Chapter 57
Her heart hit the pit of her stomach. She looked around for the source of the sound. Her fear turned into confusion when she saw hundreds of lighted drones in the sky. The confusion, however, morphed into surprise when she saw what the drones formed.
“Happy birthday?” She muttered. What was going on? Was this for her?
Then she heard a voice behind her. “Do you like it?”
She was startled. “Boss? When did you get here?”
He was in a casual T-shirt and pants but he still looked extraordinarily hot. He dipped his hands in his pockets.
“Just now”
She didn’t hear his footsteps. Maybe because she was so occupied with staring at the wonderful display.
“Were you behind this?”
He nodded. “Do you like it?”
“But why……”
“Do you like it?” He further pressed.
“It’s wonderful, but-”
“That’s enough for me. As long as you like it” he grabbed her hand before she could say more.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see” he said mysteriously.
Common sense warned her not to go with him. He was a taken man, but her heart was ready and glad to go with all of him. She was torn between the two. In the end, she chose the latter and got into the car.
She found herself looking forward to the surprise, though she didn’t want to.
They arrived at one of the many companies Smith industries had.
He circled the car and opened the door. He raised a brow when she remained seated.
“Aren’t you coming out?”
“What are we doing here?”
“You will know soon enough”
She reluctantly came out. There were definitely still people in there, but she was in her work clothes, so coming with him should not be too suspicious.
She kept her head down when she entered, making sure to walk a few steps behind him, just as a secretary should. Jared smirked when he realized what she was doing.
The elevator opened to a rooftop helipad. On it was a gigantic red helicopter.
“Woah” she found herself exclaiming. She covered her mouth with her palm, awestricken.
“You own this?”
She realized it was a silly question to ask, as ‘Smith’ was clearly written in bold letters on it.NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.
There was no one in sight. Just the two of them.
He walked to the aircraft and opened the door, waiting for her to get in before hopping in the other side.
“Wait, you are flying this?” He fastened her seatbelt. “Can you really?”
“Scared?”
“Don’t know if I should be”
“I can teach you if you want”
“I will rather no lead us to our deaths”
“It’s easy”
“No. Just go ahead”
She put on the headphones and he did his too.
“Where are we heading?”
“You ask too many questions. Chris Meyer, ready to depart”
Then a voice said, “Roger that, Chris Meyer. Your flight plans to New Jersey is cleared”
“New Jersey? We are going to New Jersey? Tonight?”
“Hm”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She had always wanted to visit there but could not. She had wanted her visit to be special, not spontaneously.
“It was meant to be a surprise”
She sighed and looked outside as the helicopter left the ground till they were in the air. She looked down at the numerous lit up buildings. They all looked so beautiful. Jared glanced at her amazed face and shook his head. Little things easily amused her.
“So beautiful” she muttered.
Jared stared at her, a small smile on his face. “Right. Very beautiful”
They finally halted on his penthouse rooftop.
“I’m guessing you own this place too”
“I own houses all around the world. This is the least of them”
Least? This was nowhere near least. It was magnificent.
“Care for a drink?” She turned to see him standing at the mini bar, a bottle of wine in his hand. She nodded, mouthing a thank you as she received her glass.
“Um, so why did you bring me here?”
“To celebrate your birthday, of course”
She blinked, at loss of what to say. He reached for her hand and entwined their fingers. “Come with me”
They stopped before a door. “Here we are”
“What is in there?”
“Close your eyes”
The moment she did, she felt his firm hand on her waist.
“Don’t open them” he said quickly when he noticed she was going to.
She tightened her fist, enduring the effect he had on her.
Her body suddenly cooled as they entered the room.
“You can open them now”
She did and was almost blinded by the bright light in the room. She squinted, looking around. The room was filled with roses and the smell of roses. Balloons were littered everywhere and there was a giant cake at the center of the room.
She could not stop gasping.
“You did all this for me?”
He rubbed his temple, looking embarrassed. “Well, I hired people to do them, but technically, yes. Do you like it?”
“I do. I love this, and that cake, it is so big”
“Here is your gift from me” He was holding a big white box, but it didn’t look heavy. There was another relatively small box on it.
“Can I open it now?”
“You can”
He took a deep breath as she opened the box. She furrowed her brows when she saw what was in it. She brought it out, taking a good look at it. It was a white stuffed animal. A rabbit. Her expression made his heart race. Didn’t she like it?
“Is something wrong? Don’t you like it? If you don’t, I can get you something different-”
“No. Not that. I love it”
“You do? Really?”
“Yes. I do. It’s so pretty. I’ve always wanted this” she wished to have a plush animal for a long time. Maybe because she never had one when she was a kid. Layla and Sandy had called it childish. She thought it was childish too, but she still wanted it anyway. She had tried buying it at a store, but it was too expensive. She had wondered how a plush toy could be so expensive, but here she was, what she had wished to was right in her arms. “But why did you think of buying this?”
Jared quickly thought of an excuse. “Lucky guess. I figured some girls liked stuff like this, so I bought it”
She nodded. That made sense. She picked up the second gift box. Perhaps she was imagining things, but she felt the box move a little.