Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Rivalries
"You are so dead for using an app to automatically send me text messages," she whispered as the elevator door closed.
"What are you so mad about?" He asked. "I still followed your rules."
"But people at the office even thought your text messages were an alarm the way they kept coming in at exactly 3:00pm! They're probably thinking I send the text messages to myself. And they're probably thinking of how pitiful I am, sending texts to myself."
"No," he huffed. "They just think it's an alarm."
Before she could return a retort, the elevator door opened to a lively gathering full of chatter and music.
"Dell! You made it!" Raphael was at the door. He kissed her genially on the cheek.
"Raph, hi!" Dell hooked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Oh, this is Sean. Sean Koda. Sean, this is Raphael Lagan."
"Hey, man." Raph extended a hand towards Sean.
"Hello. Dell told me all about you."
"Did she, now? Nothing bad, I hope." Raph flashed Sean a bright smile which, to her concern, Sean didn't return.
"Um, so, where's Bianca?" Dell asked in an attempt to clear the tension that seemed to be building up.
"Oh, she couldn't make it. She's currently in China seeing what can be done about stocks for the e-commerce site. Time's a-ticking. We need to move on that."
"Ah, yes, of course." The news pleased her a little.
"I wanted to introduce you to another person, a possible investor. Howard Heigh. But he's not in town."
She's heard of Howard. But based on the stories she's heard, he was an arrogant opportunist that one needed to deal with caution.
"Dell!" She looked around at the mention if her name and saw William approaching.
"William!" She acknowledged her colleague.
"Ah, William! Glad you could make it," Raphael said. Turning to Dell, he added, "We invited the other attendees of the Rising Tech Stars party. You'll most likely see a bunch of familiar faces from the industry here tonight."
"Thank you for the invite," William told Raph, shaking his hand.
"William, this is Sean Koda," Dell said. "My boyfriend."
Dell saw William stiffen a little before extending a hand to Sean. "Hello, Sean." He didn't seem too taken to Sean for some reason.
"Hello, William." Sean took William's hand in a handshake. But he wasn't smiling, either.
"Ah, there's someone I need to introduce you to," Raph suddenly told Dell. Turning to look at both Sean and William, he said, "Is it alright if I borrowed Dell for a bit? We'll just squeeze in a little business before we all start partying."
Sean shrugged. "Be my guest," he said nonchalantly. But Dell could sense he was in a bad mood.
"There's beer and pizza. Please, help yourselves. We won't take long."
She felt a little bad for leaving Sean alone. But when she looked behind her, he seemed to be conversing with William so, she felt a little relieved.
"Finally got you all to myself!" Raph beamed when they had gotten some distance from Sean and William.
"What?" Dell's heart skipped abeat at his words. She hadn't expected to hear that from Raph.
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