Chapter three

Karis watched his best friend, Charles snort cocaine. He never understood what got people so hooked up on drugs. He had tried it a few times but there was something so souless about escaping loneliness in drugs, he preferred instead to bury it in the soft flesh of a willing woman. Yes he was lonely. He had more money than he could spend in a hundred life times but that was it. The women who flocked him didn't really care about him and neither did the multitude of fans who liked to pretend they were friends nor his Father who only cared that he lived long enough to inherit and bare future heirs. His mother had cared but that was a long time ago, she was dead now.

   He felt soft hands come around him and lips press on his ear. Whoever it was was whispering meaningless nothings into his ear and Karis felt like swiping at her. Weren't the rooms supposed to be out of bounds?

   Noticing that Charles had finished snorting, he shrugged off the girls arms and went downstairs with his friend, then he saw her.

   She was young - they were all young but there was a certain innocence to her youthfulness that was captivating. His eyes took in her face, the wide eyes framed by impossibly long lashes - yet he knew they were natural, perhaps a bit enhanced by mascara but they were nothing like the false lashes that was on trend. She had a little pert nose and bow shaped lips. What he would do to those lips! - or what he would have those lips do to him.

   His gaze wondered over her body, noticing the tiny waist and full hips and where the white gown she had on ended, his eyes travelled through her impossibly long legs. The night was going to prove an interesting one.

   Her gaze lifted slowly from where it rested on her laps and their eyes met. Karis watched the girls eyes widen, stirring something primal in him then she fled.

   Weruche did not stop to consider why she was fleeing the room. She only knew that in those few seconds she had noticed the handsome stranger starring at her and their eyes connected, she had felt something she had never felt before. The force of her emotions shocked her, scared her even and she tried to run from them.

   Her heart was racing as she got outside. She felt as if she was on the brink of the unknown. It scared her, yet she felt excited. Was this what it meant to be in love - but she couldn't be in love, she hadn't even gotten to meet the man officially, didn't even know his name. Perhaps this was what her mother had meant when she said men liked to deceive young unsuspecting women like her just so that they can have their way. Was she already falling victim to this man's charm?

   "Fleeing a house like that when you see the owner is a very suspicious move if you ask me." A deep voice said from behind her and Weruche flung herself around.

   The owner! And what did he mean by 'suspicious.' She remembered Brenda's advice to blend in, a little too late. Drawing in a shaky breath, she extended her hand. "I'm Weruche, you must be Karis." 

   "Oh it figures!" He said ignoring her hand. "The daughter of puritan Adam Chukwu can't stand a party like this. He stepped closer and slowly traced her trembling lower lip with a finger. "What are you afraid of Weruche?" He stepped even closer, with the gleam of a challenge in his eyes as he lowered his lips to hers.

   Weruche could feel a jumble of emotions and a feeling so painful, she swallowed hard. It was her first kiss and somehow it was as if the man that was kissing her did so out of a vendetta she could not even understand.

   As quickly as his lips touched hers, Karis drew back. "Why are you crying?" His voice sounded rough.

   " Why are you kissing me like you want to punish me?" Her's was a mere whisper. She dropped her head, hiding her gaze and a shame she didn't know wasn't her's.

   She felt a cool finger raise her chin yet she stubbornly refused to look at him. "I'm sorry." He said simply and unwittingly, her gaze shot up to meet his. He was searching her face with a new carefulness, like she was a priced possession he had once lost and didn't want to loose again.

   "It's wrong of me to judge you based on your father's actions, forgive me."

  Weruche merely nodded as his fingers dropped from her chin. She shivered slightly and in an instant, he was shrugging off his jacket and draping it around her shoulders.

   "What can I do to make you forgive me?" He asked, still holding eye contact with her.

   "Well you can start by giving me a tour of this beautiful garden."

   He nodded and took her hand. " So there's this garden at the back you might want to see." he said conversationally, leading her to his mom's garden - well technically it wasn't his Mom's garden, but she had loved the garden so much while she was alive, tending to it herself and after her death, gardeners took over, keeping the place up. It was the only place Karis came when he wanted to be alone, surrounded by memories of a time he had really mattered to someone. He wondered why he was bringing the girl whom he had only just met to the only place that was really his but - she had looked so vulnerable back there, with her lips turned up to his and the tears in her eyes. He felt like an asshole for putting them there and he wanted to make it up to her.

   He watched her eyes light up as they walked into the garden. There was such an expression of pure joy on her face, he had never seen such before. All the other girls he had known were always too self conscious, flirting and trying to catch his eye but not this girl standing beside him.

   Weruche drew in a breath, inhaling the sweet smell of roses. Was it even possible to have a rose garden out here in Imo state? She felt as if she had stepped into a dream world and would wake up the next day with only a vague memory. Ignoring her racing heart and the man standing beside her, she raised her arms and gave a short twirl as giggles escaped her lips.

   "C'mon, let's explore!" said tugging at his hand.

   He chuckled. "You forget that this is actually my house and I've been here a thousand times." But he followed her. They went through one flower bed after another, and she stopped to sniff them, even giving them names.

   "You wouldn't remember those names by the morning." He laughed when she bent over a rose and named it Daisy. "And I think there's a mix up here, the Daisy is a different flower from the one you have here." He plucked it out, pricking his finger on a thorn. " But this," he said as he handed her the flower. "This suits you best."

   She had stood up so that they were standing so close to each other, they were practically sharing the same breath. Weruche wondered if he would kiss her again, she wanted him to, wanted sweeter memories for her first Kiss.

   This was just like the romantic settings in the movies. A beautiful garden, a mansion that actually looked like a castle and the handsome heir whom she wished would kiss her again. But this was not the movies, she tried to remind herself. In the movies, he wouldn't be put off in anyway by her sexual inexperience but would go ahead to teach her things she didn't know about love - but that was in the movies! This was not the movies and in real life, Men like Karis only wanted one thing before they got bored and moved on to the next available girl who would only be too willing. She would show him.

   She fought to put her warring emotions under control and put on what she hoped was a worldy seductive smile. Leaning up, she brought her lips close to his ears, skimming the side of his lips as she did so. She felt his arm turn to steel under her hand. "It was nice meeting you Karis." She dropped her voice even lower. "But I've got to go. Shall we get back to the house so I can get my bag and tell my friend."

   He smiled but there was steel in his eyes. "You're playing with fire little one."

   Her face was all innocence. " I don't know what you're talking about."

   He was silent. Turning, he led her back to the house. He had a party going on in his sitting room and needed to make an appearance now and again. There was also going to be more than one woman willing to slate the lust stirred in him by this woman. He just wasn't looking forward to it. Those girls were forgettable but this woman standing beside him intrigued him. He always hated women that gave off mixed signals. He liked his sex life uncomplicated but there was a rich blend of innocence and provocativeness that she exuded, he wanted to unravel her.

   All the way home, Brenda kept Berating Weruche. She could not understand why Weruche had to pull her out of the party just when everything was getting interesting. She was even more angry that Weruche hadn't cashed into the opportunity of having Karis alone to her self. She believed Weruche had wasted her moment.

   "Weruche, honestly I don't understand you at times. Are you not tired of your poverty or has hardship so disturbed your way of thinking that you cannot recognize a blessing when you see one?"

   Weruche sighed wearily. " Brenda cut it out okay! Look, if you want to go back into the party, you're free but me, I'm done."

   " Yeah. Like I can just go back to the party without the invite -- you made me leave it behind."

   Exasperated, Weruche threw up her hands in the air. "Oh Brenda! I'm sorry okay. Can you please stop nagging."

   " Fine!" Brenda said. "I'll keep quiet but just remember, this could be your one chance and you've blown it."

   " Oh please! Don't sound so dramatic." Weruche dismissed but deep down in her heart, she wondered if it could be true. "There is something though."

   "What?" Brenda asked.

   " Karis seemed to think I was the daughter of one Adam Chukwu and I wonder why he would have thought so..........."