Bet Of Love

Chapter 9

"Alright, I'll give you an hour to prepare."

"Thirty minutes is fine." I confidently say.

"Good. Oh, and bring my tablet with you, will you?" He glances at it on the desk then disappears upstairs; I sigh in exasperation.

Leaving a woman alone in your office, how arrogant and careless can he get?

I think back to the party when he announced the opening of his hotel expansion to London next year. Considering the timing, he could be going to inspect the property...

"I forgot to mention, you need to pack a bathing suit. You can get one from my closet." He shouts as he pops his head out from the top of the stairs for a minute.

Bathing suit? But it's freezing and there's frequent downpours in the UK...

I go to the closet and inside is rows of designer suits. Even his casual wear and accessories exude the unmistakable aura of luxury and expense.

Is this really the office of a CEO? It looks more like a fancy boutique...

Then something else catches my sight.

Frankly, what I don't understand... is the bundle of designer women's clothes placed in the front and centre, as if to make sure it's the first thing you see when you open the closet. Of course, a packaged red two-piece bathing suit is also sitting on top of the pile.

When I move to get a closer look though...

There's no way I'm bringing that.

🃁

When we step onto his private jet, I find a familiar face relaxing on board. Valen gestures me to take a seat, and I do.

"Rei? What are you doing here?"

Kicked back in a plush seat, he's sipping on some red wine, "I'm just in need of a little getaway, but don't worry about me. I feel bad for you, getting caught in one of his compulsive gambler's traps." He focuses on me with an inscrutable smile. "I can't believe you're actually going along with this guy's idea. All for a woman you don't even know as well, you're weird." I don't know how to react when the guy I found weird since our first meeting decided to call me "weird" out loud. "Are you a wolf in sheep's clothing?"

"I don't know if Valen was serious about hurting her, but I made a spilt second decision to help a fellow woman."

"Looking into her background to see if she was working for someone wouldn't have hurt though..." Valen murmurs as he pours us both some wine.

With the way he was acting, I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd killed that woman from where she stood. But I assume he's spared her life if he didn't look into her. Now he's acting so normal you'd never dream he was capable of that kind of behaviour.

Rei then asks, "Do you want to know how we know each other?"

Valen's face beams at Rei's words, "At this point, I guess I could make an exception and tell her..." This causes Rei's eyes to widen like he's seen three heads or something, is it really shocking or something?

"Whoa, am I hearing things? All sorts of women have asked you questions like those, but you've always avoided giving them answers."

"I'm in a good mood today Rei. Besides, I like the way she doesn't seem desperate to know."

I never really that thought much into the trio's relationship but... "I wouldn't say I'm not interested to know at all though."

"Anyone would be curious, moreover, I could help you get ahead in our bet..." Now this intrigues me even more.

"Sure, but the question is whether you're going to really tell me?"

"Valen never lets people know this stuff, no matter how much they beg." Rei adds, creating enough suspense before finally opening up. "We all went to the University of Cambridge. We kind of stood out. Three charismatic, handsome guys in a clique together."

"Standing out meant we had a lot of fun. We'd mess with professors we didn't like and go to all sorts of lengths to assist others in trouble. We even used the whole school to throw a party once. Plus, there was a time we got the whole student body involved in one giant bet." As Valen lists their fun moments, his eyes sparkle with nostalgia.

"You've got it backwards. You didn't have fun because you stood out, you stood out because of the things you did."

"I guess you could say that too." Valen says before grinning from ear to ear.

The more I hear, the more difficult it is for me to respond. This goes way beyond normal levels of rich kid entitlement.

Who are they?

"So who's the ringleader of this gang?" They both smirk as if they've been waiting for me to ask that.

Valen answers first, "We're all equals. It's not like a particular individual is the special one or something. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and our personalities are pretty different too."

Followed by Rei, "I guess you could say we take turns leading when the situation calls for one of our particular talents. That reminds me, you were the only one to win that bet we made back then, huh?"

"Of course. I don't lose. Ever." The look Valen's giving me right now, it's... quite perilous. It nearly succeeds in bringing back my rue in accepting this challenge but luckily, I manage to suppress it.