THREE

Tristan’s POV

10:45 pm Thursday, 7th of July.

I could feel fatigue wash over my entire body, but I couldn’t afford to sleep. There was still so much to be done in the company and I couldn’t afford any time of rest. Enrique was already dealing with the assignment I gave him which means that he might not have much time to deal with official work.

He didn’t complain though, but I couldn’t let the guy overwork himself. He’s my assistant, not my slave. Due to barely having any sleep last night, I decided to have breakfast at a regular restaurant. Just to get a coffee and some snacks that’ll keep me running for the day.

After taking my seat, I looked around me. It had been a long time since I had been to joints like this. I’m either at the bar or home. If I needed doughnuts or burgers, I could always get someone to get them for me. Being gave me a familiar sense of nostalgia.

“Good morning, Mister. What can I get you...” The soft voice of a lady attracted my attention, and I noticed a young lady with long black hair that was tied into a ponytail and desert-brown eyes standing before me with a notepad in her hands. Her cheeks seemed to have freckles and she looked cute. Her figure wasn’t bad either and she seemed... kind of perfect.

It took me a few seconds of looking at her to appreciate her beauty. A thought occurred to me, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit curious about her. Well, apart from physical appearances, she didn’t seem quite bright, as she had been staring at me for almost a minute.

“Hello, are you going to take my order or are you going to keep staring at me?” I questioned, snapping her out of her daze. After coming to her senses, her cheeks turned red, and she began to apologize. I kept a cold look and gave her my order. I still noticed her take glances at me, but I didn’t care. I just wanted something to eat, as my belly was rumbling.

It took exactly a minute for her to deliver my food and I didn’t hesitate to order for take away. I wasn’t really hungry until I tasted food. Now I just can’t get enough of it.

I was just about to leave when I left some cash on the table. I didn’t need to know the price of the food, because I dropped an amount twice the original price of the food. Before leaving, however, I decided to do something first. I walked to the counter and approached the lady who served me.

“Hey...” I called and got her attention. A smile appeared on her face but seeing it, for some reason, she seemed a bit more charming.

“Hello, sir. How may I help you?” She questioned.

“Nothing much. May I know your name?” I questioned, making sure to be as direct as possible.

“Okay. I’m Adrianna. Is there something wrong?” She answered.

“No. Not at all.” I replied while I racked my brain to find an excuse to give her, “I just thought you were sort of familiar.” I replied and turned to leave.

“See you, Adrianna.” I waved slightly before leaving the restaurant. I didn’t care about her reaction and just went back to my car. However, I couldn’t help but keep thinking about that smile. It seemed... a little too perfect.

Sometimes, hidden things tend to have the best disguise. There was something beneath that smile, and I felt that I could use that to my advantage.

‘I’ll need to run a background check on her.’ I thought before starting the car and racing back to the office.

Once I reached my office, I began working again. So much paperwork and organizing to do. I couldn’t help but heave a deep sigh before getting back to work. It wasn’t long until I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in.” I approved without even taking a look at who was at the door. Upon hearing the door click, I instinctively looked at who was coming in and I noticed that it was Enrique. He had an ecstatic look on his face which got me somewhat curious.

“Good morning, sir.” he greeted before taking a seat. I didn’t ask him to, but he seemed too ecstatic to do so, and I couldn’t bother about his manners right now. “I did some digging since that day, and I found a few results that you might like.” He said and handed me a file collage. I was quite surprised by his efficiency. I thought it would probably take about four to five days to complete, but he did it in two. And I was even more impressed when I opened the contents of the book.

“Wow... I didn’t know you would go this much into detail. This is kinda impressive.” I commended as I read through the file. On the paper were different pictures of ladies and their personal information such as name, occupation, and even their body structure information. I was astounded by the intricate details being displayed by each lady and I couldn’t help but wonder how Enrique did it.

“Damn... you sure put a lot of effort into this. Why didn’t you join the security agencies?” I asked but he laughed and scratched his head embarrassingly.

“Well, sir... I have lots of friends everywhere. They did some of the dirty work for me, and I just combined mine with it and collected the info and packaged them in one place.” he explained, and I nodded.

I looked through all their faces, as that was the first thing I would check. My plan was a long-term one, and I wouldn’t want to have a not-so-good-looking lady around me every time. Once I singled out the pretty ladies from the ones I wasn’t interested in, I would now begin to look at the physical features. After doing this, over seventy percent of the over fifty women on this file were eliminated instantly. The rest were being accessed by their occupation and their daily routine.

Seeing this, I almost shuddered. I don’t want to be the ladies here, being stalked like this was kind of inappropriate, but desperate cause required desperate measures. I read through their daily routines as this shows some details about them that you won’t notice when you’re just seeing them physically.

After checking occupations, I removed the ladies who were working in the company. I didn’t want to pretend to have something for my employees. I liked my face a little too much.

I kept scrolling through the list, but I couldn’t find the right one. I couldn’t believe that in over seventy women, I couldn’t find any interesting one. All of them were... just not my type. At the same time, seeing the look on Enrique’s face, I didn’t want to make him feel disheartened. After all, this was his hard work.

However, after running the business for some years, I learned a few things, I can’t always forsake my desires for another person’s happiness. Instead, I either give them something we can both derive from or just go for my own desires.

“Well...” he uttered after he saw me drop the files.

“Well... I haven’t found a suitable one yet.” I broke it to him and just as expected, he was shocked at first before looking a bit confused and sad. “It’s not that these women aren’t good enough, but it’s just that they don’t have some qualities that I need. Apart from appearance, I need ladies with an occupation different from this company, and highly intelligent. From the detailed daily routine, I can already discern a few things. You did a good job, but these women aren’t what I want.” I tried to sound less cold and it kind of worked.

“Alright, sir. Then can you give me a more detailed description?” He requested. I nodded and was just about to give him another description when I suddenly remembered my little encounter with that waitress in the morning.

“Rather than give you a description, I have something better,” I claimed. Enrique raised a brow, and he shot me a confused and curious face.