Chapter 1

**PARIS—The City of Love**

The loud ringing of the church bells didn't do Liliana any good as she opened her eyes, only to be annoyed by the bright rays from the sunlight, shining directly into her eyes. Damn you Mario, she thought angrily as her assistant didn't bother to close the window curtains even after she specifically asked him to.

A yawn escaped her lips as she had a satisfying stretch of her hands and limbs, she went out the terrace and the view of the bustling streets of Paris, was the perfect thing she needed to soothe her aching head. There was a man who called out to her and she chuckled softly as he complimented her natural red curls, saying that she could be modelling for Roberto Clemente—a famous fashion designer.

In all her twenty three years of living, Liliana has never considered herself being a model, sure she had the perfect build of one—Tall, slim with perfect curves in the perfect place, defined cheek bones and almond-shaped brown eyes and to top it all off, she was a red head with curly hair....of course she always tried to tone the redness of her hair down but it always seemed to be bright one way or the other.

‘Good morning ma'am'. Mario, her personal assistant, walked into the room with two cups of coffee like he always did every single morning. Liliana frowned deeply as he interrupted on her thoughts, but grabbed the coffee from his hand nonetheless.

‘Is there anything on my schedule today?'. She asked, taking a sip and squeezing her face as it tasted like coal tar.

Mario rolled his eyes surreptitiously as it was the same question over and over again, he was going to give the answer like he has been doing for the past two weeks, ‘You're on vacation ma'am. There is nothing on your schedule, Doctor Bernard wants you to rest and get your mental health to a serene place before you resume work'.

‘I know but....', Liliana tucked her hair behind her ear, ‘I'm not really doing well when it comes to the relaxing part, I want to feel my legs in dirt again'.

‘Maybe it's cause you're a lonely workaholic'. He murmured.

She turned around sharply from the window, ‘What did you say?!'.

‘Nothing'. His eyes glared around nervously before he left the room like the coward he was, when it came to his boss's case he was a proud coward as the last thing anyone wants is to get into an argument with the Liliana Brynn herself.

Liliana shook her head in amusement of her assistant and tried to take another sip of the terrible coffee he brought for her,he was surely tired of her—it was something she could tell, from the rolling of his eyes to sighing before he answered any of her questions. she could fire him for the disrespect, but Mario was the only person she could trust with her life.

She could understand why he was tired of her. She was given a break to Paris—the so called city of love so she could rest and instead of making the best of it, she was sulking in her hotel room and enjoying the view of the street from her terrace. She had two weeks left before she resumed work again,it was best she made good use of it before Doctor Bernard fired her for resting incompetence.

‘Marcus', she murmured over the phone, ‘Can you please book me a dinner reservation at any restaurant of your choice?'.

•••••••••••••••••••

At Maria Dè Tèllo Restaurant.....

Adonis frowned deeply as he checked his watch for the umpteenth time as he was running late for his meeting with the France minister of tourism, Brenda was an hour late which was adding to the list of things he disliked about her. He glanced around the beautiful restaurant and every couple were enjoying the evening except a lady who was at the far end of the corner eating her dinner alone—God she must be so lonely, he thought as there was no good reason for a woman to have dinner on her own in Paris.

An hour was gone and he was about to give up and leave, just then Brenda walked in looking as flashy as ever much to his displeasure, he specifically told her to dress for a simple evening dinner but no—she had to bring out all her most expensive jewels and dress in a bright gold dress with stones all over it.

‘Sorry I'm late', she muttered waiting for him to open the chair like a gentleman would, Adonis didn't budge so she opened it herself and sat down, ‘There was a lot of traffic from downtown. Are you okay baby?'.

Adonis frowned deeply, ‘I have been waiting for an hour'.

‘Sorry'. She murmured and he saw he smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. Deep down they both knew she wasn't sorry, she was one who loved to make an entrance—a tardy one at that, it was something he couldn't put up with as he expects his woman to always be punctual like him.

Their order was taken, he ordered a pasta salad and ordered a steak which only increased his annoyance, he was allergic to meat—beef to be specific and the woman who claims to know everything about him was ordering it right in front of him, thankfully his allergy wasn't nasally dangerous but he still couldn't stand the smell of beef.

After a few minutes their order was placed in front of them and his appetite was already gone, so he decided to go straight to the point as to why he called her to dinner, ‘Brenda'.

‘Huh?'.

‘It's over between us'.

Brenda choked on her steak and reached for a glass of water before she embarrassed herself, she downed the whole thing in one gulp and was able to regain her composure before she focused on her boyfriend, ‘What?!'.

‘I'm breaking up with you Brenda'.