***

"Why are you so slow? Hurry up," I grumbled into the phone.

"Don't rush me. You're the one that suddenly said you'll pick me up, I'm more than capable of getting home by myself today. What's gotten into you? You've never offered to pick me up before," He spoke from the other end but instead of answering him, I ended the call.

There's only one reason I offered to pick him up and it's not because I was a good brother.

I sat down on the bench in front of the oak tree, crossing my legs, I looked at the time on my watch then pulled my phone out, scrolling through my unread text messages, choosing to reply to a few of them in the time that I was waiting for my brother.

I paused in the middle of writing when the shadow of someone hovered over me and slowly looked up, almost dropping my phone in surprise after seeing who it was.

"Hello... You're Mr De Luca's friend, right? I saw you here the other day," She smiled at me and I gulped before slowly nodding my head and stood up. She took a step back, fixing the sunhat that sat on her head before moving her hand down to rest beside her.

Unlike last time I had seen her where she had been wearing a simple oversized hoodie with her long legs on display, today she wore a pair of jeans that showed off her figure along with a cropped yellow jumper that had a picture of a sunflower in the centre.

"Can I help you?" I eventually managed to ask.

She raised her head until our eyes aligned and when they did, we were both unable to look away. "Oh? Sorry, I was just curious. I'm sorry to have bothered you," Nervously chuckling, she itched the back of her neck.

"It's alright," I heard myself mumble.

"Right, Mr De Luca asked me to give you this," She pulled something out of her bag and handed it to me. I stared down at the lighter with a confused look then turned my head back up to look at her. "A lighter?" She shrugged, looking just as confused as me.

"I was going to meet up with my friend when I bumped into him. He said that it was urgent... Well, I gave it to you so my job's done," Laughing, she turned to walk away.

"Goodbye, mister," She waved.

"It's Ambrose," I slid in and she paused until her smile widened. 

"Nice to meet you, Ambrose, I'm Aria," And then, she was gone. Running over to a man that stood in the distance and I watched as she surprised him, jumping onto his back as he yelped before breaking into a fit of laughs and carried her on his back.

"Let's go!" She pointed out and he rolled his eyes but did as told.

I looked at the way he looked at her and realised that I may have gotten my hopes up for nothing. Of course, what was I thinking? It would be more surprising if a woman as beautiful as she wasn't single. But still... I somehow found myself wishing that it was me over there instead of that man.

"I'm here," Antonio spoke from behind me as I turned to look at him.

"Here's you lighter," I rolled my eyes, throwing it at him as he fumbled to catch it. "I don't get what was so urgent about any of this," I mumbled.

"I was trying to set you both up if it wasn't obvious-"

"It was quite obvious," I cut him off.

"You can't blame me. I don't want you to grow old by yourself while I'm here living the life with a good job and amazing husband and-"

"I have a good job too, might I remind you," I cut him off once more.

"Right, we all know that. One of the youngest billionaires in the world with a tragic backstory made it big in the world and his handsome-as-fuck face helped him along the way," I'm not sure how my face helped but I wasn't bothered with cutting him off anymore.

"So, how did it go with Aria?" He asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," I grumbled, opening my car door as I stepped in.

"So... not very well, interesting. Very interesting," He mumbled before following me into the passenger seat and strapping his seatbelt on. "You, who could have anyone he wanted is unable to get the one woman he wants," He chuckled to himself, typing away on his phone.

"Keep talking and that phone of yours will be flying out the window,"

"I can just buy another one, my younger brother's a billionaire," He showed me his middle finger, a satisfied look on his face.

"Then I'll throw you out the window to go with your phone..." He stopped talking after that.

I didn't see Aria again after that and my regular routine continued on, filled with business trips, meetings, paperwork, events and more. Today's evening being booked with an event hosted by a business partner of mine.

Dressed in a black tux, I left the car as the chaperone pulled open the door for me, I walked up the few steps to the building, nodding my greeting to the people who recognised me and dodged the other one's that tried throwing business cards at me.

"I see you're looking as handsome as ever," Mr Quinn complimented as he handed me a glass of white wine and I accepted it, sipping it while shaking his hand.

He was the owner of a law firm with his wife being a lawyer that worked at the said law firm, I didn't know much else about him and honestly, I didn't find myself being interested.

"My daughter's here today. She's disappeared though, she's quite a beauty and that's not just my fatherly love that's talking," He chuckled at himself, whirling the drink around in his glass. "She's my only child so I treat her well but she's turned out to be more amazing than I could ever have imagined. She's in university now..." He continued talking about her and I found myself losing interest until I caught sight of a familiar person.

She was here. 

Aria... Walking towards me with the brightest smile on her face.

"Dad," She called, hugging him tightly and he laughed, hugging her back. "Where have you been?" He asked her as she stood up straight.

"I was talking to Adrian and Mary on the balcony, they're the only people I know here... But why did I have... to come... here?" She drifted off with her words as her eyes met mine.

"Oh, Aria. This is Mr Ambrose De Luca, he's one of the youngest billionaires in the world right now, CEO of the De Luca Corp. I was a good friend of his father when he was still alive... And Mr De Luca, this is my daughter, Aria,"

"You're the same De Luca as Mr De Luca?" She pointed at me, surprised. "I thought that was all just a coincidence," She whispered under her breath quite loudly.

"It's nice to meet you," I smiled at her, nodding.

She bit her lip, her face lighting up with a blush as she slowly nodded back at me and I found myself loving that look more than I would have thought. I guess you can't just throw attraction out the window so easily, especially with her.

And then, hesitantly, I outstretched a hand for her as she oddly stared at me.

"Care for a dance, Miss Quinn?" Her lips tilted up into another smile and she slowly nodded her head again, taking my hand and I almost shivered at the small contact, finding that I loved the feel of her skin on mine. I wanted more, so much more of her.

"So... Are you younger or older than Mr De Luca?" She curiously asked as we twirled around the dance floor, oblivious to all the other wondering gazes of guests.

"Younger by three years... Antonio's adopted but he's still my brother,"

"Oh? I didn't know that... He only ever talks about his husband in our lectures," She said and I felt my brow twitch, not even surprised by that.

"You must be an aspiring architect then... Why is that?" I asked.

"I don't know... I've always just loved architecture, drawing buildings and seeing buildings then admiring the work that went into it. It's simply... fascinating," She said, her eyes glimmering with that fascination but while her eyes glimmered with the fascination of her ambition, I found myself feeling fascinated by her very being.

"Are you single?" The words slipped out of my throat before I knew it, succeeding in taking her by surprise as she missed a step from the dance and almost fell over but I managed to grab her waist and picked her up, further surprising her.

Smiling, I twirled her around before setting her back on the ground and she clutched onto my shoulders, staring up at me with an odd yet thrilled look in her eyes.

"...Yes, I'm single... Why do you ask?" She replied, raising a brow.

I leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I thought it was obvious," Goosebumps rose on her skin as my breath fanned her neck and ear. When I pulled back, her face was a deeper shade of red than before and I loved it. I guess I wasn't asexual after all.

"I don't think you want to date me," She shook her head.

"Why would you think that?" I asked, confused.

"I have no experience with dating or anything. I've only ever kissed someone once and that was back in high school as a dare. Also, don't you think I'm too young?"

"How old are you?" I asked, realising that I didn't know that.

"21. You?"

"27," I replied, not minding the age gap. "I do want to date you, that's why I asked... but let's get to know each other first, slowly. One step at a time, right?" She stared at me for the longest, most suffocating yet thrilling time before she finally nodded her head.

"Okay, Ambrose," She tested my name out on her lips and laughed, satisfied but nowhere near as satisfied as I was.

This was all just the beginning.

There's still so much more left to come, it's only the start of something new. And this new thing between us would be something euphoric. I'll make sure of it.

...