2.

"Xane! Xane!"

Xane Harding groaned, a look of impatience crossed his face as he heard his mother calling from across the hallway. He took his glasses off and placed them carefully on his working desk.

3... 2... 1...

His mother, Amara barged into his study room.

"Xane!" His mother called out again.

"Mom how many times have I told you not to bother me when I'm in my study room. I have a lot to do," he complained. Amara rolled her eyes and strolled to his desk.

"You need to see this," she said, her voice was full of enthusiasm.

Xane took a glance at his phone and frowned as he saw his mother had been using his phone to text strangers.

"Mom-" he was cut off by Amara before he could say anything.

"You need to talk to her. She seemed lovely!" Amara smiled and started scrolling the photos on his phone. "Look at her! She's beautiful don't you think?"

"I've seen better," he cleared his throat even though he could not help but steal a few more glances at the photo on his phone.

In the photo was a fresh-faced brunette woman in her mid-twenties, she had pulled her hair into a high, loose bun with shorter pieces of hair falling around her face. She was smiling in the photo. Her green eyes sparkled. Her smile was so infectious that she'd light up everyone around her with it. She looked somehow familiar but Xane could not recall where he had met her before.

She was obviously not the most beautiful woman to him. Xane Harding had spent most of his life being surrounded by beautiful women. Yet he remained single at 31 because there was always something missing in the women he dated.

He had only been in two relationships.

He met his first girlfriend in university. He was 20, young and immature. He dated her because she was the prettiest in his university. He had wanted to know what it was like to date the prettiest girl but that only lasted for a year. He could not stand her vanity.

He dated his second girlfriend when his friend, Leandro had introduced her to him. That time, he had already taken over his father's business - Harding Tech. She seemed fun to talk to at first, but all that ended when she became too clingy. Xane was a workaholic and a busy man yet she had always tried to force Xane to go shopping with her and bring her to yet another expensive fine dining restaurants.

"Xane I like her," Amara said.

"Perhaps you should date her then,"

"You're already 31. Please Xane. I'm getting old and I want a grandchild," her lower lip protruded in a sulky pout.

"But mom... you can't just find a stranger online and ask me to date her!"

"Well isn't that better than asking u to go on a blind date with another heiress again? You said you didn't want to go on blind dates anymore,"

"And how is this not another blind date?" Xane groaned.

"You get to know her first. It's not going to be a blind date. I promise if you get to know her first and still don't like her, then I'll stop. I swear!" She said eagerly.

"You promise?"

"Yes! You don't even need to ask her out on a date first. Just get to know her. Give it a chance Xane. Where else are you going to find a potential wife if not this?"

Amara was worried for her son. She knew Xane was different from his younger brother, Tyler. She never had to worry about Tyler because he was always busy going out on dates and fooling around. Xane, on the other hand, had always been busy with his work ever since his father passed away and she felt lonely.

"Fine," Xane grumbled. Amara gave him a kiss on the forehead and sauntered out the room, humming. He shook his head as he regretted giving his phone to his mom when she had asked for it.

He turned his attention to the messages that his mother and the girl had exchanged.

Clara.

So her name was Clara.

The messages were nothing interesting. Clearly, she was a boring texter. Just like Xane.

(8:16pm) Clara: What's for dinner?

She had shared a photo of her half-eaten pizza. Xane raised his eyebrows in amusement and replied.

(8:18pm) Xane: You ate the whole damn pizza by yourself?

(8:20pm) Clara: Duh. I work hard for it. I deserve it.

(8:21pm) Clara: What about you? Are you eating salad?

(8:23pm) Xane: Hah! That's funny. I'm still working.

(8:25pm) Clara: Awww poor thing. You shouldn't work that hard. It's Saturday night. Your boss is probably somewhere out there partying. You shouldn't skip dinner for him.

Xane chuckled softly as he read the message. Little did she know that Xane was his own boss.

(8:30pm) Xane: Well that's the life of small potatoes.

******

Three weeks later

Xane and Clara had texted each other every day for the past three weeks. To his surprise, he actually liked texting Clara. They even spoke on the phone a few times when Xane had insisted he wanted to hear her voice.

There was something about Clara that made Xane want to keep talking to her. She was an affable companion and a good talker. She was willing to open up and share her own life struggles and it made him feel like he was not alone.

She would text him every morning and send him photos of her food, her life or whatever she found interesting or meaningful. Her breakfast, a photo of her spilled coffee on the ground, her lunch and many more. He had gotten used to her sharing her life with him, making him feel as if he was there with her.

"So have you asked her out yet?" Leandro asked with his thick Italian accent.

"What?" Xane shifted his gaze from his phone and stared at Leandro.

"The girl," Leandro nodded at Xane's phone. "You've been texting non stop the moment you stepped into this place. There are so many gorgeous women out there dancing and you choose to sit here, texting and smiling like a creep."

Leandro and Tyler had pulled Xane out of his office tonight to celebrate the successful launching of Harding Innovation, a subsidiary to Harding Tech.

Marquee, a local club was packed with people. The dance floor was sunken down in the middle of the large room with stairs that led up to a second level that housed two large bars and multiple high top tables. The men sat at the VIP table in the middle, giving them a perfect vantage point of the entire club.

Xane frowned and tossed his phone onto the round table.

"I asked. She turned me down," Xane replied and gulped down the glass of cognac.

"You? Xane Harding? Got turned down by a girl?" Leandro laughed as Tyler asked in disbelief.

"Perhaps you've been catfished my brother," Leandro said.

Tyler nodded, "Did she tell you why she turned you down?"

"She said it was too fast. That we need more time to know each other,"

"Bro you've definitely been catfished," Tyler frowned.

"I don't think so," Xane defended. "We talked a few times over the phone. She sounded just like how I'd imagined."

"That doesn't mean she's the girl in the photo. Which explains why she didn't want to go out with you," Leandro added, shrugging away the attention that they have had from different women in the club.

"Do you know anything about her? What is she like?" Tyler asked.

"She's very different from most women I've met. She's not the brightest person, I'd say, but she's just...naturally easy to talk to. We would share a few things with each other. Well, it's mostly her sharing. But I liked that anyway. I just like talking to her."

"What does she do then?"

"I know she's running her own online business. And a cafe business with a friend,"

"A career woman huh?" Leandro smirked, knowing that it was something new to Xane.

Xane nodded. "She made me feel things that other women don't."

"You make her sound a little too perfect brother. You'd be deceiving yourself if you believed that. I've had my fair share of online dating. Trust me. You've been catfished," Tyler assured him.

Xane shook his head and took a glance at his phone. She stopped replying to his text a while ago. He read his last message again and wondered if he screwed up somehow. His last text to her was to be careful because she had informed him she was going out drinking with her friends.

He had wanted so bad to ask if there were guy friends too but he refrained from doing so because he did not want to scare her off.

"Does she know who you are... or what you do?" Tyler asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"No. But I told her I work in a tech company,"

"So she doesn't know you're Xane Harding then,"

"No," Xane sighed and stared in the crowd. The dance floor was crowded with revellers. Xane had waved off a couple of girls who came up to him. He was never one to pick up girls from clubs.

Xane Harding was a tech genius. He took over his father's business, Harding Tech at the age of 24. When his father passed away, Harding Tech has had some financial setbacks and it left him in a rather precarious position. Yet, Xane had managed to revive his father's business and built his own empire.

He had been voted as one of the youngest billionaires on the Forbes four years ago. However, he always kept a low profile so no one knew who he really was or had dated in the past. He was a mystery and he planned to remain that way.

******

"Clara seriously!" Jessy yelled from afar as she held onto Zaphire and Maya. "You need to get off your damn phone now!"

The women were walking down the streets to one of the clubs. Clara giggled and squeezed her phone back into her mini Chanel flap bag as she followed them closely.

"It's your fault," Zaphire blamed Jessy.

"What? Why me?" Jessy groaned.

"You forced her to play that stupid app," Maya said.

"Hey there's a difference between suggesting and forcing. I didn't hold a knife to her throat and force her to do it alright!" Jessy defended. "Besides, you guys didn't say a thing when I came up with the idea!"

"You guys talk as if I'm not here," Clara muttered and wrapped her arms around Maya's arms.

The girls have already had their first round at Rimbo's and Jessy thought it would be nice to explore a few nice clubs downtown.

"So this club we're going to is one of Edward's," Jessy explained as they made their ways to the entrance. Edward was the man that Jessy had met on the dating app and they had started dating three months ago.

Once they reached the entrance, there were people lining up outside. Jessy waved at one of the bouncers at the front door and the bouncer ushered them to their table inside.

They had ordered a few shots and a bottle of whiskey.

"So how was it?" Maya smirked, clearly asking Clara about Xane.

"He's nice! A very normal guy. And I like talking to him," Clara smiled as she recalled Xane's voice over the phone.

"But?" Jessy drawled.

"But what?" Clara frowned.

"There's always a but." Jessy rolled her eyes.

"There's no but in this because there's nothing going on between us. We're just friends," Clara explained.

"That may lead to something else," Zaphire added.

"Uh oh..." Clara shook her head. "I actually like him as a friend. Not gonna ruin it. We haven't even met yet!"

"Are you going to meet him then?" Jessy asked as she thanked the waiter when he had placed their drinks on the table.

"Yeah. He did ask me out a few times. But I said no because I thought I'd give it a little more time. Just like how you'd suggested," Clara answered.

"Better make it fast. Before he hops onto another boat," Jessy suggested.

"Well if that's how it's gonna be. Then let it be. Like I said... we're just friends," Clara shrugged.

She had sworn not to get her hopes up for anything. This way only lay heartbreak. She was not ready to go through another one.

Clara doled out the shots that were lined with salt. "Can we just enjoy our night and not think about men?"

"Cheers," she said and brought the glass to her lips to take the shot, feeling the immediate burning sensation as it went down her throat.

Jessy had pulled the three of them to the dance floor. The club was electric tonight, everyone feeding off of smiles and fast dancing. Clara felt alive. The music was like a drug that brought her higher, higher until her mind was buzzed with pure joy for the first time since her breakup. She felt like she was back in her 20 again, dancing her worries away with her girlfriends.

******

Sweeping his gaze over the crowd at the dance floor, Xane gulped down another glass of his cognac. It was his fourth glass now. Something inside him had screamed at him to look at the dance floor.

What is wrong with me?

Nausea clenched his belly as he noticed a woman with her hair tied in a high bun. Initially he had thought she was just another stranger with her hair tied up, it reminded him of Clara.

And then the woman turned slightly, before stopping to respond to something one of her friends had whispered into her ear. It was enough to give Xane a proper glimpse of her profile.

A small straight nose, determined chin, and a lush mouth with the slightest hint of an overbite—which he thought was an adorable imperfection in a world obsessed with perfection. Certainty slammed into him on the heels of that thought—it had to be her.

Everything went into slow motion as she finally turned and faced him directly, smiling at her friends. Xane lost his breath at the sight.

"Shit," Xane groaned at himself as his eyes feasted on her from head to toe.

Her tight black dress hugged her every curve, showing off her exquisite body which was a perfect mix of toned and curvy.

She was dancing like no one was watching. Arms flailing in the sky above her. She'd occasionally laughed and covered her face in embarrassment when one of her girlfriends did a ridiculous move on the dance floor. It was obvious that she was not the prettiest among them but Xane only had eyes on her.

"What are you looking at?" Tyler asked when he noticed a smile crept across his brother's face, causing him to follow the direction of his gaze.

"I found her," Xane said under his breath before making his way to the dance floor.