Chapter 18

Monday morning came and Hailey was determined to act as if nothing had happened. She walked in the office.

"Hailey, where have you been? I was worried sick!" Clara said,

"I was very sick so i couldn't make it." she responded.

"You have to fill me in on what happened in Maldives."

Hailey tried not to stiffen, "obviously."

"We have a work meeting now Hailey, so drop your things and head to the main boardroom." Clara and got in, and she sat close to the head of the table and she decided to go sit at the middle. They were all waiting now to get addressed.

Valerian walked in and he scanned the room and he found her eyes, and then he looked away and the meeting commenced. There was going to be a business dinner with other companies, and it was formal.

They were going to donate to charity, so they can help the unfortunate and also mark their brand. They discussed a few key points and then they were dismissed. Everyone was talking about it, and how excited they were to see rich guys they could date.

During lunch Clara called me over "Can you do us favor, please?" She looked at the other girls who were pleading with her. "Okay." She said, trying to also fit in.

"Can you go to Valerian's office and ask him if we can bring dates to the charity dinner?" said Clara.

"You guys are crazy, I don't want to get fired!" she replied.

"But you already agreed Hailey, they can't fire you. I mean you skipped work for a whole week and they didn't fire you." Clara persisted.

Hailey turned to them "Okay, I will ask." They all turned to her expecting her to go now. She went over to his door, and kept fidgeting for a whole fifteen minutes.

She finally summed up her courage and she knocked, but no answer came. She knocked twice more, "come in." his voice boomed from inside.

She jumped a bit and opened it slightly. She saw Valerian sitting by his desk.

He looked up. As she was closing the door, Clara gave her a thumbs up. She walked up to him and started fidgeting. She didn't know how to bring up the topic.

Valerian stopped writing and he looked up at her. "Ye?s" he looked at her inquisitively. She started to fumble with her words. "You see, I mean Morning, no afternoon Sir."

"Hailey what do you want to say?" he asked with a irritated look on his face. She summed up the courage and blurted out "Is it okay to bring dates to the event?."

She looked at a puzzled Valerian, "You not bringing a date, case closed" he growled out. With that she scurried out the room. She went back to Clara and the others by the front desk, "he said no."

"You didn't try hard enough!, please try once more." and then she was shoved towards his office. She knocked again and peeked in. Valerian put down his pen in exasperation, "what now?"

"You see sir, the other."

"No Hailey!"

"But I.."

"No buts, my answer is final, no dates!"

She went out, and went to the other clerks "He said Yes!"

They all cheered. "we knew you could do it!" as some of them gave her hugs. The day finally ended and she kept brain storming as to how she was going to convince Valerian to let the girls at work bring dates.

She changed into her waitress uniform and got into the bus, nothing came to mind as to how he was going to convince him.

She got to work and greeted Matt, who didn't seem too eager to greet her. She worked for an hour when she heard the girls gasping.

She looked over at their direction and saw Valerian and other powerful men. Matt lead them to a table of six.

The girls started squabbling over who was going to serve them. Sarah called Matt over, "Which one of us should serve him?" she asked.

"I'm sure Valerian would be more than pleased to have Hailey serve him." She looked at Matt and couldn't help but hear the bitter tone in his voice.

Matt shoved the drinks menu on her, and she knew this was her chance to actually ask Valerian to let them bring dates.

She walked to their table and gave them their menus. "Evening Hailey." She noticed the familiar voice to be Colhane's. She put on my bright smile "evening sir."

Hailey took every man's drink order, and when it was Valerian's turn to order, She went to him "A long Island." as he shut the menu and handed it back to her.

She bent a bit and her lips were next to Valerian's ear, which made all the other men stare, even Valerian was a bit puzzled. "Sir?"

Valerian motioned his hand for me to carry on "can we bring dates to the dinner?"

Her question made Valerian pause, he looked done at her question.

He pushed her forehead back with his finger, she took that as her queue to leave. She went and sent in the order for their drinks.

She found a bunch of pissed girls "what the hell, Hailey! keep your hands to yourself!"

She wanted to explain but this was not the time, and not to them anyways. Her head was on the line as she had lied about the date situation.

She got their drinks and set them down, when she got to Valerian's she set it down, "please sir, my life is on the line." as she had bent again to whisper in his ear.

Valerian turned , and our lips almost touched which made her draw back a bit. "We are ready to order our food."

She took their orders and sent them in, she found a bunch of angry stares waiting for her. When the food was ready, she took it to them. She did the same thing when it came to Valerian "You won't even notice them."

He looked very annoyed, "can we please eat?" She backed away and left feeling hopeless. When they were done eating she cleared their table.

Then they ordered coffee, and she bought it to them.

When she had given Valerian his, she was about to turn away, when she felt a hand grip her wrist. It was Valerian and her heart started to beat fast. Everyone was staring.

"I will let them take dates." before she could thank him,he carried on speaking,

"Only if you are my date."