Proposal

"Sir, would you like to be informed about your schedule today?"

Irvyn just entered into his office, and Josh started doing his part of work just on clock. Sometimes he wonders why the secretary of his comes ever earlier than the CEO himself, even though the CEO of "Midnight Glam" pretty much of an early bird, arriving before the office hour even starts.

Irvyn just nodded, allowing his secretary to proceed with his words. And without any further words, he just took a seat in his chair, flipping open the files and documents in front of him.

"Sure. today you have a meeting with the designing team for the upcoming summer release. After that the interview for the models are supposed to be held after lunch," Josh skimmed over the tablet in his hands one more time before concluding, checking if he missed out anything. "That's all for the plans before dinner."

"Any dinner plans?" Irvyn asked, without raising his eyes up from the papers.

"Well… yes you do. It's…"

Josh took a long pause, not proceeding ahead. And that awkward hesitation of him make Irvyn finally raise his gaze up.

"...and? What plans do I have for dinner tonight, Mr. Nelson?" eyebrows arched up in a frown, Irvyn looked at him.

"A d-date, sir," he stammered in his words.

"With?"

"With… Hailey Rose. Daughter of the director from…"

"Hailey Entertainment." Irvyn finished on behalf of Josh. "Why her, out of all people? I don't think we had any kind of business contract or any involvement with each other."

"No, it's not about business. It's… as one of the candidates you told me to find for your marriage."

"The WHAT?" Irvyn slammed his fist on the table, startling Josh. "What do you mean, as in candidate? You couldn't find anyone else?"

Josh knew this would happen. Of course, getting mingled with the woman would be the last thing Irvyn would ever want. Hailey Rose was famous for being the young fashion icon of this generation, creating sensation even though she is not actively in entertainment industry. Just being the face of the company gives a lot of advantage to the entire company. That was the kind of influence the spokesperson of Hailey Entertainment had.

A lady in her late twenties, same age as Irvyn, and really proud of herself, had a unique trait to her. She was someone who was determined to achieve if she set her eyes on something once. No matter how or what the ways she needs to take, she wouldn't hesitate. And that's why, she has been constantly trying to achieve the glory of being the bride of Collins household. Everyone who knows these two families well are well aware by now about how many attempts she had made, sometimes with pride, or sometimes shamelessly, just to get a positive response to the marriage proposal from the man himself. But as the talk goes, Irvyn was someone who was never seen or heard getting involved with any woman. He bluntly rejected Rose everytime, taking every person actively engaged in either entertainment industry or business lines. Because Rose has been on his tails for a year now, people know more about them, some even secretly shipping them in many anonymous blog posts. Even Irvyn's family quite like her as a wife for him. But those who are more invested into people standing up high in social hierarchy, have known how badly he has avoided any kind of woman interaction up until now. Irvyn even avoided hanging out with people, specially girls from his student life, and that can be vouched by his secretary, Josh Nelson.

So when Rose found out about the search for marriage candidate by Josh for his boss, there was no way she would miss out the chance. As for how she secured a date, a proper and strong business plan was all it took to score the goal.

"Vyn, listen. I know you really hate the presence of her, but…"

"But what, Josh? If you know that, exactly why are you even trying to fix a date with her?" Irvyn snapped out, which was really rare for someone of small talk like him.

"Because she would be the perfect for the purpose you are aiming for. Think about it, you need someone who wouldn't get attached to you, right? And also, not covet for your assets, instead help to enhance and take care of it, right?"

Irvyn had stood up from his chair, but now that his friend started explaining himself, he sat back down, pressing his fingers on his forehead.

"She just wants the power! Look, she is definitely eyeing on you for the influence you have. And given the fact that she is so tactical with the business strategy and all, she would be the ideal choice. She isn't anything like those rich bratty princess, rather she is smart." Josh spoke up. Seeing his friend silently listening to him, he slowly took a seat across from Irvyn. "At least meet her. She said she has a business proposal for you, which could benefit both of you. I don't see why it wouldn't work on your benefit."

Irvyn rested his head on his propped up hand, looking at who knows where, but not at the person in front of him. His eyebrows furrowed, and entire facial expression of him was looking like he was in terrible mood and annoyed at everything.

"Fine, I'll go and listen to her once. Now leave me alone." Irvyn breathed out, teeth gritted tightly, and words barely escaping his mouth.

"Uh… yeah. Sure. Let me know if you need anything," Josh simply nodded his head and left the office room, leaving Irvyn behind. As soon as he was gone, Irvyn stood up in a hurried pace, and started rummaging through the drawer under his work table. He flipped through every single thing in there, desperately trying to search for something.

"Where the heck did I put them?" his hands were shaking at some point, and it was hard getting his head straight. His vision slowly was getting blurry, making it more difficult to search through the drawer. Finally, what it felt like ages, he found a small container. He unscrewed the cap of it, took out a few blue colored tablet, and gulped those down immediately. He was getting out of breath, so when he was finally able to take those tablets, his legs gave in, and he stumbled upon his chair.

"Why the headache got worse than before?" he groaned, teeth clattering with each other thanks to him suddenly feeling chill running down his spine, even though he was sweating a lot. He took a few deep breaths before taking his cellphone out, tapping away a few times to open his schedules, the past ones and the upcoming ones all noted down.

"It has been long since I last visited her," he let out a few gasps before sinking himself to his soft cushioned chair. Making a mental note of meeting the person he was thinking, he let himself rest for a little bit.