That One Time by Marian Tee Page A

year… that was how long they had not seen each other.
    Just that one time… that was how short they fucking knew each other.
    And yet this woman was telling him that none of those things mattered.  
    Ayah had…taken a risk on him, the way he had once gambled on them…and lost by choosing to take the easy way out.
    “Anything else?” the man asked.
    Trying not to show how disconcerted she was at how “cooperative” he was being, Mari dug into her pocket. “Not so fast, Mr. Aafjes.”
    Nic suppressed an impatient sigh, reining in his instincts to just bodily lift the woman out of his way and barge into the café. Hong Kong was a nightmare so far, with everyone forcing him to wait on others and in a way that he had never waited on anyone his whole life.
    “You’ll need this.”
    Nic returned his attention to the woman and at the sight of the object in her hands, his jaw clenched hard. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”
    “No. I’m fucking not,” she said sweetly. “If you want to see Ayah peacefully, then this is what you have to do.”
    “Fine.” He all but snarled the word as he grabbed the name badge from the woman’s fingers.  
    Mari suddenly had a bad feeling, and she caught his sleeve just as he started to walk past her. When he turned to her, his face terrifyingly blank, she swallowed. Was she making the right decision here? “Luuk…” Mari looked at him pleadingly. “What are you planning really?”
    Only the genuine care on Mari’s face allowed Nic to unbend enough to answer honestly. “I just want Ayah and me to have time alone and get to know each other again.”
    And then he was walking into the café.
    Mari knew she should follow him right away, but she couldn’t. Her heart was heavy with the knowledge that Luuk Aafjes had yet to realize that he was the only one who felt like that. In Ayah’s world, a person didn’t need to know someone to be in love. One just…loved.

 
    ~ Five ~
     
    For a billionaire, his mobile phone was like a gun. One call, one bullet – and careers could be ruined, millions of dollars spent, and entire businesses shut down. The send button was its trigger, and right now Nic was an inch away from not just pulling the trigger but raining fucking bullets all over the place.
    Ayah was surrounded by jackasses.
    He flexed his hands, striving for control. One call was all it would take, and this whole place would be closed down. He could have an entire army of detectives in here within minutes, figure out everyone’s identities, and have all of them fired from their jobs, no questions asked.  
    Mari smirked at the expression on Luuk Aafjes’ face. “So you’re sure about this? You really want to be one of the candidates?”
    His expression became even colder, but to his credit he didn’t say any of the curses that were probably running in his mind. This Luuk dude sure was possessive , Mari thought. With a smothered laugh, she told him, she smothered a laugh. “Well, you need to fill out the badge with your name and stick it somewhere on your shirt.” She gestured to Emi, one of the waitresses, and gave her instructions as Luuk took out a pen and filled out his name badge.
    When he was done, Mari said, “This is Emi. She’ll direct you to your place.”
    The other woman, Emi, took over and she gestured towards the pool of speed date participants. “Sir? Would you follow me please?” Her tone was polite, but her face was agog with curiosity.  
    Yet another person who knew about him , Nic realized. Was that something to be happy about? He considered their reactions to him so far. Probably not.  
    There was a row of tables and bar stools in the middle of the café, with one row occupied entirely by females while the men were lined up opposite them. When the buzzer sounded, the men moved on to the next woman in line.  
    A swift look told him that the men outnumbered the women about 2:1, but most of them seemed clustered around...Ayah. It had him