CHAPTER NINE

As Astrid pulled Darius in for a kiss, he didn't hesitate to return the gesture. He had wanted to kiss her first, but he remembered how she disapproved of it when he did it before.

Now that she had done it herself, there was nothing to feel bad for. In fact, he had never felt that relieved in a long time.

Finally realizing what she was doing, Astrid pulled away and looked at him with her eyes wide open. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know what I was doing. This is horrible." She walked to the balcony to get fresh air, mortified.

"Good night!" Astrid could hear the laughter in Darius's voice as he said it. She had totally embarrassed herself. What was she thinking, kissing him out of the blue? What would he think of her now?

As she heard the slam of the door, she relaxed on the recliner that faced the outside world and gave a perfect view of the plain lands surrounding the house.

Astrid always loved to look at the night sky. Something about the stars mesmerized her. Maybe it was because of how her parents always took her to the back of their house at night to watch the stars as a little girl.

It was the night of a full moon, and it was bright as ever. She wondered what would happen between her mother and Darius. She knew Rose didn't like Darius's reputation. She also knew Darius was not the type to take criticism well, except when it came from his mother.

With thoughts and hopes of them getting along well, she fell asleep on the balcony.

.

"Ma'am? Ma'am!" Astrid flinched as someone called out to her. "Did you sleep out here all night, miss Astrid? You could get sick from all this cold air. It's raining. Please, come in." Mary's voice brought Astrid half awake.

"I slept out here?" Astrid asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Yes. Sir told us not to disturb you, but now he's worried about you. It's almost lunchtime." Mary informed, helping her up.

"Are you okay?" Mary asked softly, checking Astrid's temperature with her hands.

"I am. Thanks for caring." Astrid replied, now fully awake. After looking around and seeing just Mary, she frowned. "Where's Thelma?"

"She's on her monthly vacation. I'll be taking care of you with Sky now." Mary answered. Just then, a young, stout woman made her way out of the closet with a black dress in her hands.

"You must be Sky. It's so nice to meet you." Astrid waved at her with a smile.

"Oh, my goodness. You're the lady who caught Mr Titan's eye! I've always wanted to see your face. Not many of us are this lucky. You're so much prettier in person." Sky gushed loudly, clapping her hands.

"Excuse her behaviour, ma'am. Sky's new here, so she doesn't exactly know how to act when she's excited." Mary said, not hiding the glare she sent in Sky's direction.

"No, it's fine. I love people like her. She's so full of energy, I could use her by my side right now." Astrid admitted.

"Did you hear that?! When I go back to Thailand, I'm definitely telling my family that you love me." Sky giggled.

"You do that." Astrid nodded as Mary led her to the bathroom.

"Mr Titan will not like her attitude." Mary frowned.

"He doesn't have to. Not everybody should act the same way." Astrid snapped.

Mary's eyes widened as she said that. "Did anything happen last night? Did he say something to you?" She questioned.

"What? No. I'm just... cranky all of a sudden, that's all." Astrid shook her head.

"I think it's because of your monthly period that's coming." Mary noted.

"Oh, yeah." Astrid nodded. First, she kissed Darius on the lips, and she still had to face him. Now, she had a mood swing.

Her parents would be arriving later in the day. Everything would be too much for her to handle, and she knew it. There was a high possibility of her breaking down when night came.

As she got dressed, she walked downstairs, where Darius and three other men sat. They were all clad in black suits. Instead of food, there were papers and files scattered across the table.

One of the three men looked up and whistled. "If it isn't the beauty who stole the beast's heart." He chuckled. The other men, Darius included, looked up from what they were each doing. Astrid was not comfortable with how they all stared at her for too long.

"Gentlemen, I believe you all know Astrid Peyton. She's my fiancée." He emphasized the last word, glaring at all of them. They all stopped staring at her and went back to work.

"Come here." He instructed her. She went over to where he was and sat beside him, hoping that he wouldn't mention the kiss. The last thing she wanted was the stress of that conversation.

"Are you okay? You slept for so long." He whispered.

"I'm fine." She answered.

"Hungry?" He raised a brow.

"A little bit, yes." She admitted truthfully.

"Food will be served soon." He assured her.

"Yeah, I figured something. If we set up a warehouse right here," one of the men said, pointing at a layout of the city they were in, "distribution will be extremely fast. That way, people in this area won't have such bad reviews about our slow delivery."

Darius's brows furrowed as he thought about it. Astrid, trained by reflex, used her fingers to smoothen his brows. She always did that to her father. Besides, Darius frowned too much. He needed it.

Darius looked at her, amused. She gave him a contagious smile, and he smiled back. "You guys see that? That is the look of a whipped man." The man, who had called Astrid a beauty earlier, laughed.

Darius snapped out of his daze and glared at the man. "Astrid, this loud mouth over here is Joaquin Miller. That is Derek Grey, and he," he used the tip of his pencil to point at the quiet man, "is Jeong Ki-woo."

"It's nice to meet you three." Astrid grinned brightly, even though she was nervous.

"The pleasure is ours." Derek said, while Ki-woo just smiled.

"They're my business partners. And unfortunately, I don't even know how, they're my best friends." Darius told her.

"You know you love us." Joaquin teased, wiggling his brows at Darius.

"Get back to work." Darius threw a squeezed paper at him, making it land right between Joaquin's eyebrows.

"Wait! I'm going to be the best man at the wedding, aren't I?" Joaquin randomly spoke.

"What? No. I want to be the best man. You'll be okay as an ordinary groomsman." That was the first time Ki-woo said anything.

"You two can bicker like babies all you want. Darius knows I'm the guy for the job." Derek rolled his eyes.

"Shut up. All of you." Darius snapped. They all fell silent, seeing the annoyance on his face. They knew he was no longer messing around.

Darius knew there was never going to be a wedding, so he didn't want them getting too excited. Food was finally served, and they all ate in silence. "I'll go sit in the garden." Astrid announced as she finished her meal.

"Sure." Darius responded, not without giving her a peck on the cheek. It reminded Astrid of what she had done the night before, and her cheeks reddened. She was never going to get used to the little acts of sweetness he showed, even though they were fake.