chapter 1

James Banks sifted through heap Mountains of paper work his secretary had on his desk for him to read , muttering to himself as he tossed letters left and right . occasionally he would glance through some and shove it to a separate file requiring his attention . others he threw to a thrash beside his desk .

I should be happy , he thought .

Having discovered that one of his staff gives information to his competitors , he decided to change some of the old staff leaving the ones he trusted giving room for new ones including getting himself a new personal assistant .

His former assistant had been selling document to his competitors and all their plans .

James survey his office , telling himself he has finally achieved everything he vowed to achieve .

At 32, he was infact a very successful business man .

He became a business man over a decade invested in wine brewery which was almost applying for bankruptcy , with hard work and great effort, consistency . from one building it turned out into a franchise .

James smiled for the first time that morning despite the alarming work load in his office .

Still reminiscing he thought about his friends Theo , philip and how each of them vowed to be extremely rich in their own way .

They were usually always together but life took them to different space , which shows time waited for no man .They gather at london on occasion .

Philip the lover boy , but smart and would go any length for love , fallen victim for heartbreak countless times.

Theo was the life of the party and someone you would call a rake , who despises the word love

James never let his emotion get the best of him , because of how his mother turned out because of love , he vowed never to be a victim but always a player .

He thought about how he had yelled at his secretary yesterday , though he came earlier than expected he hoped she wasnt offended in a way , so far she was smart and the best PA he could get . just has he was about to focus on work his phone rang .

It was Theo , his childhood friend , 'he smiled .

"Hi , theo long time no see , been busy to put a call through ."

"Well I have been alive , just wanted to know if you are and i have news to break to you"

he said .

James laughed . "what is the news you're breaking , bought another island or you found a new love ".

"Love" he mocked .

"You could say that but it not about me , here , i was shocked when i heard the news so I decided to share incase you havent heard" Theo.

"so what the big news ", 'james asked

They had all been busy neglecting their friday night out for some time . He knew this sounded important.

"well philip is getting married , trust me when i tell you its an unusual news "'he laughed .

"Really ?" surprised , 'james .

"Though he told me , he was going to find himself a wife a month ago , i thought he was joking till he broke the news to me .And he is getting married in two weeks time . "

"Good grief! why the rush , i mean , the bride to be cant be pregnant or something', james asked.

"well i saw her last week and she doesn't look pregnant to me , didnt know they were that serious . But i could see philip was smitten by her , she was beautiful" .

"You met with her already " james asked

"Yes we met at an event and philip introduced her to me ".

"He told me they met at a club in manchester "

James laughed hard . "so he was seduced , our very own philip was seduced ".

"He told me he seduced her, it was just for fun , but apparently he fell in love with her ',Theo said.

"Is it one sided " james asked

"No they are both madly in love with each other , so i was told ".

"Well the philip we all know is big on marriage and for him to rush , it means he doesn't want to lose her ."

"The wedding is set for 4th of june , philip should contact you soon . We are both going to be his best man and he asked us to bring a date when coming ."

"The suit and everything you will need will be available at the hotel ".

James wasnt sure why he was supposed to bring a plus one but he didnt want to argue and spoil his happy day. But of course he cant miss his best friend's wedding .

"Book a flight to rome and sound surprised when philip calls ,'Theo

"i have to go , bye ."

"bye "Theo

James thinking about the marriage affair , he made a vow never to be hitched with any woman . Crazy how you can love , either through death or divorce and at the same time hate one another .

James wasnt into anything related to marriage or love not that he hated it but he doesn't want to be tied with anyone .He knew love is like a game of chess , you loose or gain . He knew some love lasted but thats of you found the right person. james wasnt too interested in finding the right person not with what he had been through .He had reason for staying as a bachelor , which he had vowed to himself . If he wanted to get married it would be for procreation and not love.

Been dedicated and finding the right person takes a lot of time and dedication . If he would be honest with himself he liked being alone and wasnt ready for a family . He liked being free from emotional entanglement.

He has seen enough scenario and doesn't want to end up being sad or torn, instead he like being with girls who like to have fun with no string attached . focusing on his work back to reality , he heard the sound of his PA arriving .

Amelia resuming 15 minutes earlier than she was supposed to was surprised to see the door to her boss office open . she didnt want to come to the office but she couldnt stay at home reminiscing over nothing .

She wasnt sure how to tell him about the heartbreak , he knew Antony and he had been so busy not to notice her anxiety . It as always been about work to him .A workaholic he was

Having broken up with her boyfriend a week ago , she looked happy but deep inside she was hurt and broken but nobody could see through and she was able to socialize and talk freely with the staff .

Weekend she was with Antony but after the breakup he moved out and she felt lonely like she has never felt, Not like it was that pleasant this past month . They had mostly been living like roommate and most times he didn't come home. Yesterday , her boss yelled at her she was almost close to tears , but she had to swallow it in .

Things would change from now, because she wont have to give excuse to rush home from work because of Antony . And it worried her that her single status might be a problem and disrupt the wonderful work relationship she had with her boss . He was a great boss , arrogant and annoying at the same time sweet . she had always liked him since the very day she saw him and thought he liked her too .

The very first day , when she walked up for the interview ,he had eyes for her , filled with lust and when he asked her about her relationship status ,she told him she had a boyfriend. she was employed immediately but the way he looked at her that first day was different from how he sees her now.

Though she was sure he picked her because of her smartness not because he found her sexy as she thought .

she knew she had great looks but she graduated with good grade and from a prestigious university , and she was good with her work .

She worked for a big company and the pay wasnt satisfying till she heard they were hiring .

Everyone knows the company is a big shot amd she needed money to pay for rent which was way long over due .

Since Antony lost his job she partially pays for almost everything and not like complains but bills can be depressing at times .Though he recently started a new job .

During her interview , he told her he be settling here and what absolute joy did she feel even if she was just meeting him for the very first time .

He asked her why she left her former place and what changes could she bring to the company , though she couldn't tell him she left because the pay was twice more than her former place of work.

Settling into her chair , she worked on the document she was able to submit , reply some email and worked on his schedule for that day

he came out of his office .

James still couldnt finish the paper work ,and his PA walked him .

"Good morning sir ."

"Good morning ,Amelia."

she gave him the document and saw he still has few he hasnt submitted to her yet

He asked what his schedule was like , which she told him just meetings .

The file, he sorted out was given back to her

They are some mistake in the paper work please go through it . And some invite was sent to me , prepare a staff to represent me , '.

That will be all for now .

"Sir, when you have a minute i need to talk to you about something .

"Something serious ,'he asked jokingly

"well , if it about how i spoke to you yesterday , i am deeply sorry . All right ? i was in a bad mood and sorry i took it out on you , i know its hard foe you to forgive me but i really hope you do , the investors opted out

"oh, sorry didnt know ,' she said

"You arent going to quit , are you ,' he said

she looked surprised by his words an quickly assured him it was nothing like that

"okay , so tell me , is it that bad ,' he said

"Well, not that bad

Trying to control herself from crying .

"The thing is i broke up with Antony, my longtime boyfriend .'

He was taken aback not really what he was expecting , and was genuinely concerned for her . He knew she loved her longtime boyfriend and he absolutely revolve around her , this is the reason why he would rather remain single than become vulnerable because of another human being.

what really happened , ' he asked trying to console her the best way he can .

"He told me , he was tired of the relationship and needed space , that i wasn't the one for him .

After , giving my all to him , now he knows we're not meant to be . The sudden lump in her throat alarmed her .

When tears pricked at her eyelids, she was only a heart beat away .

"I'm very sorry to hear that , Amelia ,' he said gently

"Very sorry .' he patted her head gently.

Unable to fight back the wave of emotion which shattered her composure and sent truckload of tears into her eyes. she couldn't suppress it anymore if she tried.

she couldnt feel sorry for herself .