5

ADAM

"So, how was the meeting with Madeline?" Michael asked as he handed me a glass; we were seated by poolside.

As soon as I left my mother's, I went to Michael's place. Okay, not his place, his father's. Michael's father owned a billion dollar company and he had done a hell of a job keeping the company in vogue. I admired his dad a lot; he was wealthy, accommodating, nice, and most of all, faithful, unlike you know who.

One thing I've noticed about being rich, most of the people you are close to, are also rich. It's automated. I didn't understand why it was that way.

“Oh you know, the usual." I responded after taking a sip.

"Mothers." He chuckled. "I'm not prepared for that conversation right now, so let's hope your mum doesn't put that in my mum's head."

"Yeah, we can only hope."

"She feels I haven't been in a serious relationship because of what my dad did to her."

"Is that the case?" He asked.

I shrugged, "I have no idea, honestly."

"That may be the reason, you change women every 2 weeks, it's disgusting but admirable."

"Mike, please" I said and he giggled.

Incidentally, Michaela sashayed in, wearing a white robe. She was at the other side of the pool. I don't think she saw us. She removed the robe slowly and dumped it on a seat.

Nah, she definitely saw us.

I watched her adjust the sexy bikini that accentuated her shape. Lord, I was staring. Michaela was so beautiful and hot. She had this ginger-colored hair that matched her brown-colored skin, she had the most beautiful set of brown eyes I had ever seen, she had a skinny but alluring figure, and she was so tall, taller than her brother even but not taller than me. I'm so glad she went into modelling.

I felt someone hit my stomach and I coughed.

"That's my sister bro, given your history, that's my sister."

"You know she's doing this on purpose, right?' I asked, looking at him.

"Yeah, typical Michaela." He replied, downing his entire glass. 

"Oh, hiii!" She sang, running towards us without the robe.

Michaela was trouble, that was why we didn't work out. She had this fire that couldn't be reduced or put off. At first I thought it was sexy, but it turned out to be toxic.

"Wear your robe, sis" Mike begged frustratedly.

"Oh come on, the weather is hot. Besides, I was going to take a dip until I saw you guys." She said.

"Yeah, right." Mike muttered under his breath as he downed his entire glass.

"I'm going to get another." He mentioned before walking away. I knew he did that on purpose.

"So, how have you been, sexy?" She asked in a flirty way as she took my glass and sat on Mike's seat.

"Well, I've been good. I've been really good." I replied.

"Really? You went to Turkey for 5 good years."

"Yeah, I had a lot of things to do over there." I was silently praying for him to return.

"Oh, really?" She asked, taking a sip.

"Yes, really."

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" She chuckled.

"Not at all." I replied sharply.

"Why can't you look at me then?"

I looked at her, she was looking at me in a different kind of way so I removed my eyes immediately.

"Look, don't do this. We shouldn't have hooked up back then, it was wrong."

"Hooked up? If my memory serves me right, we didn't just 'hook up' so many times." She air quoted.

"Well, we can't go back to doing what we used to do."

"You may see me as one of your many flings but you know that wasn't it. Stop making it look that way. Let's just talk."

"Really? Okay. What are you doing here? Right now? Aren't you trying to seduce me?"

She looked at me, scoffed, and splashed the rest of my drink on my face.

You see what I was talking about?

"Get over your freaking self, Adam." She said and stormed out.

I heard Mike's laughter coming from the other entrance. He was holding a glass on one hand and a towel on the other.

"You heard all that, right?" I asked taking the towel and dabbing my face with it.

"Hell yeah. And yes, she was trying to seduce you." He took his seat.

"I don't know what kind of hold you have on her man, it's crazy."

I sighed, "I guess we can't go back to being friends."

"Now you've learnt your lesson." He said, taking a sip.

****

VALERIA

I checked the time, it was 5pm, my shift was over, but I didn't want to go home. I didn't want anything to remind me of my insurmountable problems. I also didn't want to see Terrence, I didn't want to talk to him about anything. I wasn't in the mood.

Nicole asked me how everything was and I sincerely couldn't open up to her about it, I found a way to deviate from that horrible topic. Every 10 minutes, I found myself going to the restroom to cry a little, asking God why he put me and Vanessa in this position, this painful position.

Since I didn't want to go home, I thought hard about what I wanted to do.

Visit Vanessa and probably sleep over? No way. I didn't want her to see how much of a failure I was.

Go home? We've established the fact that I can't; I just can't.

What could I do? What exactly could I do? I needed a distraction, for the night at least.

I thought hard about what to do and I got it.

I took an excuse from Larry and walked to the kitchen where I found Nicole eating a piece of sandwich.

"Hey baby, you need to try this. It's divine. Kenneth did a good job." Kenneth was the head chef. He looked and me and waved, I returned it.

"I need to talk to you babe." I said.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Come on." I said as we walked to am empty corner.

"Okay I'm worried. You good? Is it Nessa?"

"No, that's not it."

"Then what?"

" I can't go home."

She tilted her head in confusion, "Why?"

"I just can't. I may feel overwhelmed you know, concerning everything."

"Okay, I understand that. Why don't you go to my place? I could give you my apartment key, I'd meet you when I'm done with my night shift. If you need anything, just text." She suggested.

I smiled on hearing that offer, "Thanks so much babe, but I don't want to go to anyone's home either. I need a distraction, that was why I called you here."

"You still haven't told me what exactly though."

"I want to take your shift." I said.

"Woah..uh.."

"Please, I need this tonight. Besides, you've been here all day because of me. Let me take your shift."

She looked at me worriedly. Nicole was the only one who knew everything about me in this hotel, she truly was a good friend.

"Are you sure this is the right decision? Are you sure you can handle Victor for the night?" She asked. Victor was also a front desk agent. 

"Yes, yes it is. Trust me. And yes, I can handle Victor, we are cool."

"If you need anything, do you promise to call? Not text, call"

I nodded with a smile, "I promise you."

"Hm, okay then, I trust you." She said, hugging me, and planting a kiss on my cheek.

"I need the rest anyway." She giggled and walked back to finish her sandwich.

I stealthily walked to Kenneth, "Hey, you've got any liquor on you?" I whispered in his ear.

He nodded and signalled to give me later.

Don't judge me, I was desperate to feel anything but useless and sad.

***

ADAM

I don't know if I had that much to drink because I was shocked when I woke up to myself on a bed.

Am I still at Michael's?

I yawned tiredly and looked round. I saw a photo of Mike by his bedside table which answered my question. I slowly for down from the bed and helped myself to the restroom. When I got out, I met Michaela sitting on the bed, cross-legged.

"Hey there sleepy head." She sang.

"How long was I out?" I asked, sitting on the couch close to the bed.

"About 4 hours or so." She  responded.

"Where is Mike and what is the time?"

"Mike stepped out, and it's 8pm."

Shit.

"Damn, was I that tired?"

She chuckled, "Blame the jet lag."

"Right, I was on a 13-hour flight." I paused. "I really should get going, I have a few things to cover up at the office." I added, getting up.

"Hold on, I have something to say."

I froze, what else did she have to say? I didn't understand. "Okay." I calmly said, taking my seat.

She cleared her throat, "First of all, I'm sorry for earlier, I shouldn't have done that. You were right about all you said;  I guess that was what angered me."

I smirked. Women.

"Secondly, I'm not one to hide my feelings, you know that about me."

That was true.

There was a brief pause, "I still have feelings for you; it has been 5 years, true, but I do. I really do."

Well this wasn't the way I wanted my day to end. Not with all these feelings talk.

"I understand that this isn't how you were expecting, but I wanted to put it out there, I don't expect you to say it back though. I know the type of person you are."

"So why did you say it?"

"Because I was tired of keeping it in."

"Is that all?"

"Also because of a tiny sliver of hope that you'd like me back?" She said shyly.

I sighed, "Look, we had a good time while it lasted. I don't want to go back to it, neither do I want to say what I may not mean. Like you said, you know the type of person I am."

She nodded.

"Can we be friends? Good friends?"

She massaged her neck, trying to conceal the embarrassment, "Of course." She said, forcing a smile.

"Alright," I got up and she did as well. Then I hugged her tightly, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." She said.

I broke the hug and started grabbing my belongings, "I should get going, tell Mike I left. Catch up with you later?"

"Sure thing." She said with the fakest smile ever.

"Bye." I said and walked out of the room immediately. I couldn't take any more of the awkwardness.