"You may admire a girl's curves on the first introduction, but the second meeting shows up new angles." – Mae West
Leandro's POV
Present
I met her for the second time this morning. Who? Dominique Garcia – the crazy woman. She's wearing faded thrasher pants and a black hoodie with large skull printed on it plus a Chuck Taylor red shoes and a baseball cup, which gave her a look of a rock star. I'm not a fan of rock fashion but somehow I'm starting to like it at that time, why? I'm not really sure, maybe because she looked good on it. What the hell I was thinking?
I, on the other hand was wearing my uniform, men-in-black inspired with matching black shoes and Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses. With her wearing her rock star fashion and me wearing my business suit slash uniform attracted some audiences from the other tables, throwing us amused and confused look.
I'm not really sure if it's solely because of my almost celebrity status or due to our contrasting attire. I have a feeling that despite our positive-negative garb, we have this chemistry; maybe we look good together, just maybe. Ah, crazy me, what the hell is happening in my brain?
At that time, I'm very aware of glances others were paying to us and that made me a little bit uncomfortable but the lady just completely ignored them and focused only to me, which made me a lot more uncomfortable and I wondered why.
By the way, she arrived at our meeting place riding on her motorcycle just a second after I came out from the car. I was shocked or more probably amazed because not every day I can encounter a woman like her coming on a date riding on a motorcycle. Okay, probably not a date just a little fancy business but that was first time for me. She's not even wearing a helmet at that time and maybe that's the reason why she's having screw loose and offered me a bargain like that.
As for me, maybe my screws fell off completely for accepting her offer and even making rules and - only god knows why - signing a contract with her.
My wandering brain was taken back to the conference room where I'm in right now after I heard applauses beside me. When everybody looked at my direction and realized that I'm the only one not applauding, they abruptly put down their hands to the side, looked at one another confused, and brought their gazes towards the presenter with sympathy, who at that time was looking really pale. I crinkled my forehead trying to remember what exactly the presentation is about and when I cannot remember anything, I cleared my throat and looked at the presenter who, for what I can see, is probably going to have a heart attack any moment. 'Poor thing' I thought he got implicated with my weird thoughts.
This isn't really doing me any good. Why the hell did I agree to that crazy woman? Because you're attracted to her, my stupid brain lectured me and I get really pissed off.
"Shit!" I blurted out loud not only to my surprise but also to all the people in the conference room. I can hear them holding their breaths as if taking precautionary measure. Maybe they thought that if I heard them breathing it will cost them their jobs. I know I'm strict. I'm devil of a boss actually and that explains their reactions right now.
I suddenly stood up and gazed at the presenter who was paler than white and trembling with fear.
"Just give me the written report and I'll review it. Thanks for your time gentleman." With that, I exited the conference room before all of them ended up in the hospital bed. What's happening to me?
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"Ms. Soriano, cancel all my appointments today." I ordered my secretary. Maybe some rest will help me straighten my mind.
"I'm sorry sir?" She asked obviously not getting what I said earlier.
"I said cancel all my appointments today and please have your ears checked you always make me repeat myself, for God sake!" I shouted in irritation.
"Got that sir, right away sir, is that all sir?" She answered in her military tone, standing straight like a military man with her playful smirk – and if she add hand salute, the act will be completed. That's what I like about her. She always makes the situation lighter and she never holds grudges plus she's not flirting with me, which is understandable because she's engaged. Minus her ear problem, I think she's an almost perfect secretary.
"By the way sir, happy birthday." She said which stunned me. Oh yeah, it's my birthday today and I forgot it because my mind is preoccupied with that crazy beautiful woman I met again this morning. She handed me a little box, which I accepted hesitantly.
"Thank you Ms. Soriano." I uttered and I felt a little bit ashamed for shouting at her a while ago.
"You're welcome sir," and she exited the office with that last remark, but not marching like a military man.
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Dominique's POV
"This is ridiculous!" I helplessly muttered as I review the contract. It indicates that the contractor (Leandro V.) will bring the contractee (me) in all social events, business trips, charity works, and even in hell (yes, he really mentioned hell in the contract, is that valid?) provided that Mr. Raymond Lee is present in those mentioned events. The contractor (Lean) will help the contractee (me again) to talk to Raymond Lee whenever possible. In return the contractee (me of course) shall comply with the following rules:
And the first rule stated that the contractor (Master Lean) can call the contractee (poor me) anytime anywhere if he needs something to be done. The contractee (poor me again) will be the contractor's (the evil master) slave and will comply to every request of the contractor (The Master again) immediately provided that the request will not include sexual favors and will not cause harm/death to the contractee (very poor me). If the contractee (poorest me) failed to comply to this rule, it will lead to automatic cancellation of the contract and the contractee (cursed me) will pay necessary damages to the contractor (the monkey master) which is indicated in the second rule.
Damn that hangover and damn that beer and damn you Raymond! I crumpled the contract not reading the rest of the rules and threw it in the bin, but I'm no basketball player, it missed and it made me furious even more.
What the hell! Can I just hit my head on the wall million times so that I can get amnesia and forget all these stupid problems? Can I forget Raymond then? Is that really possible? Maybe I can ask Carl. No, no, no that's totally NO, my logical side told me. I don't want Raymond to be dead and I don't want Carl, Chev and especially Demon turned to be murderers for me when they knew the truth. My life, which is a joke right now, will most probably turn into a tragic one, so it's better to solve this problem by myself, after all it's my own problem, and the only solution, well it's the crumpled contract beside the bin, which I think is also a problem.
This is really great! In summary, the solution to my problem right now is another problem. Life is really a joke! With that thinking, I drifted into deep sleep, hell with Raymond, hell with the crumpled contract beside the bin, and hell with Leandro Valderama!
I woke up with the sound of my cell phone ringing beside my ear. I just wiped on the telephone screen to answer it and not even bothered to look whose calling. I jumped out from my sleeping position on the sofa when I realized who's calling – it's "Master Lean" and he's yelling, which only means one thing – he's angry.
"Where are you?" He asked yelling and I'm imagining he's tightly holding his cell phone at this moment and if his cell phone has life, it will be dead this instant – poor cell phone.
"I'm in hell, would you like to come?" I murmured over the phone making sure he doesn't hear, but I'm doomed because he has bionic ears.
"Oh, really? I'm also in hell at this moment, so you better come here this instant before the contract gets burned." He said sarcastically, which alarmed me.
"Ok fine, I'm coming." I said hopelessly.
"Wear a dress." He said with his neutral voice and ended the call before I even get to speak.
What a jerk! I checked my phone and I was surprised when I saw 10 messages and 5 missed calls from Master Lean (the monkey dude). The ten messages were the same containing the master's order:
I need your service right now, come this instant and wear a dress. Let's meet at 101 The Fort.
101 The Fort? Oh right, the ever fancy restaurant at Global, which only the upper class can afford, why? It's because their cheapest meal costs almost one month salary of an ordinary employee. What a waste of money!
The first text was sent almost two hours ago. That's maybe the reason why he's angry right now.
Oh, shit! I have no dress. Why would I need to wear a dress anyway? Okay, I have some dress from Chev but that's too revealing. I only used them as needed when the girl I need to shoo is too desperate that I have to show some skin.
I turned my closet upside down already but in the end I found no dress that can be as comfortable to wear as my jeans, okay not exactly as comfortable as my 'uniform' but close to that. So, I ended up with this red long dress, which is reaching my heel with one-inch strap almost conservative type at first look but the slit and the bareback ruined everything – it's not even close to conservative – for me it's very revealing, but better this than none at all, plus the monkey master is texting me nonstop so I'm running out of time I guess before his string gets burned completely together with the contract.
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Leandro's POV
Me: Shit! Where are you? Are you even coming? Please say so coz my patience is really running out here!
Crazy woman: OTW
Me: What?
Crazy woman: OTW...
Me: What? OTW?
Crazy woman: Hello, where planet do you came from, you don't know OTW? Are you kidding me?
What's OTW? I stopped replying thinking what does that mean and I don't want to ask her again either because you know, do I need to say it? Well, I don't want to look stupid especially when it comes to this crazy woman. Why her opinion of me mattered anyway? My other side of the brain is telling me.
I'm invited in this couple's party and I need some company. My female cousins are not available as of the moment and I don't want to call my 'women friends' to come with me because that's sounds trouble. I don't want somebody clinging at me like a leech for hours during the party, plus this is a boring party and I need some entertainment, so I thought this crazy woman is the safest choice. Now, I doubt if my decision is right because as you can see, I'm waiting for almost two hours, I'm thirty minutes late, and I'm not sure if my date is coming because she's texting me nonsense right now.
Crazy woman: OTW...On The Way...O for on, T for the, and W for way, got that? LOL! I guess even your grandmother knows that.
Really this woman is getting on my nerves. She thinks I'm that stupid explaining it word for word? She's really crazy. I don't know what happened but I'm dialing my grandmother's number right now just to ask her this stupid question, what's OTW? I guess she hurts my pride enough and I want to prove her wrong. After two rings, she answered the phone.
"Hello grandma, how are you?" I greeted with a smile.
"I'm fine baby, I know it's your birthday, happy happy birthday. I'm sorry we're not there to celebrate it with you."
"It's alright grandma, I perfectly understand, but still I'm waiting for my gift." I chuckled as I joked.
"Don't tell me that's the only reason why you called? Because if that's the case, you're hurting me right now Cliff." I'm sure my grandma is rolling her eyes now in disbelief and will roll her eyes even more when she hears the real reason why I called her.
"Not exactly grandma, I miss you and you know that."
"I miss you too baby. Don't worry we're coming home next month for good."
"What?" I exclaimed exaggeratedly and I know my voice was loud than normal, okay probably loud than normal is understatement as my grandma is lecturing me right now not to shout at her on the phone.
"Leandro Cliff Valderama, I know I'm getting old but I'm not deaf, so don't shout at me, wait for later when I turned 100 at least." I'm sure she's pissed off. I never heard her calling me in my complete name unless she's angry and I can tell she is right now.
"I'm sorry, grandma, I'm just surprised." I'm not really surprised, I'm shocked. Why on earth they decided to live here for good when they are very much settled in Canada? I smell something foul here and I feel trouble coming.
Speaking of trouble, here comes the crazy woman, carrying a helmet on the side with her usual rock star fashion plus backpack at this time, obviously she is not wearing a dress and I'm really pissed off. She doesn't know how to follow orders, is she dumb or something?
"Who told you we are going camping?" I said sarcastically controlling my temper.
"No one really, but I'm very much happy if that's the case." She fired back sarcastically smirking.
Silently, I counted one to twenty, not one to ten because that wouldn't be enough to control my raging temper at this moment and sighed deeply. "Do you intend to come with me wearing that?"
"Oh, come on, loosen up, I came prepared okay, just give me ten minutes, I'll change. My common sense told me not to wear a dress and display my almost nude body riding on my motorcycle in the C5 road, I hope your common sense got that." Said she and left me stunned for a moment. She has a point there but I'd rather not admit that to her benefit – and to my loss.
"Cliff, who's that?" If my grandma didn't speak on the other line at that moment, most probably, I have totally forgotten that I'm talking to her on the phone because this crazy beautiful woman is pissing me off real bad and now she's MIA. Gone to – I don't know where, she said she's going to change for ten minutes and I doubt that. I've dated numerous women before and if they say just give me ten minutes that means I must wait for at least an hour or two. Sometimes even if it turned out well and it's worth the wait, I can't afford to give complement, which almost all women die to receive from their dates. It's because I already expected it – I mean who doesn't, the longer the woman spends time to prepare the better the result, so don't fish for complement because that's already given.
"Cliff, I said who's that?"
"No one grandma, just a crazy passerby."
"Leandro Cliff, don't dare tell a lie to your grandma!" There is sternness in her voice and I know I can't ignore her and cutting the line is suicide because as stubborn as she is she will call me nonstop until she gets what she wants. So I better supply her with true answer with a little bit lie in it. Okay probably not, it's a lie with no truth in it even a tiny bit.
"Ok fine grandma, that's my fiancée." I sighed and hoped this will end the conversation and suddenly I realized I just said 'fiancée'. Did I say fiancée? Shit! It supposed to be girlfriend not fiancée.
"What, fiancée?" I instinctively withdrew the phone far from my ear as my eardrum almost broke with my grandma's voice on the other line. I swear it's much worse compared to the sound of the plane taking off.
"Did you just say fiancée?" She seconded that motion with a little exaggeration than the first but as worse as the sound of airplane landing.
''What fiancée are you talking about?'' I heard someone talking on the other line and I have this gut feeling that I know exactly the owner of that voice, but how? She's supposed to be in Africa right now.
''Your son here said that he's with his fiancée right now.'' I heard grandma answered a little bit hysterical this time.
''What?'' Mom shouted and I can't help myself not to chuckle. Shouting is my mom's specialty and it's a miracle that my eardrums are still intact up to this moment.
''Don't shout at me, I can hear you perfectly.'' My grandma counterattacked shouting. Okay maybe shouting runs in the genes after all. ''You're exactly like your son, you're both ridiculous.''
''And I'm exactly like my mom who's also ridiculous.'' I started laughing when I heard that. The verbal battle is on, who's going to be the winner and whose eardrums will surrender first?
But probably I will not be able to witness who will bring home the bacon because when my 'date' stepped out of the glass door, my brain just stopped functioning, my jaw dropped and my mouth hanged open. Everything else was forgotten. It is as if the earth just stopped revolving and the clock stopped ticking. Forgotten were the OTW, LOL and even the two most important women in my life only because of this goddess standing right in front of me with mischievous smile on her face, which brought butterfly in my stomach and made my heart skipped two beats. Too cheesy right? What is happening to me? Am I having a heart attack?
"Based on your reaction, I can safely say that I passed and I, being late, will be forgiven." She said teasingly with her almost wicked smile, which brought my brain back to function, made the earth revolve again, made the clock tick again, and made my heart rate steady. I can't believe there's a woman who is capable of making me feel this way- and to think she's a little bit crazy, 'yeah, crazy but so damn beautiful, that's why,' my brain taunted me and I can't argue further.
She's wearing a long red dress with a single strap and high slit reaching the midway of her leg. It looks conservative at first glance but when you see the slit and almost bareback, you will think otherwise. She's wearing a red lipstick as red as her dress and a very thin make-up closer to none and her hair was tied in a lousy fishtail braid giving her an innocent look. She's really stunning. She looks like a Greek goddess. Looking at her, all my irritations just washed away instantly and my lips just formed a very pleasant smile to my surprise.
I don't know how she did that for only ten minutes. What more if she has an hour or two? What will happen to me then? Most probably I will end up in the hospital bed as my heart will skip ten beats or worse I will never wake up at all. That's really ridiculous way to die.
Leandro Cliff Valderama
1985-2014
Cause of death: Dominique Garcia (due to her enchanting beauty)
"You look lovely tonight." I can't help myself to complement her. Before I knew it, I already blurted that out as we settled ourselves in the backseat. It was dimly lighted but I can see her cheeks turning red and I can't avoid pointing that out.
"I guess you're favorite color is red." I said mischievously while looking at her. When she looked up to me, I can see her questioning bright cat eyes.
"Your cheeks are turning red from my complement." I chuckled. She crinkled her forehead and her eyes shrank in irritation and her cheeks turned into a color of tomato.
"And your nose is also turning red." I added holding my laughter.
"I don't know your favorite color but I'm positive you will hate black from now on." She said sharply and I turned to her with questioning look.
"If you don't stop making fun of my face, I will gladly give you black eyes to shut you up!" She warned me gritting her teeth with her fist closed.
With that, I burst out laughing to my heart content. Maybe my decision is right after all, I will never get bored when this crazy lovely woman is around.