first impressions.

Lucille walked towards Othello, who was very popular for his looks, especially for his Ember coloured eyes and fit physique. He was like a celebrity crush to her, and yeah, seeing him feels like a dream. She cleared her throat to clear the intrusive thoughts in her head. She takes a seat before Othello who was observing the Spaghetti cheese he ordered. Lucille's mouth watered as it was her Favorite meal, but she had to maintain her steeze.

"Hello, Miss?" He smiled politely, indirectly asking for her name. She wasn't surprised he didn't know her. Her family's company was not that popular compared to Damien's. However, shouldn't Damien have told him whom he was meeting with, "Didn't Damien tell you that?" she smiled. He shook his head, "He merely showed me a picture of you,"

Lucille scoffed, she then proceeds to introduce herself, "Lucille Rockwell,"

"Pretty," He merely said. She smiled at the compliment, getting down to business. "Why are you here instead of Damien?" she asked, before picking up the glass of water on the table to drink. Othello made a gesture with his hands placed on his chest while faking a hurtful expression as if he were hurt.

"You won't even ask for my name in return?" Lucille laughed softly before parting her lips to say

" I didn't ask for your name because I already know your name. You may not know but you're pretty popular."

"I am?" His eyes widened slightly, pretending to be surprised, he was feigning ignorance of how girls simped for him. She nods her head.

"Damien sent me here in order to tell you he couldn't make it. He needed me to pass this to you. " He stretched out his hand, holding a file that contained God knows what. Lucille gave him a questionable gaze. Othello shrugged his shoulders, " He didn't tell me what was in there,"

Lucille brought her right hand forward to collect the file from his hand. She dropped the file on the table as it could wait for later, she wasn't curious at all to know what was in there. She needs to preserve this moment with Othello. She smiled, before proceeding to say; "I'll check it later," Othello nodded his head before standing up.

"You're leaving?" She asked and regretted it immediately. Of course, he was leaving. It was not like they were the ones getting married. She bit the inside of her lips and tried not to show the dejected look on her face.

"Yes, Miss Lucille." He gave her a smile, this time reaching his eyes. His personality was not what she expected at all, making her like him the most.

"Ahh, I see. What about your food then?" She asked as he ordered pasta earlier.

"I don't have an appetite, I ordered that for you. You may not know but you're also pretty popular." He said,making Lucille confused as to what he meant by that. Her eyes widened slightly, he knew her! He had been faking since.

"You know my Favorite food! How?" She asked, flustered at his gesture. He nods his head, "Yes, I do. Telling you how, will be for another day," He smiled slightly, then walked out from the restaurant.

She didn't know when that day would be but she was definitely looking forward to it. If someone told her, she would be so happy at the end of this meeting, she wouldn't believe it. She made sure to eat every last piece of the pasta.

~

"I am going to attend a press conference," Damien said, as he sat before Walter who was sitting on the couch beside him.

"He said to make it quick, I understand but this is so sudden. Are you sure you'll be okay?" Walter asked, quietly observing the situation.

"You know him, he doesn't care! I'll take care of it as soon as I can, I'm also announcing the wedding of me and her, with the inheritance of the company. That should be it, it's convincing enough for the public." He rests on the couch, before closing his eyes.

"Why didn't you meet with her? I arranged a meeting for you two." Walter asked, with a serious look on his face. Damien sighed, "I just got back from Italy, can y'all give me a break?" He stood up and went to his room, while Walter stared at his retreating back, he sighed.

~

Lucille smiled to herself in bed, as she remembers how Othello smiled at her back in the restaurant. She sits up, and opens her Instagram app, she decides to follow him on Instagram, thinking he'll follow her back, after that, she decides to sleep.

The next day;

Articles have been released about the possible reason why Damien Dutchell has returned to Orlando, It could be possible that he came back to inherit his father's company after refusing to after all these years. The reporters stood in front of The Evolve, wanting to meet with Walter to spill the beans.

"There will be a press conference here tomorrow, by this time. Please make sure to come by then, as Damien is making a very important announcement to the whole of Orlando." Walter said, before leaving the company in his Bugatti car. The reporters were convinced by this and left the company to prepare to go the next day.

~

"Lucille, you have to make sure to be there at the Press conference tomorrow." Robinson said to Lucille who sat in front of him, he had called her to his office, during lunch.

"Why do I have to be there? Do you want his girl fans to skin me alive?" Lucille muttered,

"Damien will protect you, you have to be there because the news is about you. He asked me for this favor, so make sure to be there."

"But what about work-"

"Do not worry about anything, it wouldn't matter once you get married anyway." He smiled, the type that didn't reach his eyes.

Lucille eyebrow furrowed, "What do you mean? I'm still going to work even after I get married."

Robinson nods his head, "Of course, you are, just make sure you're there on time tomorrow. And you might need a face cap and nose mask." He smiled at her warmly.

"Thanks dad, I'll go back to work now. Make sure to have lunch." She left his office with a smile on her face. Lucille walks towards her desk to have her lunch, others were in the cafeteria so the office was empty. She had to go meet Felicia, the temporary General Manager of the company to take a few hours off.

Ever since the marriage contract with Damien, she had been offloading her work schedule too much, she hopes after the wedding, all this will reduce. After Lunch was over, everyone resumed their work. The name of her Family's Company was The Dove. It was based on Fashion productions, anything fashion they produced, Clothes, Footwear, Accessories, Undergarments, Fabrics and textiles, Fashion industry, just name it.

The Dove company has been pretty much it, they have been doing so well, and people so far liked their products. Even after the recent streams about plagiarism and all, people were quick to forgive them after it was proven to be fake, and that some haters just wanted to ruin their reputation.

Lucille deals with the operation of the business, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), she manages the company's financial planning, record keeping and reporting. On her own team was, The CEO, Operation Manager and Human Resources manager and the CFO.

The CEO was obviously her father, who leads the company, directs them and makes the high-level decisions. She was the CFO, and the Operation manager was Ryan, he deals with the production process, supply chain, logistics and distribution to ensure efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The Human Resources manager was Sophia, she manages employee recruitment, training, development and workplace policies. There were other teams like E-commerce and Digital, The retail and sales, Marketing and brands, Design and Creative, Production and Technical, Sustainability and Ethical Practices.

While Lucille could've been the General manager if she wanted, but she wanted the same chance as those who aren't privileged, once she could prove her worth to her dad, she would become the General Manager and eventually the CEO after her dad retires.

Lucille after she was done recording the financial transactions for the day, stretched her body, tiredly and yawned. She proceeded to the General manager's office, after knocking like twice, she entered the office. "Hi, Mrs. Felix, I'm afraid I'll have to take some hours off tomorrow, during noon. The CEO already knows, I just thought you should know."

Felicia who looked like she was in her forties, with her eyes drooped low on the computer screen in front of her. She raised her head slowly to look at Lucille, she shook her head, "Sure," She simply said, and Lucille bowed slightly before leaving the office.

She made her way towards her office desk, took her bag and decided to leave for the day.

"You're leaving?" Ryan asked, while sitting on his chair, he had his glasses on. "Yes, I'm done for the day." She flared her hands,

"Let's leave together, I'll be done in a minute." He replied, while increasing the speed of his fingers typing on the keyboard. Lucille smiled, "Okay,"

He was done few minutes later, and they left, leaving the office empty as Sophia had already left. "Recently, it's been hard to catch your eye." Ryan initiated a conversation while they were walking out of the company. Lucille laughed lightly, "Yeah, I've been pretty busy,"

"With…?" He asked, with a polite smile on his face.

"Well…, it's personal so I'd rather not say, but you'll soon find out about it." Lucille said, making Ryan eyebrow arch.

"You didn't bring your car right? I'll give you a ride." He offered, "Isn't that inconvenient for you?" Lucille asked,

"Not at all," He quickly replied.

"Then, sure." Ryan smiled.

~~~

"Thank you for the ride," Lucille said to Ryan, after she got to her house, "Remember, no thank you between friends." He smiled,

Lucille smiled back, "Still, see you tomorrow." She waved at him and he waved back at her.

She walked into her house, Stacy was home, but her dad wasn't. She sighed, tired. So much has been happening in her life lately, she is getting married! To Damien of all people. She didn't even bother to greet Stacy, who was in the living room sitting, probably waiting for her husband.

She made her way to her bedroom, and collapsed on the bed. She didn't even wash up and fell asleep afterwards.

~~~

The next day, Lucille woke up rather early, she normally wakes up early, but this was earlier than usual. She felt energetic too, so she decided to make breakfast for herself, after washing up and brushing, she ate her breakfast, which was Spaghetti and Hot dogs.

After her breakfast, she decided to make good use of the time to exercise. After searching up easy tactics on YouTube, she practiced few exercises, and after a few minutes exercising, she stopped, exhausted. She went back to eat the leftovers of her food to regain the nerve she just lost while exercising.

After that, she took another nap an hour before going to work. When she woke up, she was almost ten minutes late to work. She quickly went to the Park way and saw that her father had already left with the car. Why didn't he wake her up!? A message popped up on her phone screen, it was from her dad.

'Do not bother to go to work, I already told Felicia i sent you on an errand," Lucille's eyes widened, "There is no way I'm skipping work again, I don't think I can cope with being at home alone," she didn't listen to her father and took a taxi to the company. While she had put on her face cap and the nose mask she needed to attend the conference meeting Damien later had, her workmates didn't know it was her.

"Because her dad is the CEO, she can do what she wants." A young lady said,

Lucille stopped in her tracks, staring at the group of four girls walking to get their morning coffee.

"Literally, like they had to pull some shit like we are all equal regardless, by giving out that General manager position to some outsider. It was all just for show, we both know she is still the General manager even though she doesn't deserve it."

Lucille scoffed, but she didn't confront them, this is something she had gotten used to. People bad mouthing her to make themselves feel better about each other, they would often overlook her hard work and how she actually started as an intern, worked harder than people who claimed to be less privileged, all that just to make them see she was worth it.

But where did that get her? After all her years of hard work, of sleepless nights. She just took some days off for personal reasons and now she is the spoiled brat who depends on her father's hard work!? Very ironic indeed, the ones unserious about their work, who would depend on anyone if given the chance are the ones criticizing someone else who had the chance to.

'Ew, people.' Lucille thought to herself. "Good morning," she greeted,

"Good morning, Lucille." Sophia greeted with a worried look on her face.

"What is it? You look worried." Lucille asked, before settling on her seats, she took off her face cap and nose mask.

"The merchandiser suddenly quit this morning, and she has yet to submit the product presentation to the Manager. She promised to do that today, but she suddenly quit this morning due to a personal reason." Sophia explained, worried about not meeting the expectations of the consumer.

The Merchandiser Plans and manages product assortment, stock levels, and product presentation to maximize sales and profitability. However, she was yet to submit a presentation for the recent company project they were working on, the design and the fabric had already been chosen, she only needed to submit a presentation suggesting ways they can maximize sales and engage more buyers.

"So, did you report to Mr. Rockwell?" Lucille asked, and she nodded her head. "Yes, I did. Absolutely, and he asked to get a new merchandiser within 24 hours! A sign had already been put up but I don't think it will be possible to get one within 24 hours! I don't wanna lose my job for something that is not even my fault!" Sophia groaned, obviously frustrated.

"I have an idea," Lucille muttered, with a smile on her face.

~~~

Lucille makes her way into The Evolve, it was actually bigger than it actually looked in pictures. Her dad had given her a ride, to make sure she was on time. She had her face cap and nose mask on. She quickly made her way to the Lobby, where Damien was giving out the speech.

Damien slightly tapped the Mic that was placed at the front of the stage in order to check if it was working, bringing his lips close to the Mic, he said, "Good day everyone, the reason why this press was gathered was to give out my reason on why I decided to return to Orlando." His eyes swept across the crowd.

Till they fell upon that woman, who stood out amongst the others. He smirked, knowing who it was despite her covering her face with the face cap and nose mask she was putting on. "However, there is something else, a pressing matter that I'm going to reveal to every one of you watching this. There is a saying that behind every successful man is a woman. And I think I have found that woman." The audience gasped at his announcement.

"Are you getting married?"

"How long have you two been together?"

"Who is this Lucky woman?"

These were questions that evolved from the reporters.

"Is he getting married?"

"I wonder who the lucky girl is,"

Damien cleared his throat, to gain their attention to what he was about to say, with a smirk on his face, "She is the most beautiful woman I have ever set my eyes upon, we've been friends since we were in High school, just friends, or rather enemies." His words erupted laughter from the crowd.

"However, after meeting again, we realized how much we loved each other, the feeling had always been there, we just refused to acknowledge it." He paused, and smiled, it seemed so genuine. 'Wow, this man chose the wrong profession, he should've become an actor instead.' Lucille thought in her head.

"She is not the lucky one, I am." Damien stepped down from the few steps positioned on the way to the Stage where the mic stood. He fixed his eyes on Lucille, who was caught in her own thoughts.

"Right there," He said, in his raw, deep, and loud voice making everyone follow his gaze just to land on Lucille. Before she could react, a girl pulled the face cap she was wearing. Letting her packed-up hair fall hastily, stopping above her waist.

She gasped lightly, reveling in the shock.

Thankfully, no one recognized her- " It's Lucille!" someone yelled from the crowd, while some other people wondered who Lucille was. Grabbing their phones to research.

While Damien was getting closer and closer to her, she didn't know whether to run or stay.

'Run!' She yelled to herself in her head, she hadn't taken more than a few steps when she slipped, almost falling if not for the arms that wrapped around her, which prevented her from falling.

He was staring right into her soul and she stared right back. "What are you going to do?" She whispered, only for him to hear. He smirked, crossing the last inch of space between them.

She attempted to step back but Damien wrapped his arm around her waist even firmer, pulling her closer to him before closing their distance by placing his lips an inch away from hers. Lucille's eyes widened.