Monday morning came rolling by and Ximena couldn't be happier about it. She woke up and did her usual routine; shower, put on her work attire, style her hair and then head downstairs to have breakfast with her family before driving to work. However, she felt a shift in the atmosphere, like something was going to take place on that day that would change her life forever.

Maybe it's just my imagination, she said quietly to herself. It was just going to be like any other day, with tedious amounts of work that needed to be done blah blah blah. The usual stuff and yet, the feeling wouldn't go away. It was stubborn and relentless, like a virus.

Before she made it to the dining area, the alluring aroma of blueberry pancakes wafted into her nostrils and the chatter of her family members danced around her ear drums. Everyone was up, which was pretty odd. Most of the times, she'd be the first one to get up and eat majority of the breakfast alone before everyone else joined in.

When she entered the room, she was greeted by the sight of her father in his sharp Hugo Boss three piece suit sipping on a cup of coffee with the newspaper in one hand, her mother in an exquisite designer dress gracefully cutting through some toast and her two twin siblings, Andrea and Salvador, donning their school uniforms arguing about who knows what.

"Everyone is up early today," Ximena murmured before taking a seat beside her mother. "What's the occasion?"

Emilio continued to sip his coffee, not once taking his eyes off his paper. "A buenos dias mi familia would be nice, hija," he chided her, causing the twins to snort.

Ximena blushed and looked down in embarrasment. "Of course, where are my manners? Mum, dad and the two rats, good morning. Hope you all had a good night's sleep."

Her mother spoke up, once she had set her cutlery down. "You're right, we're all up early but that's only because your father said he wanted to tell us something."

"It better be good, because I missed a whole ten minutes of sleep for this," Andrea added in a bored tone as she took a bite of her food.

Salvador grunted mockingly. "You sleep too much, no wonder you're so fat!" he exclaimed impishly.

"At least I don't look like a tooth pick!" fired back Andrea, angrily. "And you know what? That's why you don't have a girlfrie-"

"Enough!" their father commanded, his fist colliding with the table loudly. "I will not tolerate this kind of bickering. You must not act so childishly this afternoon at the lunch we are going to have."

Inquisitive glances flew to the head of the table. "Lunch? With who?" asked his wife suprised.

Humberto cleared his throat and took up the newspaper to browse through it once again. "Some business associates of mine. An important announcement is to be made," he murmered and then added before anyone to get a word out. "I wish not to discuss the matter further. I'll have a car to pick you all up and drop you off at the venue by one o'clock."

"One o'clock," Ximena thought aloud. "Well, I better get going since I have heaps of work waiting for me. I'll make my way there dad, just send me the directions," she said, standing up from her seat with an apple in hand.

Her father all but nodded, then she bid her family farewell and took her leave. Once in her car, she was soon out of the gates and onto the Miami highway headed for Dos Ramos Inc. The traffic that morning was quite stressful but Ximena managed to weave in and out of it with ease. One thought, however, refused to depart from her mind;

Who was to have lunch with them and what was the big announcement?

***

The door came ajar and a mass of brown curls creeped in slowly. "I'm off to lunch. Please don't need me for the next hour," Dominic pleaded jokingly.

Ximena was to engrossed in her work that she absentmindely nodded, before doing a double take. "Lunch?" she asked confused and her eyes grew in alarm. "Dom, what time is it?"

Her assistant peeked at his gold wrist watch. "It's half past one."

"Dios mio!" she exclaimed and abruptly rose from her seat then began to gather up her things.

She was late by a whole half hour and she just knew she'd be hearing an earful from her father about it. But why had she forgotten? Sometimes she got so into her job that she forgot about everything else, well at least those times she had nowhere to be.

Dominic opened the door even wider and walked over to her desk. "Woah, what's the rush?"

Ximena didn't reply instantly as she was hastily piling sheets and folders up in an attempt to tidy up before she left. Being neat was a must as disorganization was one of her pet peeves. Just when she had stacked everything, the papers fel off the table and scattered all over the floor. Her arms flew up in surrender.

"I forgot about some lunch my father said I should be at as we speak. I really need to go but I can't leave my work space looking haphazard," she murmured and made a move to pick up the papers but Dominic stopped her.

"Don't worry about it, I'll handle this. You just worry about getting your pretty derierre out of here," he said smoothly and sent her a wink, to which Ximena blushed slightly.

"If I wasn't in such a hurry, I'd have given you piece of my mind," she replied curtly, grabbing her purse and cell phone from her large glass desk.

Dominic just smiled flirtatiously and continued to shoo her out of the office. In no time Ximena had reached her Aventador and left the building private garage at top speed. The funny thing was she wasn't afraid of getting a ticket, no. She was much more afraid what her father would say about her tardiness. The thought of it made her shudder in her Givenchy dress.

Adding to her list of felonies, she took her phone out of her handbag and noticed that it was off. She must have powered it down so as to focus more on the stock analysis and shipment history she had been studying earlier.

"Twenty missed calls from papa...I'm dead," she huffed under her breath. Begrudgingly, she dialed his number. He picked up almost immediately.

"I don't appreciate blatant disrespect, especially not from you hija!" he chided coldly.

Ximena gulped as she heard the amount of ice in his voice. It could melt blast furnace. "Papa-"

"Don't papa me. I told you one o'clock didn't I? No excuses. I hope you'll be here soon because whether you believe it or not, what I have to say cannot wait any longer," he stated harshly and then ended the call.

The next ten minutes went by in a blur. What would have normally at least twenty five minutes took her less than half that to get to the allocated rendez-vous. At least she was very familiar with the place, Fonçi's. Her family loved the restaurant and the visited it every so often.

Ximena stepped out of her car once she pulled up to the entrance and handed the valet her keys before she sashayed quickly into the esteemed establishment. She was in such a hurry that she bumped into someone who was also about to enter.

"I am so sor-" she froze as she looked up at the victim and recognised him instantly.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that this isn't a mere coincidence," his heavenly voice erupted melodically from his dazzling lips. Those jade eyes were unmistakeable and that gorgeous face was unforgettable. "Are you following me?" he asked seriously but his face broke into an easy grin.

His hands were on her shoulders and she could feel their heat even through her dress. She looked away in embarassment. "O-of course not. Aren't you the one following me?" she retorted weakly and he laughed.

The mystery man stepped aside, giving her room to enter. She thanked him and got into the building, with him right behind her. They both stopped at the hostess.

She looked up and smiled warmly. "Good afternoon ma'am and sir, do you have reservations?" she asked politely, assuming they were together.

"Reservation under Dos Ramos," Ximena said and shortly afterwards he said, "Under Dos Santos."

Our surnames rhyme, Ximena thought but unfortunately it was aloud. "Indeed they do," the handsome man replied nicely and he looked at her. His gaze was so intense that she couldn't look at him for long, with those piercing green orbs of his.

The hostess nodded and they told them to both follow her. She didn't take the normal route that led to the normal eating area, rather she led them through the tables and up a grand staircase leading up to the roof. She stopped at the door and gestured them to go on without her, to which they were both confused.

Behind the door was a beautiful view of Miami beach and the ocean. The roof was decorated with various flowers in antique French vases and right in the centre, was a large table filled with food enough to feed a small town. At said table was seated Ximena's entire family and two men she didn't recognise.

Once all the occupants of the chairs acknowledged their presence, the elder of the two men smiled brightly as he took a sip of his drink, some red wine. "Finally you're both here. And I see you've already met!" he exclaimed happily in a thick Spanish accent.

Ximena approached the table and took a seat beside her brother Salvador whilst the green eyed mystery man sat next to the other man she didn't recognise, the younger one of the two. Andrea seemed to have turned into a statue when they walked in.

"Oh my gosh, it's Adriano Dos Santos!" she squealed loudly.

"Who?" Ximena inquired, still quite confused.

"Your fiancé."

________________________

I hope you guys are ready for the bumpy ride ahead 😈😈😈. I'm sorry for being gone for so long guys 😢😢😢. Hopefully you still love me?🤗

Love y'all,

Deetronite ❤