A fated encounter

Chapter 1: Fated encounter.

“Holy moly! It's past eight already? I am so screwed.”

On the flight of stairs leading to the main entrance of Daxter incorporated,a young lady could be seen rushing up.

Standing at five foot seven,her torqouise blue eyes had a soul drawing feel to them making them unforgettable,her coffee brown hair was made into a pony tail which coupled with her youthfulness made her refreshingly beautiful.

No man would be able to resist having a second look at her.

She was Angelina Gusta,a staff at Daxters,one of the largest financial companies in located in Detroit,America.

Right now however,this mesmerizing beauty was worked up,she was walking at a pace that resembled running as she was already late for work!

Since she started this job four months ago she had never arrived late, this was her first, hence her rushed pace.

As she was in a hurry,she failed to notice a young man who was descending the stairs in her direction. He was also busy speaking on his phone,so he also wasn't aware of their imminent collision.

By the time he finished his call and noticed her,it was too late,they were too close to each other to prevent their inevitable collision.

BAM!

“Ouch!"

Colliding into each other, the bag slung on her arm fell down,it's contents spilling out,while her stiletto heels also gave way under the imbalanced forces causing her to tip forward towards the edge of the stairs.

“Yikes! That's going to be painful!" She thought in her mind as the stair’s sharp edge became increasingly bigger in her sights. Even if she did not get a cut on her head,a bump was still unavoidable.

Closing her eyes, she prepared for the incoming wave of pain.

But it never came.

Opening her eyes,she was surprised to see the young man she ran into holding her up by the wrist,his grip form.

"Whoa, easy there!" he said, his deep voice soothing. "You okay?"

Angelina's cheeks flushed as she regained balance. "Y-yes, thank you."

Their eyes locked, and for a fleeting moment, time stood still.

The stranger's chiseled features and his piercing emerald green eyes left Angelina breathless.

The young man on the other hand fell into a daze as he felt like his soul was drawn away upon focusing on her eyes.

Those eyes were not meant for this world!

Time stood still as their eyes connected, transcending physical space.

For a moment it seemed that they both got to know each other on a level deeper than any physical contact could ever bring!

It was as if their eyes had bridged a profound gap, forging an unspoken understanding.

"Sorry about that," he said, releasing her wrist.

Angelina smiled brightly. "My fault,I was kinda running late."

Bending down they both gathered her scattered stuff.

"Guess I'll see you around?" he asked as he handed her the last item.

“Uhhh…yeah.”

“Great then! Take care and next time don't be clumsy.”

Angelina nodded, watching him descend the stairs, her heart still racing from the previous moment's feeling.

Rushing up the stairs,albeit carefully this time,she tried to think of where she had seen that face before.

Suddenly the young man's face and another face she usually saw on TV suddenly matched.

Her eyes enlarging,she exclaimed;

“Wait a minute wasn't that my boss Grant McRae!"

………….

Dring!dring!dring!

The clunky sound of the lunch break alarm going off brought an involuntary grin to Angelina's face.

Finally,time to relax!

Saving the document she was working on,she stood up from her chair while stretching her stiff joints.

For those that worked office jobs,sitting on a seat for nearly half a day without any change in position was simply torture!

Lunch breaks like these were always anticipated a lot by the staff.

Leaving her cubicle,she was contemplating on what to have at the cafeteria:a triple turkey sandwich sounded nice but then,the creamy chicken wings with hot chilli was also quite tasty—according to Gina. She was still torn between the two choices when a panting voice called out to her.

“Huff,huff, hey,Angelina wait up!”

Speak of the devil! Turning her head halfway towards the newcomer,Angelina suddenly felt the urge to burst into laughter due to the comical expression on her colleague's face while also maintaining a poker face.

Naturally,she failed at it as in the next moment,she erupted with laughter.

“Hahahahhahahah!”

With a disgruntled look plastered across her face,her colleague spoke;"Can you stop laughing for a sec? There's nothing funny about this.

Covering her mouth with her palm, Angelina replied in between uncontrollable surges of laughter;”I'm sorry Gina,pfft,I just can't help it, hahaha.”

Now you couldn't blame her as Gina looked really silly just now. While Angelina's office floor was at the 3rd floor just below the cafeteria,Gina's was at the ground floor,a five minute walk.

Really far!

Coupled with her chubby physique,ascending the stairs was simply torture!

“You this troublemaker,take this!”

Closing up to her,Gina went into full commando mode as she mercilessly tickled Angelina causing her to laugh till tearing up,adding that to the motherlike face she spotted she looked funny.

Amidst the giggles,Angelina managed to say;“Alright,alright, am sorry,stop tickling, haha!”

After fooling around for a bit, Angelina and Gina soon arrived at the cafeteria. They had just received their meals when they spotted some of their other colleagues sitting at a table waving at them.

Heading over to their side,they had just sat down when Sarah,the lead gistorian among the five of them started speaking.

"Did you hear about Emma's latest drama?" Sarah asked, eyes wide with excitement.

Angelina shook her head. " Oh,what happened?" She asked as she playfully pierced a pea with her fork.

Emma was also a staff at Daxter incorporated where she worked. She was well known for her willingness to use her body to seek for promotions in the company. At first it was kept under wraps,but somehow,her deeds got exposed.

When it happened it didn't even bother her that much,she was even somewhat proud of it!

Immediately,Sarah launched into a detailed account of Emma's scandalous affairs  and the group listened with rapt attention with the occasional exclamations.

As the conversation flowed, the topic inevitably shifted to relationships. Rachel literally gushed about her new boyfriend, Alex, talking about the dates they had over the weekend and the one planned for next.

Michael,the only male among this circle of friends also shared stories of his girlfriend's quirky habits causing everyone to laugh .

Right then,Gina spoke up;”You know Angela,when are you going to get yourself a new boyfriend?”

“Yeah, that's true." they all chorused in agreement while staring at her.

Rolling her eyes at the thought that her colleagues were always gossipy when it came to relationships she replied;

“Nah,not anytime soon,I haven't found anyone that catches my fancy.”

“You know, we could help you connect to someone,there are a lot of great guys out there.” Michael added.

“Thanks guys but am not really interested in starting a relationship right now.”

“ Except… no,am overthinking things.” she thought to herself as a figure flashed in her mind.

“Well if you say so,no problem." said Sarah.

"Time's up, guys!" Michael announced as he glanced at his watch. "Back to the grind."

Saying their byes they all returned back to their posts. Angelina also returned to her desk,settling down on her seat her mind involuntarily drifted back to their conversation during the break.

While she did not have a boyfriend right now,she had one in the past. His name was Nathan Grimlow or was it Rumlow? She couldn't really remember as it was about two years ago when they broke up, however,there was a “low” in his surname,that she still remembered.

Nathan was a good looking guy and also played the piano. That was actually what brought them together as she was attracted to his piano playing skills during an event she attended,they exchanged numbers and before they knew it they went on their first date.

She really loved Nathan due to how caring and gentlemanly he was causing her to believe that their relationship might eventually lead to marriage.

That was until she discovered that he was already married with two kids.

Confronting him,she was heartbroken when he calmly acknowledged it. She was devastated as she couldn't bring herself to believe she'd been fantasizing all along.

He tried to play it down by saying he really loved her and some other bullshit,but how could she even bear to listen to him?

Infuriated,she broke up with him on the spot,stomping out of his apartment but not after breaking his ten grand gaming tv.

And that was how her first attempt at love ended,since then she hadn't bothered herself with any relationship. Sure there were those who asked her out but she always turned them down.

She thought she wasn't ready for anything called love for now until this morning when she ran into her boss causing her to feel butterflies fluttering in her heart or was it in the stomach?

Sure, it could have been her imagination but that feeling….. “Wasn't that love as first sight?”she mused to herself.

Immediately,she shook her head in denial." Silly me, what am I even thinking,I must be daydreaming,the guy's so rich he has seen ladies better than me. He probably doesn't even remember my face anymore.”she said as she smiled to herself.

Turning back to her computer she soon resumed her work.