Tons of people would envy Zephyr if he became Irvin’s mentor. He would be mentoring the one and only Alexander Griffith’s son! Thus, he wasn’t necessarily in a losing situation.
Most importantly, this news would not be painted in a bad light either. He didn’t beg, trick, or kidnap Irvin into becoming his mentee. He convinced Irvin with his capabilities!
What was that? Did someone call it a barter trade? Zephyr objected to that. When had such an unequal trade ever existed, save in times of war?
Even Aladdin could only grant three wishes, yet he could grant thirty! Wouldn’t that make him even better than a genie?
He was surely a lot more reliable than all the genies out there. Clearly, he was a legendary figure with both good looks and remarkable talent. Yes. That’s right. That’s exactly how it is.
After coming up with a solid reasoning that was convincing enough for himself, Zephyr glanced at Irvin, who was buried in his experiment, before walking out feeling satisfied with himself. Meanwhile, at a certain fine-dining restaurant that mostly catered to romantic couples.
Maverick and Ariel were having a candlelight dinner. All throughout dinner, Maverick was the perfect gentleman who was patient in every way possible. This left Ariel feeling a little confused.
It would not escape the attention of someone as intelligent as Maverick that she only accepted his gesture to anger Danny.
However, he didn’t seem to mind it at all. In fact, he was happy to go along with it. One could not help but feel suspicious about this.
“I can’t help but wonder just how much Rylantha is giving you for you to do whatever it takes to butter me up, even though it’ll never amount to anything,” Ariel probed without mincing her words.
“Business and profits aren’t the only things we have between us.” Maverick smiled and turned to flag down the server. “You can serve the wine now.”
Ariel could tell she wouldn’t be able to get a straight answer out of him.
“I’m going to use the washroom.”
Ariel purposely left Maverick alone for a little while. Before she left her seat, she turned on the audio recorder on her phone before hiding it under a napkin on her chair. Once that was done, she finally left.
She knew Maverick too well. He was someone who’d always say the right thing to the right people. She had to resort to a few extreme measures of her own if she wanted to find out what he was truly trying to do.
Five minutes later, she returned to the table just as the server was leaving with the wine. “What’s the matter? Is the wine not to your liking? Ariel asked.
“He’s new to the job and so clumsy that he splattered the wine everywhere. I told him to get us a new set of wine glasses,” Maverick calmly replied.
“Well, he’s still young. Understandably, he’ll make a mistake or two. Don’t tell me you told him off the way you used to reprimand me last time, Ariel said with a chuckle as she saved the audio recording on her phone and converted the audio file into text..
Maverick recalled their history together and started going down memory lane. “I never had al student as exceptional as you are again.”
“I’m not the exceptional one. Your standards simply became too high.”
“That’s not true. Even now, I still think that if I am to spend the rest of my life with someone, you’re the best one I could choose, Arie.”
She was the best, but not the only one, and not the first.
This is always the case with Maverick. Everything he says sounds so grand and moving, but when you take a closer look, it’ll always turn out to be so pitifully meaningless.
Ariel smiled without responding. She looked at her phone and saw that the audio recording had finished converting to a speech-to-text file, so she went ahead to read it. As she did, she raised an eyebrow. This was interesting, indeed.
‘Is it your first time doing this?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘You fool. No amount of wine can hide the drug if you put that much in!’
‘I’m sorry, Mr. Taylor. I’ll pour another glass.’
‘The glass is already full of powder! It’ll be the same even if you fill it up again. Take everything away and bring a new set over. This time, just cover the walls of the glass with a thin layer before bringing it over. Got it? If anyone finds out about this, you won’t be losing just your job. You won’t be getting any more money either.’
I got it. I’ll do exactly as you say. The conversation stopped there. True enough, Maverick was resorting to this trickery behind her back.
Maverick noticed that Ariel was staring at her phone and assumed she was talking to Danny, so he quipped sarcastically, “I have no idea what you women think. You can even accept your partner cheating on you, albeit just physically. Back then, I didn’t sleep with anyone else and I didn’t cheat on you emotionally either, so why can’t you let it go?”
Ariel put her phone away and looked at him coldly. “Some people might have been sullied physically, but their heart remains pure, while others can’t hide the disgusting stench of their rotten heart no matter how clean and faultless they pretend to be.”
The reality of life had long since proven who was true to her and who was merely putting on a show. A few pleasant words and an attempt or two at fawning over her weren’t going to change that.
Maverick caught the implication of her words and his expression changed slightly. The air grew tense between them. Just then, the server came back and interrupted them.
“I apologize for the intrusion. I shall serve the wine now.”
The server did as he was told and poured two glasses of wine. He set the glass with the drugged wine in front of Ariel. “Please enjoy.”
He bowed before retreating. Maverick swiftly composed himself and raised his glass with a smile. “Come. Let’s set aside these unhappy thoughts for now. Cheers to this beautiful night.”
Ariel swirled her glass and tipped it at him before drinking the wine. Then, she calmly wiped her mouth with the napkin and spat everything back out before quietly putting the napkin away.
Maverick’s eyes flashed with victory as he glanced at the empty wine glass. He impatiently asked for the bill before taking Ariel home. Along the way, Ariel pretended to become a little woozy and disoriented, as if the drug was taking effect.
“Are you alright, Arie?” Maverick pretended to be clueless about the situation as he checked on her. “Are you drunk?”
“Maybe.” Ariel rubbed her temples and murmured, “Ask the driver to hurry up. I should be getting home.”
“Don’t worry,” Maverick said in the gentlest tone, though his face was completely emotionless. “I will definitely get you home safely.”
As soon as he said that, Ariel leaned back and acted as if she had fainted. Soon, the car stopped outside Ariel and Danny’s house.
Maverick got out first before walking over to the other side of the car and carrying Ariel out. He used her fingerprint to unlock the door before strutting into the house as if he owned the place.
Out on the corner of the street, Danny took this all in. The steering wheel nearly cracked under his death grip. Ariel was his! Was he really going to let Maverick get his way?
In that case, would he be any different from that beast, Maverick?
However, would Ariel forgive him if this didn’t happen?
Danny was conflicted. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked, but still, he couldn’t make his mind up.
Inside the house, Maverick placed Ariel down on the couch and took in her gorgeousness up close.
Although she was thirty, her skin was just as soft and supple as a college student in her early twenties, and her figure was still as slender yet voluptuous as ever. Such was the only woman he had ever developed feelings for. She took great care of herself.
As he studied her, he began to feel that something was amiss. He had given her an aphrodisiac, so why was she unconscious? Had it been a little too much?
Whatever. There’s no time to think about this. I can’t stop now.
Tonight, I must take her for myself!
Thus, Maverick kneeled on the couch and bent down to kiss Ariel.
“What are you doing?” Just before he could press his lips against hers, Ariel’s eyes flew open. She leveled an unblinking stare at him.
