MR BILLIONAIRE'S REGRET: CHASING HIS IRRESISTIBLE WIFE

(ARIELLE'S POV.)

The air around grew awkwardly thin and very silent.

Neither of us knew how best to react to the situation. I looked around the parking lot for no reason in particular, marking the time until it was okay for me to leave without looking any silly than I felt for walking up to their car to begin with. Tiana looked even more flustered

than I imagined I'd appeared before them. Jared's lips were drawn in a stiff line.

"Arielle.. we umm.. I.. Good morning," he managed to find his voice with a terrible stutter.

"I guess we'll just continue this conversation when you return," Tiana shrugged with a placating smile.

Jared ignored her comment and climbed down from the car. He had a stern face when he spoke up again. "I've just ordered you a ride, Tiana. Go back home."

I took the hint and excused myself from the side of the car. Jared fell into stride beside me as we walked across the parking lot to the entrance of my restaurant.

"...Hi," Jared tried to start a conversation. But I grunted an inaudible reply as I doubled my pace.

"Woah. Slow down," he said with a cheesy smile.

I only slowed down at the entrance to the restaurant and he caught up with me.

"What's up with you though? You're acting funny," he tried teasing.

I couldn't help myself. "I don't know... Am I in some sort of trouble now that your fiancée knows where you've been for the last couple of days?" I shot back, layering as much sarcasm into my words as I could manage.

I didn't need to look at him to know I'd hit a sore spot. His frown was practically visible without me turning around. But did I care? Not at this moment.

"Arielle..." His voice softened, turning serious. "I was gonna explain things to you."novelbin

We were just in the middle of the restaurant now, in the audience of hired cleaners. I nodded in response to their greetings and ignored Jared completely, as I made small talk with one of them even though I barely knew the last thing about the lady. "So I was saying...," he resumed speaking as we approached my office.

I rolled my eyes at his unawareness. "I'm not interested in hearing it, Jared. Let's keep our conversations strictly related to our course content going forward. Thank you."

I saw a flash of hurt on his face as I turned around to let myself into the office.

Thankfully, Rebecca and Stephen were already seated in the room. They both sprang up from their seats the moment I walked in with Jared and echoed their greetings.

I'd already moved on from the awkward start to the morning and had my head wrapped up in the course content. I took out my tablet to refresh my memory.

Jared cleared his throat, his usual authoritative tone filling the room. "Alright, morning, class. We'll keep today's session brief. Yes, my time costs money, and I don't like to waste it." He gave me a quick, pointed glance, then turned to the others. "Anyone care to share what we've covered in previous sessions?"

Stephen stood up and flipped through his notes before answering. "Sure. Since we started, we've covered two main topics: financial health and strategy, and marketing and branding."

Jared nodded, but his expression remained serious. "And what do those concepts entail?"

Stephen looked a bit flustered, but he held his ground. "Well, um... financial health involves understanding profit margins, cash flow, and making projections using financial metrics," he began. "And branding... well, it's about building a consistent image and identity for a business, especially through marketing strategies."

Jared's lips curled into a smirk, and he tilted his head. "Not bad. But you were clearly reading off your notes," he teased. "Try not to rely on them so much, Stephen. It's a good habit to develop remembering what you've learned." Stephen gave a sheepish smile, glancing at me and Rebecca for reassurance.

Before Jared could comment further, I interjected smoothly, "In more detail, we've been focusing on understanding profit margins, analyzing cash flow, and making projections based on financial metrics, among other things." "Arielle? I didn't say you could answer," Jared said as he turned to me.

"What's the big deal? You're the one who said your time is valuable, so why don't we just get to it?" I replied, keeping my tone light.

He gave a small, knowing smile, but the atmosphere shifted slightly. He leaned back, crossing his arms. "I'd hoped we could stick to some order here."

"I don't see why we're singling out one person when everyone's here to contribute."

Rebecca and Stephen exchanged a glance, and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. It was clear neither of them wanted to get caught in the middle.

Jared finally nodded, his face growing more serious. "Alright, fair enough. Let's get back to it then." He paused, clearly weighing his next words. "You know, Arielle... I think you've been running your business a bit inefficiently lately," he said, his tone sharp but not unkind. I raised an eyebrow. "You're offering to help with that, remember? Where are you going with this?"

"Let's take a look at your financial books," he said. "What have you done with your money over the last couple of months?"

I could see the mischief in his eyes. I was pretty sure whatever he was doing from this point was out of pure malice, just to get back at me for ignoring him earlier.

"The records are in the last email I sent you," Rebecca offered.

"Thanks," I smiled gratefully and

flashed Jared a look of triumph. I scrolled through my tablet and

fished out the balance sheet fromet

my email. I didn't see any issues, but I wasn't about to let Jared get away with pointing out flaws the sake of it. Still, I handed

report.

the

"Well, what have we here? Just one look at this and I could tell where you spend a little too much," he announced.

"Really?" I asked, adding a touch of sarcasm. "Do enlighten me."

"Your cleaning and security services. They're way overpriced. You're paying a premium just to keep those companies in business," Jared said matter-of-factly. "You could cut those costs by hiring in-house. You're paying for the middleman." "But I can't just lay off everyone like that. It's not fair to them."

"It's business, darling..."

"Arielle, please. My name is Arielle," I corrected him and Rebecca giggled. Jared's face went a bit red with embarrassment.

"Alright then, Arielle. What we are

talking about is business. Not everything's about fairness. It's about profit. Good severance packages would handle that. And, honestly, you could consider

branching out into event catering. There's always a demand forit. I can connect you with some event planners if you're interested. And I was thinking you may need a logo redesign, y'know, give the whole thing a facelift. And social media campaign ideas, and or special promotions..."

"I've been doing that for a while now already, thank you," I said with a little polite smile. "Why don't we move on to today's topic?"

Jared looked at me for a moment,

as if debating whether to press

further. Finally, he gave a small nod "Alright, then. Let's move on." He, cleared his throat and shifted into teaching mode. "For today's session, we'll be discussing team leadership, team communication, and conflict resolution."

He paused, his tone more serious now. "Strong communication is crucial in any organization. It maximizes efficiency, creates understanding between management and staff, and eliminates gaps. Loyalty, conflict resolution, employee motivation-those are the pillars." He glanced around the room to make sure everyone was following, and for all his usual hesitations about teaching, it was clear he was in his element.

I briefly drifted off, but his words snapped me back to attention.

"To illustrate real-world communication within an organization, I'll use marriage as an example."