Chapter 5: Black Card

"If a rich man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it."

-Socrates-

***

“Okay, I’d like to apologize in advance, I don’t remember what happened last night. We didn’t do anything terrible, right?”

She asked him as she slowly grabbed her glasses and put it on. He was silent for a few seconds before answering.

“I’m a bit disappointed that you don’t remember the wonderful night we shared together, milady.” He turned his face away a bit, wanting to show his disappointment.

“What do you mean by wonderful night, exactly?” She asked, feeling a bit skeptical about these whole situation, simply because she was still wearing the same clothes she wore out the previous day.

“Oh, you don’t remember? You savagely got on top of me and ravished my lips passionately. Then when I was about to leave, you grabbed my hand and locked me in the embrace of your arms.” He replied with a teasing smile.

These words turned into a core memory for her as she recalled the night’s event and her cheek turned as red as a tomato in an instant.

“My God, I’m so sorry, Stefan. I wasn’t doing it on purpose I swear. I don’t know what I was thinking, it must have been the alcohol.”

She didn’t know what to do and Stefan took a deep breath before speaking in a calm manner.

“Don’t worry about it, it is not a big deal.” He rose from the bed and slowly walked toward her.

“However, you have intrigued me even more now, Eva and I want to get to know you better. If it’s okay with you, can we meet again next Saturday?” He asked.

Hearing the invitation, Eva was a bit doubtful.

Not because she didn’t like spending time with him, but because she wasn’t sure she could trust herself to not do anything wild again.

“I will take your silence as a yes, I will see you again next Saturday. But for today, if you are available, I also want to invite you to go shopping with me. It’s almost my sister’s birthday, but I haven’t gotten her anything. You’re a woman, you may have better taste in gift giving than I do.” He told her.

Eva thought about it for a moment, she wondered if it was a good idea to go with this man again after what happened between them last night but then again, she might find something she needed at the mall.

“Okay, I don’t have much on my schedule today, but I want to take shower first and have breakfast, then we can go.” She said.

“Don’t worry about breakfast, we can just eat something at the mall. You can just take shower first, I will wait here it’s fine.” He told her.

“It’s settled.” She said before grabbing the clothes she would wear out with him and brought it to the bathroom.

Around fifteen minutes later, she stepped out of the bathroom wearing the new clothes.

It was just a simple electric blue blouse and black skirt, but the color complimented her skin so well she looked like she was glowing.

“Let me put on some quick makeup and do my hair, then we can go.” She told him before heading to her vanity table and started putting on some light makeup.

Stefan observed her as she was doing her makeup. She was actually quite talented at it. Of course, she had a great base to start with.

He noticed since the beginning that she had a beautiful face and had the potential to be a great beauty if she knew how to maximize her appearance and style.

She was always dressed rather plainly, it was only when she put extra effort to meet with Stefan did he get to see a slightly different side of her. One he liked better.

His brain started running. He was thinking about the various ways on how he could help her glow up because he didn’t want others to look down on her based on her appearance alone.

“Okay, I’m done, shall we go?”

The two of them headed to the mall and as soon as they arrived, the first thing they did was to have breakfast. It wasn’t anything extraordinary, but it was delicious.

As they were having breakfast together, she asked him a question.

“So, what does your sister like?” She asked.

“To be honest, I am not quite sure. Me and my sister are five years apart and we were raised in different household. My parents divorced when I was younger, she’s going with my mother while I went with my father. We’ve been keeping in contact as adults, but I still don’t know much about her to be honest” He explained.

Hearing that, Eva was silent. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to give her condolation or anything, but decided not to because it might make the situation even more gloomy.

“Then, does your sister like perfumes? I don’t know much about shoes or bags or any of those, but I know quite a lot about perfume.” She told him.

“Hm, I think she does enjoy them from time to time. Whenever I smell her, she always smell like white floral. Jasmine, tuberose, these kinds of scent.” He explained.

“Oh, that’s great, I think we can take a look at the perfume store later. Anyway, when exactly is her birthday?” She asked.

“Her official birthday is next Wednesday, but we’re going to celebrate it Sunday evening.” He told her before continuing.

“By the way, what about you? When is your birthday?” He asked.

“My birthday? It’s October 10.” She admitted.

“October 10? So your birthday is in two weeks?” He was a bit taken aback by it.

“Yes, it’s in two weeks, but I will probably celebrate it alone this year because my family and I are living at two different states.”

Hearing this, Stefan felt a bit of sympathy for this woman. In such a short time, she was going through so much.

“What about you? When’s your birthday?” She asked.

“Third of June.” He replied casually. There was still a long time until his birthday so he was not thinking too much about it.

Once they were done with breakfast, they headed to the perfume store and Eva started going around, sampling every single perfumes with white floral notes in them.

They were discussing it with the sales associate as well. By the end of it, they found a niche perfume which she thought would be perfect for his sister.

“Okay, now I’ve gotten a gift for my sister, but what about you? I heard you love perfume, is there anything you want to get in here?” He asked her.

“If you’re asking about the perfumes I want to get, there are many, but they’re all quite expensive for me at the moment.” She replied briefly. He thought about it for a moment before speaking.

“Then, in this store, what is the one perfume you really want?” He asked. She looked around and saw a perfume by Guerlain.

It was a part of their exclusive collection called L’art et La Matiere called Angelique Noire. She has sampled it before and wanted it so bad, but it was 380 USD and that was too much for her at the time.

Noticing that she was staring at the perfume, he grabbed it and handed it over to the sales associate.

“I will be getting this one as well.” When Eva heard this, she thought he was joking, but then he went to the cashier and made the payment for both perfumes.

“Stefan, what did you just do?” She asked in disbelief.

“You said you wanted it, so I got it for you.” He said it so casually.

“But it’s 380$?” Hearing this, he laughed.

“Don’t worry, Eva. When you’re with me, you never have to think about money.” He said as he took his black card back and placed it in his card holder. Seeing the card and recognizing it, Eva raised her brow.

“Just who exactly is this man?” She wondered.