Chapter Five

"Lucio Babe!" Valerie was loud as she entered the office. She almost sank into the ground seeing Margaret. She was glaring at her and Valerie wanted to turn around and leave. 

"It is you again!"

"Oh hi Mrs Delevonte. Is so nice to see you here"

"I'm not happy seeing you right here"

Lucio laughed. His mother hated Valerie and she didn't fail to show it. Valerie wasn't a nice girl but she was his friend. They went to college together and Valerie dated his roommate Jason even though she was secretly in love with him. She was the reason Jason left. He didn't even graduate from college. Lucio had tried calling him but Jason never picked his call nor returned any of his mails. He tried looking for him but Jason didn't want to be found. He went M.I.A and no one heard anything from him. His family said they had no idea where he was but Lucio didn't believe them.

They were lying since no one reported him as missing. Jason blamed him for his failed relationship with Valerie but Lucio had no idea Valerie was in love with him. He only found out about it the night before Jason disappeared from the dorm. Valerie had come to his room looking for Jason but Jason wasn't around. She tried flirting with him but Lucio pushed her away. He even threw her out of his room. 

Valerie was just his friend but that wasn't the reason he rejected her. She was his friend's girlfriend. Jason loved her so much that he would do anything to make her happy. Back then, he took two jobs to meet her over demanding lifestyle but Valerie wasn't still satisfied. She wanted more from him. Something Lucio felt was a reason to break up with Jason. 

Jason was the ideal boyfriend, he was safe and predictable, with his curly hairstyles that made him look cute and less masculine. That wasn't what Valerie wanted, Jason wasn't the man she desired. She only said yes to him to make her friend jealous. But Lucio couldn't get jealous, he was in love with Sophia Williams back then. They were in a long distance relationship, Lucio was madly in love with her and would stay up all night trying to reach her on the phone. 

Valerie scoffed, throwing her face to the other side. She had tried pleasing the over demanding and annoying woman but then she got sick and tired of trying to get Margaret to like her. She was always not good enough, no one was good enough for her son except Sophia.

"I already told you that I don't like you"

"And I don't care!" Valerie was furious. Margaret has got to accept that she was her son's business partner. Lucio was investing in her business so she was always going to be around her. They will be seeing more of each other than she even thought of. 

"Are you going to let her disrespect me?"

"Mom please!" Lucio was already tired of his mother and wanted her to leave. He loved her but sometimes she was unbearable. No one was good in her eyes, the only one she loved was her precious Sophia Williams. He rolled his eyes, the mere thought of Sophia Williams made his blood boil and not in a good way. His mother was out of her mind, if she thought he was ever going to listen to her and take Sophia as his wife. That wasn't ever going to happen. At least not in his right now, they would have to drag him to the altar for him to marry the little princess of the Williams Family.

"Are you not going to throw her out?"

"Give me a break mother" He takes long strides towards his seat and reclines back to his seat.

"What?" Her eyes widened. Margaret couldn't believe her son would take Valerie's side but who was she kidding? This was Lucio Delevonte, her youngest and most stubborn son.

"I will see you at home mom, I have some business to take care of"

"You want her to stay and want me to leave"

"Don't you have some models to take care of"

Margaret cleared her throat. She had an event coming up and needed to pick out her models. This was one of the biggest shows and Margaret was going to try and pick out some new faces, that was what the board was looking for. 

"You are right, I better leave" Margaret takes up her bag and heads towards the door. As she walked past Valerie. Valerie shot a fake smile at her but Margaret glared at her and left the room slamming the door. 

"Your mother is a pain in the ass"

"Tell me about it"

"How does your sister cope with all of these?"

"She has to live with it. Margaret is bag mother"

"I'd die if she was my mother"

Lucio throws a stern look at her, he hadn't liked her indicating that her mother was troubled.  

"That's my mother you are talking about"

"I'm sorry Lucio but honestly she had got to stop"

"She's my mother"

"And I'm not complaining. However she just has to live with seeing my face everyday"

"Even me!" He grumbled and Valerie smiled. She was always the troubled friend of the Delevonte siblings.

"Your mother doesn't like you"

"You already know that, why bother trying to act nice?" Lucio pointed out.

Valerie was always trying hard to be loved by Margaret, maybe too hard and that was just annoying. He wasn't going to love her even if her mother wanted it. Valerie knows that already but that didn't stop her from trying to flirt with him anytime she came around his office.

"She's your mother and I have to be nice to her"

"Yes, right. Nice. Well Ms. Nice, Margaret is my mother and you are my business partner so please act formal"

"She was my formal neighbors and I always want to love her"

"Do you want to love her or you want her to love you".

"Both Lucio"

"I hope you know Valerie that my mother being nice to you won't get you anywhere close to me"

Valerie rolled her eyes. Lucio was a blunt man. He had told her that since in college and she was tired of hearing him say that. She wasn't going to give up on him that easily. 

"You know I don't give up Lucio"

"You better do because I will never love you nor even look at you"

"Why are you being so hard lately? I've chased you for more than five years, aren't you going to give in?"

"You are Jason's girlfriend!" Lucio banged his fist against the table. He was furious at her for even daring to say that. She may have forgotten what happened back in college but not a day had gone by he didn't regret that one moment they had in the bathroom. Jason may have found out what they did and that was why he left. Lucio hated himself for doing that to his friend, he tried controlling himself but Valerie seduced him, she had gotten into the same shower with him. 

That was a dark time in his life, he had just lost his father and Sophia had broken up with him over a text. He wanted comfort and Valerie came unto him. She got into the shower when he was bathing and kissed him. Lucio couldn't control himself, he let her ease the stress.

"Jason is gone! That was seven years ago"

"He loves you"

"I don't love him!" Tears crowd her eyes, she hated being the bad guy in this story but Jason wasn't the good guy either. He was always jealous of her, sometimes she wondered if he did really love her. One minute he was sweet and nice towards her and the next, he was angry and wicked towards her. She wasn't the one demanding money, it was him and she gave him whatever he wanted but that wasn't enough for him. He was jealous and possessive of her. 

Valerie had majored in the same department with Lucio, she was close to him first, it was through him that she met Jason. He chased her around like a lost puppy and she reluctantly said yes to him because of Lucio.

"How could you say that? Jason did everything for you!"

"And so? What do you think I did? Hate him! I'm not the bad guy here"

"But you are not the good guy either"

"How would you know that? You don't even know your friend! Do you think he was some sweet and innocent guy"

"He worshiped the ground you walked on"

That was true but then it wasn't always like that. Jason was violent at times, he was sick and that was what Lucio didn't know. No one knows that part of him except her. Lucio didn't also know that she had gotten pregnant with his baby two times and Jason made her lose her babies. She would never forget the look on his face when he found out she was pregnant. He went ballistic and at that moment, Valerie wanted to run away but she couldn't. He caught her and the next thing she remembered was her delicate body waking up in the hospital.

"Yes he did so much that I felt like a queen"

"Are you trying to mock him?"

"Listen here Lucio, you don't love me and I get it but don't you ever open your mouth and act as though you'd precious Jason was a saint. He was no Saint, you have no idea who he is but someday I hope you will find out the truth" Grabbing her bag, Valerie left his office, slamming the door on her way out. 

Lucio runs his hand through his hair, this was supposed to be a business not talk about the past he wanted to forget now that Jason was no longer there. Picking up his portrait on the table, Lucio smiled, the last time he saw Jason they had shared their dream together. Jason was in the tech department. Lucio was sure he was doing so well wherever he was.

David barged into his office, he was furious. 

"What did you do to Valerie?" 

Lucio rolled his eyes. His best friend was already hooked by Valerie's beauty. He was smitten by her and that made him mad. Valerie wasn't the best woman for him but his friend can't help falling in love with her. Though he doubted Valerie would even look at him since she had lived all through her life chasing him around. 

"Tell me what you did to her"

"I didn't do anything to her"

"Nothing"

"She was crying Man"

"And so? Why do you care so much?"

"I already told you that I love that woman"

"And I already told you to stay away from her"

"Why? You don't love her, do you?"

Lucio glared at him. That was absurd, Valerie wasn't even the kind of woman he went head over heels for. That was Sophia Williams but now he felt nothing for her. He didn't feel anything for any woman except Lisa. That woman was something else, she was someone who could make him mad and at the same time happy. 

"What sort of stupid question is that?"

"You don't love her so why do you tell me to keep away from her"

"I already told you about Jason so why do you keep chasing after her? She will never love you"

David blinked his eyes, his friend was right. She had tried Valerie asking out on a date last month but she turned down his request. She always turned down his request but he wasn't going to give up. He was going to keep chasing after her till he finally claimed her as his woman. 

"I already know that but that doesn't change the fact that I will stop chasing after her" With that David turned around and left the room, slamming the door.