Shut up! Stop tormenting this poor soul early morning!

Ding! Ding! Ding! *Click* Click* Click* Click*

I groaned in dismay and tumbled down my bed in a pure clumsy manner. But who cares. I'm alone and no one can see me embarrassing myself. That's the only thing that matters. I let out a heavy sigh and closed my eyes but regretted it the very next moment.

The noises from outside my house grew louder. I could hear people calling out my name and that made me frown and confused since I knew no one here.

Not personally for sure.

My residence was in a good neighbourhood, safe for sure and that was a good thing since I lived alone.

Tring!

My mobile phone rang loudly and the frown on my forehead grew deeper. Who the heck is calling me? Me? The loner who hardly talks to anyone. It's not like I don't want to but again I say I have high heights of trust issues and when I say high I mean my benchmark is beyond the sky.

My doorbell rang again. Bloody hell! Curse that person to the seventh circle of hell. I swear to God I'm going to give him a 100-page lecture once I open the door.I staggered on my feet, took a look at my wall clock and saw it was 6.30 in the morning. I walked to my door and once again being the utterly inhumanly clumsy person I am, I tripped on the rug beneath my foot.

Fantastic!

The doorbell and my mobile phone rang again simultaneously. I swore and began to get up but my eyes literally blinked out of the sockets and fell on the floor.

The f*ck is that? Is this some kind of joke or what?

It was the day's newspaper and I was in it. Me? Arielle Summers, the hopeless wallflower.

I hurriedly unfolded the newspaper lying under me. The f*ck am I doing in this picture and too with the most infuriating and arrogant son of a bachelor.

I took a sharp breath and skimmed through the news article. My mind went blank when the things began threading in my mind. I got up from the floor and cautiously peeped through the keyhole of the door.

The view in front made me gasp in horror. There were two men standing outside my house and they looked quite familiar. I backed away from the door and walked to my window. I cautiously swatted the grey curtains so that I could peek and see what was happening outside.

Sh*t! F*ck! Goddam*it! I was right. I was right.

More than ten reporters were standing outside my house. Camera flashing everywhere and a microphone in the hands of each of them. What the f*ck? Who do people think I am? A celebrity or what? I got up from the window seat and rushed to the door. I couldn't step out of my house like this. I had to do something. No way am I going to answer or give a statement to a piece of news I myself didn't know I was a part of.

Mortal peril. That was written all over my face. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I felt like running. I had no clue what to do. How the hell am I going to get out of this mess. I don't even know how to talk to people. My introverted self was getting the best of me. I looked at the newspaper in my hand and my hands clenched in sheer anger. Nicolas Arnold!

I closed my eyes for a second.

"Don't fear anyone, my child.", my mother's words from my childhood echoed in my ears. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. I quickly walked to my washroom and quickly did my business. I pulled a black scarf and wrapped it around my head to hide my face. Once I was done making myself look no better than a thug I walked to my back door and opened it as carefully as I could.

For the next five moments, I looked to my left and could see the reporters and journalists who were taking out their cameras and microphones to record my arrival. My heart began to pound as I took a step to my right. The lane from my backyard was usually not used often but as long as it was able to save me from these eye-blinding and finger-tapping reporters, I couldn't care less. My eyes immediately caught the sight of a red Porsche Carrera standing there, its engine already switched on.

I thanked my gems and just when I was about to go to the vehicle, I heard footsteps behind me and the next moment I know, journalists are swarming behind me like a swarm of bees. I tried my best to duck and run away but the swarm of journalists was too much for me. I began to feel like a fly trapped in a spider web. I was being crushed by hundreds of people and the only way I could get out was to turn around and face them.

I wished I could find an easy way out. I wished I was a superhero. I wished I could just disappear.

The reporters pointed their microphones at me and one of them shouted, "Miss what is your relationship with the CEO of Arnold Industries, Nicolas Arnold?"

I looked to my right and contemplated. Should I punch him or should I headbutt him? I swear to God the number of questions he asked me in one minute was more than the number of vivas I went through in my whole life.

It was an assault. How could somebody ask me such audacious questions? Goddammit, I had not even met that fellow till yesterday.

"Miss yesterday in the park the way Mr Arnold looked at you told us all but we would like to know more about you both', "one of the reporters shouted and pointed her microphone at me. I felt like I was being iced on every inch of my body. My heart beat just once for every second that passed. I couldn't believe I was in this situation.

I couldn't believe I was involved in this kind of drama. No matter how much I will try to avoid it, it was inevitable to be a part of this. I was caught in a vicious circle of myths. It was a circle of misconceptions that have to be cleared right now but the problem is me. Damn me! I wasn't able to think straight, let alone shut their sharp mouths up.

Suddenly I felt a push and I was hurled to the ground.

The reporter's face was too close to mine. The smell of whatever scent he was wearing was overpowering. "How about a statement?" ", he shouted pointing his microphone at me. I could sense a tear in my right eye when I felt the reporter's arm grab my hand. Unknowingly a scream left my throat, "Leave me! Help somebody."

Being a loner had its own disadvantages. You don't know what to do when you are made the centre of attention.

I felt I was being attacked. I was cornered and the reporters had no mercy at all. They had no regard for what I wanted. They had only one goal and that goal was to capture me and my relationship with a certain billionaire. I wished I had a big stick and a samurai sword right now and I could just chop these hands off that were grabbing me.

"Back the hell off." I heard a certain voice.

The man who had created havoc in my life in less than twenty-four hours.

The reporters were shocked. They backed off immediately and the sound of the reporters' clicking cameras and buzzing microphones had completely gone. An arm wrapped around my waist pulling me in a direction. The same men who were standing outside my house came into my view and backed off all the bloodthirsty reporters.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" the man who was the reason for all this sh*t was asking me if I was okay.

If I was infuriated before I am livid now. I was furious with the man who had caused this mess. I wanted to strangle him. He had ruined my peace.

Once he had dragged me to his black Camaro away from the sights of all cameras, I darted my all attention to him.

"Nicolas f*cking Arnold.", I screamed at him. He looked at me with an amused look. I had no patience for this man. I wanted to kill him. "You son of a bachelor. I hope you rot in hell. You ruined my life. Just because I denied to work for you, you purposely made me go through this hell. You know how humiliated I felt when all of them started shooting their insensitive, absurd questions at me. Screw you Nicolas Arnold.", I yelled out in frustration.

I gasped for air due to screaming out so much. He gripped my forearm and gave me an amused look. The f*ck?

"You done?", he asked giving me a deadpan look.

"Yes."

"Get in.", he ordered opening the car. I looked at him and blinked my eyes confused out of my senses.

"F*ck no.", I mumbled. He gave me an annoyingly freezing look.

"Get in the car or so help me God I'll push you in by myself."

"Don't enrage me or so help me God I'm three seconds away from punching you in the face."

"One."

"The f*ck are you counting."

"Two."

"You're such a child."

" And three."

"What the...", before I could complete my words I was swiped off my feet and shoved inside the Camaro. "Look we don't have time for this useless conversation. We need to talk.", he stated once he was inside the car beside me.

"I don't want to talk just leave me alone. You have caused enough damage."

"Oh, and what will you do?"

"I'll say the truth that there's no-damn-thing between you and I and it can never be."

"I agree with the last part but do you really think those people," he pointed his index figure to the crowd of reporters, "would believe you, let alone believe, even listen to you?"

"I'll report to the cops.", I confidently stated.

"Have fun getting police protection 25/8."

"Screw you.", I cursed and walked out of his car which by far was the biggest mistake I could do. As soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, as if the bodyguards were like a dam gate ready to be left open. The flood of questions started drowning me. But certain questions fell on my ears. "Mr Arnold was never seen with a woman, is it because he had you?"

"Do you actually love him?", his question left me baffled. Do they think of me as a golddigger?

I walked to that certain reporter but before I could say anything, Mr Arnold was in front of me, he pulled that man away from the crowd, all the gazes following his actions including mine. He mumbled something in his ear with a slight smirk on his face. The reporter paled and shivered and before I had known he was apologizing to me. His voice shivering with utter nervousness and fear.

"Come near her again and you're damned for life.", he warned all of them in a menacing tone. And he wasn't joking, every single one of them backed away from me as if I was made of fire. He grabbed my hand and pulled me inside the car and before I could retort he said," We need to talk, now."

***