An Interesting Man

The next day, Solis and Noir went to the luxurious hotel owned by the Nerium group at the appointed time. Noir was quite impressed by the glamour of the place – in his opinion, it was no less grand than the imperial palace of his emperor father, and he whispered so in Solis's ear.

"Do you miss it?" Solis asked softly.

Noir blinked. "The imperial palace?" he asked quizzically.

Solis nodded.

Noir frowned and shook his head. "Maybe…but probably not," he murmured.

Solis decided he'd build a grand palace for Noir so that they could go and live there sometimes – whenever Noir felt a little homesick. He started running a list of his properties in his mind to see if there was anything suitable. As for the structure and design of the imperial palace, he would be able to piece something together from the myths as well as Noir's descriptions. One thing was sure – there would be no viewing tower in it!

Solis was still thinking about his plan when Noir nudged him gently with his elbow. Solis regained his senses immediately.

A well-dressed man in his late thirties or early forties approached them, with several suited men following behind him. The man was quite distinguished looking, with sharp eyes and an easy smile. From his aura, Noir deduced that this was probably the CEO of Nerium and Boss Gaia's fiancé.

"Hello," the man said, holding out his hand to Solis. "It is a pleasure to see you on your feet again, Boss Solis. My apologies for being unable to attend your engagement banquet."

Solis shook hands with him. After the incident at the engagement banquet, both Solis and Noir had taken to wearing gloves all the time whenever they stepped out of the house, to prevent any kind of skin contact with anyone. It had led to many rumours about the clinginess and possessiveness of the couple towards each other – but neither of them really cared.

The man turned to Noir. "You must be Noir, Boss Solis's wonderful fiancé," he said, holding out his hand to Noir. "I'm Alex, and I'm the CEO of Nerium as well as Gaia's fiancé. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard much about you - Gaia speaks very highly of you."

Noir shook hands with him as well. "You are very kind, CEO Alex," he said politely. "I'm grateful to Boss Gaia for her goodwill."

CEO Alex smiled. "Gaia really was right," he said. "You really do have the aura of a king."

Noir simply replied with a polite smile. Solis's eyes darkened and he moved closer to Noir possessively.

CEO Alex chuckled. "You can relax, Boss Noir," he said in an amused tone. "I have absolutely no designs on your fiancé at all. I'm not into men, and besides, Gaia would gut me like a fish if I dared to eye anyone else!"

"Too right I will!" came the booming voice of Boss Gaia from the entrance. She walked towards them with a big smile on her face and greeted her fiancé with a kiss on each of his cheeks.

"You really make a lovely couple," Noir complimented. "Don't you think so, Solis?"

They really did look quite well-matched.

Solis nodded as well. "Congratulations, Boss Gaia, CEO Alex. We will look forward to your wedding invitation," he said courteously.

CEO Alex smiled slightly and raised Boss Gaia's hand to his lips. "I'd marry this woman tomorrow if I could," he murmured. "When will you make an honest man of me, Gaia?" he asked, pretending to be pitiful.

Boss Gaia laughed. "As soon as you can convince your folks to bring down the guest list to three figures," she said.

"Alas! That's impossible, my love!" CEO Alex said, sighing dramatically. "Besides, even I want the whole world to know that I'm marrying such an extraordinary woman!" he declared.

Boss Gaia flushed. "Stop embarrassing me in front of these young children," she murmured.

"Boss Solis and Noir may be younger, but they aren't children by any means," CEO Alex argued immediately.

Both Solis and Noir were rather amused at their interactions.

One of the men behind CEO Alex cleared his throat delicately.

"Ah, right," CEO Alex said, clapping his hands. "We mustn't keep you waiting out here. A lovely feast awaits both of you – worthy of a king, if I may say so myself! There's nothing better than talking about a good business deal over a good business meal!"

Boss Gaia giggled and Noir smiled at his somewhat lame attempt at humour. Solis remained as impassive as ever.

CEO Alex led them to a private room where a buffet meal had been set up. Noir had not experienced a proper buffet meal in this world yet (although he had seen plenty of videos about it and raised several enquiries with Butler Hans and Solis himself).

Seeing Noir's eyes sparkle at the sight of the feast, CEO Alex and Boss Gaia looked quite pleased. CEO Alex personally took Noir around the room and pointed out the specialities of his hotel one by one.

Boss Gaia stood and chatted with Solis.

"That young man of yours…he's quite young, isn't he?" she asked Solis. "He hasn't lost his innocence yet."

"He's twenty one," Solis said woodenly.

Boss Gaia wasn't too surprised. "Look at Alex…the last time I saw him explaining things to someone so happily was when he took his five-year-old nephew to the new aquarium." She smiled slightly. "Your Noir really awakens the parental instincts of older people, Boss Noir."

Solis raised an eyebrow. "You aren't old enough to be his mother," he said.

Boss Gaia burst out laughing. "Well, I'll take it as a compliment from a young man," she said. "Don't worry, we're not eyeing your fiancé for anything. It's just…he seems to naturally evoke people's goodwill. My Alex is a very good judge of character, you know – Nerium owes its recent success to him because of that. He rarely takes to people so easily."