Second Chance Encounter

"Ciao lady boss!" Jeremy happily bid his goodbye to Rose that had made Rose utterly speechless looking at his childish behaviour. He was considerably same age as her, but the way he behaved, made him seemed a little younger than her. Or was it she had matured beyond her age? Well, thinking back at her accomplishments, it was undoubtedly she was more capable than the rest of her peers at her age.

She started her business three years ago once she finished her diploma and currently she undertook her bachelor degree in business. It definitely worth mentioning, hence, so many socialite families asking for her hand in marriage. Well, she turned down their offers by stating she still needed some space to develop her life before she really focus on her own family. And the best thing was that, her parents were so supportive of her decisions until last year, when they in the end accepted Devon Luke's proposal.

Urgh... Stress... The jerk! I told them before I never have the intention to settle down so soon. I'm still young. I'm twenty-four years old now! For God sake! There's still a lot to do! Now things went south and I have to face such ridiculous comments made by society. What the hell!

Rose sighed heavily and slowly turned around and started to walk leisurely towards her Bugatti Veyron with her head bowed down when she bumped into a muscly chest. The impact was overwhelmed that she almost bumped her butt on the concrete ground when a pair of strong yet gentle arms wrapped around her waist that made her able to execute the perfect cambré as if she had years of training in ballet.

Eyes meeting eyes and Rose was momentarily stunned.

"Jude?" she was stuttered. She had never thought she would bumped head on with Jude Townshend. Her face turned three-parts crimson that how she wished she could hide herself underneath the ground.

Instead of frowning at the situation they were in, Jude flashed his devilish smile at her that made her heart pound so hard against her chest that caused her reluctantly to became breathless. Not too far from the two who were competing in gazing competition, Jeremy's mouth opened wide as if he had the revelation dawned on him.

Whoa! Uncle is so suave! Manly! My lady boss of course won't be able to run away from uncle's clutch. Ha!Ha!Ha! This is fantastic! Jeremy clapped excitedly and he didn't realise someone was stood right next to him.

"Why were you so excited?" the voice startled him that he jumped off from his spot. He cursed inwardly. He looked at his side and was stunned. Leah?

"Of course I'm happy that lady boss got a day to be romantically with a man," he said casually. Leah smirked.

"Yeah? Really?" Leah looked at him curiously. She had been so busy all day that she didn't have a chance to talk to her friend Rose. She had heard about the rumours and was worried about her. That was why she intended to ask her out for a drink that evening. Well, who knew as soon as she was able to catch up with Rose, she had been caught off guard by witnessing the romantic encounter between the two people. And what surprised her the most was, instead of Steve Mclare, Rose's cousin, it was the most sought after bachelor: Jude Townshend.

"And you're stalking your lady boss," Leah reminded him. Jeremy almost choked by her remark. He quickly turned to Leah, eyeing her and instinctively unleashed his superior stance.

"What about you then? Isn't it the same? Stalker." He smirked. Leah looked askance at him with her pouted lips.

"You are the stalker. What it has to do with me. No matter what, I caught you stalking my friend," She refuted his accusation. Jeremy chuckled while Leah wished she could find somewhere to hide for the time-being.

"You're cute," Jeremy suddenly pinched her nose and it was a sudden assault to her little heart. She glared at Jeremy embarrassingly. She quickly slapped his forearm.

"Eh, how about we grab our dinner together?" Without waiting for Leah's agreement, he casually flung his arm on her shoulders and forcefully dragged her with him for the dinner. Why should they keep on watching the soon-to-be lovebirds? It was better to eat something good to keep on living.

In the meantime...

"Er... Are we going to be in this awkward position forever?" her eyebrow arched into a perfect curve that caught Jude's eyes and he was mesmerized by it for the umpteenth times since the first day he met her, face to face.

"Sorry," he quickly regained his senses and pulled Rose to stand straight, unfortunately... His force was a little bit too strong that he accidentally pulled Rose to his chest and of course, it meant to fall into his arm. Mission accomplished. Jude grinned satisfactorily at the special moment that befell on him. Rose glanced upward and saw his Adam apple, and to feel the masculinity oozed from him made her heart raced too fast that she became restless.

"Are you okay?" he gently asked her while put both his hands on her shoulder, eyes looked into her hazel brown eyes and smiled.

"I'm fine." Rose mumbled hesitantly.

"Are you just finished with your works?" he frowned. It was almost thirty minutes past eight.

"Well, I need to work to survive," Rose chuckled lightly. There was a tint of pinkish blush on her cheeks, the aftermath of being in his arms a while ago.

"Ahh... Anyway, since this is a rare occasion for me to meet you on busy street like this, what if we have our dinner together?" Jude gentlemanly inviting her to have a dinner together. Rose glanced at her watch.

"I would love to, but I promise my parents to have dinner at home today. Maybe some other time?" She said in apologetically manner and slightly bowed her head. Jude sighed inwardly. He knew he has to take things slowly lest he scared her out of her wit.

"I see... Some other time then," Jude pretended to be unaffected though deep within him, there was a turbulence brewing. Earlier, as he was unknowingly drove himself up to Brooke Drive, he thought he was crazy, totally out of his mind. But, in the end he made up his mind and gathered his courage to find Rose at her gallery. It was a blessing for him as Rose bumped straight into his embrace. Oh, how much he dreamed of holding her in his arms.