Chapter 13 Searching for Ace
"Nice to meet you, Ace, I'm Yandel," Yandel replied, bending his waist to the kid level as he gave Ace a knuckle bump. "Yannyyyyy!!!. the queue is too long can you help me get the popcorn" Maya whined as there were just four people in front of her. Yandel groaned and rolled his eyes while he went to the popcorn stall to get three large popcorn packs for Celi, himself, and Ace. "Maya come over here please," Yandel called to her.
"Yes," She answered sweetly.
"This is Araceli, CEO of Garcia's Enterprise and Ace, her kid brother," Yandel introduced.
"Hi" Maya said indifferently, not really caring about the kid or the so-called hot CEO, she just wanted to spend time with Yanny and anybody that came between that will definitely see her nasty side. "Alright now can we see another movie please,"
Maya asked with pouty lips and a supposed-to-be puppy look, Rachel who was watching the whole break down cringed a little at the sight, not to be judgy but she could tell she was fake in every way possible from high super bleached blond hair to the blue contacts and who wears such a revealing dress to a local cinema.
"Actually...Maya, I was thinking if we could join Celi and Ace, that way we could watch a fun movie and I can discuss business with Araceli,"
Yandel carefully pointed out to her so she could get his point and not start a headless argument leading to some silly grudge she likes to keep since childhood.
"You want us to watch a lego movie!!....seriouslyYandel !!...that is fun for 5-YEAR-OLDS, not Adults"
Maya cried out starting to fume, she didn't miss the nickname he used for Araceli "celi", who the help gives their business partners nicknames for Godsake did he think she was that stupid enough to believe that they were just "business partner", she could feel anger welling up in her but she needed to put herself in control with hopes that she could be wrong.
"So you're not gonna watch the movie with us?" Yandel asked, faking hurt but actually happy for her to just leave so he could be alone with Araceli, but looks like he wasn't going to be that lucky because she was relentless and not taking heed.
"Nooo of course I want to watch a movie with you.....and them I guess," Maya replied with hesitation and a tint of desperation after eyeing Araceli and Ace..
"You guess?...." Yandel asked, getting a little annoyed.
"Noo I mean I want to" Maya rushed faking a cherry smile.
"Alright then let's go into the viewing room, it's starting soon," Araceli said as she gestured for them to go in.
Ace ran excitedly ran to the room while Araceli took it as a cue to leave the awkward conversation Maya and Yandel were having, she could already feel the dislike from Maya and she wasn't ready to add another person she needed to watch out for, that would be too much of a hassle for her.
"I hate when you act like this," Yandel said, looking at her disapprovingly.
"Howww??"Maya said acting innocent.
"How?!!!.....Maya! you literally treated them like shit and you didn't even know them!!! that was not necessary, that's all I am training to say, Maya." Yandel said, exhausted, putting his index and thumb finger on the bridge of his nose.
"Look all I am saying is, that is my business partner alright, and character is very important in a business deal and what you did right there could cause me a lot, even a termination of my contract. For once, can you be considerate of other people," Yandel said in a final tone.
"So is that it... Why are you even so worried about her,....Do you like her?" Maya asked, trying not to sound hurt as she really was but she could feel that she was failing.
The question took him by surprise
"Did he like Araceli..."
Thinking about it now, he thinks so...maybe he didn't really consider it.
"What are you talking about...wh.why did you even ask?" He stuttered.
"It doesn't matter, let's just go, the movie is starting," Maya replied in defeat.
"Who was she kidding, he liked her...yet she has been here for him ever since they were kids," Maya thought as anger suddenly filled her but she kept her cool, every girl that came, she always found a way to get them to go, this Araceli of a girl was no different.
They headed into the cinema and Yandel did an eye search to look for Ace and Celi, knowing how excited her kid brother was for the movie they will probably be sitting at the center close to the front facing the screen. He guessed right as he spotted Celi's pony tail hair, he couldn't even deny it anymore she was pretty, her side features were beautiful and something about her now felt different he couldn't explain
it.
First, it was her new choice of clothes, secondly her outspokenness and fire, it made him see her in a different light, now seeing her in casual clothing really made her look different and less stuck up as usually.
The Araceli he knew before would have not been caught dead in a crop top, she was dressed so freely and casually.
"Heyyy" Yandel greeted with a smile when he got to the front roll.
"Took you forever, the movie is already 5minutes in and the narrator has already made me 4 times," she said while taking the pop corn from his hands.
"Ohh yeah" Yandel replied with a smirk while looking at Ace.
"He doesn't seem to want to take his eyes off the screen, that's for sure," Yandel said as Rachel nodded in confirmation,
"He has been anticipating it since last week," Rachel replied.
"Now sheshhh....let's watch the movie," Yandel told her making her smile a bit and concentrate on the screen more.
All this while, Maya was watching their interaction and was fuming with unattended anger.
What was so special about her that he gave her all his attention, this isn't how business partners act around each other.
She has always been there for him since she was a kid. She has always been the one there during his asthma attacks, fear of clowns and when his parents were never around she was always there to keep him company, now it only makes sense to her that she should be the one he should fall for.
The movie pretty much ended after an hour and half, which she thanked God for because she couldn't imagine staying awake to watch legos move around.
After the credit roll, The b*tch was still all over HER Yanny which didn't sit right with her at all, while they were still talking and she was watching from a distance, she saw the bitch kid brother stood up to leave.
She wanted to call out to him but she forgot his name as soon as she was told and to be honest she can't be caught dead giving two fucks about the kid brother of the girl taking her man away from her, so she let him go.
Couple of minutes after the movie ended, Maya decided she had enough and she wanted to go home, so she told yanny she was going, while he offered to drop her off, she declined nicely saying she had somewhere else to be.
Usually, he would have insisted and babied her which she loved so much but today, after she said she was good he turned back to his conversation with Araceli.
Which made her crazily annoyed. He doesn't even want to take her home because of that bitch! Is it because she's an heiress?
A few minutes after Maya left, Yandel received a call and asked Araceli to excuse him.
That was when Araceli realized it was also getting late and Ace might probably be hungry too, speaking of which, she looked at her side and Ace wasn't there. Instantly panic rose in her as she frantically searched around for her brother who was nowhere to be found.
"Ace!!!" Rachel cried, starting to panic.
"Aceee!!!" Rachel cried again walking fast to the exit.
Upon hearing distress in her voice, Yandel ended the call he was on.
"Hey what's up, what's wrong with Ace??" Handle moved closer to Araceli and asked worriedly..
"I can't find Ace, he was right beside me some minutes ago but now I can't find him" Rachel rambled off trying to calm herself.
"Hey we got this, Okay. let's check outside, he couldn't have gone that far, " Yandel said, assuring her.
Thirty minutes later, Yandel found Ace on the side of the road crying just two streets away from the cinema, still wondering what got him there in the first place.
He bent down to talk to Ace and calm him down only for Ace to jump and hug him, it startled him at first before he returned the hug while carrying him up and walking him all the way to the cinema.
"OMG!! Ace are you okay??...Are you hurt??....Why were you crying????...OMG did someone hurt you???" Araceli cried in full panic thinking of the worst things.
"Ara I'm *hiccups* fine, I just got *hiccups* lost looking for the lego cart shop they kept saying it was at the corner but they were closed and I couldn't find my way back" He said through sniffs and hiccups. "It's okay baby, I'm so sorry I left you all by yourself, I'm really sorry Acey, " Rachel cried, as she drew her kid brother in for a bear hug.
Thankfully, nothing happened to him because she would have never forgiven herself.
After a few minutes, Ace calmed down and Yandel offered to take them home.
"Alright, thanks Baldwin," Rachel said with a small smile exhausted from crying and searching for Ace. She didn't even bother to put up a fight or sarcastic remark.
While placing Ace in the back seat, and Araceli in the passenger seat.
Ace murmured audibly "I like yanny better than jerky xander...."
Instantly creating a dramatic pause in the car.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐