Knight in Shining Armour

Liza woke up in a heavily curtained room with sun rays peeking through the deep forest green curtains. Her head pounded and her heart raced as she took in the unfamiliar surroundings. This was definitely not her room, she vaguely remembered drinking too much and prayed that she hadn't done something stupid enough to get herself fired from her coveted position. She couldn't believe that she had let herself get carried away at her boss's daughter's wedding.

She had always been proud of her ability to control her feelings but one chance encounter with Jonathan and all the control over her emotions flew out of the window. Frustrated with the suspense over the drama she may have caused last night, Liza decided to walk out of the room. She got up from the bed and hissed as her feet touched the cold marble floor. She silently opened the door and walked out of the room. Liza could hear someone in the living room and she made her way towards the noise in hopes of finding out where she was. Liza hoped that it was not some strange person or worse someone from her office.

As she entered the somewhat warm drawing-room her attention was immediately drawn to the dark-haired man sitting on the chair. That shade of hair seemed familiar to her. It was nearly the same shade as Jonathan, Liza gasped at the thought and prayed that it wasn't Jonathan, anyone but Jonathan. Hearing her gasp the man turned around and Liza let out a breath of relief. "Hey, you are up?" he said more like a question. Liza couldn't help but feel disappointed as she realized that it was not Jonathan but Steve.

"Wow, you look pretty disappointed to see me. I have never seen that look on a woman's face upon seeing me, most of them just go stare starry-eyed at me." Steve said. Liza instantly felt annoyed at his arrogance. "Now you have seen one," she said. "I know he simply replied with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Did-did you bring me here?" she asked hesitantly. "I wish it had been me then I could claim to be your knight in shining armor and demand a kiss from you in return but sadly no it wasn't me, some guy called Jonathan found you. He said that the waiter mixed up your drink and gave you alcohol by mistake instead of giving you juice. Since Krista and George had to leave for their honeymoon they decided to let you sleep at my house."

Usually, Liza would have squirmed uncomfortably at his remark of being her knight in shining armor and demanding a kiss but right now Liza had more pressing matters to think about like how Jonathan had found her. Liza was surprised that Jonathan had found her and yet hadn't taken her back to his condo but had taken her to Krista instead. Had it been the old Jonathan he would have taken her back to his condo without even thinking for a second, maybe he had a girlfriend now or he had more important matters to attend to than looking after her. Who was she kidding? Of course, she wouldn't matter that much to him now, and hadn't she herself written in her last letter that she was leaving him forever and setting him free from her then why did she feel the twinge of disappointment in her stomach? It must be the hangover she concluded. It must be the hangover clouding her emotions bringing out emotions that weren't even there in the first place. "Can you get me an Advil, please? My head is killing me," she asked. "Yeah, of course just wait here" Steve replied.

Liza sat down on the black couch. Rubbing her temples with her fingers. Her head had started pounding viciously. "Here you go," Steve said as he handed a glass of water and Advil. Liza swallowed the tablet and rested her head back. "You can take a shower in my bathroom. Krista left some clothes for you" Steve said as he watched her take deep breaths. "No, it's fine. I will just go home. "Liza said. "I will drive you then," Steve said and went to retrieve his car keys before she could protest. Liza felt embarrassed at her lack of professionalism. Even though Steve was a friend of George and Krista he was still a client of the company and she felt ashamed that he had to see her in this condition. "Come on let's go," he said.

Liza followed Steve out of his house and into his car. She didn't know the name of the car but she could guess that a car like this would have costed a fortune. Both of them sat silently in the car before Steve broke the silence by speaking "So...will you tell me your address or do you like my car so much that you are going to spend the entire day glaring at its dashboard ?" "Oh, sorry. I am so sorry for wasting your time." Liza said as blood rushed to her cheeks. Steve chuckled "It's alright. It's not like I have something important to do. Come on now tell me your address." Liza gave him directions to her house and before they knew Steve had parked his car right outside Liza's building. Liza got out of the car and bent down to look at Steve through the window "Thank you so much for dropping me and letting me stay at your house and I am sorry for causing trouble" she said. "It's fine. I am glad I could help. I will see you later. Bye." Steve said as he turned his car around and drove off.

Jonathan woke up in his luxurious bed in the high-end condo. Yesterday had been interesting for him. He had met Liza at the place he had least expected to meet her and later he had found her in a state he had never expected to find her. Liza hated drinking because of her low tolerance but he knew that something pretty upsetting must have happened if she drank so much wine. He remembered how close to falling Liza had come when he had found her. He was expecting to find her and talk to her, maybe try to have a civil and polite conversation with her but instead, he had found her nearly unconscious and about to bang her head on the makeshift wooden floor. His first thought had been to bring her back to his condo but then he thought about angry Liza would be if she found herself waking up in his condo so he took her to Krista instead.

Now that he thought about it he could have just asked Krista about her address and taken Liza back to her house but he did not want to put Liza in the spotlight. He knew how Liza was and knew that she would hate it if anybody saw her in a drunken state. He was thinking about calling Krista and asking her about Liza when his phone rang. "Hello," he said "Mr. West, this is Leslie Santiago. I hope you are ready to sign the deal we had discussed earlier this morning." The woman on the other side of the phone spoke. "Definitely, as long as you agree to the conditions that I have mentioned." He said grinning. "We have decided to agree to your conditions. I am looking forward to signing this deal with you." Leslie spoke. "I am looking forward towards this deal to Mrs. Santiago. Believe me when I say that I am more eager than anybody else to sign this deal." Jonathan said as he ended the call. Jonathan grinned like a Cheshire cat. The plan to win Liza back was set in motion and he would not let anybody stop him from wooing his ex-wife.