FORTY THREE( Christmas Eve)

"Mr. CEO you made her cry so much, that her eyes bled—Mr. CEO, this is all your fault—Mr. CEO, Miss Anderson will be so glad if you just disappear! You're the reason she's angry and frustrated, you're a selfish jerk—Mr. CEO this—Mr. CEO that— Mr. CEO here—Mr. CEO—

"Ahh!" Ethan exclaimed as he opened his eyes, George immediately pulled over and looked at him with concern. They were returning from the meetings and George was driving.

"Sir, are you alright?" George questioned,

"Yes, just a bit stressed." He replied as he rubbed his temple "…I was having a bad dream—"

"About Miss Anderson, right?"

"What?"

"You kept saying her name just now." George told him.

"Ohh." Ethan replied vaguely.

"Sir, permit me say this…You need sort out whatever happened between you two in Japan, before it gets out of hand."

---

CHRISTMAS EVE

On this Tuesday morning, while others were preparing for Christmas, Mia was in an oversized woolly sweater and a pair of knee high socks, vacuuming the entire house, at the same time texting Betty and Tracey on their group chat.

"…Hey, how do you know a guy likes you?" Mia typed,

Tracey: Subtle signs Mia, subtle signs."

Betty: You could simply ask him, but not directly.

Mia: How then??

Betty: Typing…

She suddenly paused as she got hold of one of the bags she had travelled with and a small black velvet box fell out as she held it up, it the princess cut diamond ring, Ethan had given her.

Suddenly she remembered his words.

*FLASHBACK*

"They're so shiny and beautiful—"

"Hey! Those diamonds are worth your entire life's salary—"

"Hey! Don't make conclusions like that, you know nothing about me!" She told him sternly.

"Off course not." He smirked, "But still, guard it like your life depends on it." He told her sharply.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

"Ohh! I feel like dying every time I remember he knew this whole time!" Mia screamed as she stomped her feet and pulled her hair.

"…Hey, why was he so paranoid about me not remembering things when I can't get stuffs like this out of my head." She sighed,

"I really wonder what happened that evening." She sighed as she stroked her chin and looked into space.

"…I got drunk…Called Milo?...No, I called Ethan…I woke up in his guestroom….Did I miss anything…

---

"…Ugh, my head hurts, where am I? Is this a dream?" She mumbled as she got on her feet. "This is definitely a dream." She drawled, the entire room was spinning, but she made her way to the hallway and somehow managed to find the stairs and even climbed down, before falling to the ground at the end of the stairs.

Someone suddenly came to her rescue, it was Ethan….

"Mr. Regal…You know, I like you a lot, but you're really, really dense, you know that right?"

"Mia, stop talking now, you're still drunk. You're going to regret what you—"

"Shh." She kissed him.

"I'm serious Ethan, I'm starting to like you a lot."

---

"AHHHH!!!!" Mia suddenly screamed like an insane person. She pulled her hair and walked back and forth in the living room, trying to wrap her head around the fact she just realized,

"It…It was certainly a dream right?" She stuttered—

"Did you forget? Seems you are great at forgetting things easily! You'll probably forget your home address one day!" Ethan's words echoed in his head.

"Oh Mia you fool what have you done!" She snapped as she slumped into the couch and aggressively kicked the air and pulled her hair.

"Can my life get any worse, why would you say a thing like that and not remember?!" Her face flushed with embarrassment.

"How can I face him now, I'll turn in my resignation letter." A thought ran in her head. "No! No! No! I can't find a job right now, I'll become broke, what should I do?!" She threw her hands up in frustration.

Just then, she heard a knock on her door, an a muffled voice began,

"Pizza delivery—"

"Wrong apartment, I didn't order pizza." She yelled back almost immediately.

But the person seemed very persistent as the second and third knock came. Gritting her teeth, she angrily walked to the door and slightly opened it,

"I said—Sir…" She drawled as the tone of her voice suddenly went meek.

Ethan scoffed as he gently pushed the door open and strolled in with his hands in his pocket.

"Lovely apartment for a panda." He told her as he glanced around, "Oh and you can stop calling me "Sir" now, we both know how much you hate saying it, and besides we're not at work."

"…How did you get—"

"George gave it to me."

"Oh."

At that moment, he took one look at her outfit and smirked,

"How ironic." He murmured as he read the writing off the sweater, it read,

"You are not alone."

Mia suddenly felt flustered and self-conscious.

"Get dressed, I'm waiting downstairs." He looked her squarely in the eye, and then he walked out.

---

The car was awkwardly silent as they drove, and to make it worse, Ethan was the one driving the black tinted Mercedes. Mia still couldn't stop thinking about the things she had just realized, especially the kiss. But she also didn't want to act awkward while they were together seeing how unfazed he looked, so she decided to break the silence first.

"So where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see." He simply told her.

"Enough with your games Ethan—No Sir!" She immediately corrected herself,

"It's fine, you can call me whatever you want." He chuckled.

At that moment, Mia let out an exasperated sigh as a small frown spread across her face, and at the same time, Ethan immediately stepped on the gas. They came to an abrupt stop in front of a narrow street with a traffic signal that had just turned "green."

"Wh…What are you doing?" Mia stuttered as the cars behind them began to honk.

"Them leaving this spot entirely depends on you." He replied as he turned to face her,

"Wait what?!"