Devil (1)

Aaric lifted his hand and touched her face. 'Is she really sleeping beside him? Is it all real?"

When he tried to poke her chubby cheeks, Sasha tried to shove away his hand multiple times. But despite all her futile attempts he continued to annoy her. Displeased, Sasha sat up on the bed and glared at the person who did not let her sleep.

"What the…!" Sasha glared at Aaric whose head was propped on his hand and amusement dancing in his eyes.

"During the night you act all drunk, and in the morning after completing your sleep, you are disturbing my sleep."

"I thought you slept the whole night. I mean taking the fact that you were sleeping just a moment before." Aaric blinked his eyes innocently. Sasha was too exasperated that she just wished to punch this shameless guy in front of her. She rolled her eyes at him and pulled away the blanket on top of her.

Aaric could not help but smirk looking at her flustered reaction. Her flustered face and angry eyes, what more he needs in the morning. His stomach was already full.

After an hour both of them came downstairs to have breakfast. While Aaric was applying butter on a toast for Sasha, he received a call from Remo. In the office there was a board meeting and Aaric had to be present.

"Ask the vice president to attend it on my behalf." Aaric's voice had a bit of anger. He looked at Sasha and decided to stick to his first priority, who was his wife.

Since the phone was on speaker, she heard everything Remo said. Deep inside she knew why he was not ready to head for office. She thought for a moment and placed her hand on the mouthpiece of the phone. Her actions made Aaric to look at her and he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"You should go to the office and the meeting."

"No I can't."

"I will be fine and here are people looking after me. You don't worry." Sasha's assurance and pestering did not leave Aaric with any room for objections. Helplessly he replied to Remo.

"Okay I will be there in the afternoon."

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Aaric's every step was heavy and the pressure he gave off to others was getting worse after every step he took. His eyes were dead cold and his lips shut tight with his jaws clenched and even his hair was messy one could tell that he had combed his hands through his hair a number of times just by the look of it. However, this man could still look so handsome, no matter how he dressed and how unkempt his hair was, he just looked like an aloof handsome man but with a deadly air.

"Good afternoon, President Smith."

The moment he arrived at the meeting room, all the directors of different departments stood up to greet him. All looked exhausted and their faces were full of anxiety but they did not let an ounce of chance to show it on their faces. They were men that had a lot of experience in their own fields with their own set of skills they honed and acuminated in the past years while working in this industry. So, with their back straight, they stood up there in attention as they waited for their President to first be seated before following suit.

All directors looked at their dark-faced President who looked like he was about to pounce on them and tear them to shreds. Under his piercing gaze that seemed like a dark abyss and the undeniable dark atmosphere enveloping this room, they could tell that their President Smith was in a very foul mood. They looked at each other and their look mirrored theirs: eyes full of worry and utter despair. But still, everybody was confident in their work and projects, with their reports, they were sure their boss's mood would surely improve after this meeting.

The Departments of Production, Research and Development, Human Resource, Marketing, Purchasing, and Accounting and Finance all sat stiffly in this suffocating room. Even if this meeting room is quite spacious and that there were only 10 people in the room, including Remo.

With the blinds and shades closed that covered the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the room, that unable the sun's light to fully pass through it, it made the room dim and just gloomy. The ticking of the clock was the only sound that can be heard in the whole office meeting room. Despite that sound, it was almost swallowed by the deafening silence that was filled in this dimly lit room. As the time passed by, the increasing pressure and the dropping of temperature seemed as if it would make one faint and freeze.

A dark and sinister presence lurked at the deepest, darkest area of the room. Aaric sat on his chair, and nodded back at all the directors.

"Start." With Aaric's last word, the meeting started.