Nadia's return

Kevin's POV

"Nadia is back to Los Angeles. The news was confirmed this afternoon." Sebastian Harts informed me. With his drink in hand, he sat on the sofa nearest to me and gently dropped his wineglass on a stool. He folded his arms and crossed his legs, looking at me with intent.

I ignored him and focused on the people trooping in and out of the eatery in their luxury cars. I could get a good view of the eatery because we were in Sebastian's penthouse, built right beside the eatery.

Right in front of the eatery was a gigantic billboard decorated with glowing lights. The picture used for advertisement that day was that of a couple with their kids having a meal. They all looked happy and delighted as they ate their meal.

I smiled inwardly as I allowed my gaze to linger on the illustration on the billboard. I loved the beautiful memories it gave me. Torrents of nostalgia came rushing to my mind as I remembered my childhood days. My parents would take my siblings and I out on Sunday evenings for dinner. It was one of the family times that I always looked forward to when I was a kid. All that was in the past. Everyone is busy with either work or studies.

I shifted my gaze to another gigantic billboard and illustrated on it was the name Sebas Hart's eatery. Yeah, you guessed right. This place belongs to Sebastian. It was the most popular and patronized eatery in Los Angeles. It had a superb edifice with beautiful expensive interior and exterior designs.

I shifted my attention to the bottles of whiskey in front of me. I poured a shot for myself and down it went through my throat like a rush of toxic liquid vapor. I coughed a little from the burning sensation and mindlessly tapped my fingers on the sofa arm.

I could not stop my thoughts from wandering back to the little information that Sebastian just gave me. Deep down in my heart, I knew it wasn't a little piece of information. It was a big one and I didn't even know what to do with it.

Nadia is back? Thinking about her made me grit my teeth and a wave of anger surged through me. I felt an instant headache as I felt my blood boil. I clenched my fists and hissed. I opened another bottle of whiskey and poured myself another drink and slowly emptied the contents down my throat.

I took a deep breath and glanced at Sebastian. I had totally forgotten that he was in the room. He had seen my actions and he definitely knew that it was about Nadia. Now, he would have a good reason to make fun of me. There he sat, looking at me with those mischievous eyes boring into mine and a scoff on his face.

I smirked and let him laugh all he wanted. Sebastian has been my best friend right from age four and here we are, still best friends twenty four years later.

Sebastian is someone people refer to as a 'happy camper' because of his jocularity. He is someone that is capable of litting up a boring room with his charisma. 

Sebastian ran his hands through his wind-tossled, dark hair and spoke.

"I hope it's not Nadia that is making you drink this much." He said in a more serious tone and clasped his hands, looking at me with more intent.

I didn't reply. There was no point in replying. He already knew the fact. He knew me more than anyone.

He shook his head a bit and stood up. He walked towards me and sat on the sofa nearest to me. He placed a hand on mine. 

He spoke again.

"Come on guy" He gave my hand a gentle nudge. "Nadia is not worth it. She's not worth this pain. I thought you have gotten over her. You..."

"It's been a year Sebastian. You don't expect me to get over her that easily. I was addicted to her. She was my life. Her reappearance is like a bad dream, a nightmare." I said with pain as my voice almost broke. I tried hard to control my emotions. I wasn't going to let Nadia get to me. I wasn't going to let her reopen my wounds.

Sebastian said nothing and only tapped my hands again. I watched him as he drained the last drop of the drink in his cup with vigor.

He called on one of his workers in the penthouse and ordered him to clear the bottles of whiskey on my stool. The man did as he was instructed and left with a bow. I didn't protest when Sebastian cleared the bottles. Though I wanted to drink to stupor and drown myself in alcohol, Sebastian would have none of it.

"I can't handle your crazy display of attitude when you get drunk. I dread your drunken states. You are always uncontrollable and you know it." He bluntly told me.

I glared at him and raised my eyebrows in an I-don't-care manner.

I checked my wristwatch and it was already few minutes to 11pm. I picked up my phone and realized that I had missed five calls from my paternal grandmother.

"She must have been expecting me." I thought.

My thoughts began to wander to Nadia again. It had been a year since we last saw each other. I had blocked her on every of my social media account. I had blacklisted her phone number too so there was no way we could communicate.

Since Nadia was a very famous and talented actress, she appeared on almost every TV show and she got a lot of contracts to feature in movies.

No matter how much or how hard I tried to forget about her, I couldn't. I just couldn't. I seemed to see her face everywhere. I see her on billboards, posts of brands endorsing her on social media and her name seemed to always be a topic of discussion among her fans.

It took me a great deal of effort to be strong and focus on my family's company.

"I am sorry Kev. I did what I did to build a name for myself. I hope that when I come back to Los Angeles, your heart would have softened and we can still get back together."

Those were her last words to me before she left the city for London.

I felt a jab of pain in my heart as I remembered those words.

"Hey man, would you like to sleepover?" Sebastian's voice sounded from the door. He was no more in his snazzy white shirt and denim trousers. He had changed to his pyjamas.

"Nah" I said, standing up. I picked my car key and phones.

I touched him on his left shoulder. "I am sorry Sebastian. I have to get to Granny's place tonight. I promised to pay her a visit today. She must have been worried that I am yet to come."

Sebastian nodded in understanding and flopped himself on a sofa. He picked up a remote control and switched the television on.

"I understand man. You had better leave now or else, your phone will be filled with calls and messages." He said a laughed with mirth.

I showed him the missed calls. "Say no more " I said and we laughed again.

"Send my greetings to Granny. Tell her that I will pay a visit to her one of these days. I have been very busy with work."

"Sure, see ya buddy." I said with a grin and proceeded to walk out of the room.

"Make sure you drive safely. Do give me a call when you get to Granny's place." His voice sounded as I closed the door.

I struggled to stay sober as I drove past the quiet streets of Los Angeles that night. I was quite tipsy before I left Sebastian's place. 

I hadn't driven for long when my headlights spotted a lady standing by the road. 

I wondered why a lady was standing alone at that time of the night.

"Her loss" I muttered to myself and drove past her. Suddenly, I heard a loud thud on my car trunk.

Alarmed, I stopped the car and looked through the rearview mirror to check what was wrong.

There, I saw the lady standing daringly at the back of the car looking all angry. 

"What is she? A ghost?" I thought to myself.

I needed no one to tell me what happened. I immediately knew that she must have hurled a stone at the car.

"Shit!" I cursed and alighted from the car.

Upset and dazed, I rushed to check the car trunk and was instantly relieved to see no scratch on it. That was my favorite car, my baby.

In anger, I accosted the lady.

"Are you in your right mind Miss?" I demanded with a scowl as I clenched my fist in anger.

I scoffed as I watched her check me out. I wasn't surprised. I was used to being admired by ladies.

"Is she some sort of crazy fan?" I thought.

I saw her facial expression changed to a fierce one. She leaned on one of her legs and smirked.

"You started this dude." She accused. "First, it was your full headlights pointed to my face, almost blinding me. Second, you almost hit me and you didn't care to stop and apologize."

For a second, I was taken aback by her outburst. She sounded so blunt. I couldn't recollect hitting her or pointing my headlights at her. I wondered why she was being so aggressive.

I looked at her and scoffed. "I didn't hit you, did I?" I replied in annoyance. Was she playing some sort of mind games with me?

I heard no reply from her.

"Hey" I scowled and pointed to the car. "You scratched my car you wretched witch! Do you have any idea of the car's worth?" I said in a bid to show off my wealth.

I became more gobsmacked at her outburst. She sounded pained by my comment and I felt guilty for a bit.

"Look here Mr arrogant, who do you think you are?

 Why should I care about your car's worth? Is it better than my life?"

Trying to cover up my guilty expression, I laughed in a cold tone.

"Really?" I said and laughed again. "You really don't wanna know who I am. Now let me give you a warning. I will let this pass. Pray that our paths doesn't cross in the future." I warned.

"And what if they do?" I heard her say. "You are just a proud fool." She said with a malicious smile. Before I could realize what was happening, she picked another stone and threw it at my car again.

She struck out her tongue in jest of me and ran away. She disappeared into the darkness before I could react.

I couldn't believe what I just witnessed.

"Ugh! She is so crazy." I said and shook my head.

I sighed in relief when I didn't see a scratch on my car. I entered my car and drove off, completely pissed off.