Chapter sixteen: First conference

Getting home, Alya went into the bathroom and pulled off her dress and sat in the warm bath with a smile adorning her face.

When was the last time she made designs for jeweleries? It had been two months ago, she thought. Sinking deeper into the bath, she let the warm water soothe her off the day's stress before she got up and walked into the room still dripping of water as she opened her closet and dried her body putting on a more casual indoor clothes.

She went towards the bed and picked up her note pad and pen from the bedside drawer, making space on her reading desk, she sat down and opened her laptop, dropped her notepad on it as she started with the designs she needed.

Sketching slowly, she remembered having a writeup to send to Cassie and she made a mental note to do so when she was done.

Getting done with the last one which took much of her time, she stared at it with a curved smile, who would have thought over half an hour will be spent over such a simple design of heart and a thin chain.

Turning off her laptop and keeping away the drawings, she picked up her phone and sent a write up with the headline that read;

'Mr. Clark claimed ownership of the most wildest club in New York City'

That piece of news had taken a lot of her time where it was the only thing she had done at work.

She received a mail immediately from Cassie

"Are you serious?" Cassie asked with a shocked emoji coming next after her question.

Alya smiled within herself, just like she had thought, fewer people had heard about it which meant more sales to them.

"Yep, confirmed from Landon" Alya replied

"Omg,I had never thought it would be owned by someone of his status"Cassie said

"Never had done so either" Alya agreed, but then, it could have been guessed. she had never seen him in person but everyone knew who he was. The C.E.O of Rare diamonds, He was the second youngest billionaire, funny to say how he partnered often with Rex despite him being a competition.

A party playboy who mingled carelessly, it shouldn't have been a big deal he owned the night club, an orgy club.

She tied her hair up in a messy bun and walked out of the room to fetch herself a light meal from her mini kitchen, almost immediately she sat down, her phone buzzed and she picked it up.

"Home already love?" it was Rex

"Yep, you still at work?" she asked

"Yeah, still got some unfinished works on my desk"

"Have you worked on more designs?"Rex asked

"Yeah, just got done with them"

Rex smiled "Good" he praised

"Gotta go now"he said "muah, bye" Alya said and he chuckled "Bye love"

Rex dropped his phone on his desk and looked up at his secretary waiting patiently for him. "What is it, Karla?" he asked

"Um.. sir, the Wang's withdrew all the contracts they made with us" she said holding the files on her thighs. Rex nodded and hummed "The file?" he requested bringing up his hands and she gave it to him. He picked up his pen and signed the papers without bothering to read it.

He returned the papers to her to see her staring at him in bewilderment and he leaned back into his chair

"I know they are the best shareholders but sometimes Karla,even the best can turn out worst" Rex said sitting up and twirling the pen in his hand

"Work based on relationships never end up well and it's best if you stay away from things like that"

"Ask Max to come see me" Rex dismissed her back to her desk, he returned to the file he was going through when Landon came in

"Seriously bro, you signed it?"Landon asked with a lopsided grin.

Rex sighed and looked up from his desk, "I'm not ready for a contract relationship and neither am i ready for some K-drama" Rex said and Landon chuckled sitting on the couch.

"You know they will come back, don't you?" Landon asked, Rex grinned and turned to his friend.

"They already did, so fast" he said and the door opened for Max to walk in with Karla behind him.

"Umm.. sir, the Wang's sent a mail asking to be partners again" Karla quickly informed him amusingly.

Rex grinned even more looking at the paper Karla had print out herself. "You sent the letter back to them already?" He asked referring to the papers he signed agreeing to part ways.

"No, but I did sent a mail to the secretary" Rex nodded and folded the paper and dropped it on his desk "You can leave Karla" he said and she bower slightly walking out of the office.

"You also don't want them to leave" Landon said, his lips twitching as he stared at Rex. "You know they are the best business partners than any other" Rex replied him

He turned to look at Max who stared back at him expressionless before his lips curved upwards slightly in a smirk.

"The information was useful after all" Max had been the one to tell him about Wang's plans, they knew how they took them serious and won't want to let them go. They were waiting for Rex to come plead when he got their withdrawal letter and they could use that medium to force him to marry their daughter and if he didn't, then they would be continue being partners as the Blazonz was also useful to them.

Max moved from the door and walked to the couch before dropping on it with a sigh. "Why did Clark change the pattern of the meeting at the last second?" Rex asked him "I don't really know, he had gone out of sight since yesterday's night and he wasn't found anywhere inside the country"

Rex took a red file on his desk and opened it, his eyes scanning through but his mind not processing anything he saw, his mind was on Clark.

A day to the meeting, he had made changes declaring thet only the director of fashion unit, secretary and C.E.O were to be present, same from his side, Rex sighed not getting anything from all the thoughts. He looked at the file in his hand, flipped few pages and closed it. "He'll be back tonight because of the meeting so there's no need cancelling it, we'll just have to inform the teams of the updates" Rex said as he rubbed his forehead.

The fool was supposed to cancel the partying after every meeting from his life but he was willing to change the course of a meeting, such an asshole, Rex thought.

"Max, you have to take Alya to the venue tomorrow " Rex said to which Max nodded

" But be careful with your words, Alya can be very persistent" He warned to have Max nod once again

"Noted"

...

The next morning, Alya stood in front of her mirror with a hot curl in her hand and she brushed her hair with it lightly making her wavy and curly.

She had a white shirt tucked into a black trousers, a black jacket on the arm of her chair and she sat down on the bed to buckle her heeled sandals. Standing up, she had a wide smile plastered on her face, this would be her ever first conference with strangers and she wasn't as nervous as she thought she would be.

She took a black Louis Vuitton bag which had been gifted to her by April, she took up her jacket from the chair just in time to hear a loud car horn.

Picking up her keys, she walked out and met Rex's male secretary

"Good morning ma'am" Max greeted calmly and Alya flashed him a smile "Good morning" she greeted back as she got into the backseat of the car he held open for her.

Max returned to the driver's seat and sped off into the highway, Alya sat and fidgeted her fingers, breathing in less softly before releasing her breaths.

Okay now, she was nervous, she thought. She pulled her mind off the thoughts that Clark might not like any of the designs and Rex would end up losing the contract.

Looking outside the window, Alya forgot about her racing heartbeat as she got immersed in the decor of the estate they drove into.

Alya watched the building they parked in, mesmerized with how huge it was. It had nice decors and rich colour of White and coffee brown. Second richest, it was expected of him, she thought. He showed off even more than the first richest.

They walked into the mansion and Max directed into a room with five people already present, one she recognized to be Rex's secretary, Karla.

She made to a seat and sit down, staring sweetly at everyone with a slight nod of the head.

But she only received two replies with same gestures, the other three rather stared at her disapprovingly and full of hatred.

Alya was confused at their behavior and she tried to jog into her memory if she had ever met any of them but no, she hadn't.

Not giving enough time to think, the huge doors blocking away anyone who wanted to make his presence known in the mini hall was opened and a smile came crashing on her small lips immediately as Rex walked in.

Rex caught her gaze and he smiled sending a wink at her which went unnoticed by the rest. Alya had kept her gaze on Rex admiring his looks and to have noticed Clark walking in behind Rex,. Just as the seat that was half a foot from her screeched, Alya turned to see the C.E.O of Rare diamonds.

Alya stared unblinkingly at him, he was elegantly dressed with a charming look that could have pared with Rex and Landon. They almost shared the same faces, insanely handsome, blessed with beauty that looked out of this world.

But his skin was paler in colour, way paler and he had somewhat a gaze which made him look scary.

Alya had sunk deep in finding little details about him from his behavior for her to notice the party C.E.O practically undressing her with his hawk like eyes which were deep black in colour. A sexy grin sitting proudly on his lips.

Rex cursed under his breath as he watched the desire growing in Clark's eyes as he continued staring at her. Alya's face frowned up in disgust as trailed his gaze to her neck, his eyes lingering on the skin.

With a final smirk, he finally spoke " well then, we can begin, I'm sure I'll be awed with the designs as I am with her" he said shamelessly and tilted his head a little to glance at Rex who was staring daggers at him and he grinned more.

Clark shifted his gaze from Alya and moved to the crowd nodding at a much younger lady who stood up "I am the executive secretary of the Rare diamonds, miss Paige hallow". She took a file and walked to Rex handing the file to him before she went back to her seat.

Rex not bothering to check it passed it to Max who gave it to Alya. She smiled brightly reading the words, she got the exact designs they need.

The file was collected from her by Karla as she stood up to address the little crowd. "I am Alya Winter, the director of fashion unit at Blazonz" she said and went on with her exhibitions.

The white screen in front of them was showcasing all her designs, she took her time to tell the gem and perfect colour to be used for each designs.

The meeting went on smoothly, no one interrupting Alya as she continued with the explanation of what she was well versed with.

Rex's gaze was focused on Clark who nodded like the rough scale reptiles on the wall as he grinned watching Alya

Rex scoffed and tore his gaze from Clark and met Max who smirked and Rex narrowed his eyes at him.

"The heart shape on that is too plain and obviously will kill off the beauty of any gemstones used which isn't Rare diamonds are going for" Rex heard someone speak and he turned. it was the director of Rare diamonds, Evelyn.

Evelyn looked away from the screen and turned to Alya waiting for whatever she had to say.

Failing to note the tone which Evelyn had used to speak,Alya smiled. She was one of the three that hadn't reply to her greetings

The image on the screen was zoomed and she nodded when they got a clearer view of the drawing.

"It has an intricate design inside and to merge it off very well, you need a plain surface, a rose gold for the inside and yellow gold for outside, you can bet" she said and showed an example and they were amazed

"This is an excellent choice of vintage inspired jewelry and simple, traditional design because it suggest a slightly vintage, candlelit glamour" Alya stated her clear her fact which earned her nods and hums of approval, she was asked a few more questions which were written down by the secretaries before the meeting came to an end after two and half hours

"You were amazing back there, Alya" Rex complimented her kissing her forehead and she giggled

"I'm so exhausted though, the females don't like me and were throwing blind questions at me" she said and laughed softly as she leaned on the walls of the corridor

Rex chuckled "You don't expect them to like you when you are dating their handsome crush" he said and she rolled her eyes.

Just when he was about to speak, his phone beeped and he pulled it out of pockets, in seconds, his whole demeanor changed to the stern hardworking billionaire and he quickly apologized to Alya to wait for him at the upper floor at the party.

He walked away from there and followed the only trail he could find, he had gotten a whiff of it but had ignored it thinking it was nothing dangerous.

Alya made her way to the upper floor where Rex had asked to wait for him and she gingerly moved her feet on the stairs. The loud music was resonating in her ear before she could get to the last stair and when she did, her eyes went wide like saucers as she took in the activity in the floor.

She was dumbstruck and frozen at the sight of such session playing in front of her, this wasn't a normal club, it was an orgy one.

"Miss Winter" she heard her name and turned,it was the host of the party, Clark. Geez, why hadn't she thought of this party being like the night club.

Alya smiled and shook his hand he had offered

"why are you all alone, where's your boyfriend?" he asked

"He left to attend to something"

"Oh my, which boyfriend does that? Leaving his girlfriend in such a place? isn't that bad of him?" Clark asked altogether and Alya smiled