9 Have Their Hearts Set On

Lucian did not hide his laugh when the dressed up Valerie stepped out of the room.

Her hair was pulled into two ponytails secured by hair band adorned by plastic strawberries. She wore a neat white t-shirt that had a cartoon strawberry drawn on it and pink shorts to match with it. A pair of pink sneakers completed the look.

"How cute," he complimented.

This was a contrast to her usual self. He didn't think she would go through this in the first place.

Valerie understood he was making fun of her. The attire did feel embarrassing to her, but indulging him to have fun satisfied her. She stopped the smile that threatened to break out on her face at his expression and said, "You're behind the schedule by half an hour."

He waved that off.

"They know to wait for me."

She shook her head. "How irresponsible."

Saying that, she walked outside the shop, and Lucian frowned. He thought he would get some reaction from her over this, but her change of look didn't even make her bat an eyelash.

After expressing his good-byes, Lucian caught up to Valerie. A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes, and before Valerie could react, he pulled off the keys from her hand.

Tilting her head, she saw the smirk on his face as he held the key high, out of her reach, and challenged, "Do you know who is responsible for getting me to work on time? My assistant."

"Are you a child?"

Lucian found her tone deriding.

He hissed and responded, "Not exactly, but you ignite the childishness inside me."

No change of expression occurred on Valerie's face as she attempted to snatch the key away from Lucian. However, having the obvious advantage of height he had made it tough for her to even touch the key.

Lucian found it adorable— Valerie in a cute attire, struggling for the key like this; she appeared helpless.

As expected, teasing her brought him joy.

Valerie stepped back, understanding she wouldn't be able to fight against him, and said, "If you continue with this, I would have to get physical."

Her tone was solemn.

This made the corner of his lips look up.

"Physical? I like the sound of it. Why don't you kiss me? Then, I will let you have the key."

That instantly made Valerie's attention fall to his lips, and her eyes darkened for a second. Intense fire started to rage inside her.

'Control yourself, Valerie.'

"Don't try to provoke what you can't handle."

Those eyes of Valerie caught him off guard for a short while before Valerie stepped forward and grabbed on to his collar. Then, pulling him down, she swiftly snatched away the key from the larger man.

Lucian, however, held her arm and pushed her against the car. Before Valerie could process it, he placed a soft kiss very near to her lips. This paused all of Valerie's motions as she was taken aback.

Pulling back, Lucian stared at Valerie. Her lips were parted, and those eyes of hers held horror in them. This made Lucian run his tongue across his lips, finding the look to be appeasing.

After such a long time, Valerie showed such large change of expression. It excited his spirit to do something more.

Valerie froze. The heat still remained on her cheek, her body throbbed.

Finding herself slipping that control, Valerie sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm her rapid heartbeats. However, the Lucian, who appeared deadly holding that teasing intent in his eyes, made that difficult.

"What are you doing?"

Valerie's voice was thick with displeasure.

"A headline. Isn't that what you wanted the other day?"

That's all he had to say before wearing his sunglasses and getting into the car, unaware of the agony Valerie suffered from in order to not let the beast inside her emerge.

°°°

"You're late," commented the middle-aged man once Lucian stepped into his office with Valerie. Shane Anderson was printed on the name plate along with his title, CEO.

Lucian had a casual expression on. His hands were tucked into his pocket as he responded, "The blame is on my new inexperienced assistant. She kind of got lost."

Valerie had a mask on her face to protect her identity. Although she tend to keep herself away from the media, for a person of her status, it was impossible to remain completely hidden.

Her eyes shot towards Lucian at his lie before calmness settled in them.

Shane Anderson had dissatisfaction written on his features.

"How irresponsible," he voiced out, "why would they hire someone like her?"

Lucian shrugged. "Apparently, they saw some potential in her."

"Potential? In someone who doesn't even know the directions? Are they on drugs during working? And you, why would you even apply for this job when you are this incompetent?"

Lucian listened with amusement as Shane scolded and lectured Valerie on her irresponsible behavior. Valerie surely mustn't have been this loudly or impolitely talked to by someone who hardly matched her worth in her eyes.

He thought she would be mad, but Valerie silently listened. No ripples were there in her eyes, and this made him scrunch his nose in annoyance.

He recalled back to the fear Valerie showed when he kissed her then. He wanted to have her trembling and lose all that composure.

And it seemed that to break down Valerie, more than these silly games are needed.

These redundant words of Shane was starting to irritate her. No wonder Lucian blamed it on her. He wanted her to be the target of this nagging man, and unable to take it anymore, Valerie expressed, "Aren't you being the unprofessional one now? He has a shoot after half an hour."

"What!?" Shane was shocked that a mere assistant countered him in this way.

"If you have nothing important to say, I will be taking Lucian with me. The drive would have twenty minutes if the traffic is light," Valerie pointed out.

"This impudent woman, do you think you will be safe after acting this rudely to me? Call the human resource department. I want her fired right now! Who does she think the boss is!? Ah! My heart."

He grabbed on to his chest and fell back on the chair. His blood pressure was rising. As for Valerie, she held back her urge to roll her eyes at the dramatic CEO.

As much as Lucian wanted to sit back and enjoy, Shane was obviously at the disadvantage here. The last thing did he want was for Shane to be taken to the ER today.

Before Valerie could part her lips, Lucian interfered, "I believe she understands now, CEO Anderson. Now, what did you need me for?"

After directing a glare towards Valerie, Shane pressed on to his forehead and vocalized, "Right. Director Jones wants you to take on the role of male lead for his new movie."

Lucian smiled and refused, "I disagree. Didn't I say I would be taking that role in 'Blue Ocean'?"

"Are you kidding me? You are now at your peak and have the ability to go higher. You need to participate in projects that would push you higher, not pull you lower. That 'Blue Ocean'— no one is even anticipating for that

The Director and the production team is completely unknown. And Director Jones is a friend of mine. You can't refuse. This is already set in stone." Anderson folded his hands over his chest.

"Is popularity something to be worried about with my involvement?" Lucian questioned before confidently voicing out, "And nothing can pull me down."

"This arrogance, seriously! That role you speak of is of a psychopath. Do you know how damaging it would be to your image? The entire nation has their hearts set on you. It is completely diverting from your usual roles!"

Lucian ran his hand through his hair and smirked.

"Ah, I will just make them fall for a psychopath then."

And Valerie felt her heart skip a beat.