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As he waited for the other he stirred a small spoon around in his coffee. He hadn't yet taken a drink, mainly because he was unsure how hot it was. When he was a child his mother told him he had a ' kitten - tongue '. Which was basically when he was to afraid to drink it in case of getting his mouth burned, so he'd take the tiniest sips before judging. There were many solutions to this problem of burning his tongue, like not letting the water get to hot, or putting ice cubes in his drink... but he always just kept doing it the same way. Even at thirty-one. Although he didn't so it so obviously anymore. His son did it, too, as did his daughter. His wife scolded him for teaching them such 'embarrassing' habits. Arden liked that the two were getting something from him though.
His phone buzzed from the pocket he had just put it in and he half expected a reply from his lover, but it was a phone call. He tried to keep himself from groaning at the thought of dealing with work before he even got the the office. But, as a CEO, he had to be organized and he only ignored business phones calls when he was in a meeting, or he was dealing with something more important. That could range from many of things. Whatever he deemed was more important, was automatically more important. Right now he wasn't even doing anything so he pressed the accept call button and put the phone to his ear. It happened to be his frantic secretary informing him of his meeting that morning and how one of the presenters had failed to call to ensure he'd be there. Arden's face fell into a deep frown. If he kept frowning like that then he would be an easy victim for wrinkles. Sometimes he felt twice his age already.
"If he doesn't show up... fire him." He said blankly. Arden had sent out reminders to everyone who was going to be in the meeting because it was a very important one. Their sales had been going down. It was only at two percent at the moment, but if they didn't work something out it would keep going down. When it came to his career he was ruthless and rarely gave any one a second chance. Outside of work he was almost a totally different person. Surprisingly his secretary objected which made his face go into an even deeper frown. She said something about waiting a little longer and such.
The conversation went on and it was obvious by his rough tone that he was displeased with the women who was standing up for the lazy man who couldn't even call that, yes, he'd be there. It wasn't so hard. Even if he did show up he'd be punished for not calling. Maybe he'd cut his hours so he learned. Or lower his pay. Yeah, he could switch that man's position with some one lower. He had no previous incidents with the male but... business was simply business. People would be unoriginal and call him 'the iron fist' because of his decisions. But people learned to be careful about what they did.
So caught up in his talk with his secretary he didn't get a chance to notice the new text, or the stunningly beautiful male who sat in the seat across from him. He was speaking quickly into his phone, now less about the unaccounted for man and about the meeting preparations themselves. All he could really process was god, he really, really hated meetings. The boring robotic voices of men who would pitch ideas that would never work. And it was usual that the meeting would have to continue late into the night if they couldn't find an idea.
"No, no, I cannot stress it enough if you mess it -- " He was broke from his conversation by Alexander's voice. Arden blinked up from where he had been staring into his black coffee and then let his frown turn into a slight smile. "I'll see you when I get there, okay? Everything better be perfect." And then he hung up, quickly, because he was not able to stand her voice anymore and because he had something better to do.
He just shrugged at the other, though he seemed slightly paranoid by the others word choice, "I figured you hadn't eaten yet." And then he had to think. How was he? He was irritated beyond belief, dreadful for an office meeting, and yet he couldn't bring himself to say any of that. Nothing to wipe the smile off the others face. It had been the other's smile after all that attracted him to him. Most people focused on Alexander's beauty - he was beautiful, of course - but... Arden had seen the other smile and that had been enough. It had been at some big business party. And it started sometime after that...
So, instead of saying how he really felt, he just shrugged, "Fine. Alice saw me off this morning." He said with a laugh. Then, for clarification even though he was sure he'd talked about her before he said, "My daughter."
Arden stopped himself from leaning forward and kissing him. It was a little hard to have such limitations... but he kept himself strict. And he was rarely even seen touching the other when they were in public view. A photographer could be anywhere. So instead of giving him a small greeting kiss, he spoke again, "And how are you? Busy today?"
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