Chapter 4

Chloe’s POV

“Me?” I asked, just like I’d done the other day at the mall. A quizzical line formed between my brows as I stared back at him.

He seemed perplexed by my appearance, and it was starting to be offensive. Soon enough, his gaze unfocused, and I understood he wasn’t staring at me anymore but lost in his thoughts.

I cleared my throat and his eyes met mine again.

“The hospital, remember?” He added as he etched closer to me by the counter. A bit scared of why I’d bumped into a stranger twice. And why he kept on staring like indeed knew me from somewhere.

“Hospital?” I said. A lot of swirling in my head as I stared at him.

“I wasn’t expecting you’d be…” He stopped as if searching for the right words.

“Here?” I cut in.

“Young,” He corrected.

A twinge of anger rose in me. What the hell! I narrowed my eyes, displeased by the knowledge that he’d gotten a closer look at me and had probably assumed I was young.

“Can I take your order, sir,” I said with my best diplomatic voice.

One of his eyebrows moved up, as he leaned by the counter, giving him a very sudden arrogant expression. He stayed put by the counter for what seemed like decades and then in a couple of minutes parted his lips to speak.

“I'm sorry about what happened the other day at the mall,” He continued. Running a hand through his hair as he spoke.

“Kids will always be kids,” The gentleman added.

But then he was cut off by a loud customer, right next to him. And with that, I shifted my gaze away from him, wondering why the hell he was taking so long in saying anything.

But then again, the minute he'd mentioned the kid, something churned inside me.

“A cup of coffee please,” The customer from earlier yelled, his elbow pressed against the counter as he tapped annoyingly on the glass in front of him.

Some customers can be so annoying…

“Coming right up!” I said, turning my back against them to have his order served. Hoping the hot gentleman right next to him would somehow realize he’d been standing by the counter for more than a couple of minutes now.

“Is there by any chance a way he can get to see you often?” The gentleman from the mall asked. His voice cut through the thoughts in my head as I grabbed a cup holding it over the coffee machine.

‘Wait what?’

‘Is he trying to woo me over with his kid?’

Memories from when the little boy he was with the other day had me mistaken for his mum resurfaced in my mind.

I took my gaze off him almost instantly, realizing I had zoned out in front of him.

“Well,” I finally got the time to say.

“I’d prefer to work without you hovering,” I responded, rather coldly than usual. Hating the fact that he slowly became an ass and was somewhat not different from my online stalkers. Judging from the attitude, I mean.

“We’ll see about that,” He said, tapping on the top of the counter as he held out a card.

“Come by the office tomorrow, and we could talk better,” The gentleman added.

“Tough luck,” He said.

I was about to send him an acerbic remark when he had his glasses on and my brain suddenly forgot how to compute. Oh…fuck me…with those glasses on, he had suddenly gone from Kal-El to Carl Klent really fast. And I couldn’t decide which version I preferred.

Quite certainly, my body couldn’t care less about the fact that he was an ass. I reached for the card, my mind reading through the scribbled words on the card.

A business card, huh?

“Hold up!”

“Hold up!” An unfamiliar female voice called out, followed by slow murmurs from the other customers around.

“I actually can’t believe my eyes,” She continued annoyingly, and I was forced to look up.

“It’s Mr. Salvatore, the great Salvatore,” The lady yelled.

“CEO of the popular multi-billion dollar empire, the biggest construction company across the globe,” She added.

My eyebrows shot up, hearing her say that. He stared at me for a few more seconds and then turned to face the screaming lady behind him.

He frowned, processing her words, and then something lit up in his eyes as he finally backed away from her. His piercing gaze met mine and when he looked in my direction. Oh boy…

“You’ve got the wrong guy,” He responded as he tore his gaze away, glaring at her.

“It’s you!” The lady yelled.

Almost instantly, he hurried out the door without even a single glance my way. What just happened?

“I know that man!” The lady continued, but this time in less tiny whispers, as she walked away. I had my eyes glued to the words on the card, wondering why on earth he’d given me that.

‘Empire’ I thought to myself as I went on and on with the day’s work at the café. Trying so hard to focus. But for some annoying reason, my mind kept drifting to the gentleman.

******************************************

‘Monica sure made me do this!” I scowled under a harsh breath as I hopped out of the taxi. Holding on tight to my purse, staring at the gigantic building in front of me. Contemplating whether to go in.

‘What are you doing walking up to some stranger, huh? All for a kid?’ I thought to myself.

I took another step forward as I walked into the building. My eyes roamed the whole place searching for whatnot. But just as I walked in, I met eyes with a red-haired lady crouched over her computer, a smile creased on her face the minute our eyes met.

“Do you have an appointment here?” She asked, her fingers tapping endlessly on the keys of the computer.

‘Seriously?appointment?’ I thought to myself, realizing I was this close to getting thrown out of the building. Over me, just walking into the building without even a name or something.

Way to go Chloe.…