Esmeralda's POV

I stomp my feet in anger as I walk to the front of the humongous building to hail a cab. I really needed to fix my car soon. I didn't wait for long before a taxi stopped to pick me up. I describe my address and the driver nods before going back to ignoring me.

When I get to my two bedroom apartment. I throw my bag on my couch with a little too much force. I blame asshole Blake for putting me in a bad mood. I go into my bedroom and change into a casual outfit before moving to the kitchen to microwave dinner for myself.

While waiting, I decide to search up who the infamous Daisy everyone is mistaking me for is. I type 'Daisy and Hunter Stone' into the computer since I didn't know her last name. The computer loaded various articles, gossip blogs and pictures. I click on the first article with the heading "Heiress of the Heart group of hotels gone missing".

The article was about how Daisy was supposedly kidnapped and murdered. This led to the terrible health condition of her father since she was his only living relative. The article reported that the details of the whole incident remain unknown to the general public.

I opened another article but it was only repeating what the previous one said only with different words. All these was really sad but I still didn't see the connection between Hunter and Daisy. Maybe she was a fling.

One article finally catches my attention and I click on it. It read 'Hunter Stone of the Stone Empire and Daisy Heart of the Heart group of hotels ENGAGED!!!'. So she was his fiancé. The first thing on the page was a picture of a younger Mr Stone and Daisy dancing at their engagement party looking so oblivious to their environment. The resemblance between Daisy and I strikes me so hard that I jerk a bit.

The girl is the one in the picture I accidentally broke today in Mr. Stone's office. They looked so enraptured in each other that it almost looked magical. A weird longing stirs up in me as I keep staring at the picture. I shake my head and close the tab. I suddenly remember that I have dinner in the microwave so I rush to the kitchen and I get there just as the timer beeps. I take out the spaghetti and eat silently.

After a while, I get ready to go to bed. I decide to open the box Mr. Stone gave me and check what kind of dress it contained. I pray that it will be something conservative. I'm not a prude but my parents are Catholic and they will blow a fuse if I ever wore something indecent. Besides, I won't feel comfortable in it.

My  jaw drops in shock when I remove the dress from the box. It's basically a mosquito net! I'm supposed to wear this!!! What exactly was the designer thinking when he/she made this? This isn't even worthy to be worn to bed!

I check the tag and gasp at the name of the brand. It's flipping Arianna Cade! Middle class people like me can only dream of wearing this brand.

I bring the dress against my body to see how it looks like and I cringe at my reflection. I can't wear this. The large scar on my back will be bare for everyone to see and I don't want anyone poking their nose into my business. Even I can't remember how I got the scar. My mum told me that it was from the car accident that made me lose part of my memory.

My phone rings and I drop the dress on the bed to pick it up. A shriek is delivered to my ear as soon as I press the answer button and I distance the phone from my  ear to save what's left of my hearing ability. I check the identity of the caller and see that it's my crazy best friend; Keesha.

"Chica, why the fuck didn't you tell me that you've gotten a fucking job? If I wasn't so happy for you, I would be offended right now!" She shrieks some more.

"K, turn down the volume and Jesus Keesha, mind your language"

"Babe, I had to hear the news from your Fucking mom. So....any hot hunk at work?" She asks and I could practically feel her wiggling her eyebrows from the other end of the phone.

I open my mouth to answer her question but she cuts me off.

"What's the name of the company? Your mother said you didn't tell her, why?" She asks again.

"It's not a company...well it is a company but it's the headquarters of all the companies under it's name. You know the Stone Empire, right? And I didn't tell my Mum because she would freak out about being the secretary for such a notorious womanizer" I reply and wait for a response that never came.

"Keesha?....K?..... Keesha? are you still ther...."

"You're working for the younger stone, are you shitting me right now?" She screams into the phone.

I'll never get used to Keesha's loudness.

"Yes, I'm his assistant" I reply picking up the dress again and willing it with my eyes to grow a few more inches.

"I never thought I'd say this because of how much I love my life but I wish I was you right now" she says and I can hear the awe in her voice.

"Just...." She starts in a calm tone.

Calm Keesha was never a good thing.

"What K?" I ask dreading what she was about to say.

"Just please be careful with him okay? I know you just got out of a terrible relationship and I don't want you getting your heart broken again" she concludes.

"I only said I was working for him not that I was sleeping with him. And I'll be fine, we barely even talk." I say.

'Yeah, because almost swapping spit is not close at all' my sarcastic sub conscious chips in.

"If I was you, trying to keep my hands away from him would be the real job" Keesha says already back to her normal self.

"You need help" I say rolling my eyes knowing that she can't see it. She hates it when people roll eyes at her.

"And talking about help, I have a situation here. There's a charity gala tomorrow night and Mr Stone got me a dress and let's just say that the dress isn't even worthy enough to be an underwear. Plus, it'll expose my scar, what do I do?" I whine.

"Well, send me the picture and I'll see if I can get something that looks like it only a bit more conservative" she says.

"That might be a little bit impossible. It's Arianna Cade's design. You can't find anything like it anywhere" I mutter.

The shriek that follow my words were expected so I quickly move my phone away from my ear.

"Oh my God, oh my God! I'm coming over right away. I guess we're going to have a girls night today" And without saying goodbye, she hangs up.

I shake my head, she's crazy but I love her all the same.

My phone rings again and I pick it up knowing it's Keesha. She probably forgot to say something.

"Ever heard of warning people before hanging up?" I chide her.

"I need you Daisy" I hear Mr Stone's broken sob from the end of the line.

What the hell happened to him?

Esmeralda's POV

"Mr Stone?" I call out into the phone.

"You can't be dead, you just can't be" he sobs gut wrenchingly and my heart clench in worry.

I notice the drawl in his voice and guess that he was probably drunk.

"Mr Stone, where are you?" I ask trying to sound calm.

"Tell me you're alive and you still love me. Tell me you don't hate me." he groans from the other side.

"Tell me Daisy" the pain in his shaking voice was so real that I felt it to my bones. I can't even start to imagine what he was going through right now.

"I'm alive" I say trying to ease his pain even though I'm not Daisy.

"Tell me you love me Daisy" he mutters.

"I l-love you Hunter" I say closing my eyes at the absurdness of it all.

I had never told any guy I loved him except my father and brother, not even Jack. Saying it so casually is........I don't even have a description for how it feels.

"I love you so much Daisy" he says with his voice drifting off. My heart skips even though I know his words were not meant for me.

Silence reigns for a few seconds and  I just hope that he has fallen asleep because nobody deserves that kind of pain and if sleep can take it away from him for just a few hours, then so be it.

"Why are you looking like someone just stole your puppy?" My heart jumps out of my chest when I hear Keesha's voice.

"Christ Keesha, there's this thing called knocking, it helps to not send people to their early grave with a heart attack" I remark trying to calm my heartbeat.

"What's the use of having a key to this apartment if I still have to knock? And who is Hunter? How come I don't know this guy? And how come you're declaring your love so soon into the relationship? Unless you have....." I cut her off from the relationship speech she's about to give me.

Why don't people know Mr. Stone's first name? Most people refer to him as the younger stone while the media referred to him as Stone Empire heir and the paparazzi address him as a playboy.

"It's not a new guy, and you might want to bring out the takeout you brought along for this crazy story" I say and she opens the pizza while I go get us drinks.

After settling down, I find myself telling her about everything; how Mr Stone and all his friends keeps mistaking me for his fiance all to what just happened right now.

"Finally some drama in your life, I'm tired of it being me all the time" she teases.

I smile because Keesha definitely had a lot of drama in her life. She's the most gorgeous woman I've ever set my eyes upon and she has always been so unlucky with family and guys; always attracting jerks who only wanted her body. One thing I admired the most about her is her strong spirit. Despite all, Keesha never let any of it affect her or at least she doesn't show it.

"They'll soon discover that I'm an imposter and forget about all this Daisy" I state.

"So the dress, Can I see it?" She says and I can practically feel the stars shining in her eyes.

I gesture to the bed and she picks up the dress with awe.

"I can now die in peace" she says falling on the bed with the dress in her hand. I stand up from the foot of the bed where we were sitting and join her on the bed.

"Quit being so dramatic and tell me what to do. I just got the job and I'm treading on eggshells here. If I reject a dress that probably costs more than my apartment, won't it be weird?" I ask bewildered about what to do.

"Well, you can fake sickness and not go..." She responds not taking her  eyes off the piece of clothing.

Yup, Keesha was in love.

With her being a fashion columnist, I'm not surprised she's so fascinated with a particular brand.

I groan and plop face down into my pillow.

"What's that?" She asks and I raise my head to see whatever it is she's talking about.

I notice that she was staring at the gash on my finger that I got when I was trying to pick up the broken frame's glasses.

"Oh that. It's nothing. I was just a bit careless in the kitchen" I say waving it off.

She stares at me suspiciously for a few seconds before relenting. I don't know why I didn't tell her what happened. A little part of me knew that it was because I didn't want her to have anything against Mr Stone. Why? I don't know. It's not like I'm a teenage girl trying to get my friend to approve of my boyfriend.

'You're an idiot' my snobby subconscious says.

I mentally search for an off button for her annoying voice.

'You can't get rid of me' she adds smugly.

And now I'm pretty sure I'm going crazy. Who in her right mind talks to a voice in her head?

"That's it! This wound is the perfect excuse" Keesha exclaims.

"K, I'm supposed to wear the dress on my body not on my finger" I respond.

"Not that you goof. You'll tell him that you can't attend the gala because you had a little kitchen accident, lost a lot of blood and the doctor prescribed rest for you. You don't need to thank me, you're welcome" she says beaming proudly.

I raise one eyebrow and get ready to point out all the loop holes in her plan when she beat me to it.

"Yeah....that's a horrible idea" she admits deflating.

"The last time I checked, the scar on your back was fading. Let me take a look" she requests and I look at her warily before taking off my pajama top and turning my back to her.

"So....." I prod.

"It's almost unnoticeable now. If I wasn't aware of it before, I wouldn't even know" she comments.

I know that the thing was fading but I'm very insecure about it.

"Yeah but...." I sigh putting my top back on.

"No buts, you're going to that gala. It's about time you get over all these insecurities. Jack was a jerk. Hey that almost rhymed. But jokes apart, he's a moron for everything he said, don't let him win by letting his words affect you" she says and I nod solemnly.

I know she's right but insecurities don't just die overnight.

We spend the rest of the night catching up before we fall asleep. Very ungracefully might I add, with her sprawled on her stomach snoring and me sleeping the other way around with my legs on the headrest.

**********************

On getting to work today, I find that Mr Stone isn't around. Not that I was worried about him. Definitely not.

I find it hard to type the emails i didn't send yesterday because of my wounded right index finger and because I couldn't concentrate. I squeak in pain as I accidentally pressed my wounded finger too hard on the keyboard.

"Is everything alright Miss Griffin?" I immediately look up when I hear Mr Stone's voice.

"Uhmm....yes, everything's perfect" I answer trying to analyze his expression.

Why was he acting like he didn't ask his own assistant to declare her love yesterday?

Not that I was expecting a thank you; that would be awkward. But.....

I then remember that he was probably drunk yesterday and he might not recall a thing.

That's good then.

"The company car will be picking you up by eight '0' clock in the evening. We'll meet at the venue for the gala" he says making a move to walk into his office.

'Well good morning to you too sir' I mutter sarcastically under my breath.

He turns back to say something but something else catches his attention and when I look down following his view, I notice he was staring at my now bleeding finger.

Nice.

"You're bleeding, what happened?" he questions.

A little kitchen accident, nothing much" I repeat my reply to Keesha.

"Come with me" he orders.

I start to shake my head but he has already turned to walk into his office. Nothing good ever comes out of that office. I sigh and stand up to follow him.

What's the worse that can happen?

Esmeralda's POV

He closes the door after me when I enter his office before opening another door and walking inside. I follow him and notice that it's a bathroom; a very fancy one.

He gestures for me to sit on the closed toilet seat and I mechanically do so. He then opens a box on the counter and takes out something I can’t see before turning to face me making my heart go into overdrive.

He crouches in front of me making his eyes level with mine and he just stares into them for a while before dragging his eyes down to the wound. The blood there was already drying up.

He grabs my wrist to view my finger at a better angle and all my nerves start to tingle. He dabs the wool in something but I was just too distracted to look at the stuff. He then guides me up and makes me wash the blood off before making me sit back down and using the damp wool to clean the surface of the wound.

I bite my lower lip hard to prevent me from screaming because of the sting. I have zero pain tolerance. I feel his thumb rub across the pulse point on my wrist in a soothing manner and my breath catches.

I watch the back of his head as he concentrates on what he's doing. He finishes what he's doing but doesn't make a move to stand up or look at me.

He continues to rub my wrist with his thumb and I sigh already far gone.

Suddenly he looks up and catches me staring and I find it hard to look away but it seems like he didn't because he stood up immediately.

"There you go. Next time please get yourself properly treated before coming into office. I don't want anything to slow down my employee’s efficiency" he says packing the stuffs he took out back into the small box.

My mouth opens and closes like a fish.

Jerk. It’s not like I declared my love for you yesterday or anything.

But instead of saying that, I smile brightly and thank him before walking out. With shaky legs, I walk out of the bathroom into his office, I glance at the wall that the picture was hanging on yesterday but it’s empty. I finally make it to my little office outside of his and I dump myself on my chair.

I need to get my head on straight if I want to keep working here.

Evening rolls around soon enough and apart from forwarding calls to Mr. Stone’s office, I have no other contact with him throughout the day.

By three ‘O’ clock, he calls my desk to tell me to go home early so as to get ready for the gala tonight and I groan after dropping the phone because I still have no excuse for not wearing the dress but I pack up my bags nonetheless and head home.

Thankfully, Esther doesn’t give me any problem before starting up. On getting home and unlocking my front door, I scream in fright when I see Keesha sitting on my couch while munching on some popcorn as she watches a movie.

“Keesha” I exclaim exasperated.

“You should be used to this by now” She says without even turning to face me.

“I came by to help you get ready” She adds finally dropping the popcorn bowl and standing up to walk towards my room. I glare hard at her back before grudgingly following her.

‘Help you get ready’ in Keesha’s terms involves her sitting on my bed and watching me as I struggle to look presentable while munching on the popcorn she later went back to get from the sitting room.

“Why exactly are you here? You’re not doing anything but getting crumbs on my bed” I give her the stink eye when I catch her eyes through the mirror.

“I’m here to live vivaciously through you because I doubt I’ll ever get to wear a dress designed by Arianna Cade” She says wistfully.

“Tell you what? If you help me tame this wild mess I call my hair, I’ll let you borrow the dress anytime you want” I bait knowing that even if she doesn’t help with my hair, she can still wear the dress and she knows it too. I’ve got as much of her clothes in my closet as she does of mine.

She springs up from the bed in an instant and snatches up the straightener.

She ends up doing my make up too and the end result has me admiring myself continuously in the mirror. Although she straightened my hair, my hair was still a little bit curled but it looked longer. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why my face always looks different when Keesha does my make-up, and she also seems to like it when I do hers; says she likes my touch and all.

Finally, I slip on the dress and self-consciously tug on the back while Keesha gasps with eyes starry like that of a kid on Christmas morning.

“You look so gorgeous” She says looking so sincere that I shake off the self consciousness biting softly at me.

“Thank you” I reply smiling.

As I sit down to put on the laboutins I saved as hell for in celebration of my graduation, the door bell rings and Keesha springs to the front door to answer it.

A few minutes later, I walk out of my bedroom and see a strange man sitting on the couch.  He stands up immediately I step in and gestures politely to the door. I smile at him before waving bye to Keesha. On getting outside, I notice the limo and a childish grin appears on my face since I’ve never ridden in a limo before.

The man opens the door for me and I step in ready to let go of all the sophistication I don’t have and explore every inch of the limo. I however freeze when I see Mr. Stone sitting in the other corner.

“Thought it would be easier to go together” He says. “You look beautiful” He adds and my heart skips a beat.

“Thanks, you also look ummm…” I become tongue tied because I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to call my boss hot which is exactly the way he looks.

His smirk makes a slow appearance and I look away not completing my sentence. His subtle and yet suffocating scent envelopes me and I find it hard to stop myself from shifting closer to him and getting more.

I’m rescued from the battle going on in my head though when the limo pulls up in front of the stone hall. The driver comes around and opens the door for us and Mr. Stone gets out first before extending his arm to me.

I grab it and he helps me out ever so gently that my heart skips again. For a moment, I’m almost blinded by the camera flashes but my brain short circuits when Mr. Stone places his palm on my back; my naked back! He urges me forward with it while his thumb rubs slow circles on my back and I almost trip on my own feet. 

Is he even aware of what he’s doing to me?

And why does his touch feel oddly comforting and familiar