Chapter 5: Anthony's visit

Lerisa was done having dinner with her parents. As none of her siblings were at home, she went to lock the house entrance door and finally returned to her bedroom to sleep.

She picked up her phone and saw that the time was after 10 p.m. As she unlocked the phone screen, Lerisa was surprised to see several missed calls from Anthony.

She wasted no time in calling Anthony back. She wanted to know why he had called her. Luckily, the phone rang and connected. "Hello, Anthony," she spoke first.

Anthony had just gotten on his bed to sleep when his phone rang. He picked it up and saw that Lerisa was the one calling him. He hastily answered her call, “Hey, Lerisa. I was calling you to know if you had gotten home safely and if you're alright now.”

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Thank you for calling me to check," Lerisa replied. She knew that Anthony cared for her like an older big brother. However, he was not her brother, as she had a senior brother named James Jonah.

Lerisa wished for a moment when Anthony would see her beyond their sibling-like bond as family friends. She loved him dearly.

“Okay. Goodnight. I will still visit you tomorrow morning to check up on you as I promised," Anthony said.

"Okay," Lerisa replied, not wanting to disagree with him again. She knew it wasn't his first time visiting her family house, as her mother liked him a lot, and her father too.

“Goodnight, Anthony, and sweet dreams," she concluded.

The phone call ended, but Lerisa kept staring at her phone screen in silence for a while. Guess what? She had saved Anthony's pictures on her phone and even used his picture as her screen wallpaper.

She smiled and drew her face closer to her phone screen and kissed his photo on his lips. She felt her innocent heart flutter and beat rapidly in her chest for him.

"If only Anthony could hear my heart beating for him," she said. Eventually, she kept her phone and plugged it in to charge. She then walked into her bathroom to relieve herself. Once she got out, she climbed onto her bed and drifted off to sleep.

****

The following Saturday morning, Anthony wore a white sports jersey, a white singlet top, white shorts, and white boots as he went out jogging that morning.

He was a billionaire, but that didn't deter him from exercising, as mostly the rich folks occupied the area they were living.

Anthony's family house wasn't far from Lerisa's home. As he jogged that morning, he looked breathtakingly handsome. Similarly, many young ladies jogging and going about their daily activities couldn't take their eyes off him. They admired him and lusted after him as he looked cute.

Anthony made his way to Lerisa's parents' home, which was a stone's throw away from his own. As he neared her house gate, he paused and knocked on it, waiting for someone to step out. He considered Lerisa as his younger sister and friend, so it was only right that he find out how she was faring now.

Once more, Anthony knocked on the black gate, realizing that he wasn't with his phone. He could have called Lerisa to inform her that he was at her gate, but there was no way for him to contact her.

He gazed at his silver wristwatch and saw it was past 8 a.m. The sun was slowly peeking out, and he looked around the quiet street before he knocked on the door again.

Lerisa, who was sweeping the frontage of her father's yard, went and pulled the gate open.

She gasped upon seeing Anthony looking breathtakingly handsome. His jersey clung to his muscular body, sweat dripping down his face, making him look very charming.

Lerisa blushed as she looked down at Anthony's masculine chest, his white singlet revealing his toned abs. She could only imagine what it would feel like to touch him naked. She quickly waved the crazy thoughts away from her restless mind.

“Good morning, Anthony," Lerisa greeted him shyly, and Anthony smiled as he loved to see her blushing face.

“Morning, Lerisa. How was your night?" Anthony inquired. He swiftly took the bottled water he was holding in his right hand up to his lips. He uncovered it and drank from it, with water trickling down the side of his lips.

Lerisa gulped as she watched Anthony drink from his bottled water. Her desire to taste his lips grew, but she quickly stared downward to hide her blushing face.

Finally, Anthony parted the bottled water away from his lips. He looked at Lerisa, his deep blue eyes meeting hers, and inquired, “How are you feeling now, Lerisa? I came here to see you."

However, just as Lerisa was about to respond, she heard her mother's voice, "Lerisa! Who's at the gate there with you?”

Lerisa hastily looked back into the compound and replied, “Anthony is here, Mom.”

"Okay," she heard her mother respond.

Anthony moved closer to the gate to meet her. "Move away from the gate first; let me say hello to your mother," he said.

"Okay," Lerisa replied. However, her body warmed up due to Anthony's close proximity to her. Her nipples hardened and pointed out through her thin fabric.

Anthony quickly caught a glimpse of her breasts, but his eyes quickly looked away as he got tempted to stare at her nipples.

Lerisa made way for Anthony to enter her father's yard. He moved over to the frontage to say hello to her mother.

Anthony saw Mrs. Antonia Jonah step out from the house, smiling at him as she greeted him, “Our CEO. Good morning, sir.”

“Good morning, ma. How are you doing this morning?” Anthony inquired.

“I'm fine, Anthony, and you? What a pleasant surprise to see you here! You hardly visit us after you took over the company as the new CEO. Did we do anything wrong to offend you?" Mrs. Antonia inquired.

“No, not at all, ma," Anthony responded, offering a friendly smile to Mrs. Antonia. She was relieved and smiled back at him.

"That's fine. You're always welcome to our house. Anytime you like, you can always come to visit us. I'm about to prepare our breakfast now. Do you mind joining us too?"

“No, ma. Thank you very much. But I only came here to find out how Lerisa is doing. She looked so sad yesterday,” Anthony said, his eyes moving to scrutinize Lerisa, where she stood.

She blushed, feeling a wave of embarrassment wash over her. She raised her hands to hide her blushing face as she walked up to meet them bashfully.

“Lerisa? Oh! You're right. She came home yesterday evening looking sad. I wondered what went wrong with her, but she said nothing. I hope you two are good and that there's no problem between you both at the office?" Mrs. Antonia inquired sadly.

“No, ma. I don't have any problem with Lerisa. I can see that she's fine now. I have to be on my way home, as I only came here to check on her,” Anthony said politely, wanting to leave the vast yard.

“Okay. Thank you for visiting us and for checking on my daughter. Your mother invited me to your birthday celebration tonight. I hope that you also invited my daughter too?" Mrs. Antonia inquired, her radiant smile evident on her face because she wanted Anthony as her son-in-law.

"Yes, ma. I did," Anthony said, smiling back.

“Okay then. We will see you later in the evening. I have to go inside now and finish preparing the meal I wanted to fry for breakfast, before you arrived. Goodbye, Anthony."

“Okay, ma. Goodbye too," he said.

Lerisa stood aside, listening to her mother's conversation with Anthony. Once her mother went back into the house, she left her standing out there with Anthony.