6 Forced to be Patient

Bella was shocked when she realized that the person she had been avoiding so much that she had covered the right side of her face with her hand, was now sitting in front of her.

"Does he know me? Does he still remember my face?" Bella thought with rounded eyes as she continued to stare at the handsome face in front of her.

"Introducing Mr. Gerson. This is Bella. She is a talented architect who graduated from Stanford university in America," said Rudi while pointing towards Bella.

Gerson nodded towards Bella.

"Bella, this is Mr. Gerson Sutanto, CEO of the Hasrat Abadi Group, which is engaged in property and automotive." Rudi looked at Bella.

"Nice to know you, Miss Bella." Gerson stood up and extended his hand towards Bella.

Bella gasped. Her eyes rounded, her memory went back to the time when this man in front of her raped her.

Bella was still rooted to her seat. Not heeding Gerson's helping hand towards her.

At this moment, Bella wanted to stand up and slap Gerson, the man who, seven years ago, had brought nightmares into her life.

Rudi glared at Bella because he felt bad for Gerson who had stood up earlier to shake Bella's hand.

Rudi even stepped on Bella's foot because he felt bad for Gerson.

AWWWW

Bella gasped in shock when her foot was stepped on by Rudi. She also realized that Gerson didn't know her.

Therefore, Bella immediately stood up and shook Gerson's hand. "Nice to know you Mr. Gerson Sutanto."

"Please call me Gerson because I'm not too old to be called father. Right?" said Gerson while kissing Bella's hand.

"He really doesn't know me. You rapist! He ruined my life 7 years ago, but he doesn't know me at all. He must have victimized a lot of people," Bella thought to herself.

Bella also felt very humiliated because she thought Gerson should have known her after the events of 7 years ago, on that cursed night that Bella remembered vividly.

But it turned out that Gerson didn't recognize her. And this made Bella hate Gerson even more, the man she had been trying to avoid for 7 years but now, she had to face her nightmare.

Meanwhile, Gerson looked at Bella and thought, "This architect is quite beautiful. Her face seems familiar but I forget where I've seen her. Hmmm, maybe I've never seen her before. But, it seems that I should ask her out."

Gerson and Bella's exchange of glances was stopped because Rudi had cleared his throat loudly enough to make Gerson and Bella both pull their hands apart.

"Look Bella, I want you to explain your plan for the Mall design to convince Mr. Gerson of your sketch," Rudi said to Bella as he handed her the laptop that Rudi had been holding.

Gerson was waiting while looking at Bella's beautiful face.

Bella, who didn't want to work with Gerson, decided to disrupt her company's cooperation with Gerson's company.

"I don't have any plans, sir. Because you know yourself, right? I've never made a plan for a mall before. So... maybe I'm not the right person for this."

Rudi immediately panicked at Bella's words. "Come on, Bella. Remember, you only designed shop houses before. Didn't you? After that, when you collaborated with me to make a design drawing for a 30-story apartment, you actually did it. Right?"

"Yes. But... I'm not sure about the mall. The design is more difficult."

Rudi glared at Bella. Then he looked at Gerson. "Sorry, sir. I want to talk to Bella first."

"Please, sir," said Gerson.

Rudi immediately glared at Bella while signaling her to follow him.

Bella also followed Rudi's steps who walked away from the table and only stopped after walking about ten meters.

"What's wrong with you? What kind of genie are you, Bella? Why are you talking like that? You're not professional, Bella!" said Rudi when Bella was standing in front of him.

"I'm just telling the truth, sir. I've never drawn a mall design before. Right?"

"Yes. I realize that. But, you're usually willing to learn. Remember, when you did the design for the Great Scout Apartment. You also faced a high difficulty factor. Didn't you? But you didn't give up. You kept trying and the results were satisfactory. Didn't you?"

"This time I'm not sure, sir."

"You have to do this. Otherwise, our cooperation will not continue."

Bella was silent. She thought about her employees. She felt she couldn't afford for her small company to stand on its own without cooperation with Mr. Rudi's company.

Rudi, whose face had hardened, now began to soften. "Please, Bella. Let's take this project. Please."

Finally Bella nodded. And when Rudi invited her to return to the table where Gerson was, she was forced to follow.

"Forgive us, sir. My architect was indecisive. But, now, my architect is ready," Rudi said with a friendly smile towards Gerson.

"It's okay. I understand."

Rudi immediately signaled towards Bella.

"Okay." Bella immediately opened the files about the building designs she had made before.

"I can't see from here. Can I sit next to you?" asked Gerson while pointing next to Bella.

Bella nodded even though she had to keep anger in her heart because she remembered what Gerson had done to her in the past.

Rudi, who wanted to take Gerson's heart, immediately lifted an empty chair that was some distance away from Bella, to put it on Bella's right side. After that, he invited Gerson to sit on the chair he put there.

Gerson immediately sat next to Bella.

Gerson looked at Bella and thought to herself. "This girl is quite beautiful. Hmmm. She deserves to be the object of my next adventure."

Bella began to explain about the designs she had previously made as she showed her old designs in a folder on her laptop.

With a smile on her face despite the fire in her chest, Bella explained everything about her first draft.

But when Bella realized that her thighs and Gerson's thighs were stuck together, she immediately moved her thighs away from Gerson's thighs so that Gerson could no longer stick his thighs near hers.

"It seems that this girl is trying to be tame-tame pigeon with me. Alright, I'll serve you. I want to see where your defenses are," Gerson thought while looking at Bella's face.

Staring at Bella's face at such a close distance made Gerson even more amazed by Bella's beauty.

"I'm sure one day you will fall into my hands like other women," Gerson thought.

After that, Gerson began to play another way. While looking at Bella, his hand touched her hand that was touching the keyboard. "I want to see your other designs."

"Okay. This one is when I designed a 3-star hotel in Bandung," Bella said while showing one of her proudest designs.

"Okay, very good. Really very good. I'm amazed," said Gerson while staring at the design that Bella had made.

Gerson decided to put her hand on top of Bella's. "Absolutely marvelous." This time what she praised was the softness of Bella's hand that she was currently holding.

Bella stares at Rudi showing her dislike towards Rudi while with a glint in her eyes, she points towards Gerson's hand that is holding hers.

Bella wanted to say that she was uncomfortable with what Gerson was doing to her hand.

But Rudi instead put his hands together in front of his chest, Rudi begged Bella not to be angry about Gerson's behavior at this time.

Actually, Bella's hatred for Gerson is increasing because of her past with Gerson, coupled with Gerson's attitude in teasing her even leading to harassment of her at this time but Bella chose to be patient.

After explaining for a while about the design of a 4-star hotel in Bandung that she had made, Bella immediately took advantage of the situation when the food order came to keep her hands away from Gerson's sliding hands.

"Then, let's eat first, Mr. Gerson. I happen to be very hungry, here," cut Rudi.

"Okay then let's eat." After that, the program continued with eating. The laptop was closed and the event continued with eating.

But throughout the meal, Gerson kept looking at Bella as if he would feel very lost if he didn't look at Bella's beautiful face for a second.

After the meal was over, Rudi said, "So how is it, Mr. Gerson? You've seen the designs that Bella has done. So what do you think? Will our company still be contracted to build the mall?"

Gerson thought for a moment and then he said, "There are still some details that I need to see first so I'd like a more detailed explanation."

"In that case, my staff and I will come to your office to explain our plans and workings thoroughly. How about it, sir?"

"No need, Mr. Rudi. As for you, I'm already very confident of your performance in working on the mall. But I'm still not sure about the design." Gerson looked at Bella.

Hearing Gerson's words, Bella said to Rudi. "That's right, sir. I'm not qualified to work on this design. Maybe you should hire another architect, sir."

"No. I don't want another architect. I just want you," said Gerson.