"Whoa, a visitor." Nikita said, referring to Lila and shut the door behind her.
"Oh, she's here." Lila rolled her eyes, crossing her legs on the couch.
"Of course I'd be here because I live here." She scoffed, walking up to us on the couch and dropped her bag to the floor carelessly.
"Oh, right. She does. I think I forgot that." She replied sarcastically.
Nikita sat on the couch opposite to the one we sat on. "You definitely forgot that." She turned to me. "How's your boss now? Should I be expecting to be an Aunt to a Millionaire baby now?"
"Nikita, jeez." I picked a throw pillow and threw it at her.
She burst into laughter. "What? I should expect that, you were literally living with him. By the way, when did you arrive? I was out with my sugar daddys." She winked.
"Wow, such a statement to announce proudly." I replied sarcastically. "I arrived yesterday."
"Oh, so… your boss— don't tell me you haven't agreed to give him a chance." Lila drew her eyes in askance.
"Yes, yes, I have." I rolled my hands around.
A grin appeared on Lila's lips as she jumped to give me a tight hug, almost choking me. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Too tight." I breathed out, gently pushing her away from the hug.
"I'm happy for you too. We'll finally be rich!" Nikita threw her balled hands upwards with a smirk playing on her lips.
"I'm really excited." Lila beamed.
"It's so obvious you are."
"Whoa, my best friend's dating a Millionaire."
"No. She's dating a guy who has loved her for two years or whatever, and is giving him a chance." Lila frowned.
"It doesn't change the fact that he's worth hundreds of Millions of dollars, babe." She returned her gaze to me. "And she's dating him. He should definitely help us out with the house renovation or something."
"Nikita, let's forget the money for now." I held up a hand.
"Exactly!" Lila sighed.
"You can but I'm not. Anyway, I'm outta here, I have to have a nice bath to be clean again." She rose to her feet and picked her bag from the floor, shambling out of sight.
"How did you ever become friends with such a bitch."
"Lila!"
"It's not a lie, she's crazy."
"She's crazy but I love her for who she is, as well as I love you for who you are."
She folded her arms across her chest and glared at me for a while before a smile slowly returned to her lips. "I'm still super-excited you're dating Hames now."
"We're not dating, I'm only giving him a chance to prove he's worthy enough."
"Oh, you are. Mom would be so happy to hear this news. Speaking of Mom, her final surgery would be completed the day after tomorrow and we'd be able to visit her. We should create a surprise mini-party to congratulate her on her restoration of good health. What do you think? I'll order cake, and anything Mom would love."
"The day after tomorrow?" I winced.
"Yeah. What's wrong?"
"I'd have to return to work."
"Return to work? You're home now. Don't you have a week break or something?" She winced too.
"No, I don't. It's just a 2-day break. It'll end tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" She groaned. "That's so bad. Mom would've definitely been excited to see both of us."
"Can't we do it during the weekend?"
"Nah, she'll be home already and she would be rather angry that you didn't visit her on time."
"Hmm… the day after tomorrow…" I trailed off, placing my index finger on my chin.
***
"What's this obviously expensive dress doing in your wardrobe?" Nikita asked, taking out the red dress I had worn to Mr. Carter's company party. "Oh wait, I think I saw you wearing this in the weird party you were with your boyfriend. You aren't married yet and he's already spending this much on you? You're so lucky."
"Nikita, stop searching my wardrobe without my permission." I said nonchalantly, knowing fully well that she wasn't going to ever stop doing that.
"No way I'm stopping that." She chortled. "I need good clothes to wear, I have to attend a party with my girls."
"Don't you have about a billion clothes you buy with the money from your guys and sugar daddys?" I rolled my eyes, applying blush to my cheeks.
"Yeah, duh. I can't wear the same cloth I've worn to another party, when I'm going with the same people." She scoffed.
"Whatever you say." I started applying lipstick on my lips.
"Why are you applying makeup?"
"I'm going to the movies or somewhere with my boss." I informed her.
"The movies." She chuckled.
"Yeah."
"Found one!" She exclaimed. I turned my head to her, noticing she had picked one of my clothes. For a moment, I thought she would've taken my fancy red gown.
I rolled my eyes at her. "You're going to pay for the dress if it gets ruined, and ensure no alcohol gets on it, or anything stupid."
"Boring." She replied, walking past my pile of clothes she had dropped on the floor. Gosh…
"Pick those up." I said, finalizing my makeup and rose to my feet.
I sauntered to the bed to pick my purse from it. "Hames should be here anytime soon." I said to myself.
"That's good." She commented.
"Bye," I waved at her, took my leave from the room and strolled down the stairs.
I slipped my phone out of my purse to take a few photos of myself again, hoping to post it on my social media accounts later. I was definitely going to post one with Hames today. My followers might go crazy, who knows?
I strutted to the door and unlocked it. At the exact time I turned the door handle, the doorbell rang.
I pulled the door open to reveal Hames wearing a blank expression.
"Hi." He said, glancing at me from head to toe then returned his eyes to my face. "You look amazing."
"Thank you, you look…" I trailed off, only noticing that he looked … hot! His biceps were almost bursting out of his shirt which hugged his well-defined body that was quite disturbing to stare at, "...good." I completed my sentence.
"Thank you too. Can we leave now?"
"Yeah, sure."
"After you," he stepped back.
"Oh, thanks." I replied indifferently, stepping forwards and shut the door then started walking towards his car sitting right in front of our building. I could tell he was walking behind me. I thought he didn't like people walking in front of him.
I stopped by his car and he helped me out with opening the door before I could. Was he always like this or what?
I got into the car, then he followed suit and shut the door.
"Drive," he said to the driver who simply nodded and started the car.
I was seriously going out with this man? I still prayed this wasn't going to be a harmful choice.
Okay, no harm in trying.
***
"Wow, dinner. Cool." In an obviously CLASSY restaurant. It was actually cool, though I had expected to go to the movies.
"I know it's not where you expected. I don't watch movies, I get bored while watching them so I decided to have this restaurant for two of us only, for the entire night."
"Oh," I muttered. How could a human being be bored of watching a movie? Was he human?
—"But if you still want to watch a movie, I ensured that the restaurant installed a center where we can watch one together, alone, for tonight."
"Really? That'd be nice. I'm craving for a movie."
"What genre?"
"Romantic, duh." I picked my glass of juice and connected it to my lips to drink its content.
"Oh yeah." He nodded, also picking his glass of wine.
We dropped our glasses simultaneously and resumed eating our meal for the next couple of minutes in total silence.
Once again, another boring dinner with this weirdo.
The silence still remained till we finished our meal then a Waiter was called to clear our table.
"You're very boring, you know?" I commented, resting my elbows on the table and intertwined my fingers to rest my chin on my knuckles.
He still remained silent for a while then chuckled. "I definitely know."
"And I don't like boring men." I maintained a straight face.
He furrowed his forehead. "I can be not boring for you." He shrugged. 'Not boring?'
"Really?" I scoffed. "How can you be on a date with a woman and not utter a single word, that's very boring."
"Uh… it's— it's not— I'm… wait, you didn't utter a word either." He shrugged again.
"Duh, I'm not the one who claims to be madly in love." I rolled my eyes.
"Fair enough." He nodded. "Okay, what would you like to know that'd be convincing enough for you?"
"I can't make you speak, you should know what to say, I shouldn't force words from your mouth."
He went poker-faced again then rose to his feet and lifted his chair to drop it beside mine and sat on it again. My breath seized at his extreme closeness.
I tried to shift my chair from him but he stopped me by holding my hand. "Don't move." He said and surprisingly wore a smile. His smile was quite inviting.
"Okay, I won't." I exhaled.
"So…" his smile became even wider, and my heart was beating faster at the uniqueness of his smile. "I'm Hames Hendrix, I'm 26, your boss. I've loved you for almost two years." Could he just skip this? I already knew all of this. "I've always been boring but I assume I was more fun as a kid.
"I once had a girlfriend, Lorraine Asher," he chuckled. "You won't believe she was beautiful but very crazy. We only dated because she was a supermodel and I'm rich, so due to internet matchmaking, we became a couple."
"Due to the internet? So you didn't love her?"
"Definitely not."
"We always fought and—" he paused. "I shouldn't be discussing this about my ex- girlfriend with you." He laughed.
"Definitely not." I chuckled.
"Okay, something different. When I was young, Kade and I always thought we would build a ship that can fly then put our parents, mostly my Dad, in it, so it could take them to space without anyone knowing."
"A ship that can fly?" I laughed. "To take your parents to space? That's crazy."
"I know that." He joined me to laugh.
"Why'd you want your parents to leave?"
"My father was terrible." He began fiddling with my fingers, only reminding me that he was still holding my hand. "He was the most terrible human being I had ever seen but lucky for us, he died." He smiled. Whoa, how terrible was his father?
"He always told me that he had always wished he flushed me into the toilet when I was born."
I gasped. "Is he crazy?"
"Was," he corrected, "he's dead now."
"Whatever, it gives him no right to have tortured an innocent child with such harsh words." I frowned.
"What makes you think I was innocent?" He smirked, still fiddling with my fingers.
I blinked twice at once, "you weren't?"
"Nah, I was a badboy from 5, but he was still crazy. He was poor and my Mom was the rich one. He only married her for her wealth and because she was infertile but she was fortunate enough to have me so it hurt his soul."
"Who wouldn't be excited to be a father?"
"My father wasn't."
"Then he was crazy!" I hollered.
He burst into laughter, throwing his head back. "You're so adorable when you're angry."
"Adorable? I'm not adorable." I still frowned.
"Okay. What are you?" He leaned his face closer to mine.
"Uh…" I moved my head backwards.
"You're beautiful and hot." He smirked, held me to stop me from moving my head backwards and planted a kiss on my forehead.
He sat up straight then I did so too, frowning a bit. "You have no right to kiss me."
"Why not? You're giving me a chance, right?"
"Right, but you haven't proven yourself to be worthy of my approval."
"Jeez, so tough."
"What?"
"Nothing." He shook his head excessively, holding my hand again to fiddle with my fingers.
"It doesn't sound like nothing to me."
He rose to his feet again, lifting me to my feet by my hand. "Let's go on a walk, you'll like me soon."
"A walk? The movie?"
"We'll return to watch the movie. A nice walk should be romantic." It didn't sound so romantic to me.
"Okay," I replied.
He still held my hand to lead me out of the barrier of chairs then led me out of the restaurant.
I was welcomed by the coolness of the evening breeze greeting my skin with its wonderful harmony playing in my ears. The moon was shining its glory in my direction, enough to make me fall in love with it in an instant more than Hames.
"Let's go." He continued holding me, and began walking on the pavement.
We still maintained silence for the next few minutes, only swinging our linked hands.
"Imogen," he called, breaking the silence and I glanced at him to catch his graceful smile. "I love you."
That was so unexpected so it sounded awkward and made nervousness ignite in me.
"We've talked about my crazy father but it'd be nice to talk about you."
"About me?"
"Yes."
"Talk about me to me?"
"Kinda, but related to me."
"Weird but go on."
"There was a day I met you in a store then I secretly followed behind you." He chuckled. "You were with a woman I assumed was your friend, then you both bumped into a man and were smiling at him as you exchanged words with one another. Obviously, I got angry and attempted to storm towards the man but I fell and was hit by a car." He laughed.
"Are you kidding me?" My jaw dropped.
"It was so funny. I almost had my leg amputated but being the strong man I was, that didn't happen."
"Why'd you want to storm to the man?"
"I thought he was your boyfriend or something and it annoyed me. After the accident, that didn't stop me from stalking you. Some people— oh wait, just one person, called me crazy."
"It's indeed crazy. Why were you stalking me?"
"It's clearly because I'm madly in love with you. I never believed in love till I met you, neither did I ever believe in love at first sight. I don't know what special characteristics you possess that intoxicates me so bad."
I stopped in my tracks, making him stop walking too and turned to him, furrowing my forehead in bewilderment. How could he love me this much? It still made no sense. "You were hit by a car because of me?"
"Yes. And when I figured out you were having a few financial problems a few months back, I made Kade give you a raise."
My mouth went agape. "That was because of you?! I thought it was for my… well, being a good secretary."
"You were and you are but it was all me. And there are a lot of things I've done for you in secret. If I'm to continue mentioning them, I won't be done talking even after a week." He had an extremely amazing smile plastered on his face which I had to admit made him look more approachable and different from the usual cold-faced, crabby Hames Hendrix I knew him as.
"I can't believe you've done all these for me and I didn't realize it. You're always acting grumpy so I could never imagine it, I'm still surprised to know you claim to love me and no one would ever imagine you could've done crazy things because you were stalking me."
"Exactly. If Mom ever finds out, she won't believe it."
"And…" I peered at him, tilting my head a bit to study the happiness etching on his face. "...you should smile more often, it makes you more approachable and look like a nice person."
"Really?" He quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes. Smile more." I placed my fingers on the sides of his lips to extend his smile. Before I could return my hand to my side, he held it and placed a kiss on my palm.
"Your wish is my command, oh dear Queen." He chuckled with a bow of his head. I chuckled at that. "I'll do anything you ask of me so if you want me to smile more, I will."
I smiled, nodding. I think I liked this side of Hames better. He was being sweet, gentle, smiling, confessing. It was a good side and preferable. "You'll do anything I ask of you?" I retrieved my hand from his grip.
"Yes, definitely." He nodded.
A smirk slowly appeared on my lips. "Oh, really?"
He lifted and curved an eyebrow. "Yes?" That came out as a question.
"Hm…" I trailed off, biting my lower lip gently. "Mr. Hendrix," I called in the most seductive voice I could ever possess, walking closer to him and held his shoulders.
"As far as I remember, we've agreed to calling each other by our first names." He said monotonously, staring at me in absolute confusion. We never agreed.
"I know." I smirked, moving closer to him.
He was slowly moving backwards. "I know this is something I'd love but you're scaring me. What's with the sudden change of attitude?" He stared down at me, furrowing his forehead in perplexity. He couldn't move backwards anymore because his back hit a wall.
"You know," I trailed my fingers down from his shoulder to his arm. Gosh, his arm was so rigid. "You make your employees overwork." I was speaking slowly, returning my hand to his shoulders and laced my fingers behind his neck, locking my eyes with his. He looked nervous, confused and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. I had to stop myself from laughing. How on Earth did I do this to him?
"I know."
"And I'm your employee too,"
"I also know that."
"You make me overwork." The closeness between us was killing me, it could make me go crazy if it didn't end soon. "After going to Australia and overworking for you, we returned and you only gave me a 2-day break. Isn't that mean?"
"Mean?" He chuckled. "I never give anyone a break, else they recently gave birth."
"So I'm like every other person to you?" I pretended to make a sad face.
"No, no, not at all." He shook his head.
"If I'm not," I leaned closer to him and his hand went to my waist. I also had to stop myself from gasping and jerking away from him. His touch was making me feel dizzy. I needed to end this soon. "You should give me a week break."
"A week?!" He laughed. "That's not possible."
I frowned, pulling away from him. "You said you'd do anything for me. I'd have to meet Mia tomorrow with Lila but I'll also resume work tomorrow. I need more break."
"Imogen," he smiled again. No dude, your smile ain't affecting me anymore. "For two days, you've not been working with me, it's been damn stressful. I have to work extra time and no one can complete the work you've started with me, else they'll receive a 2-month training from you."
That meant I was doing a good job and was a compliment in a way but I deserve more break. "You said you'll do anything I ask of you."
"I know I said that and I mean it but I need you at work. Plus, you said I should stop stalking you and I'd stop that so I won't have enough time to see you. Do you know how hard it'd be to have a day without seeing you? I always ensure I see you everyday by stalking you."
"It's not so much, just a week."
"Okay, I'll give you one more day for your break."
"Make it four."
"No,"
"Okay, three?"
"No, one more day would make it a 3-day break."
I glared at him for a while then sighed. Well, it was only a day I needed actually. "Okay, but it's still against your words. You didn't do what I asked of you."
He smirked, held my arm to pull me to his chest wrapping an arm around my waist. "I'll make it up to you. Would you like to go on a 1 or 2-week vacation to another country with me? Not for work, just for fun."
Another country? I was going to leave the country again? And not work?! "It won't affect your work schedule?" Why did I care?
"It will but I'd ignore that for your sake."
I gazed at him, considering whether or not I should agree. Why was I being hesitant? I had always loved travelling around the world.
"We'll do any activity you choose."
"Yes, I'd love to!"
He let out a chuckle relief. "For a minute, I thought you were going to refuse. You'd love it, I promise to make it perfect for you. Aren't I such a nice person? I'm ready to give up work for a week or two, for you. I've never done that for my mother."
"You—"
I was interrupted by his lips crashing against mine. He removed his hand from my arm to wrap his arm around my shoulders, pulling me even closer to him to deepen the kiss.
His kiss was igniting a weird type of fire in me, resulting in a series of sparks that made my heart and brain throb really hard against my rib cage and skull respectively. His kiss was breath-murdering and caused a shiver to flow through my spine.
I knew if I returned the kiss, it could lead to something more intense so I broke apart from it, panting to catch my breath.
"H—Hames," I breathed out, still panting.
He kissed my forehead and let go of me. "Thank you for coming into my life. I'm glad I ever met you. We should return to watch the movie now. I hope I don't sleep off or get distracted by work-related things." He held my hand again to intertwine our fingers.
I didn't know what to say about his kiss. Was I supposed to be mad at him, happy or just ignore it?
This was all too confusing. I was just going to ignore his kiss, and the effect of it in me, as well as our intertwined fingers.
***
The driver finally brought the car to a stop in front of our house.
"Goodnight." So he could say that?
"Goodnight." I smiled at him.
I opened the door to leave but he held my hand. Oh no, not another kiss.
"Hames, don't kiss me."
"Why not? I'll miss you." How on Earth was he so different today? Miss me? "I won't see you for another night and day, then another night." He wore a gloomy face.
"I have to leave now." I slipped my hand out of his grip. "Stop being a big baby."
"Yeah, right." He cleared his throat, maintaining his usual bold, work face. "You can leave now." Here we go again with the authoritative tone.
"Please smile, I hate this face." I admitted.
He chortled. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." I said again, picked my purse, got out of the car and shut the door. After a wave at him, I turned around to leave.
I sauntered to the door of the building and reached for my keys in my purse. Taking the key out, I unlocked the door then shambled in, shutting the door behind me.
Everywhere was pitch-dark so my hand grazed the wall till I touched the switch and turned on the lights.
The living room was as messy as hell, confirming that it was either due to Nikita being angry or she had lost something and had destroyed the entire house in search of it.
"Nikita, so silly." I shambled to the stairs and climbed it, then to my room.
Nikita's wasn't in here either so I guessed she hadn't returned from the weird party.
I kicked my shoes from my feet and stripped my clothes off me, grabbed two towels from my wardrobe and left for the bathroom.
After a long bath and a shower, I brushed my teeth, wrapped a towel around my body and the other around my head, returned to my room for my night skincare routine, changed into a see-through nightdress.
I arranged the room then plopped myself onto my bed.
Hames had proven to be a sweet person tonight. He smiled, communicated, and wasn't so cold. Maybe giving him a chance wasn't such a bad idea.
I wasn't certain if it was the right thing but I knew I loved the idea of going on a 2-week vacation, whether or not it was with him.