the poor bloke. And something told that the attention-avoiding employee would probably drown himself in Champaign if it came down to that. However, as I was talking to the hotel staff about the issues with the food, my mind kept wandering back to the clear, dark-brown eyes, the ruffled black hair and pink-tinted lips and it was at that point I realised that it was going to be a long fucking night.