Hidden Marriage

"Baby!" A crisp voice rang out excitedly in the fully decorated office.

Hurried sound of rubber sole slapping against the marble floor rang out in conjunction with the voice.

Devon who was arranging the number of file on his desk immediately turned towards the door and steadied himself to catch the girl pivoting towards him. With hands spread out the girl lept into his hands and giggled softly.

Chloe had a bright smile on her face and her eyes sparkled in a pure naive light. She looked no far from a teenage girl in love.

"Careful. You could injure yourself running like that" Devon warned and pick her up princess style. His words might sound Curt but his tone and action obvious looked different.

"How could I when you're here? I know you would never let me get hurt" Chloe said in a cute giggle. She brought her hand round his neck and gave him a quick peck on the side of his lips.

Devon's eyes softened. His previously sour mood immediately turned sweeter from seeing her smile and her loving actions. The anger he felt flew away like bird that just learnt to fly.

He should always be reminded of this. This girl in his hand should be his priority and not some other white lotus. She is the center of his world, so why should he be distracted by someone else?

He hummed "mm"

The girl smiled then pouted again the next second. "You have been very busy. Totally not having time to see me. If I didn't come here, would you even seek me?. It's been five days already, what's keeping you so busy away from me?"

Devon's eyes dimmed a bit "I'm sorry. I've got a lot to attend to. I should have called" If someone else was to see the great CEO Devon apologising to a girl it would be like a fantasy or a future impossible rumor.

"It's okay I understand" She replied gracefully and gave him a hug. With her face buried in his arms, a menacing light flashed past her eyes. Just like the bunch that were opportuned to see the post before it was taken down. She had seen the blog of Claudia and Gisele. How could her heart not feel weary.

Was his parents planning on getting him married? Did he have another girl in his life now? She wanted to ask but that would only make her sound ambitious. Besides the Devon she knows would tell her by himself if such a thing was happening, except he also had a reason to hide it from her.

"How did your shoot go?" Devon asked leading her to sit on one of the couch.

"It was fine. I only got a side profile shoot but still it turned out fine. The director seemed to love my effectiveness so he promised to call me for his next shoot. It might end up still being a minor position but still I can't wait to do it" She narrated gleefully, indirectly hinting him all she had been getting were little insignificant gigs. Knowing the kind of man Devon was, he would no doubt try to pull some strings behind to get her important gigs.

"Mmm my baby's amazing" he commented patting her head like that of a child.

Chloe blushed and playfully slapped away the hand ruffling her hair. Her eyes shone brightly and she scooped even closer to him. "What about you? How have you been? What have you been up to lately?"

Devon glanced at her for a second. He thought of how he has had to deal with his grandfather, Alan and then Gisele but he chose not to mention those to her. First he wasn't ready to break her heart with the news of his hidden marriage and secondly he didn't want to disturb her with his family problem. So he brought up something else.

"The Autumn fashion show is fast approaching, there's a lot to cover up. Also..." He paused and stood up, walking to the table of drinks in his office "I've been attending to Linda Flaw's case"

A frightful gaze appear on Chloe's face but in the next one second she hid it and retained her sweet smile. Only a concerned frown was left to show for the change in expression.

"Yes I almost forgot. How is that going? I tried speaking to Flynn but for some reason he keeps avoiding me" She said with a little pout.

Devon turned and brought along a glass of tea he had just poured for her. "Things are indeed complicated than everyone thought. There's a twist in the turn of events" he said ambiguously. He didn't want her to worry too much.

Chloe showed a shocked expression. "Did Flynn really steal the design?"

"I'm not sure yet. It's just..." He hesitated "Chloe I know he praised you for the sketches but you have to tell me the truth. Did you really have anything to do with the dresses.?"

Seeing that he had asked this question. She bit her lips and looked guilty. Even still the guilty look appeared cute and Moe.

"It's true I didn't come up with the design like Flynn said. He had brought a manuscript to me a while back, he said he was having a bottleneck in completing it so he had asked me to take a look at the unfinished sketch. I only gave him a few pointers and added a few details here and there. He was very grateful and felt he wouldn't have been able to complete it without my help so he went ahead to say I had made the design myself"

"I'm sorry i didn't tell you. It was the first design he was making himself, I didn't want to cancel his dreams of making it a dress." She explained soberly. Her head buried into her neck and her eyes positioned to the ground. Out of habit, she pinched her fingers as a sign she was anxious.

"It's not your fault. You never could have known he would think of plagiarizing someone's else design" Devon placated her. He could have already guessed the designer had deceived her.

Her eyes shot open but at the same time it dropped. "So Flynn really plagiarized Linda's design. It's all my fault I never should have brought him to shadow for my designs in the first place. He must have gotten greedy as time went. I should have known this_"

"That's enough" Devon was quick to stop the girl from feeling guilty. This was one of the reasons he had personally investigated the issue. He didn't want here to get implicated and in the end eat herself up in anger. "It's not your fault he got greedy. Don't worry I would make sure he doesn't try to implicate you in anyway. The press conference is around the corner. The whole issue would be solved by then"

Chloe nodded and hugged him warmly. "Thank you for not doubting me" Though she said this a disingenuous look flashed past her face.

"Silly. I know you better than anyone else." He boasted. If only he knew the truth.

The two continued talking about other thing. Generally trying to cover up for the number of days they haven't spoken.

"Here" Devon handed her a document.

She appeared confused. "What is this?"

"Take a look at it"

Confused and intrigued she gently opened the documents and took a glance at it. After a few more glances, her eyes lit up and her mouth opened excited.

"The Contract?" She said almost squealing under her breath.

"I told you I would give the deal to you. You just need to sign it and get your manager to send it over to the company" He said with a tender tone.

Chloe's eyes glistened in joy. Not only had he fulfilled his promise of giving her the contract to Erasmus modelling deal but he had also made the Contract term so pleasant that it felt like it was meant for an A-list model.

"Thank you! Thank you!" She lurched into his arms and gave him a tight hug. Her thin entity fitting squarely on his magnificent build.

Devon caught her and a loving gaze took over his rigid face. He smiled and lovingly rubbed the girl's head "no need to thank you. I'm sure you would do just great.".

Chloe smiled and moved to kiss him, just as her lips slowly advanced to his, the anticipation was broken by the sound of Knocks.

"Boss" Secretary Ben's voice called from the door and his head dug in through the gap he had made. On a normal stance he wouldn't have knocked but because he knew the CEO had a visitor, he could only knock. Even still he ended up getting a Stern glare from his master. He didn't need to be told that he had interrupted something.

Sorry boss but even your glare wouldn't send me away!

He pushed the door further and walked in.

Noticing the stale mood in the room. Chloe stood up and made an excuse to leave. "Ahh I just remembered. My manager wants me to come over. I have some fitting to do. I should go" She lept out of his arms and gave Devon a quick kiss then left the office, obviously not forgetting to take the contract along with her.