chapter 6

The next day in the office for Isabella went in a blur, with loads of work and earning some snapping from her boss. God knows why he was this angry all the time. Later that evening, Isabella went her home and started getting ready for the exhibition. After showering, she dried her hair and decided to keep them open and curled it from the end. She applied a little makeup with a red lipstick which wasn't too bright, after finishing her hair and makeup she got dressed into the dress she bought that day with Ellie and paired it with the matching earrings. In the end, she slipped into her red high heels which she already had in her closet. She looked over herself in the mirror and she must say that she looked really beautiful after a very long time. She flattened her hands over her dress, took her clutch and went downstairs.

"You look really beautiful" Megan said

"Thank you " Isabella replied and then the door bell rang and Megan went to open the door

"Hello, ladies" Ellie said while entering the apartment

"Hi, you look smoking hot" Megan said

"Thanks, little one" Ellie said

"I. Am. Not. Little" Megan said

"Sure" Ellie replied

"Cut it out, you two" Isabella said

"You look pretty, Ell"

"Only pretty?" Ellie asked while pouting

"Hot too" Isabella said while chuckling

"You look hot too" Ellie said

"Thanks" Isabella said

"Come on, let's get going" Ellie said

"Well, someone is excited" Isabella said, purposely teasing her friend

"Shut up" Ellie snapped causing Isabella to chuckle.

They reached the hall in about 30 minutes. Entering the hall felt like they were in a movie as there were papparazis and press everywhere.

"I'm gonna get blind with all these lights coming from those stupid cameras!" Ellie exclaimed

"Same for me as well" Isabella said and that's when they heard a familiar voice.

"Ladies!" Carson said, appearing in front of them

"I'm glad you both came" He said grinning and kissed the back of Isabella's hand. He was dressed in a navy blue suit which coincidentally matched Ellie's dress color.

"Hello to you too, Carson" Isabella said smiling while nudging Ellie in her stomach to greet him.

"Hello" Ellie said

"Hello" Carson said while placing his lips on the back of Ellie's hand which lingered more than few seconds, causing Isabella to clear her throat and Ellie to blush.

"I'm just going to get something to drink" Isabella excused herself and went towards the bar.

"What do you want, beautiful?" The bartender asked

"A glass of orange juice" Isabella said while taking in the appearance of the young bartender who was dressed in the usual uniform as the waiters there were dressed in. He had his nose pierced and had a slit on the end of his left eyebrow.

"Your juice" The bartender said while placing a glass of orange juice on the counter.

"Mind telling me your name?"

"Isabella" She said and went away while excusing herself, clearly not in the mood of flirting

Isabella searched for Ellie and Carson but they both were out of her sight. After searching for almost 10 minutes, she gave up and sighed. She went towards a painting which was a beautiful scenery of some Island. There was a name written in the corner of the canvas and it was

CARSON ANDERSON

She almost said wow because the painting in front of her screamed the word 'beautiful'. She examined other paintings while sipping on her orange juice.

"Isabella" A familiar voice spoke behind her, causing her to turn around

"Mr. Anderson" Isabella said while smiling at her boss, Seth and despite the fact that he called her by her first name which caused a small amount of butterflies to jump in her stomach.

"Call me Seth outside work" He said which took Isabella by surprise for a split second but she quickly recovered

"Okay Mr- I mean, Seth" Isabella said.

To say that Seth liked how his name rolled off her tongue would be an understatement, he flipping loved it. And increasing his passion was the dress she was wearing with her hair flowing down her waist. He couldn't think of anything to hide his liking so he smiled and nodded his head and went away.

"Do you like my paintings?" Carson asked Ellie once they reached the room which only Carson and the Anderson family were allowed to go in along with some workers

"I love them" Ellie said while roaming her hand around the painting hanging on the wall, which was one of Carson's works.

"Really?" He asked from behind her, his breath tickling her neck

"Yes" Ellie said breathlessly

"You look f*cking beautiful" Carson said while placing a light kiss on her neck and running his index finger on her back

"Carson" Ellie almost moaned but they were disturbed by the door opening, revealing a worker. They quickly separated from each other.

After the exhibition ended, Isabella searched for Ellie but she couldn't find her, she even called her but there was no response and it was getting late too so Isabella decided to take a cab home. She walked out of the hall while wrapping her blazer close to herself as it was a chilly winter night and she was wearing a short dress. She searched for a cab for almost half an hour but she couldn't find one. Could this day can get anymore worse? She thought to herself and decided to walk home. It wasn't even 5 minutes when she heard footsteps behind her. She decided to ignore them and started walking a little faster. In no time, she felt a hand on her wrist causing her to turn around quickly. The next thing she saw caused the breath to hitch in her throat. A man was standing just a feet away from her. He looked 6'10 and was covered with tattoos and piercings with his muscles bulging out of his shirt. And to increase her fear, the man was smirking.

"Come on sweetheart, I'll give you a long night" The man said while coming near her causing Isabella to step back in fear.

"Wh-what do you want?" Isabella stuttered

"You" The man smirked and in a matter of a few seconds, he pinned her up against the nearest wall

"Leave me, leave me. Help!" Isabella yelled while trying to hit the man but failed miserably

"Shut up" The man snapped

"Leave me, please" Isabella begged, tears brimming in the corner of her eyes

"She said leave her alone!" A familiar voice shouted, Seth

"Who the hell are you?" The bulky man snapped, not leaving Isabella

"Leave. Her. Alone." Seth said in a low and dangerous tone

"Not gonna happen" The bulky man said and that's when Seth stroke the first punch straight in the man's face causing the man to fall on the ground and Isabella to gasp. The fight continued with both of them beating each other. Isabella couldn't even move, her legs froze but somehow she managed to say a small 'stop'. She tried to stop them and finally the bulky man ran away.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked

"Yeah" Isabella muttered

"Why the hell were you walking alone at this time? Are you out of your mind?" Seth asked, wiping the blood flowing from his bottom lip. Here we go again with the snapping. Isabella thought

"I-I didn't have a ride home, I came here with Ellie but I couldn't find her anywhere so I decided to walk home" Isabella said

"Come on, I'll give you a ride home" Seth said walking towards his Mercedes

"It's not necessary, I can walk" Isabella said, a little louder so he could hear

"Hurry up, I don't have much time" Seth said, completely ignoring Isabella's protests. She rolled her eyes and walked towards his car and sat in the passenger seat, with Seth in the driver seat. She told him her address on the way to her apartment. The arrived after 15 minutes. Isabella got out of the car, with Seth following.

"Come on, come inside" Isabella said

"Why?" Seth asked, clearly confused

"So what do you think? Should I leave you alone when you are bloody bleeding?" Isabella said, in a louder voice

"It's not necessary" Seth said

"I don't have much time" Isabella said, smirking. It all felt like déjà vu.

They went inside her apartment and she asked Seth to be seated on the couch. She went inside the kitchen and grabbed the first aid box and sat beside him on the couch. She started cleaning the wound on his lips but couldn't focus properly because of his strong stare on her. She somehow managed it and started cleaning the wound on his knuckles and wrapped it with a bandage. She cleared her throat, causing Seth to snap out of his trance.

"Uh its done" Isabella said

"Thanks" He said smiling at her and again her stomach went all flipping and jumping

"You're welcome" Isabella said and went after Seth who was walking towards the main door

"I gotta go" Seth said and started walking

"Seth" Isabella called him

"Yeah?" He asked, turning around to face her

"Thanks for the uh ride" Isabella said

"You're welcome" Seth said and walked towards his car. He started the engine and got disappeared in the dark.

Isabella went inside the house and after changing into her night wear, she jumped on her bed , hoping to get some sleep but her plan failed because of the thoughts of her arrogant and handsome boss.