Christmas day came and pass as well as new year with Michael spending it by staying at home or stalking Sasha. He had went with her to her parents home for Christmas, well, if he said he went with her, he meant by staying inside his car outside the house. He finds it difficult to approach her, not that he didn't want to but that he was afraid she might not want to see him and he don't think he can take seeing contempt in her eyes when she look at him.
The new year started as always for him only that, it was extra cold to him. Michael had kept on undergoing rehabilitation for his legs and he was indeed improving, he can stand for ten seconds now and his doctor praised him for his hard work and also said that it was a nice improvement and he might start working in less than two months. Michael invested all his time in walking again, if he is going to fight for his love then he mustn't have any disadvantage and him not walking is already a big disadvantage on his side.
He went to office every morning and that's because he don't want to spend the day at home wallowing in self blame. His hallucinations may have stopped but his mind has recorded everything and it always replay it for him. So he will rather stay in the office than at home. Michael took his time thinking of a way to get close to Sasha, he thought about going after her like he always have been doing but will she accept it this time?
He has a special way of wooing her, he always sends her ninety nine white roses every morning along with a love letter, hand written by him. Ladies love red roses but not Sasha, her favourite color is white and she loves it in everything, including roses. The day he found out about her preference to white was during their highschool days, he had sneakily put red roses in her locker for the first time, and had hidden at the side to see her expression.
Sasha had came to her locker that day with her friend, she had been shocked when she saw the flowers and the letter, a sweet smile had played on her lips as she read the beautiful poem and after, she had admired the roses and had also made the statement "I would have love these flowers more if they were white" Michael had picked it up that day and since then, he had never made the mistake of sending her red roses.
Michael smiled as he thought of that first day, hearing that she loved his roses made his day that day and he also discovered something special, her favourite color is white and since that day, white had become his own favorite color. Michael sighed as he wiped his face with his palm before opening his drawer and getting out a plain white sheet. He grabbed his pen, ready to write, it's been a long time he wrote a poem and that was because he was angry with his muse and had lost his inspiration. He wondered if he could get one now by thinking of her.
Michael closed his eyes and reminisced about the day he had secretly followed her to the beach, she had went with her parents and he had hidden behind a palm tree as he watched and took pictures of her, she looked so beautiful in her white bikini that he couldn't take enough pictures of her. As he thought about that day, he wrote.
'Sunshine on your face, making you look more beautiful than the stars. Heavens should be praised for creating a beautiful treasure like you for you light up the world with your beautiful glow. If you are called a princess it will be less befitting to you for you my dear is the goddess of light, the most angelic being that shines my heart at night. In the deep of the darkness, when I remember you, my whole being shudders for my light has been thought of. The most special gift for a goddess is getting the moon and sprinkling it with stars, you light up my world'.
Michael stared at his masterpiece and a faint smile played on his lips, will she love it? Well, that depends, he thought. He pressed on his intercom "come to my office" he ordered and rest his back on his chair.
A moment later, the door opened and Gary entered "you send for me sir?"
"Get me roses, ninety nine roses."
Gary smiled "and it must be white."
"It must be white" Michael agreed.
"Right away sir" Gary said and walked out of the office with a huge smile on his face, looks like his boss has finally decided to go after mistress, he only hopes that this time, things will go fine and they will be together. Heavens, Gary still can't believe how two people who are madly in love with each other can't be together simply because none of them could open their mouth and tell the other 'I love you'. Gary knows if one of them could say that, then everything is settled, he sighed as he await the day it will be.
Michael came back from a conference meeting, he saw a big bunch of white roses lying on his desk, an inaudible sigh escaped through his lips, it's been a long time he witnessed such sight, he wheeled himself to his desk and he caressed the petal of one white rose, as he touched it, he had a flashback to the day he had received his second heartbreak from her. She had just broken up with Sean, his people called him and told him.
Michael had been so happy because this means he had a chance of being with her. He had start sending his roses along with his letters, every week, he will mail seven letters from school to Fish, who he had left in Los Angeles to watch her and everyday Fish will place ninety nine white roses with one of his letters at her doorstep. He will wait till morning when she will pick the roses and take a picture of her to send to Michael.
Everyday seeing how beautiful she looked in each pictures while holding his flowers Michael couldn't wait to get home and reveal himself to her and get together with her. Finally he finished his exams and couldn't spend just one more day in school, he called to be picked up and it happens that his father had traveled with the family private jet and will be returning that day which means he can only be picked up the next day. He had refused and rushed to the airport and took an economy flight.
His parents were against that but he switched off his phone before he even get in the plane, he has only one thing in mind, to reveal himself to Sasha as her secret admirer and then get to kiss her for the first time. Thinking about kissing her, his heart flustered and he felt butterflies in his stomach. He finally endured his long hour flight and set foot on the soils of Los Angeles.
Gary had came with him and so called Fish to pick them up. Michael had told them to stop at a flower shop where he picked out freshly plucked ninety nine white roses before they continue on their journey to Sasha's home. They had parked a few meters to her house and Michael had climbed down alone to walk the rest. He had walked fast almost ran to her house, the joy evident in his face and as he ran he kept screaming 'Sasha, my Sasha' in his heart, he was twenty one then and very much in love with his first love.
Sasha just joined college and was nineteen, she had recently broken up with her first boyfriend and had start receiving ninety nine white roses every morning with a sweet note beside it, it got to a point that it became a habit for her, every morning she will wake up and the first thing she will do will be to check her doorstep and fair enough, it was always there. She kept having this feeling that it was the same person in high school who always leaves nine white roses in her locker with a handwritten note, she do want to know the person and had believed him to be her first boyfriend.
She only got to know it wasn't him when she asked him and he said he was not, now they have broken up and she started receiving roses again. Jeff was her classmate in high school and had always had a crush on her, now they met in the same school, who else will it be if not him? She thought as she stared at the young man standing in front of her door.
Michael ran to her house, his heart shouting in happiness, a few steps to her house, he saw her, standing there, kissing someone else. One look and he recognized the guy, he was Jeff, her classmate in highschool. Michael stood watching them, she was holding one of his notes as she kissed Jeff. His heart shattered in pieces, broken, he stared for what seemed like forever until they both went inside her house. He turned and walked away, each step he took felt like he was drifting father away from her but she doesn't want him, she has chosen someone else over him again.
Gary and Fish got down from the car when they saw him approaching, he looked so broken unlike the happy child that ran out of the car. Gary was shocked, he has never seen him so lost, although he was never conversing but he always have his air of nobility around him and his cold nature but now, he looked like a lost puppy who has nowhere to go, he quickly went to him "young boss..."
"Boss" Fish called.
Michael looked so dejected and he didn't look at them rather, he walked passed them and the car, his mind kept playing the scene of seeing her kissing Jeff, they looked so happy and so in love. He suddenly had the feeling that he don't belong with her, but his heart crumbled at that thought, he stared at the flowers he was carrying like a child and his heart broke more, he had personally picked each of them with all the love in his heart and now, he didn't even get to give them to her, he didn't get to see that smile on her face, he didn't get to see the shock in her eyes when she learns that he was her secret admirer.
Michael walked lonely in the quiet street, it was night time and he refused to go home, Gary and Fish kept following him silently and he stopped and turned to look at them "leave me alone."
"But young boss" Gary tried to protest and Michael glared at him.
"Leave me alone!" He shouted and ran away. Fish wanted to follow him but Gary stopped him with a shake of his head.
Michael continued running, it seemed as if with the breeze brushing on his face, it was also brushing against his heart and he was afraid should he stop, all his pains will return in thousand folds, and so he kept running, running, trying to clear his mind from the scene he just witnessed. Around midnight, a heavy downpour started, he stood in the middle of the street and let the rain wash down on him as if cleansing him from his heartbreak.
He found himself in a park, an abandoned park with litters laying every where, he walked to a bench and sat down, the rain still falling on him. The flowers have lost their beauty, they looked rough and crumpled, he watched as some petals fell off with a wave of his hand. He had his first heartbreak at eighteen and now he was receiving his second at twenty one and yet, he hasn't learnt his lesson, it still hurt like the first time.
A slender and graceful woman looked relieved when she saw him looking like a lost child, she sighed and walked closer to him with her umbrella, she sat beside him and covered him with her umbrella. Michael looked at the beautiful face of his mother, he tried to look strong in her presence but he just couldn't and so he hugged her and sobbed. Vanessa stroked his back and comforted him "there, there my dear, it's alright."
Michael sobbed in his mom arms until he felt a little relieved before they got up and strolled to Vanessa's white limo. Gary had called her and she had rushed out of the house to find him, they had followed his trail until she found him. When they got home, she had his nanny fix a hot bath for him and after the bath, Michael forced himself to sleep not that he did till after the next three hours.
The next day, he went back to school and he called back all his people, telling them to stop following her, that's he doesn't want to know or hear anything about her again. After one week, he started missing her but anytime he remembered how he saw her kissing Jeff while holding his note, he felt broken and decided to forget all about her.
But that one night, Fish called him and told him something was about to happen to her, at first he was angry that Fish was still following her until he heard that she was coming back from a friend's house and some boys were trailing after her. He immediately ordered Fish to take care of them and not let her know. That was how his people started following her again and that was because he was afraid that any day he will tell his men to withdraw, something will happen to her.
Coming back to present, Michael sighed as his slender and long fingers caressed the petal of the rose, perhaps Sasha might never know how he saved her that night, he thought. His office door opened and Gary walked in "here, have Fish place this for her" Michael said attaching the note to the flowers. Gary carried the flowers and walked out of the office while Michael stared after him with a touch of sorrow beneath his eyes, he looked away just as the tear dropped from his eyes.
Sasha was in her parents home and as usual, Angelica was asking her about her husband "mom, please."
"Don't tell me please young lady. What is going on? You came here on Christmas day as well as new year but without your husband. Even if Michael don't like having dinner with us that doesn't mean he won't wish us a Merry Christmas and a happy new year, don't you think so dear?" Angelica asked her husband.
Nicholas sighed "your mother is right Sasha, we are your parents, you can tell us if something is wrong. Are you and Michael in bad terms?"
Sasha heaved a deep sigh when she had that question and knew she can't keep hiding it from her family, it's been one month already "yes. Michael and I are separated."
"What!" Both parents shouted "why, when, what happened?" Angelica asked.
"Why, things are not okay for us. When, a month ago and what happened?" Sasha paused "I guess that and why have the same answer" she shrugged.
"I don't get you, what do you mean things are not okay for you?" Angelica asked.
"Mom, Michael and I..." Sasha shrugged "we are not compatible, I guess" she paused "ever since we have been married, we have never had any couple moment. If you ask me if there is anything I know about my husband, the answer is no because I know nothing, not his favourite color, not his favourite food not his hobby, absolutely nothing" she bit her lower lip and closed her eyes "that is not marriage. We are complete strangers to each other, he don't know me, I don't know him but we live in the same house. Not once have I shared a meal with him apart from the days we come here for dinner or we go over to his parents'. Never for once in our own home" she gazed at her parents.
"Michael don't want me and I'm tired of forcing myself to make this marriage work."
"So what are you thinking?" Nicolas asked.
"I'm considering divorce. I can't tie myself down in a loveless marriage."
"What? Do you know what you are saying? You can't divorce Michael now!" Nicholas shouted and Angelica and Sasha looked st him.
"What do you mean?" They both asked.
Nicholas let out a deep breath "the Jack and Jones contract is in June, you can't afford to miss it and absolutely no one else can give that to you."
"I don't get you dad. I just told you that my husband does not love me and you are worried about some contract?"
"I'm surprise too Nicholas" Angelica frowned "you should worry about your daughter's happiness first."
"My darlings" Nicholas called to them "you need to see my point. I'm not saying Sasha shouldn't divorce Michael, I mean he deserves that if he is hurting my daughter but not now. You guys are separated right? Which means you are no more living together. I'm saying you can hold on like this till after you get a hold on that contract and..."
"Dad, dad hold on, what guarantee do you have that Michael will give me the contract? Dad I have been living with him for a year but not once have he talked about giving me the contract and to hell with the contract dad, I'm talking about my marriage here, you are suppose to help me figure out how to save it if I can and not worrying about some stupid contract" Sasha interrupted.
"It's not a stupid contract" Nicholas argued.
"It is a stupid contract. I can't believe you Nicholas" Angelica frowned "our daughter just revealed to us that in her one year of marriage she had never been happy and here you are concerned about some contract. What about your daughter's happiness? What about her marriage? Tell me Nicholas, is that contract the reason you agreed Sasha to marry him?"
"I'm a businessman, every business man thinks about business and only goes where there is profit. Having a marriage relationship with the Brown's is the biggest profit ever in business. Do you know how many companies they have under their name? How many factories? And to talk about Michael, do you know how many buildings he has? Hotels, clubs, theaters and many more. Let me tell you, nobody knows Michael's net worth, nobody knows how many companies he owns, that boy is a billionaire and people believes he might be richer than his father, after all, he started earning money from fifteen years of age. My daughter being his wife, do you know what that means?"
"I can't believe you!" Sasha stood up from the sofa, glaring at her father "so I was just a business proposal to you? My marriage is just a link to wealth to you? All this while you have think of my happiness as business? Dad I'm also a businesswoman and I don't only think about business. I want a home, I want to be loved and I want my marriage to work not for some stupid contract and some stupid business profit!" She turned and stormed out of the house.
"Sasha, Sasha, sweetheart wait" Angelica ran after her.
Sasha got to her car, opened it, got in and zoomed off with Angelica watching the fading lights before storming into the house to berate her husband.
Sasha got home, she thought about strolling down to Craig's house and remembered he had left the country for his daughter's birthday "shit" she cursed, she had actually forgotten about the birthday. She ransacked her purse for her phone and directly called him, he picked at second ring "hey."
"Look who decided to call" Craig said.
"I'm so sorry, to be honest, I totally forgot. I have been in my parents home since today and I meant to call but then I got into a fight with my dad."
"My, what happened?"
"It's nothing serious, we will come around. We always do" she paused "so how is the birthday girl, hope she is enjoying herself?"
"I must admit, Mirabelle and Tom really spent here, no wonder she refused my offer to contribute, it's because her new husband thinks he is loaded."
Sasha could hear the sarcasm in his voice and couldn't help but chuckle softly "I'm sure the CEO of Mantis wouldn't worry if some guy spend on his ex wife and his daughter's birthday right?"
Craig laughed "of course not. He is not up to me to compete with, he is just a general manger in some company, he is not worth my time and energy but if we are to talk about your husband, now that's a guy who is worth me competing with money."
Sasha was silence for a while "do you really think you can compete with Michael in that?" She asked remembering what her father said about his wealth.
"Of course, he owns a company and I owns a company. He runs a club, I runs a club, what else?"
Sasha shook her head while laughing "I believe you are still far off."
"You think?"
Sasha nodded "mm hmm. Michael is rich, I mean filthy rich."
"Can you mention how many properties he owns?"
"To be honest, I don't know."
"My, he didn't tell you?"
"He didn't tell me his favourite color is it his properties that he will tell me?" She shook her head bitterly "to Michael I'm just a door mat to bear the name his wife and Mrs. Brown to outsiders, not to him."
Craig heaved a deep breath "don't worry, I'm going to save you from him."
"Right, you are going to be my night in shiny armor" she laughed "a very big happy birthday to your daughter for me Craig, next time when you are going to see her, I will give you her present."
"Sure and thank you."
"You are welcome."
"By the way, do you see the flowers I sent you? They are beautiful roses just like you."
"Wow, thank you. I haven't gone in, I'm still inside the car. Maybe it will be at my doorstep, anything else attached to it?"
"Just a simple note."
"Thank you Craig, it's been a long time I have received flowers" she smiled and just then her mind reminded her about the mysterious man who made it a habit to send her ninety nine white roses every morning, a sweet smile curved on her lips as she remembered those blissful moments, too bad she never got to know who he was, four times she had mistaken him but all failed and yet, she still didn't get to know him.
"You are welcome" she heard Craig said and smiled.
"See you when you are back."
"Sure, good night Sasha."
"Good night Craig" she smiled and then hung up, her memory had just reminded her about some sweet moments and to make it more romantic, the mysterious man always start sending the flowers immediately she has a breakup and somehow she found compassion in that and always look forward to seeing those flowers but too bad, after her last breakup last two years, she didn't receive any thing and then she had gotten married to Michael six months after.
Sasha stepped down from her car and walked to her porch, she froze when she saw a big bunch of white roses, just like the ones she remembered in her memories now, what is happening? She thought before bringing herself to walk closer to it, she squatted and caressed the petals which still have dews in them, she searched the flowers looking for something and fair enough, she found it. She couldn't explain the joy that flushed through her as she dropped her purse, phone and car key on the ground, she opened the note with two hands and gently, reading the heart warming message inside, she felt blissful.
She bent to pick up the bunch when she noticed a little bunch of red roses beside it, this must be the one sent by Craig, she concluded, of course she didn't believe that Craig was the one that sent her the white roses. She picked up the card stuffed in between two red roses and read it's simple message and as expected, it had Craig's name at the bottom of the message. She carried the white roses like a child and picked up the red roses, she needs to find a verse for both of them, she thought.
After finding a verse and adding water to the flowers, Sasha stood admiring the white roses, her slender fingers caressed the petals and she smiled so lovingly, what she wouldn't give to know the sender but he was always cautious, not for once had he mistakenly wrote his name in his note, even though she could tell it was handwritten, just why won't he add his name and why did he send her the flowers now? Could it be because he could see that she is having issues with her marriage and just want to put a smile on her face? It's possible, she thought and a sweet smile graced her lips as she counted the flowers and just as usual, it was ninety nine, he never misses.
Outside and not too far away from her house was parked a black Honda and at the backseat sat a man who looked so happy just watching her from the window caressed the flowers. Heavens, nothing can explain the joy he feels just seeing that lovely smile on her face, his trip today was worth it, at least he can sleep well today knowing that he made her smile once again.