Normally, Tristan preferred to use the elevator. Being that his office was on the top floor, the contraption made his day to day life much easier.
But that morning, he had felt too full of pent up energy to just stand still and ascend. So he had decided to take the stairs, a part of him hoping that there would be no sign of his cousin once he reached his office. Now he was glad that he had decided to use the stairs.
That one deviation from his usual routine had allowed him to arrive at a crucial moment.
"Let her go," Tristan growled.
Any other day, he would have been taken by surprise at the level of anger in his voice. He normally worked hard to keep it cool, and even. But at that moment he did not care. He was seeing red.
His cousin was there, which still would have made him irritated. But now his cousin had a hand on Ariel's upper arm...touching her. Just the sight of the point of contact made Tristan want to snarl.
"Ahh, dear cousin, this lovely lady and I were just getting to know each other..." Not in the mood for games, he growled out one more command...
"I said let her go," But again he was ignored. Feeling ready to knock his cousin out, Tristan moved forward. It was the work of a few seconds to push the other man back with a firm hand to the chest. The pained yelp that he made gave Tristan no small amount of satisfaction. Once Zachariah was a distance away from Ariel, Tristan gently pulled her closer to him.
Only once he was certain that she was safe did he turn his attention to his cousin, glaring at the man without even bothering to hide it.
"The last I checked, Zachariah , you do not have an office on the top floor. If I were you, I would be making my way back downstairs before something unfortunate happens,"
For a moment his cousin seemed absolutely stunned. His eyes moved from Ariel to Tristan. Then back again a few times before he seemed to snap himself out of it, his customary smirk sliding into place.
"Well now, this is interesting. Dear cousin, I did not believe that you would mix with the riff-raff but it seems even the great Tristan Asher has urges that need to be met," Tristan inhaled sharply at his cousin's vulgarity. How dare he! Uncaring that the expression on Tristan's face was getting stormier, Zachariah was always one who thrived on making people angry after all. His cousin carried on. He cast a disdainful glance over at Ariel.
"Though I must admit, your tastes are not at all what I was expecting. Couldn't you find somebody more high class?" He said the last bit and then he stopped and looked at Ariel like she was vermin on the side of the road.
"Do not look at her and do not talk about her in such a manner. You know nothing about her. And yet you have already said nothing but all the horrible things that you have been thinking Zachariah . If anybody is low class here, it is you," Just as he was about to advance on his cousin, there was movement from beside him. He looked towards Ariel and he realized she was holding a lunch box towards him.
"Here, hold this for me please," She told him, her tone soft, and Tristan found himself obeying. Once her precious cargo was safely in Tristan's hands, he watched with no small amount of awe as Ariel moved forward, her back straight, her shoulder squared. Then, to Tristan's shock, she raised her hand and pointed a finger right at Zachariah .
"Listen here, mister. The two of us have never met and already I can tell you that even if I did know you, we would never get along. You do not know me, I do not know you, but you already were talking to me like I was somehow beneath you. Take care to watch your back. If you and I ever meet down in the streets, I will be giving you a black eye personally from these two," She folded her hands into fists and showed them to Zachariah . It had no right to be funny. Ariel was obviously spitting mad, but it was also the cutest threatening that Tristan had ever seen in his life.
Looking over at Zachariah , he saw that his cousin seemed to think that Ariel was a joke. Moving slowly, Tristan came to stand beside her. The look in his eyes promising nothing but pain and suffering should his cousin try to lay a hand on her.
Seeing Tristan all of the humor left Zachariah, and he held his hands up mockingly. "Well, well, well, little miss, I know when I am beat. Forgive this gentleman for underestimating you. I will be on my way now," With a mock salute, Zachariah turned and took the stairs.
For a few moments after his cousin disappeared from sight, the two of them stood where they were breathing heavy.
Once the tension eased out of Ariel and Tristan found himself relaxing as well. "Who was that?" She asked as she turned to him. Tristan shrugged. "That, unfortunately, was my cousin."
"What? But he's nothing like you," Tristan gave her a small smile.
She did not even know him, and yet she had already decided that he and Zachariah were not similar. It was true, but having somebody realize that just from a few seconds of interacting with both of them was nice.
"Did you come to bring my phone?" He asked her.
She instantly straightened her eyes widening. "I did not steal it," She blurted out and Tristan raised a brow. "Of course you didn't. You didn't think I stole it?" This woman though.
"Of course not. If you had, you would not have been returning it to me this very morning,"
She reached into her pocket and handed it over. Tristan took it and placed it within his own pocket without even bothering to check it.
"Have a good day Mr Asher,"
And just like that she nodded and turned away. This time instead of taking the stairs, she was headed towards the elevator.
"Wait, your lunch box!" He called after her, but she merely shrugged.
"It's not for me, it's a thank you. I was not certain how you would receive the news of me having had your phone through the night. So I thought I would butter you up some more. Now it's a reward for you having enough faith in me to believe that I'm not a thief," With that, she was gone and Tristan was left standing holding a lunch box, a bright yellow lunch box in his hands.
"Is that the lady from that time? The one who ran out of your office?" Hearing the sound of his PA's voice made him jump.
When Tristan turned to her, he noticed the slight delight in her eyes, and he gave her a glare, his cheeks hot.
"None of your business Lucy, get back to work before I fire you." She did not even bother faking fear.
"If you fire me, sir, who's going to run your schedule like a battleship? Plus you will never get anybody as funny as me." With that, she turned and headed to the office with Tristan following after her.
Tristan followed, the lunchbox held close, his face on fire.