"The rumors about Mr. Tomlinson is becoming too much. I know it isn't true. But if ever it is real that he was having an affair with our head officer, he's such a devil sick bastard. Our boss's family will suffer the most."
Louis bit his lip when he heard the conversation of his two office mates passing by the hallway.
Upon making sure that the two are already gone, he carefully opened the door of the pantry where he is in and went straight to the bathroom. He locked the door and looked at the mirror. This past few days, the complaint letters and rumors about him had escalated. The latest is him having an affair with their boss who already had a wife and kids. He's sure that Liam is behind it. He can let the previous attacks go, but this?
He inhaled deeply to calm himself. How dare he! Louis was seething with anger. Liam had no right to include other people in their fight.
Out of nowhere, his mind went back to what happened last week when they brought the child that they helped in the hospital. Liam had helped him then, even donated his own blood for the child…
(Flashback)
Louis almost flew to the Emergency Room, calling for a nurse the moment the car stopped in front of the hospital. The doctors and nurses checked the child immediately. The child suffered from bruises and also has an internal bleeding due to being severely beaten up. Surgery was needed.
"The child needs blood transfusion for the surgery." The doctor told Louis. He and Liam were both standing at the hallway of the hospital. Liam insisted Louis to see a doctor to check on his jaw too but like the little shit that he is, he brushed it off. The punch was honestly not that strong. The big guy was drunk and wobbly on his feet and arms. It hit but he was off mark. But then, it was still a punch from a man twice his size and Louis was easy to bruise.
Louis was about to offer himself for the blood donation but the doctor looked at him. "I know you want to help, but you yourself needs to be attended too." The doctor said sympathetically.
Shit. Louis cursed at himself.
"Doc, I can be a donor." Louis' gaze flew to Liam. He almost forgot that Liam is with him.
"That's good. Come with me and we'll run a few quick tests to ensure that you're fit to be a donor and that your blood type matches."
Liam nodded and followed the doctor.
(End of Flashback)
Louis irritably channeled his thoughts elsewhere. He shouldn't admire Liam for what he did. Liam was a mean chauvinist, capitalist pig. He needs to focus Liam's image to one side only. He could not afford to see gray areas or else, he would not be able to fight him. And fight him, he would. What he's doing was too much. He wouldn't let other people get involve in their feud. He had to stop Liam.
*****
"There you are, Liam. I was looking for you all over the place." Louis smiled sweetly at his fiancé as he gently held on to his arm. Then, he also smiled at the people around the table who are all business associates.
"Liam, who could this lovely boy here be?" The hungry and malicious look of the man who spoke didn't go unnoticed by Louis.
Well, what did he expect? Birds of the same feather flock together, right? Of course, the people at that party all have the same air in their brain like Liam's, it was after all, the 76th anniversary of Atlantis Hotel. On that night too, is where Liam will be formally introduced as the next CEO of the company. It's just natural that greedy and sex-craving businessmen, like Liam are present in the event.
"I'm his fiancé, Louis Tomlinson." He introduced himself with a smile.
"Oh, is that true?" The lady standing close to Liam, scrutinizingly assessed him from head to toe.
"Ah, yes." If Liam was shocked at his arrival, he covered it up immediately. By now, he knows that Liam is a good actor. He politely introduced him to his companions. "Everyone, this is my fiancé..."
*****
"Are you enjoying the party, my dear fiancé?" Liam asked Louis sweetly, but his eyes are shooting daggers at him. He placed his lips near his ear and whispered, "What the hell are you up to, you little witch?"
Louis chuckled. "I'm here to pay you back- with interest, my dear fiancé." He whispered back, still smiling. "So, what are we talking here?" He quickly asked the group before Liam could come up with a rebuttal.
"Business, of course." Sophia Smith spat. Heiress to Smith Group who had a chain of supermarkets all over the country and also the lady beside Liam earlier.
"You mean you're talking about how you augment your humongous profits out of the blood and sweat of your employees?" Louis smiled as he spoke. He saw Liam's smile turned to grimace.
"What are you implying, Mr. Tomlinson?" Sophia did not bother to hide her coldness and hostility towards him. Come to think of it, ever since he introduced himself as Liam's fiancé, the lady had been hostile to him.
Hmm.. Louis smelled something fishy.
"Oh, I didn't mean anything. I just think that your company have a very big problem Miss Smith. If I remember it correctly, you had a case in court, right? Because you don't pay the rightful benefits for your employees. Not only that, you also are being sued for Tax Evasion. So I just thought that when you said you were talking about business, you were talking about how you treat your employees despicably. You look at your employees as just machines providing you with money and you don't follow the law. That's how you do business, right?", Louis almost laughed seeing Liam's frozen expression while the faces of his business associates are horrified. Damn, Louis was enjoying this.
"Ah, if you'll excuse-" Before Liam could finish his sentence, Louis cut him off.
"How about you, Mr. Cowell?" He directed his attention to the middle-aged man who is currently the CEO of an oil corporation. "You're saying that you can't bring down the prices of oil drastically. I wonder why, seeing that the oil price was already low in the international market. How come when the price gets high, you follow as fast as a horse, but when it's the opposite, you have many excuses? How much is your profit again this year? 27 billion." Louis said disgustedly. Then he continued. "My gosh. And yet, you insist the loss from under-recoveries. Talk about being a scumbag. Is that what you're talking about-"
"Ah, if you'll excuse us. My fiancé is not feeling very well." Liam quickly pulled him away from the group. "You're gonna pay for this." Liam whispered through gritted teeth as he dragged him away from the horrified group.