Chapter 4

Robin was anxious and agitated throughout the drive home and even when they got home.

"C'mon man, kill your anxiety. She's gonna call back." Cole assured him.

"What if she doesn't?" He questioned worriedly,

"We just have two weeks....not even up to two weeks anymore.

God! I'm fucked." He groaned in dire frustration, walking out on Cole.

He sauntered to the mini bar and pulled out himself one of the barstool.

"What if she isn't interested in my proposal? What if she leaves at the last minute, like Julie did?" He asked, pulling out the half filled bottle of Hendricks and a shot glass.

Cole came to him and pulled out the second barstool next to his.

He took out his shot glass and poured himself some Hendricks too.

"You're being very pessimistic and I don't like it." He chided him after taking a gulp of the gin,

"No girl in her right sense would reject your offer.

You're gonna pay her handsomely and it's just for a period of two to three months. It's nothing difficult." Cole assured him,

"She just have to pretend to be your bride to be for one week, then your bride for at most three months, what's the difficulty there?" He asked rhetorically,

"Nothing I see." He replied himself, sighing afterwards.

Robin downed his own shot and slammed the shot glass back on the counter.

"Grrrr." He groaned loudly, clearing his throat and Cole chuckled, patting him on his shoulder.

"If she doesn't call today, we'll go back to the restaurant tomorrow and talk to her ourselves." He suggested,

"Is she isn't interested, then we look for someone else.

But I know this, no girl in her right mind would reject such offer unless, she's in a committed relationship.

That waitress appears too young to be in a committed relationship." He assured him,

"There more than a thousand girls in this city Rob, we could make out pick from any one of them.

It doesn't have to be just her." 

"Okay." Robin sighed, pouring himself another shot of the Hendricks.

"C'mon bro, let's go get ourselves busy with something else.

It's quite too early to be getting binged on a Sunday." Cole mouthed, pushing his empty shot glass away and getting up from the barstool,

"Join me in the game room when you've had enough." He said to Robin and left for the direction of the stairs.

Seeing his friend had left him, he took the Hendrick bottle and his shot glass and went after Cole.

        Astrid returned to their apartment quite earlier than usual, having worked over ten hours at Queens.

Sandra and Tasha, one of the twins, were in their room when she came in, looking dogged tired.

"Girl, you look like a train just ran through you." Tasha commented, earning a chuckle from Sandra. Astrid just sighed, sauntering to her bed.

"You looked pretty knocked. Have you'd anything to eat yet?" Sandra asked concerned, getting up from her bed to join her on hers.

"Yeah. I ate already, just need to shower and sleep this fatigue away."

"Okay. Let's give you some privacy.

You need that undisturbed sleep more than anyone else." She offered and then turned to her friend, signaling her to get up from the bed,

"Thanks Sandy." Astrid mouthed tiredly and the girl nodded.

"Before thanking me, let's get you up from that bed into the shower and then, you can thank me as much as you want to." She offered and started pulling her up from the bed.

Astrid took the initiative and got up, then sauntered into the bathroom.

From the bathroom, she heard the door close and she guessed, Sandra and her friend must have left already.

However, taking off her clothes, something fell out from the pocket of her skirt. Picking up the paper, she recalled what it was and immediately, opened it to read its content.

"Good day Miss.

I'm so so sorry for this unruly manner of approach, but I'd no choice.

I've a proposal for you. Here's my card. Call me if you're interested."

She averted her gaze from the note, to the man's card.

ROBIN DEMARCO, CEO OF DEMARCO AND SONS INC.

His cellphone number, telegram and office address was also inscribed in the card too.

She turned the card and inscription D.S.Inc. was stylishly engraved there too.

Should she call the number or she shouldn't?

What would a man like Robin DeMarco want from someone like her?

 The proposal he'd made mention of; what kind of proposal would that be?

She can't recall telling anyone she was in need of a job or anything. 

Maybe he'd mistaken her identity or, Stacey didn't know who the note was for.

One of those two, but definitely, this note ain't for her.

She folded it back and kept it on the sink top, making a mental note to returning it to Stacey the next day.

She doesn't like keeping things she knows aren't hers.

     The next day, Astrid was rounding up her night shift, when Manny, another of her colleague came up to her, to tell her that a man was waiting for her outside.

"Me?" She'd asked the guy, to be sure.

"Yeah. He's with another guy and the description they'd give, fits only you. Except, there's another blond haired girl with bright blue eyes that's working here I don't know of. Is there?" He asked her and a still confused Astrid shook her head.

"Then, it's you he's looking for.

I'd suggest you go see him and know why he's looking for you. He doesn't seem like he's gonna be leaving anytime soon." He informed her before leaving her to decide whether or not to go see her visitors.

She sighed and left what she was doing to go see who it was outside. Her guts told her it might be Robin DeMarco, but she didn't want to be too hopeful.

What would a billionaire CEO like Robin DeMarco want from a common waitress like her?

Absolutely, nothing.

She pushed the door open and there were two men outside, their attention were zeroed on her.

Astrid hid her discomfiture and nervousness pretty well, walking towards the men.

One has a jet black hair, while the other, curly brown hair. They were almost the same height, except one appeared broader than the other. They both had one a black jean each, while the broader one with jet black hair wore a white tee, the other one wore a check blue, short sleeves shirt.

"Good evening sir." she greeted the men,

"Good evening miss," the one in white tee replied her,

"Howdy miss?" The other asked and she nodded.

"Ehm...I was the one who sent you the note yesterday." The man in white tee said to her, taking a step closer to her.

"I'm Robin DeMarco and this," he turned to the guy beside him, " this is my best friend, Cole Valdez." He introduced themselves to her,

"I'm Astrid Jones." She mouthed to them.

"Nice name, Astrid."

"Thanks Mister DeMarco..."

"Just call me Robin."

"And you milady, you can call me Cole."

"Okay." She sighed, looking away, flustered by their words.

"Like I'd said earlier, I'd sent the note yesterday.

I...you see, I've a proposal and I was hoping you'd be interested in it." All Astrid could say after he'd finished was,

"Okay." And it kinda frustrated Robin.

Okay as in what? Okay, as in I'm interested or okay, as in go on. Which of them?

"Can we stay somewhere more private?" He asked her instead, looking nervously around their surrounding. Not that it was boisterous or unsafe, but he didn't feel comfortable, talking about something that personal in such open space.

"I know bar not too far from here, we could go there." He offered, but like he'd expected, she refused to go with them.

"I don't know you, plus it's quite late and I don't stay out this late." She stated as a matter of fact, rejecting their offer.

"Okay..I'm sorry I'd made such suggestions.

Probably, we could schedule a meeting tomorrow morning..."

"I've classes to attend to." She cuts him off politely,

"Okay. Whenever you're chanced, we could schedule a meeting and talk it over brunch or dinner, whichever is more convenient for you." He explained to her.

"Okay." She mouthed, avoiding his gaze.

"You've my personality and my work contact and they're always available twenty four seven." He assured her, sounding as convincing as ever. Astrid just nodded, mouthing another okay to them.

"Are you done with your shift? We could drop you off at your place, if you don't mind." Cole offered from where he was standing, but she declined almost immediately.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm not done and my house is just around the corner. I can walk it down." 

"You sure? We could just wait for you to finish.."

"No!" She almost yelled,

"I mean no, I can take the walk. It isn't that much a distance." She assured them, smiling nervously.

"Okay, if you say so." He backed away,

"We'll be on our way now." Robin said to her, 

"Don't forget about what we'd talked about." He reminded her and she nodded, flashing him a fake smile.

She watched them entered their car after bading goodbye to her. Immediately the car drove out of sight, she ran inside the restaurant.

She doesn't trust these rich men one bit.

They might be waiting for her to come out, so they'll kidnap her and take her to some unknown place.

Never was she gonna fall prey to their antics.