I couldn't stop thinking about it. It just wouldn't leave my mind. They were fine when I tried them on that morning so...
...why wouldn't the stupid shoe fit!
I gave out another yelp and grunt as I tried jamming my foot further into the small space.
"You cannot do this to me... I only just bought you this morning!"
"Okay Kat, I got it now!"
I didn't turn around.
Not even another second could be wasted without these pumps snug on my feet! Jacob *middle name no time to mention* Taylor would just have to interrupt himself for the next... huff... few... huff... minutes!
"Kat!" Jake excitedly called my name again. My fuming thoughts dismantled as he sat up on my bed. "If you moved just a tad bit more quickly, you may be able to leave the house by tomorrow!"
I stopped moving.
He interrupted me for that?
I threw my purse at his stomach and grinned in satisfaction as he grunted and fell back onto the bed in pain. I proceeded to point my finger at him.
"Listen, I would have been ready by now if it weren't for you needing my help with that gift for... what's her name...?"
"Jenny-"
"Jenny," I reminded him, turning back to my shoes and shuffling again until I could finally shriek in victory as they gave in to my torturous prodding. Jake sat up from the laying position my flying purse had put him in and chuckled. I couldn't help rolling my eyes with a smirk when a love-struck smile settled on his face.
Jenny was the new head chef at the restaurant he worked at. Apparently she was a firecracker who cussed him out every time their eyes met but that was the kind of girl he went for so I had to help the poor guy when he decided to buy her a gift to congratulate her on a promotion. The only problem was that he asked for my help that afternoon, that is, during my Monday midday lunch break. There was also the intention of handing over the gift an hour after, and therefore we had to settle for the best of the worst- as I should be used to- because all the men in my life had a thing for being last minute!
A horn went off outside.
Speaking of which...
"Looks like your prince charming is here," Jake smirked, peaking out my window which gave him a view of my front yard.
I rolled my eyes with a small smile, but quicker than I expected it to, it turned into a small frown and then a look of horror when Jake snapped my picture at that same moment.
My eyes had automatically snapped shut since the guy had a bad habit of using the flash when he took pictures, but when silence reached my ears after, I slowly opened them.
Jake was looking at his phone weirdly for a second before he turned back to me.
"Um... not the reaction I was expecting but... that could work... I guess," he murmured, looking from me to the picture a couple of times before putting it back into his pocket and giving me his full attention. I quickly turned away and busied myself with final touches to my hair by my mirror.
"I had to capture you blushing your colour off and send it to Harper but," he was walking up to my side now, "obviously, something is-"
"Please," I interrupted him with a laugh, not wanting him to go where I knew he was going. "He's anything but a prince charming, and enough about that anyways! We need to talk about more important matters like what am I forgetting." I turned away from the mirror, remembering I needed to leave the house in the next two minutes before Riddian started annoying the neighbours with his honking.
Honk!
There he went again with his own bad habit. At least his second time picking me up in this neighbourhood and I could already hear my neighbours complaining about the car that comes to our house and honks at two minutes intervals until it leaves.
Jake suddenly grasped my shoulders.
"Hey, you've got everything," he reassured me, "but... is everything okay? Like for real?"
I spent the whole weekend trying to forget my past all over again, while overthinking how Riddian still hasn't answered the question I asked him in his office on Friday. And even though we were on a pause with us being busy with the Presidents' meeting's preparations, and he had every right to take at least a couple hours to think about his intentions for us (but not really because it's been weeks since we've been thinking about us), I just really needed him to answer me so my recent 3am thoughts can be filled with only the embarrassments from highschool and not this too. But then again, business before pleasure! Wasn't that what we knew had to happen?
I stared at Jake.
"It's nothing. I'm fine," I quickly replied.
Jake narrowed his eyes at me. "Kat-"
Honk!
Both our eyes went back towards the window.
"You know, that boy is getting on my last nerve," Jake muttered before looking back at me, "but for you, I'll give him a chance."
"Even though you are a hundred percent sure he's no good for me?"
Smiling, Jake ruffled my hair a bit as he used to when we were younger. It was a good thing the messy look worked for this hairstyle or we'd be having a very different type of conversation right now.
"We'll talk when you come back, okay?" he more told than asked me before I could relay any threats.
I nodded reluctantly.
"And don't worry, you look good," he added lipgloss to my lips, "here's your purse," he handed it over, "and there's the door," he shoved me towards it. "Whatever is going on right now, Riddian won't even be able to tell... or take his eyes off you," he chuckled cheekily and basically forced me out my room in the forest green midi dress and black pumps I had managed to put together last minute, not realising that Riddian was just the center of my concerns.
I didn't argue because I didn't have time to, but instead forced a smile onto my face again and hurried down the stairs to see my dad stepping out of the living room to watch me in amusement. I playfully glared at him but almost fell flat on my face with the temporary distraction.
"No need to kill yourself over that boy Katherine," I heard him say just as I reached the door.
I groaned loudly, looking back at him as he laughed aloud and was soon joined by Jake who watched us from the upstairs bannister. I wanted to say something else but-
Honk!
"Please leave before he starts honking at ten seconds intervals," Jake added to the teasing and I couldn't wait until I returned to deal with both of them. I didn't have any choice but to admit defeat though, grumbling, "don't wait up" as I opened the door and slammed it behind me before more laughter could reach my ears. Once I was outside, however, a new embarrassment settled in as I hurried down my driveway towards the car with honks still going off. Poor Mr. Jones must have been beside himself... having to follow Riddian's orders.
I breathed a sigh of relief once I finally reached inside the vehicle and the honking stopped. I also turned to raise an eyebrow at the man sitting in the backseat next to me, but he had his face buried in a newspaper until I shut the door.
"You took your time," he commented before I could get a word out. I opened my mouth to respond but paused for Mr. Jones' sake. "You might want to fasten your seatbelt. We're running late," he said, tapping Mr. Jones' seat again, and I was back in the seat with a jolt of the car before I could even respond.
:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:
Ten minutes later and we had reached our destination. It was around six pm by then and the sun was already setting as Mr. Jones opened my door after doing so for Riddian.
I held my aching fingers, which had been bruised on the car door when we had driven off without me wearing my seatbelt.
"Pick us up around ten?" I heard Riddian confirming with Mr. Jones as I got out of the car and moved to his side at the end of the pathway which led to the country club we would be dining at for the evening. Nodding dutifully, Mr. Jones agreed and left in the car, leaving me to ask all the questions he never had to ask as a driver.
"What's happening here again?" I queried, truly being lost after only being informed of this dinner that morning. I even had to buy a dress in the middle of my lunchtime while shopping with Jake since Riddian claimed he had seen everything in my closet already and it wouldn't kill me to buy something else. Although many things had changed between us, it was good to know that his honest gene was still intact... plus me being busy and only having been informed today gave me an excuse for any slacking off I'd be doing that night.
Riddian didn't answer which forced me to turn towards him in question. I found him staring at my hand and before I could say anything, he was holding it and inspecting it with focused eyes and a small frown on his lips.
"I told you to put your seatbelt on," he scolded lowly, running his thumb over the slight redness that had come on. I took a deep breath and cleared my throat.
"Well I didn't exactly get much time to-" I stopped talking when he pressed lightly on a spot making me hiss slightly. He looked up at me and then back at my hand.
"I'm sorry," he apologised and let me go before walking away and towards the building again.
"It's fine..." I trailed off, walking after him, but I couldn't help staring at his back, his reaction on a loop in my mind.
I quickly shook my thoughts away, remembering that this was a business venture. Business venture and not time to be personal. Besides, everything I had thought to explain to Jake earlier had been right, even though confusing. We were on a pause right now. Things were still busy! And, anyway, a few more weeks as merely business associates would allow Riddian, as well as myself, more than enough time to complete thinking and come up with a response to my inquiry.
"Ms. Harrington."
I quickly sped up my steps. Soon, we were walking into the entrance hall of the building which was surprisingly empty of people.
The decor gave a woodsy getaway feeling with low, orange lighting filling the area from a few floor lamps and a hanging chandelier. This shed light on to a wooden staircase leading to an upper floor, log patterned walls and strong, wooden floors. A couch set was to the right of the staircase but a new corridor was to the left. Riddian led us down that corridor until we reached a new door that opened into what I had more expected for the party; people, music and soft chatter.
The building was obviously one of the older ones of the country club property with brick outsides and wooden insides, but it was the kind of building you knew belonged to the wealthy. This new hall was decorated with expensive paintings on the walls, huge chandeliers across the high ceiling, priceless antiques on side tables and several ten-seater tables. These tables were already set and waiting until it was time for the meal to be served. Riddian didn't waste another moment before he pulled me along and began engaging with the many people in the room.
About an hour later, we were finally seated at a table eating dinner and I was sat between a female advisor named Josiana, and another personal assistant named Lincoln. It appears we assistants were stuck together purposefully since literally only assistants were seated at my table while Riddian and other bosses were seated at another.
So far, everyone except two men and three women who sat opposite me at the ten-seater was nice and gave wonderful advice for making it as an assistant or even getting promotions. The best of them all was Josiana who everyone called Anna or Josie once they heard her name. She wasn't called an advisor for nothing because apparently, she was the one wealthy parents called when they needed a little extra help transforming their kids into successful CEOs. I was even shocked to know that she worked with Riddian for a year, two years before I started working for him. Apparently, he had a little trouble adjusting to the position...
I couldn't help laughing at her accuracy as she described him, calling him a bastard at first glance but a good person once you got to know him. It was quite nice talking about him to someone who knew him as well as I did. With Harper, she only knew what I told her or what she saw on the surface so it wasn't the same. I still appreciated her ever waiting ear whenever I needed to spill my guts and have someone give me good advice though.
It was a fun evening nevertheless because not only could I hear about all the horror stories of the assistants next to me, but I also didn't have to do any work since Riddian was at another table as I had mentioned. The separate tables didn't prevent the gazes I felt on me from time to time though, and quite a couple of times I myself couldn't help staring at a certain someone from my table. I'm sure Josie noticed me being preoccupied for a good portion of the time, but I couldn't stop myself. Riddian didn't look himself at all, all evening. While he did talk to his associates and kept up his cool face, I couldn't help noticing how he had a permanent mulling look on his face. His eyebrows were slightly drawn together, his eyes unsure, and he would run a finger across his lower lip from time to time. I had to fight the urge to find out if everything was alright immediately.
As the night progressed though, and we only had about an hour until we departed because Riddian told Mr. Jones ten, Josie looked over to see where Riddian was.
"You know, Riddian has changed a lot since I first met him," she commented, her hand clasping her glass of non-alcoholic drink.
"Why do you say that?"
She gave me a small smile.
"Well when I first met Riddian, he was a bit of a grumpier, uncoordinated mess when it came to the family business. Everything made him angry if he didn't get it immediately and everyone made him angry if they assumed too much about him. He would make rash decisions that would sooner or later land the company in pits and that's why his father called me in because someone had to help him run the company until he got the hang of it and not everyone had the patience to deal with him..."
Josie glanced over at me, a smile tilting her lips. "It got better over time. The more he understood the ropes, the calmer he became and the more I got to see his nicer side... which I'm sure you've already met," she nodded at me.
I tried to hide my small smile. "Well..."
She gave a short laugh before continuing. "I've kept up with him since I left his father's employ and he obviously knows what he's doing now. It's good to see that my prodigy is all grown up."
I smiled at her, slightly in awe since she wasn't that older than Riddian but has just been in the business longer, probably being trained to be the woman she was that day from the moment she left the womb.
"Well... You're amazing," I couldn't help concluding, causing her to laugh.
"Why thank you."
After that statement, she was pulled away into a conversation with some of the other assistants. Directly after that, Lincoln, who was seated on my other side, decided to strike up a conversation which ended in him telling me how beautiful I am and giving me his card.
Helvington Way
Lincoln Farris
Assistant
(xxx)-xxx-xxxxx
On the back was his personal number written in pen.
I smiled at him and put the card in my purse since I didn't want him feeling bad, but even though I had no intention of using it, for a moment I felt uncomfortable. I already had the card of the person I wanted to talk to... heck, I distributed these cards!
I sighed with relief as my phone ringing shook me from my guilty thoughts and feelings.
"Would you all please excuse me," I spoke up before leaving the table and going back out into the entrance hall which was still empty with everyone being in the dining room. By the time I got there, however, the call had ended, and I checked my phone to see 9 missed calls from Jake, 5 from dad, and then 6 from an unknown number.
What the...?
Author's note
So um... Hi... Guys 😁... Ahem! I'm not afraid of talking to you guys after not updating for months again or anything... just so you know! (*Hides behind the phone screen, trembling*)
Seriously though, here's what happened! Editing is the absolute worst! You have one idea and then you're wondering if the chapter flows because you haven't written in the longest while so you need to get the feeling of what was happening in the previous chapters! Then you have to make sure you're making sense and grammar and punctuation to fit your imagination!😳 Pluuuuuussss, I had school and examsss.... Sighhhh!
Anyways, in conclusion, my apologies for the long wait but... I hope you're enjoying the story?😁
I have some more shout outs to give since the last chapter and gosh I love you all! Your comments have been cracking me up and I will try to respond as soon as this chapter is out! Thanks for the messages on updates cause that motivates me to get to work, seeing people actually reading and appreciating.
Big shoutouts to:
Whether it's for voting, cracking me up, asking me to update or telling me how you're liking my book, you deserve the biggest shoutouts! Thanks so much!💀💀 And for anyone I forgot to mention, I apologize but you too deserve a big shout-out so:
@everyone! Thank you!
Now.... 😁 until the next,
May the good Lord bless you all,
💕S4_angel out.