Chapter 5. A Jealous Ralph

Ralph went up to his room and changed quickly to bed. He lay down quietly and stared at the ceiling. He had broken all his records today. His best friends, Jaxon Craddock and Gilbert Prescott would be shocked to see his state.

His friends were based in New York where their headquarters were located. Ralph too longed to go there but he was unable to convince his grandma to shift. With his dad, Finn Van Halen living permanently in Amsterdam and his mom Jennifer David living in Detroit, he and his grandma hadn't met them in the last ten years. He had his trusted housekeeper, Jane to look after his grandma. He didn't like London much but he hardly had a choice. While Jaxon looked into the designing sector, Gilbert looked into Marketing, PR, and Finance. Ralph looked into the Production Sector of their operations worldwide and as such he needed to travel frequently. His life was like a roller-coaster ride with no routine whatsoever. He hardly stayed permanently at one place, but if anything was home to him, it was his grandma. So after all his escapades, he always came back to London to his grandma.

He sighed as thoughts of Raven's sweet lips invaded his senses. He was confused about his state. He had so many nights of fun but they didn't mean a thing to him ever. He never thought about them the way he obsessed about those luscious lips and the sudden shy kiss which was targeted at his cheek. He might have dozed off to sleep late dreaming about Raven and her lips.

The next morning he woke up late when his grandma and Jane shook him vigorously. "Wake up, Roo, else I'll splash a bucket of water on you," threatened his grandma. He used to love the cartoon character Roo and his mom Kanga when he was young so his granny nicknamed him, Roo. Now, although he had grown up, the name was still stuck to him however much he tried to get rid of it.

He opened an eye and peeked at his grinning grandma. "Five minutes, granny, " groaned feeling so tired already.

"Your phone's ringing for the last one hour or so. Either shut it down or attend to it," she complained and Jane handed him his phone. Ralph sleepily looked at it. His eyes went round with horror and he jumped up with shock. It was nine o'clock in the morning already?

"God, I'm late again," he groaned, jumping out of his bed and heading for the en-suite.

"As if he's ever early," his granny rolled her eyes.

"To wake up early, he needs to sleep early," said Jane, arranging his bed.

"Yeah, he needs a woman who'll settle him down. Do you know of any nice girl,  Jane? We need to get Roo married. He's twenty-eight already. My children were grown-up when I was twenty-eight!" Said a displeased granny.

"He wouldn't like the nice girls, ma," said the forty-year-old Jane who'd been working with Mila Van Halen, Ralph's granny for the last twenty years. She was an orphan and after her husband who was a firefighter, died in an accident, she found work here at the Van Halen household. Ever since she shared a close bond with granny and Ralph. They too treated her like family.

"Hmmph," fumed granny. "Let's now start hunting for girls. If he doesn't settle down, we shall cut all ties with him. Deal?" Asked granny.

"Deal," said Jane.

The door of the en-suite opened and Ralph came out fresh from a shower. "What are you two plotting against me?" He asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, nothing at all," said his granny as he quirked his eyebrows at her.

Jane went chuckling to the door. "I'll serve you breakfast, Roo. Come down, " she said, leaving the two of them together.

"Roo, you're getting old. It's high time you get married and settle down," said his granny, and Ralph groaned with horror.

"Granny, please don't start now. I'm already late for work," he told her.

Granny wasn't the one to listen. "We will continue after you return home from work," she said, leaving his room. Ralph hurriedly dressed and picking up his stuff, rushed downstairs to get some coffee and breakfast. In ten minutes he was done and he started his car and drove towards his office. It was 10:30 already when he reached his office. Should he visit the Production Department first? He wanted to check whether Raven had arrived or not. Then he thought against it. He would first check up on the emergency situation with Anthony Baker and then see Raven when he was free.

The whole morning he was busy looking into the delay in the production of the Spring Summer collection. One of the machines they used had stopped functioning which was holding up the production process. The whole morning he was busy in conferences with his partners. It was around 3 o'clock in the afternoon when the problem was resolved and he and Anthony could take a breather.

Ralph came back to his office and started the CCTV to check what Raven was up to. To his surprise, he saw that Raven wasn't at her cubicle. Where was she? Had she not come into the office today? He had already shifted Charlie Gardner to another department yesterday. The guy was getting too close to Raven. In his place, he had appointed Emily Brookfield who was very dedicated and professional. He decided to take an update from Emily but before he could call, Ralph saw her. She was walking into the room with the guy who sat next to her, Thomas Edson. His blood boiled seeing them laughing together. Did they go out for lunch? He was very restless thinking about them together. Thomas handed her a slab of chocolate and she shyly accepted it. What was going on? Ralph's blood boiled with anger and he broke the wooden paperweight that he was fidgeting with.

He called Emily Brookfield and asked her to summon Raven to his office as soon as possible. "Yes sir," said Emily, scared for the young trainee. She rushed towards Raven Porterfield's cubicle.

"Ms. Porterfield, sir has summoned you to his office immediately, " she informed her. Raven's eyes widened with horror. Now, what did he want? His threat last night still rang in her ears,

Wake up or I'll kiss you again

She was very flustered. Did he really mean it? Would he have really carried out his threat if she hadn't woken up? She rushed towards the elevator and went up towards Ralph Van Halen's floor. The doors opened and she walked out of the elevator towards his office with dread. She knocked and opened the door and went inside. She saw him standing beside the large bay windows of his office. He seemed furious with something or someone. Maybe her? Well, nothing new. He was always displeased and angry with her.

"Good afternoon, sir, you called me?" She asked bravely, walking up to him. He looked at her with his hands balled into fists and his face red with anger. What had she done now? 

"Yes, what about the files you sorted yesterday night? Who'll arrange them in the cabinets?" He asked impatiently. 

Raven's mouth hung open. Did he expect her to drop by and ask for those files and start arranging them? "Yes, sir, I'll arrange them. Just tell me where," she asked courteously. He seriously needed a PA. 

"Come here," he said suddenly as she turned to pick up the files. 

"What sir?" She asked him with confusion. 

"Come here, Raven, " he repeated with a sigh. Who was he bluffing? He had wanted to see her so badly since the moment he arrived at his office. Raven walked up to him with a puzzled expression,  standing at a good two arm's length from him. Ralph rolled his eyes with disbelief. 

"Closer, Raven, " he ordered. She went two steps closer to him, more confused than ever. He lost his patience. Taking a long stride he covered the rest of the distance between them, till they were inches apart. "Are you afraid of me, Raven?" He asked softly, staring into her wide eyes, so close to his. Raven nodded and then shook her head with confusion. He stretched his hand and his thumb touched her lips, wiping the chocolate away from her lips. She closed her eyes as a shudder ran down her body at his touch. 

"You shouldn't accept chocolate from everyone, you know that don't you?" he asked in a husky tone, his eyes focused upon her lips, so soft, so plump, so red. Only a dead man could stay away from them. 

"Sir, what are you doing?" She whispered as his thumb continued its torture upon her lips. She couldn't understand how he knew that she had accepted the chocolate that Thomas gave her on behalf of all the trainees, as a welcome gift. 

"You started it, Raven," he told her huskily,  his eyes drawn towards her lips like a bee to its honey.