Chapter 3

  After a stressful day at work, Gabriel decided to go home. He tidied his desk before leaving his office. At the entrance of the company building, Gabriel’s chauffeur was waiting for him in his black Rolls Royce.

“Good evening sir.” his chauffeur greeted, opening the door for his boss.

Gabriel nodded in reply as he entered the car. He loosened his tie a bit then his phone began ringing, he looked at the caller ID and it was his mom. He wasn’t ready for her pep talk right now so he ignored her call. Meanwhile, his chauffeur was waiting for his order as to where he was heading to.

His mom kept calling but he didn’t want to pick her call because he knew why she was calling. The more his phone rang the more he got a headache, so he decided to pick the call.

“Hello mom. I’m really busy at the moment, I'll talk to you later. Bye.” he said, not giving his mom the chance to say a word.

“Darren. Take me to the usual.”

“Yes sir.”

With that his chauffeur started the car.

#

  Gabriel sat at the VIP lounge sipping from his drink like he does every night to pass the evening before going back to his empty mansion. He scoffed at the thought of 'empty mansion'. If Ashley hadn’t broken up with him, his mansion wouldn’t be empty. Just the mere thought of her drained him. Although, he loved her so much, he didn’t want to dwell on her because she was his past, but his every thoughts kept going back to her and the past they shared, he needs to get her out of his head because he was slowly going crazy.

Gabriel’s attention was suddenly brought back to reality by the sound of laughter he heard coming from the bar stand. He turned towards the direction of the laughter and saw a group of guys laughing but what caught his attention was the lady in their midst, she had Raven black hair as smooth as silk and a beautiful smile. He tried to ignore them but couldn’t help but stare at the lady, she was very beautiful with a toned skin which he could identity even from a distance. He couldn’t help but wonder what such a beauty was doing in such a place, such beauty should not be serving drinks rather she ought to be appreciated and treated like a queen. In that instant he got an idea.

#

“Nicole. Don’t tell me it took just a tip to get you looking this good… No wonder you decided not to wear your uniform today.”

Rick, Nicole’s colleague teased her obvious fashion makeover, which made everyone around them laugh. Nicole herself couldn’t believe the changes a simple makeover had done to her and it was all thanks to that generous customer. She still wished she could have more customers as generous as he was or even better once in a while, so she could have such make overs often.

“It’s not that obvious Rick… besides, what better way to spend a tip than on myself.” she told him while trying to get back to her duties.

                         HOURS LATER

“Bye Nicole. See you tomorrow.”

“Oh no Rick, you'll be seeing Vanessa tomorrow. I only did her a favor today.” Nicole replied with a smile.

“Okay then, have a goodnight rest.”

“Thanks Rick. I hope you do the same.”

And with that reply Nicole stepped out of the pub. It was already midnight and her shift just ended, so she was heading home to get a goodnight sleep like Rick had advised.

Nicole arrived home and went to have a quick shower, afterwards, she decided to get herself full with the leftover pizza she had ordered earlier when suddenly there was a knock on her door. She wasn’t expecting anyone so she waited a minute more to be certain if the knock was coming from her door.

‘Knock, knock, knock'

After that knock, she was indeed certain that it came from her door. Wondering who it was at this hour, she made her way towards the door, concluding that it was Rick. She wondered what he needed or maybe she had forgotten something of hers back at the pub that he wanted to return.

“This had better be good Rick, else I'll kill you for interrupting my dinner.” she said while opening the door, only for her eyes to be met by an unfamiliar face.

The sight before her was worth drooling over. His brown eyes were captivating, not only those brown eyes but also his well defined jawline and perfectly pointed nose. He was breathtaking, she couldn’t deny that, but, what is a wealthy looking guy doing here, in front of her door, she wondered.

                       HOURS EARLIER

  She had the perfect features of the kind of woman he needed for the job, so if his plan works, which he hopes will, he would get his mother off his case, all he had to do was get to the lady in person.

    He waited patiently until she was done with her shift. After saying her goodbyes, he stood up and followed her but he kept a good distance so he doesn’t get caught. She got into a taxi and he made sure his chauffeur followed her until they got to an apartment building. He then asked his chauffeur to follow her inside the building without being noticed and find out her apartment number. After some minutes his chauffeur returned.

“Sir. Her apartment number is 32.”

“Thanks Darren.”

Gabriel sat in his car a bit longer, contemplating if what he was about to do was the proper way to go about things, but since he was already here, he couldn’t back down now, he needed to execute his plan, so he composed himself and climbed out of his car.

Knocking on the door, he got no response so he knocked again but only heard movements and murmurings this time, which wasn’t clear, then the door opened revealing the lady from the pub, but this time she was even more beautiful than she was from a distance.