"Of course," Lilly said, bringing her candle to her nose and sniffing it. "See you later."
[TIME SKIP: SATURDAY]
"Is this all?" Arvil asked, flipping through the reports. "All twenty-five presents wrapped and situated?"
"Yes, sir," one of his employees nodded. "Everything is ready. Mr. Sinclair is double checking."
It was the first day of the event they were holding, and Arvil didn't want anything to go wrong. It couldn't, because their clients were orphans. Children who had little happiness in their lives—Arvil wanted them to feel a little joy. Nothing could go wrong.
"Good," he nodded. "The food trucks are ready, too. Wonderful."
Now all they needed to do was wait for Daisy, and then they'd make their way to the orphanage of the day.
Daisy pulled up to Arvil’s office and parked in the same spot she had last time. She glanced up at the large building and sighed, preparing herself to go meet Arvil again. In a moment, she had made her way inside and stopped at the desk.
“Hi. I’m Daisy Riley. I’m here to see Mr. Davis?” she greeted the receptionist, not sure if he remembered her.
The receptionist looked up and smiled.
"Ah, miss Riley," he turned his chair to open a drawer behind him. "So good to see you again. And yes, of course, he's been waiting for you. And here is your pass."
He handed her an ID, offering another polite smile.
"Now you will no longer need to check in."
Daisy smiled at the man. So he did remember her. That was nice. And she now had her own pass, so she wouldn’t need to check in.
“Thank you. I appreciate it,” she said as she took it, then made her way to the elevator.
"You're welcome," he called back after her. "Have a wonderful visit, Miss Riley."
Daisy continued to smile as she got into the elevator, pressing the button that would take her to Arvil’s floor. She was glad the receptionist here was kind, unlike the girl at her work. It could be a pain in the butt to talk to that woman sometimes.
Arvil was out side his office, talking to the employees taking part in the event. He was debriefing them, though it was unnecessary. His company had done this many times, but there were always new employees who signed up for it as well.
They needed to leave in ten, and Daisy hadn't arrived yet. He knew she would, though.
Daisy heard Arvil’s voice before the elevator doors even opened. A small smile tugged at her lips, and she stepped out. Arvil stood outside his office door, talking to some people. She raised her hand in greeting, making her way over.
Arvil caught Daisy from the corner of his eyes and smiled, nodding back. He quickly finished what he was saying to his team before turning to Daisy, who was walking towards him.
"Hello, Daisy darling," he greeted in a soft voice. "I'm glad you could make it. How was work?"
Daisy’s cheeks tinted a slight pink. Daisy darling… Would she ever get used to that?
“Hey,” she greeted him back just as softly, possibly due to being somewhat flustered. “Work was good. How about yours?”
The pink on her cheeks made him grin. He reached forward to wrap an arm around her and pull her into his side.
"Work's been hectic, but we were just about to leave," he replied before addressing his team. "Team, this is my girlfriend, Daisy. She's new to this, so do take care of her."
His team replied with a chorus of "Yes, sir!"
Daisy smiled at the team. She lifted her hand again to wave at them, hoping she looked comfortable in Arvil’s hold. She was relaxed, as much as she could be, and it really wasn’t uncomfortable. At least he smelled nice.
That thought drew even more heat to her cheeks. Gosh, why was she thinking that? Like, yes, the man smelled good… very good, in fact… Actually, there was nothing wrong with thinking that. She was just flustered. Yeah. That’s why her mind was all over the place.
With another smile down at his fake girlfriend, Arvil cleared his throat.
"All right, let's get going."
While the team walked ahead, Arvil decided it would be better to talk to her about it a little more.
"We visit the orphanages in this city time-to-time. We spend a little time with them and give them presents and snacks," he explained. "It has more to do with wanting them to have an exciting day rather than charity. The total number of orphans we're visiting today are twenty-five."
“That’s sweet,” Daisy murmured, casting a quick glance up at Arvil. “I’m sure they enjoy it.”
"It's how it should be," Arvil stepped into the elevator and punched in the button for the ground floor. His eyes then fell on the ID around her neck. He smiled. "You finally got it."
Daisy glanced down at the ID and smiled. She picked it up, nodding as she looked at it.
“Yeah, I did. Thank you. The photo was cropped well,” she mused.
"Wasn't it?" Arvil smirked down at her. "Perhaps you should write it down. There are many things Arvil Davis is capable of doing extremely well."
“Ah, I’ll have to make a list. That way, I can put it in that report that I’ll never get to write,” Daisy chuckled, looking back up at him.
"It could be your little journal filled with things to remember me by," Arvil winked just as the elevator doors opened. "You did say you wanted to unravel my mysteries. You have a grand opportunity."
Daisy huffed a laugh as she followed him into the elevator. “Well, maybe I will. It could be useful someday; you never know,” she teased with a grin.
"With blackmail?" Arvil quirked an eyebrow. "I never pegged you as someone with such an evil intent."
“Not blackmail! No, I’m not that type of person!” Daisy laughed, shaking her head. “Just in general.”
"Are you sure?" Arvil quirked an eyebrow teasingly. "Well, we'll see."
Daisy huffed again, rolling her eyes. “Yes, I suppose we shall… How far away is the place we’re going to?”
"Twenty minutes," Arvil responded as they stepped into the ground floor. "It's the closest one. Tomorrow's ride would be longer."
