I spent the next hour or two following Erik around like an obedient little puppy as he mingled around and made small talk with several famous people with whom I was far below status to even be allowed anywhere near a sniffling distance of. Among them were actors, actresses, musicians and those business tycoons we only get to read about in magazines and watch on TV.
They talked and laughed about subjects that neither concerned nor interested me in anyway and so I tuned them out, opting to watching my fellow work force as they moved frantically about, taking care of a few finishing touches to their preparations as the show geared on around us.
It goes without saying that I didn't fit in with that kind of crowd, I was completely out of place which got me to wonder why Erik thought it was a great idea to bring me along in the first place. Well unless his intention was to humiliate me in front of his rich guests as a way of putting me in my place which i
I got away from Erik as soon as the show ended and headed straight to where I had parked my car earlier that afternoon. There, I found Hazel leaning against the said car with her foot tapping inpatiently against the pavement as she eagerly waited for me. She stood up straigher as soon as she saw me approach her and I only needed to look at those huge eyes of her's once to know that I was in for a major questioning."Well if it aren't the best news gatherer we have in the whole company, are you here to get all the information about what happened earlier like a true journalist?" I asked her with a mocking smile as soon as I reached her and went ahead to unlock my car door. She rolled her eyes at me and then turned around to give me an accusing look as if what I said wasn't actually the truth."I don't see why you keep scowling at me Hazel, you and I both know that you are only here to ask about Mr Graham and why he pulled me away from you like that."
The next few days following my so called 'date' with Erik turned out to be such a hassle. I found that I had suddenly turned into some kind of celebrity overnight among my peers at work whose only interest was to find out what my actual relationship with him really was. I didn't know either as it turned out but apparently, no one listened to any of my explanations and just went on to assume that I was probably his latest fling.I hated being associated with that word. I wasn't anyone's fling and I sure as hell didn't want to be Erik's fling if at all I ever decided to do flings at whichever point of my life. He wasn't my type of guy, he was way too rich for me and didn't really fit into my simple way of life, but as it turned out, I was still powerless to stop the wild gossip and complete jealousy that haunted my every move just from that one harmless evening.It was the most frustrating thing I had ever had to experience and it got even worse on th
Once we arrived at my apartment building, Erik dropped me off right at the entrance and then had that Mafia looking driver of his, drive him off so fast it was as if he needed to get away from my neighborhood just so he could save his life. It's not like I could ever blame him really because my neighborhood isn't exactly the most secure of places to live. Instead, its one of those rundown apartment complexes and I'm pretty sure half my neighbors either sold drugs or were at the very least involved in some kind of promiscuous activities. I hated living there too but it was still the best I could come up with considering how expensive it is to find decent accommodation in New York. And it wasn't that bad either, it's not like we ever encountered shootings or kidnappings on a daily basis. The worst one could ever have to go through in there would be to lose a TV or some cheap jewelry at the hands of some petty thieves who'd probably just swap it for a roll of mar
"Ashanti! I want to see you in my office now." Madeline's Vernon laced voice pierced through the air like a sharpened sword, bringing my fast moving feet to an abrupt halt just as I made it halfway to my desk.I stood frozen in place as thoughts of whether I should call Erik or not evaporated right out of my mind like morning dew, leaving only about twenty pairs of eyes from ten other colleagues of mine staring up at me with looks that either pitied me, or were bottom line scared for me.It was never a good thing to be summoned by Madeline Ford at whichever part of the day or for whatever reason. It was a horrible thing that every person who worked in our department thrived to avoid with everything they had. She was a bitter woman who for reasons only known to her, was always in bad mood.Being called to her office was never for anything like a pat on the back for a job well done or for a nice conversation about the future projects assigned to us, it
The next morning, Charlie and his team of both professional photographers and impeccably slender women, showed up at my door step at exactly 5 o'clock. They came to pick me up from home for that much anticipated adventurous trip and even though I wasn't the most important of people to come pick up from their home, they still somehow showed up without even making a big deal out of it.Apparently, Charlie was every bit the cool guy he was rumored out to be. He was the type of guy who cared more about having a good time with his colleagues than actually caring much about ranks and all that nonsense like it was for Madeline and for that, I was indeed, very grateful.Our first destination was the Adirondack mountains which was about 225 miles from Manhattan. Here, the models were going to get a few great photos to showcase our latest outdoor clothing line against the backdrop of prestine forests and lakes and since I had never really been anywhere that wonderful, I wa
The dim lighting of the lodge's back garden illuminated his blue eyes to their deepest color, making them twinkle like precious stones of sorts underneath the golden sunset sky.The trees and endless stretches of beautiful vegetation had started to glow from the sunset too but somehow, my eyes found themselves transfixed on the man standing in front of me rather than actually enjoying the view of the nature around me."Well hello there miss Martin." He greeted me in his usual charming, yet ridiculously obnoxious voice of his that always came off to sound like, he was the most important person to have ever existed.He probably thought that of himself too because as it turns out, he was also quite full of himself. I hadn't met many people whose arrogance annoyed me enough to the point where I had to fight urges to just punch them in the face like he did. Well except for Madeline of course but still, Erik got all the cocky points as far as I was concern
I spent the better part of my night thinking about Erik and all the things he'd said to me from the very first day we ran into each other in that dark parking lot to about a few hours ago when he told me, in the most nonchalant way possible, that he liked me because I reminded him of some girl he clearly still had a thing for.It was all very confusing how things had turned out to be like that between us and even more so since I still had to make up my mind and call him with an answer about the whole business with his lunch plans.I couldn't make up my mind on whether or not I should go no matter how much twisting and turning I ended up doing on that tiny bed I was unlucky enough to end up with for the night.There were two other beds in the cabin of course, but unfortunately for me, the said beds were already chosen by the two girls I was to share that room with even though they clearly had no plans whatsoever on actually sleeping on them.Th
Erik stood up to leave the breakfast table just when I was about to start on my second burger. He said something about having to make a few important phone calls and also make certain arrangements regarding our prior engagement that afternoon.I personally suspected that he was probably just trying to run away from me and my super embarrassing heap of fries which apparently still looked as full as when they had just served them despite me having eaten half way through the plate, or maybe even make a dash after that giggling waitress from earlier and give her some proposition about a certain lunch with a few high society people because his earlier intended date, didn't eat like a lady at all.But then again, maybe I was totally just imagining things like I usually do and the man simply just needed to take those calls for the sake of his business. And its not like I knew anything about running companies anyway to really argue if there's actual need for one to