CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE.

His eyes flicked open and he sat up, panting heavily. Even though the air conditioner was working just fine and the room was freezing, his face and body were still covered with sweat, his eyes blood red. He steadied his breathing before standing up from the bed. He stood up and turned the lights on, he looked at the clock beside his bed and it was 3:00 AM. He sighed deeply and went over to the window and when he opened the curtains, it was still dark outside. He closed the curtains and walked over to the little table at the corner of the room, a bottle of whisky sat on it. He took the bottle and poured a little of the content in a glass cup that sat beside the bottle, he took the glass of whisky and gulped every drop of it down his throat. He felt the hotness of the alcohol seeping down his throat and he groaned.

He just had a nightmare. The nightmares were becoming frequent and he did not like it. His mother had told him to see a psychologist but he did not believe in things like that, he did not want to tell a total stranger of the things he was passing through. Though the sweat on his body had dried up, he could still feel his skin sticky. He walked over to the bathroom door and opened it, he went inside and took off his pyjamas. He walked into shower nude and turned it on, the water came rushing on his skin and he closed his eyes, savouring in the coldness of the water and the soothing sensation it was leaving on his skin. He took the soap and sponge and started scrubbing.

When he finally finished bathing, he dried his body with a towel and went back to the room. He went over to the clock again, the time was 3:45 AM. He sighed again, he would not have the time to sleep anymore. He walked over to the closet door and opened it, he went inside and applied his lotions and combed his silky black hair and beards, he made use of his deodorants and took the suit he had kept to wear. A white shirt, black suit trouser, black jacket, black pair of shoes and black necktie. He wore the suit and took his gold wrist watch and wrapped it around his left wrist. He walked out of the closet again and looked at his wrist watch, the time was 4:30 AM. He should be at the office by five and he hurriedly grabbed his car keys from the table at the corner of the room and went down.

The servants were up and busy already, like always. He walked up to a girl cleaning the large spacious living room and asked if his parents were awake. They were not. He hurriedly walked out of the house to the garage, he had the ever busy traffic to beat. He went into the garage and went into his black Royce Roy, he started the engine and the car roared. He drove out of the garage and drove through the large compound, the gate opened up and he drove out, speeding.

The traffic was heavy, like always. But he was a fast driver. He got to the company building and parked his car at the parking lot. He stepped out of the car and when he took a look at his wrist watch, the time was 6:04 AM. He hurriedly walked into the building. The workers were there already, sitting by their desks and typing away on their computers. His secretary saw him immediately he walked in and the girl walked towards him.

"Good morning sir." She greeted.

He did not say a word and he walked past her. She followed behind.

"What is my schedule for the day?" He asked the girl.

"There is no schedule sir, I am surprised you are at work." The girl replied.

He stopped in his tracks. He was getting infuriated already, what did she mean by there was no schedule for the day. He turned around to the girl.

"What do you mean there is no schedule? Am I to work blindly?" He asked the girl, his voice was raised.

"Your father cancelled all your schedules sir. He said you will be spending all your time today with Miss Lauren." The girl explained.

He groaned angrily. He continued walking again and his secretary followed behind. He got to the elevator and when it opened up, he went inside with his secretary, she pressed the button and the elevator started moving up.

"Put back my schedules Maria." He ordered the girl.

Maria. Maria was her name but he often times forgot the name. He was not supposed to forget her name, the girl had been working for him for five years and he was not supposed to forget her name. But he was a busy man, his mind was only on working and making the numbers in his bank account rise, not on remembering people's names. They meant nothing to him. The girl did not respond to his orders and went to her tablet right away, the elevator kept moving and they stood in it, silently.

They walked out of the elevator immediately it stopped. He leading and Maria following him, half walking and half running, just to keep up with his pace. They were at the eleventh floor and he walked to his office. He opened the door and walked in. His office, a spacious large room with an equally large table and chair in the middle of it. Papers and pen holders occupied the table, at the right corner of the office stood a white board which had writings on it, strategy plannings. The left corner had a water dispenser. A long red couch stood on one side. He walked into the office and walked to the chair and sat down. Maria stood in front of him. He reached down and opened the small security space attached to his table and brought out his laptop. He placed it on the table and opened it.

"Now, what is my schedule Maria?" He asked the girl.

He looked up at her and she looked down to her tablet.

"You have a meeting at two and you have the launching of Mr Felix's company branch to attend, to advertise our company too since we are the ones that supplied their building materials and did their interior decorations." The girl explained.

"What time is the launch?" He asked.

" It starts by eight in the evening." She replied.

"Good." He said and went back to his laptop.

"Anything else sir?" The girl asked.

"Coffee." He simply replied.

She walked out of the office and came back some minutes later with a mug of hot coffee. He sat back on his chair, his eyes and hands on his laptop.

His father barged into his office some hours later. His father, an average sized man with an average height. His dark hair that had strands of grey, a sign of aging. Wrinkles filled his once young and spotless face. He came into the office and went to sit on the couch at the corner of the office. He sat down and sighed deeply.

"Ron." He called out to his son.

Ron looked up from his laptop.

"Yes dad." He answered.

"I cancelled your schedules." His father stated.

"I know. I do not want to be free." He replied.

"You are not free. You are going to be with Lauren Miller. To try and show the Millers that you really want to marry this girl." His father explained.

"I do not want to marry her in the first place dad." Ron replied.

His voice raised a little. He was getting infuriated with the fact that his father was trying to push him to the girl, Lauren. He personally hated her, he thought her a rich spoilt brat. He went back to typing away on his laptop. His father did not say anything else, he just sat there looking at his son. The man stood up after a long while and came to stand infront of his son.

"You will marry that girl and bring all that family's wealth and affluence to this family and that is final." His father said.

The man walked to the door after saying that and opened it and left. Ron ran his hand on his forehead, gently massaging it. He sighed deeply and returned back to his laptop.

That day, he went to the meeting in the schedule. It was a board meeting, they had to raise ideas on how to push the company forward and have people invest in the building company. Ron contributed immensely to the meeting, his ideas were top notch and excellent and the members adopted them. They could only give the man the accolades that he deserved. A hardworking and smart businessman.