Is this destiny?

~ Chicago, Water Tower Place ~

Jasper arrived on the third floor at the fashion show venue few minutes before six thirty.

He used a large mirror in the elevator for a final check of his look provided by Ellie: black pants, gray shirt and a black leather jacket. Jacket and shirt have matching light blue details. He has to admit that he looks sharp. Ellie even prepared black leather ankle boots for him!

Venue personnel checked Jasper\'s invitation and he followed a uniformed man to his seat.

Jasper observed numerous people seated and everyone\'s attention was on models strutting on the stage about three feet elevated from the rest of the hall floor. But he is not interested in any of that. Jasper got his phone and texted Ellie.

[Jasper]: I\'m seated and ready to see your hard work (emoji blowing a kiss)

Looking at the time, Jasper thought how it\'s still about half an hour until EY\'s turn, and then he is not sure how long after that until Ellie joins him and they head to the event. He wanted to come just few minutes before seven, but he was anxious, and ended up coming early. Now he will probably sit here and wait for an hour, or more. Well, nothing he can do about it now…

Jasper checked his calendar.

Ah, tomorrow is that party at his house. Norman gave him few \'friendly reminders\' during the week to come and bring \'that woman\' (aka Ellie) who was in his apartment last Saturday, but Jasper has no intention of making Ellie go through that definitely unpleasant experience. Also, he does not want to go. Lilian will be there, she will not miss this chance to get close to him and suck up to his parents. Lilian will suck up to his parents regardless if he is there.

He flipped to the next day: Sunday is free. That means… day with Ellie.

Well, Saturday is also a day with Ellie, since he will not go to the party. Jasper honestly hopes that Norman will not make a scene and come to his apartment again to check on him or force him to come to the party. Jasper mused that he can make some plan to spend the day out, so even if his father comes, no one is home. Or he can tell the doorman not to let his father up. That is an option.

He flipped to Monday and his brow furrowed. New shareholder wants to see him at ten. Only cryptic: Miss Y. He hopes that this is not one of the Norman\'s people. What if Miss Y expects something for her support? Why else would she want to meet him before board meeting? Jasper told himself to calm down. Maybe Miss Y only wants to introduce herself and to talk with him in order to understand where he is leading the company as a CEO.

Yeah, right. He is leading a company. A joke. Since he got the CEO position, unless Norman approved, nothing went through. Jasper hopes that this change in stock ownership finally removes this choking leash that Norman has around his neck.

"The man is most attractive when he is deep in his thoughts.", woman\'s voice came from Jasper\'s left.

Jasper is sure that seat was empty when he arrived. He looked up and saw unknown young woman. How long was she there, watching him? She is wearing a dark red tight fitting dress and her brown jacket with furry collar is loosely resting on her arms, exposing her bare shoulders. Her dark red lipstick matches the color of her dress.

The way she leaned close to him and even her knees faced his direction told him that she wants to talk to him.

Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Do I know you?"

Woman smiled and extended her hand. "Hailey, Hailey Burke."

Jasper flipped through his mental address book. \'Burke, Burke… no, does not ring a bell.\'

He concluded that she is not a daughter of any of his business contacts, so she is here probably to hit on him. This Hailey is a not bad looking woman… quite attractive, to be honest, and if this was a month ago, Jasper would be happy that he is not even trying and they are coming… but now, this is trouble. If Ellie sees him next to this flirty woman, it will be a problem.

Jasper shook her hand briefly. "Nice to meet you." Before Hailey could say anything else, he pointed at the stage. "If you don\'t mind, I would like to focus on the show."

He saw woman\'s hand reach toward him, and she almost touched his left chest pocket when he grabbed her wrist.

"What are you doing?", Jasper narrowed his eyes at Hailey and pushed her hand away in one swift movement.

She stared at him in shock, obviously not expecting sudden hostility. It took her few seconds to snap out of it and smile sweetly while rubbing her aching wrist. "I\'m sorry, but this is EY, correct? I never had a chance to see one up close, so I was curious."

Jasper was pretty sure that she lied. Or maybe half lied. He didn\'t know that the clothes will be recognized as EY like this. There are no visible tags or logos. It seems that Ellie is working for a good company, and the fact that she picked this for him to wear, made him happy. But he needs to stay present with this pesky woman by his side, otherwise who knows what will happen.

"If you want to look, that is done with the eyes. Don\'t touch me or the clothes.", Jasper said bluntly and turned to the stage while thinking that seven o\'clock can\'t come soon enough.

Hailey pursed her lips and straightened her back. She is not happy that Jasper brushed her off like that. And he didn\'t even introduce himself! How rude. But she knows who he is: Jasper Kiani.

What Hailey didn\'t know is that he is attending these events. Such luck! Also… he is wearing EY!

Backstage, Ellie is watching her assistants and stylists working on the models while giving instructions. It\'s almost showtime! Everything looks perfect!

"Ellie, you should get ready if you want to watch this from the audience.", one of her assistants reminded her. "We got this covered."

Ellie has difficulty letting go. She is a control freak and has a need to do things herself, or at least to see things done in person. She checked her phone and saw that more than fifteen minutes ago Jasper texted her that he is in the audience. Ah, she was so busy that she missed it! And she should get ready!

"It seems your date is here?", Paulette teased.

"What?" Ellie glanced around frantically and frowned when she didn\'t spot Jasper. "Why did you say that?"

Paulette stifled a laugh. "I never saw you this nervous."

Ellie narrowed her eyes at her assistant. "Instead of teasing me, go and check if he is there while I get ready. I hope he didn\'t leave because he is bored…"

"How do I know which one is he?"

"Our seats in the front row. You will know who he is.", Ellie winked.

Paulette was puzzled, but she walked out without further questions.

When Paulette returned, she found Ellie hold two flowy dresses.

"Your choices?"

"Yeah. I can\'t decide… what do you think?", Ellie asked.

"I think that your competition is wearing something… tighter.", Paulette handed her phone to Ellie.

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