Chapter 1: Forgettable Man

~Alana~

“Mommy, I could have gotten to school by myself.” The young boy with dark brown hair groaned in obvious dismay. As he held the straps of his backpack, he grumbled, “What’s the use of a school bus?”

“Ha. Ha.” Alana let out a sarcastic laugh and replied, “No, Kai. Not when girls are fighting over you. Nope! That’s not going to happen. Uncle Aiden will take care of you. Remember to be a nice kid. I love you. Bye!"

"Love you too, mom!" Kai replied, walking towards his uncle Aiden. 

It was laughable! Alana’s initial thought came through. 

Just the other day, two young girls, aged eight and nine, were fighting over who should sit next to her son. The bus driver pleaded with her to have Kai take a mode of private transport to school. Apparently, the scene in which girls fight over Kai was a daily upset to the poor old man.

Her son, Kai, was still seven years old, yet one could say he was a standout amongst the boys his age. He was taller, strikingly better built, and he had unfathomable amber-colored eyes, which, to Alana’s view, were almost golden. He had a pointed, long nose and the most adorable pinkish lips. 

While Alana was thankful to the gods for giving her such a knockout son, the constant sight of his captivating eyes made her speculate about his father. 

Sadly, Alana never knew Kai’s father. 

Her aunt Lucille used to tell her he was someone... forgettable. And how was it she had no idea about her son’s father? Well, Alana had met an accident right after meeting Kai’s father. She was in a hospital for days and woke up with no memory of that man, not even a single detail of what transpired the night she made Kai with the said stranger. 

The only thing she understood was, her boyfriend cheated on her with a friend and so she went out for a drink, met the forgettable man, had a one-night stand with him... Then… Kai happened. 

That man. The forgettable man. That was all she could refer to him. 

Maybe her aunt was right. The man was really forgettable for her own mind to act protectively and bury the memories of him completely. She meant to find out about Kai’s father, but only her aunt Lucille seemed to know about that man, or at least, maybe had an idea about his identity. Unfortunately, though, her aunt Lucille passed away during the first year of Kai’s birth.

Puff! Gone was the possibility of knowing her son’s father. 

That did not matter now, however. Alana grieved too much, following her aunt’s passing, that she no longer cared for her sperm donor. She only had Kai, and that was more than enough. Kai was the only... love of her life. 

At age twenty-six, Alana made a name for herself at The Emerald Bay Hotel in Bay City, the capital of Western Dhuran. It was six months ago when she was awarded the title of an Operations Supervisor. She took care of the hotel’s daily services and was notably tapped to handle the arrivals of their VIP guests. 

That day, they had the biggest name, spending a week at their revered hotel; Mister Alric Valmore, the CEO of Valmore Group of Companies, a multi-billion-dollar corporation in Eastern Dhuran, the country right next to theirs. 

Rumor had it; the Valmore Group of Companies were slowly expanding their businesses outside their country, and that was how the great Alric Valmore had come to visit the same five-star hotel where, Alana had serviced for over four years. 

***

Heartbeats later. 

Alana was exhausted, yet restless. Her heart was galloping as she wiped droplets of sweat on her forehead. She was holding a radio transceiver in her hand, checking with all her staff while walking in the halls of the hotel. She inspected with her team, “Guys, everything ready?” 

“Yes, Miss Alana!”

“The VIP gift?” She probed further. 

“Already in the room.”

She checked the time and ordered, “He is due to arrive in five minutes! Everyone, at the lobby, now!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Affirmative, Alana!”

While in her mini-skirt, her long and slender legs expeditiously made it from the location of the conference rooms to the hotel lobby. Her blue eyes efficiently scanned the property’s entrance and, after observing that everyone was standing in their designated place, she positioned herself right next to the hotel’s General Manager, Patrick.

Minutes later, five luxury vehicles in the shade of black turned up at the driveway, and from the glass windows of the hotel’s front, Alana could see how several men in black stepped out of the cars, their movements perfectly in sync. 

Alana observed how the men nodded their heads. A few formed a protective arch by the third car. Again, they all acted fluidly despite not speaking to each other.  

‘Amazing,’ she thought.

At the sight of them, Alana was mesmerized. She could tell her entire female staff was ogling at the parade of good-looking men. They were all well built, tall, and had impressive features. One of them, with light auburn hair, was especially eye-catching. 

‘Woah,’ she thought to herself. Any of them could be good boyfriend material. Not that she would ever have the time to date. 

‘Damn.’ All she could do was to curse in regret. ‘Maybe I need to get laid.’

Yep! She was barren down there, but what can Alana do? Her priorities were far different compared to other single ladies out there.

Just as she was lost in these thoughts, her manager beamed at her from the side and said, “Get ready, Mister Valmore is about to come out. This is big for us, you know.”

“Yes, Patrick, I know,” she acknowledged, her eyes struggling to tear away from the eye candies upfront. She puffed air out her cheeks and as she looked up, her eyes landed on a man who had just exited the car. 

Instantly, her jaws dropped. “What... the...”

It was as if time had stopped fully.

Alana’s thought process suddenly drifted into thin air. Her eyes peeled further and she could feel her mouth turning dry. All of this because she was gawking at the man approaching the lobby entrance. 

He was tall, definitely the tallest one of all. He cut an imposing figure. Even through his custom-made suit, Alana could still see the broadness of his shoulders and the thickness of his chest. 

His face was well defined - angular and with strong jawlines. He was slightly bearded, just enough to give that dangerous vibe. He had a pointed long nose and his cleft chin further added to his arresting details. 

Forthwith, she noticed how the man had long hair. It was tied into a bun, yet a few strands of his dark brown hair fell into his eyes. The sight of it made her fingers twitch, and a big part of her wanted to push it behind his ear. 

‘Shit! Forget the red-haired guy!’ This man was probably the sexiest man Alana had ever laid eyes on! For a second, she stopped breathing, thinking, ‘Long-haired men are… Mmm.’

‘His eyes.’ Alana somehow recognized. She sucked in a breath when she realized the same man, who clearly was, judging from the powerful air he brought with him, was none other than Mister Alric Valmore. This man... had amber eyes… just like her son. 

‘What were the odds of that?’ A voice implied through her head. A sense of familiarity flooded her. She could not point a finger at it, but her insides screamed at his presence. ‘Have... have I seen him before?’

While she was in a daze, trying to dig through her brain, she caught a pair of amber eyes that looked her way, and, for a second more, the same pair of orbs were glued to her blue ones. 

She felt her heart skip a beat. Silence strangely besieged her as she remained fixated on Mister Valmore. 

‘Is he... looking at me?’ She wondered in her thoughts, but just as she swallowed air down her throat, the said man casually peered in another direction. His face remained expressionless, completely unimpressed by her. 

“Did you see that? He looked at me!” Alana glanced behind her and found the hotel owner, rather, the daughter, Bianca, excitedly announced. Bianca was an actress in Western Dhuran, a beautiful blonde with gorgeous green eyes. 

Alana lowered her head with the realization that Mister Valmore was looking at Bianca, and not her. Her heart sank, and she greeted, but faintly compared to everyone else, “Good afternoon, Mister Valmore.”

There was no answer from the influential man, and with the thought of that, she felt her heart crushed altogether. ‘Why am I so affected?’