Surprise from him

The walls which were normal when I came from the school are now decorated with chrome balloons. A smiling Aunt Joey is standing near the foot of the staircase. She opens her arms wide and I go willingly into her embrace.

"Happy Birthday sweetheart" she wishes cheerfully.

"Thank you, aunt Joey" I return her smile.

"Happy Birthday sweetheart" uncle Mike wishes from behind aunt Joey.

I tremble slightly, and aunt Joey holds me tightly.

"Thank.. thank you un.. un.. uncle Mike" I couldn't muster the enthusiasm even if I tried.

Poor uncle Mike makes his way into his study leaving us.

"Chloe" Beth yells from the living room, where she is surrounded by, few of our classmates.

"You invited them all," I ask aunt Joey.

"Jace invited them, dear. He wants you to have fun before you go to college" she confessed with a motherly pat on my shoulder.

I avert her eyes and look at my friends. I am thankful for his thoughtful gesture. He is always this good to me. 'Thank you Jace' I thank him internally, as I don't dare to thank him directly.

"Your welcome" the man of my thoughts says from behind me.

I turn around surprised and for a second I forgot to notice how close he is to me. I look into eyes for a split second and downcast them and look at his shoulder.

"Th..th..thank you" I try to take a step back, but I realize that the railing of the staircase is blocking my subtle escape.

Of course, Jace notices it and a mildly amused smile comes to his lips.

"You go ahead and have fun," he says and nudges me towards my friends with his shoulder. I quickly agree and make my escape towards my friends.

JACE POV

"When are you guys getting married" my mom asks from beside me looking at her retreating figure.

"I told you a hundred times mom, I never looked at Chloe in that way" I repeat myself frustrated.

I don't know when she will understand that. She has to get over that idea of us getting married.

"You did all this for making her happy Jace," she says indicating the decoration and all.

"If her parents were alive, they would have done the same. You stop being a matchmaker" I mutter the last part.

"And that dog you gifted her earlier, what about that" she ask triumph that she caught me this time.

"I would have presented her something on her birthday anyway, it just happened to be a small dog she loves. That's it" I argue.

"Why are you hiding your feelings Jace" she huffs.

"Oh no .. are you dating someone else" she yells which caught the attention of chole and her friends.

They look at us and share amused glances. But what caught my attention was that Chloe's face falls and she averts her eyes like always.

I glare at my mom and she raises her hands in a silent apology.

"Are you even making sense? That girl is scared to even look at me. I am just helping her to get over her fears" I glare at her and turn to leave.

"No. I am not dating anyone" I mutter and leave the house.

I get into my car and start driving away from my parent's house.

I make a call to my best friend and CFO of my company.

"Hey man, what's up" he answers after a few rings.

"Brandon, where are you" I ask annoyance clear invoice.

"What happened, I thought you were with your fiance," he says, clicking off his keyboard can be heard through the line.

"Shut up man" I scold him, frustrated to hear the same from him as well.

"No offense Jace, but she is your fiance," he says matter of fact.

"What the hell are you people drinking? it's making you delusional" I mutter.

"Oh.. no. You had the same conversation with your mother" he laughs at my expense.

"If you keep this up, I will fire you" I threaten him.

"All the best finding a new CFO" that bastard knew I won't fire him. He is an ass but a smart one.

"Wanna test that," I ask carefully in a neutral voice.

"Sorry boss, I don't want to poke my nose where it doesn't belong" the thing he doesn't know is that, I admire his work and I won't fire his ass until it is necessary. It works in my favor to plant a seed of doubt in his mind.

No need to boost his already high ego.

"Good, now that it's settled let's discuss the proposal of Mr. Rob billiards" I order coming into my business model.

"I am looking at it now. He is a leader in the gaming business in his country. He wants to sponsor our games in his country with a cut in the profits" he explains the contents of the proposal.

"Isn't it sketchy that all of a sudden he is interested in us, when he declined our proposal a year ago" I voice out my doubt?

" Yes, in the past year, his company lost its shine and many new companies are wreaking havoc with his profits. It seems like he is barely floating nowadays and in desperate need of a few new game launches. That's where we come in" he relays the information about his company. We have a team of people who specially handle these kinds of issues.

"Hmmm.. interesting" I muse.

"What are the pros and cons for our company with this project" I ask out loud.

"Strangely, the contract which he designed is most profitable to us. His cut is just 10 percent from the profits" he murmurs, he is not completely sure of this either.

"Mail me the contact" I order him.

"Ok, will do it now," he said and a furious clicking sound was heard for a few seconds.

"I just mailed you" as soon as he finishes his sentence I look at the notification bar to notice that I received it.

"Ok, will talk to you tomorrow" I disconnected the call.