"Why did you have to press on the horn so loud?" Alex asked his driver as he typed away on his phone.
"There was someone on the way sir," The bulky driver replied.
Alex raised his eyes from his phone and glared at the man. "How many times do I have to tell you to learn to be patient? I am certain the person in question wouldn't have stayed on the road for too long. We could have waited."
He had a dozen reports to submit to his father in two days. The last thing he needed was more distractions from his driver!
"I am sorry sir," The bulky man squeaked.
Alex was about to reply to him when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He hissed and took out the phone. Without checking who it was, he answered.
"Hello!"
"Hey man what's up?"
It was his annoying college friend Brian. He had tried every possible way to ignore Brian but the guy had refused to back down from pestering his life.
"Brian, what do you want?" He gritted out.
"Look man, I know you are busy and all... but it's my birthday today and I am throwing a party—"
"Brian, I am busy and you know it!" Was Alex's hash reply. It wasn't that he hated Brian or anything, he just found him too irresponsible sometimes and at the moment, he wasn't in the mood to deal with him.
"Alex, you had promised to attend," Brian said in a sharp voice and Alex could already imagine him trying to stop his pout from emerging.
"I am sorry but I do not remember when I made such promises to you," Alex retorted. His voice had dropped from its harsh state as he now felt bad for not even remembering Brian's birthday. Brian was the only person he could outrightly call a friend in his life due to his tight schedules but the guy was impossible most times.
"You never honor any of my invitations since we left school... And even on my birthday, you want to back out at the last minute?"
At this point, Alex felt terrible for always turning down Brian's invitations. He looked down at the opened laptop by his side and sighed. He really had a lot of work to do but... He also had to make it up to Brian.
"Send me the location and time," he breathed out.
"Yes!" Brian cried out in triumph. "I promise you will have the best time of your life man! Thank you!" He added excitedly before he ended the call.
Alex stared at his phone for a brief second before he slowly shook his head. He was surely going to regret this.
A few hours later that night, his Bentley parked in front of the Place Lounge, and Alex stepped out into the night air.
"You can go on home Rob. I'll take a taxi home," He told his driver as he made his way into the lounge.
The bouncers at the entrance welcomed him as they all knew who he was. Alex only nodded as he passed them and went in search of his friend. The place was filled with drunk people at every corner and the dance floor was a no-go area as he could barely see past the jumping heads.
"Alex!"
He heard his name at his right and he turned sharply to find someone with spiky hair waving at him from the left VIP arena. Surely that must have been Brian.
Alex started walking towards the arena but stopped on his track as his eyes fell on a certain woman waltzing towards the bar beside the VIP arena he was heading to.
He felt his heart stop. It wasn't just his heart, the entire club stopped moving and the noise died down. All he saw was the brunette moving toward the bar. She was wearing a red dress and her black hair cascaded down her back in curls.
He wanted badly to see her face. So, he started going towards the bar but someone stepped right in front of him. He frowned and dropped his eyes only to find Spiky hair —Brian.
"Where are you going, the party is over here!" Brian screamed above the noise of the club.
Alex's frown softened as he saw that it was his friend. "Happy Birthday Brian! Can you give me a minute?" He said as his eyes searched the bar for the brunette in a red dress.
Brian turned around following his line of sight. He smiled knowingly and tapped Alex on the shoulder. "I told you there was going to be plenty of fun tonight..." He sneakered. "Go get her number and join us," Brian said and went back to their spot.
Alex gave him a two-finger salute as he walked off. Now his attention was back on the woman that had attracted him. But he couldn't find her at the bar anymore. He searched the place but it was void of anyone with that description.
"Where did you go?" He whispered as he turned around once again.
"Are you lost?"
The sweet voice reached Alex and he turned back around to find the brunette right in front of him. She had a drink in her hand and she cocked her head to the side as she smiled at him.
"I was. But not anymore," He said as he flashed her a smile. "Can I buy you another drink?"
"Sure!" She slurped and started walking to the bar giddily.
Alex could see that the brunette was already drunk and he shouldn't be buying her more drinks but he needed to get her somewhere quiet so they could at least share contacts. The rest of the discussion would be afterward.
"I am Alex. What's your name?"
She started giggling as Alex mentioned his name but tried to look serious at the same time. Alex only blamed it on the alcohol in her body.
"I am Ruth. Ruth Davies," she said. She opened a small clutch that was slung across her chest —which Alex was just seeing how— she brought out a small card and passed it over to him.
Alex inspected the card and saw that it was indeed her number. A smirk covered his face as he raised his head, "I'll make sure to check on you," He said.
"Sure..." She replied as she got up from the stool she sat on. She picked up the glass the bartender had dropped and gulped down the whole thing.
"Ah!" She exclaimed as the burning sensation of the drink hit her throat. "Thank you for the drink but my friend is waiting for me back there," she said pointing at the exit. "If I keep her waiting, she will literally have my head."
Before Alex could reply, Ruth slipped off between the sea of people and went off to meet her friend.
"Chris, I am so stupid! I have lost Peter Pencraft!" Ruth cried out as she buried her face into a pillow."Ruth, calm down and tell me what happened!" Christine said rolling her eyes."You don't understand, I had him. He was talking to me and then I slurped! Babe, I embarrassed myself so much, I think he hated me now!" She added dramatically.Christine dropped the papers she had been reading and moved onto the bed where Ruth was hitting her chest like a woman who had lost her husband."When did you meet him?" She asked patiently.Ruth wiped her tears and stared up at her friend with a pout. "We met at the club last night...""When I was waiting outside or before then?" Christine had kept a good eye on Ruth throughout the time they were at the club. The only time she had lost track of her was when she went to the bathroom and was delayed at the bar."You were outside and I went to the bar... He came and then I was drunk. I was giggling like some fool!" She exclaimed slapping a hand to
"Ruth, guess what?" Christine jumped in excitement a few days after her interview.Ruth who was surfing her social media pages turned a bored eye to her friend. "What? You have been dis-virgin?"Christine rolled her eyes and said, "don't be silly Ruth! I actually got the job!""Oh," Ruth said and returned to surfing her pages. "Congratulations love," She added.Christine was used to Ruth's reactions by now so it didn't bother her. Ruth was only interested in news that had to do with boys or shopping for new dresses. Any other thing was left on the garbage can of her brain. She paid zero attention to it. Christine didn't care.She had finally gotten her dream job just a few days after her graduation. She felt over the moon. She hummed to herself as she searched through her closet for a simple dress she could go out with. She had to give herself a treat. Not every graduate made this much progress in their career just a few days after graduation.She knew working for the Davies wasn't go
Christine walked into the fancy restaurant with her heart beating as fast as someone who had just run two miles. What was she supposed to say to Alex Pencraft? How would she even introduce herself? Would she be able to recognize him? Yes, Ruth had shown her a dozen pictures of the young handsome billionaire but she still couldn't trust her brain to remember the face. Her dark eyes searched the restaurant as if scanning a document. There were just a few people seated around the air-conditioned room. Soft music was playing in the background and the lights bounced around in different tones adding to the ambiance of the place. But Christine couldn't bring herself to enjoy it. The dress Ruth had forced her to wear was too short and the heels were already killing her as she stood by the corner trying to find her date. "Excuse me miss," someone said behind her and she jumped in fear. It was simply one of the waiters. Christine held her heart and took a deep breath to calm herself from th
“How long have you known Ruth?” Alex asked as Christine settled back into her seat. He knew he should have let her leave but something in him couldn’t let her go like that. There was something about her that made him feel at peace with himself. There was an aura of calmness that he just couldn’t put a finger on.Christine took a stray hair of her hair behind her ear before replying in a subtle voice, “I have known her for five years now but it feels like we have known ourselves all our lives.”A waiter came around the table and took their orders. Christine used this time to take in the dashing man in front of her. She couldn’t understand how Ruth could ever get bored of someone like Alex. He was calm and understanding. Handsome and alluring. Yet, Ruth had decided to leave him for her ex-boyfriend. If she were in Alex’s position, she would have gotten mad at Ruth, because why would my date not show and send her friend instead?It was outright rude.“Christine…” Alex called and Christin
"Believe me, princess, she's nothing but an opportunist golddigger! You can't see it because she's so good at her games." Rhoda lectured."I have told you times and again that you need to send that girl far away from you! But no, you wouldn't listen and now even your father thinks she is an angel!"Ruth sighed and combed through her hair with her fingernails."Mum, you're just paranoid. Christine is not that type of person," Ruth defended Christine as she passed an apologetic smile to Christine who smiled in return before exiting the room.She didn't want to imagine what Mrs. Davis could be telling her daughter on the other end of the phone. She was used to the woman's harsh behavior but she preferred not listening to all of that at all."Tell me, do you really love him?" Rhoda asked her daughter. Knowing the kind of child she had, she knew Ruth couldn't love such a daddy's boy but she had to somehow convince Ruth to do it anyway."Mum... Alex is so boring, I won't even lie about that
In the cold bustling streets of the city, Christine walked along the pedestrian bridge with her hands deep inside her fur coat pockets.It was a Thursday and she was heading back home. She needed to catch her bus.Working for the Davies was as hard as she could have imagined but the experience was one she would have never gotten without their help.She was grooming herself in her career and that was all that mattered.Christine was thinking about the presentation she had to do the next day when her eyes fell on a family of three across the street."Honey, your daughter is being naughty again," the woman told her husband, pointing to their daughter who giggled around with her doll.The man looked at his wife and Christine could see the love he had for her flash in his orbs.Her heart tightened painfully as she knew she had missed out on this sort of affection and maybe she would never even experience it.Her father never loved her and not her mom. That curse was probably passed on to h
"So tell me, how come you know so much about colognes?" Alex asked her.Their conversation had slowly but certainly shifted from Ruth to Christine. She found herself telling him about her love for perfumes and colognes."When you can't afford something, you stay content with recognizing them," Christine said with a small laugh.The interior of the restaurant was vintage. The furniture was sleek metal and neatly arranged with round sleek tables complimenting the wooden floors.The lighting gave out a comfy and cozy feeling as they were artistic lamps hung at different angles of the stylish European retro-style wallpaper on the walls.The atmosphere was welcoming, as expected of a nice restaurant. The ambiance was quite peaceful, with comfortable seating, chill music, and the delicious smell of food in the air.Christen was about to make a comment on Alex's question when a waiter gregariously bounced towards their table."
“I tried to wake her up but she wouldn’t budge. The poor girl must have been so tired to fall asleep that fast. Is she your friend?” The caretaker asked, handing over a big folded blanket to Alex.He took them from her and answered with a smile. “Yes, she is my friend. Thank you, Mirabel, I’ll take it from here, you can go back to my dad.”“Of course.” She flashed him a warm smile and headed the way he came.From the stairs, he could see Christine’s petite figure curled up on the couch. He couldn’t help but smile as he moved closer. She must have been very tired, but still, she had dinner with him and even followed him to see his father.He stood over her and whispered her name, unsure whether to wake her to go sleep in one of the rooms or leave her be. When she didn’t answer after a few taps, he covered her with the blanket and slowly crouched beside her in an attempt to remove the curly locks that had fallen over her face. With him face to face with her, he could hardly displace th