A week later
Valerie Hawkins stared at the back of the driver's seat with her gaze latched unto the happenings of the past few days. Right after she was discharged from the hospital with a diagnosis of an early pregnancy, Val became perturbed as to what to do. The thought of aborting it crossed her mind, and once with a pill in hand, Val found herself unable to make such a huge decision all alone. She'd never been faced with a greater difficulty all her life and she had no idea. On one hand she didn't want to commit herself to anything of the sort and on the other, she felt the need to hold on to this as a memory of the only true thing she never came to regret in her life. However, something told her she wasn't capable of being a single mother.Val had no one to confide in except that one person. But she had no way of finding him. Everything was on the brink of crumbling until suddenly her phone rang. Cautious as to whom it was, Val took a while to pick up the call. However, what ensued wasn't in any way what she had ever expected."Hello, Stranger" she couldn't believe that he was the one speaking, Val could make any other mistake but that didn't include mistaking his voice for any other person's. It was her stranger!Apparently, his name was Bob Richardson and he had called to meet with Val for some extremely important business, based on his words. Val was obviously skeptical at first and thus, she chose a public place to meet when he asked. His identity was still unknown to her and she was done trusting people blindly.Ever since that call, Val came to the conclusion that even she had a very important reason to meet him.She looked down on her belly with a small smile on her face following that thought and placed her hands gently over it. Deeply in thought.The Italian heritaged driver hummed and whistled along the tune of the music being played in the car with a shake of his head at every single part of the song. To him, the world had never been any better. He could see the dejected expression on the face of the woman sitting behind in his car through the rearview mirror but he decided to stay clear off her business. It wasn't the first time he'd get yelled at for intruding in people's thoughts and he's learned his lesson. Suddenly, he felt something vibrate in his left pocket and he quickly reached to pick it up after seeing who it was."Hello, Mio amat-""Vaffanculo, Mateo! I warned you not to sborra dentro that last time we had it, no? Now look what you have fucking done!!" Mateo was cut off his teasing chuckle by the yelling feminine voice of the person on the other end of the call."Ayy, Mio amatio, what are you tal-king abbout?"Valerie was brought out of her thought overhearing the little 'commotion' upfront. She couldn't help but listen in on the conversation between the Italian driver and the one who seemed to be his lover from the way he addressed her."You bastarde, Sei uno stronzo!"Even with the mobile being handheld by Mateo, Val could hear the crazy insults of English-Italian vocab pouring out from the woman on the other side of the line. The conversation was full of nothing but insults from his lover and Val couldn't help but wonder just what he'd done to make her this furious and hurt. She knew Italian women were irritant and cursed alot but, hell, this woman was so deep in there.Worse was that, Mateo didn't even seem to know what he'd done wrong as he just kept inquiring despite all the insults taken. The thick Italian accent was quite disturbing, but it was a common thing in San Francisco. "What, preggnant?? Col cavolo!"Val's heart dropped hearing the word 'pregnant' out of nowhere and she unconsciously jerked into conscience. It was as though Mateo was addressing her in the instance. She was about to open her mouth to utter insults and inquire how he'd known she was pregnant only to stop to gain back control of herself when she heard him speak to the person on the other side of the call again."Mio amatio, I'll call you backe, I'm at worrk right' now. Ciao now, kisses" He said and ended the call without a care as to what his supposed other significant had to say.Silence reigned in the car again and as Valerie tried to calm her agitated heart and wondered what Mateo's next action would be, as she kept wondering if he'd consider the chance of him being a father and as she continued to observe, she couldn't have experienced any worse surprise. She could only stare in disbelief when Mateo slowed down the car to simply pull out a cigar from his chest pocket while he reached to resume playing the music from earlier."Do you mind?" He raised the cigar as if to actually ask if Val really minded."No" Val replied with a slight shake of her head. She couldn't believe this was all Mateo could give as a reaction to his lover's pregnant status. She wouldn't be surprised if he deleted her number and literally walked out of their life just like that. Not as though he had ever been in it from the start. Who knows just how many women he'd done this to anyway."Grazie" Mateo expressed, lit up the cigar and hit on the throttle after a few stroke of the cigar to his lungs.Val couldn't help but be scared for herself. She had planned to tell Bob about her state, however, what assurance does she have that he wouldn't react the same way as Mateo? She knew there were men like Mateo and there were other men, but, who would believe she was pregnant from a one night stand and take her word for it?As much as it counted she had been nothing else but a depressed horny whore that night and it was totally a one-off thing, no attachments involved.'I need to reassess before I make any decisions' Val resolved. But deep down in her heart, she could already see two choices and none included her stranger in them. And time wasn't by her side either. She stroked her belly once again."We've arrived at yourr destination" Mateo announced minutes later and Val couldn't help but translate it into "Get outt of my carr, cagna!". Her image of Mateo had sure gone beyond that point.Nonetheless, after making the fare, Val stepped out of the car and couldn't help but look up to catch the exotic view of a steakhouse restaurant, the rooftop of which was the place she had chosen to meet with Bob. Her thrumming heart and her worried mind were completely without synch.She wasn't gonna say she wasn't anxious to meet Bob again, but the thing that troubled her deep down in her mind turned the anxiousness into some sort of worry.Nonetheless, Val proceeded into the steakhouse after a deep inhale and exhale.The few strands of orange hue left by the sunset that painted the sky of Mission district in an avid and passionate evening picturesque could be seen from the rooftop of the steakhouse. The soft breeze of dusk after a relatively sunny day blew gently across and around, causing a relaxing atmosphere. It was so relative to a short holiday after an actual work day. Certainly the perfect place to be, and thus, it was crowded- almost all seats were filled.Patiently waiting for her stranger to come put all her questions in settle, Val sat staring at a point, obviously lost in thought. The environment had her feeling less perplexed and her previously messy thought became much more clear. She was relaxed in the scenery and Val took the time to enjoy the scenery with a glass of margarita set on the table in front of her.Val picked up the margarita, sipped and stared down at the street from above. The lights blessed the evening and created a contrast between the dusk above and the livelihood b
"A divorce?" Val expressed her confusion in an audible mutter."More importantly, what do you mean by you needing my help?" Val leaned forward on the table to ask. The demand in her tone was obvious and the frown on her face indicated her concern. Bob calmly raised his glass and sipped on his drink. He looked at the content in the glass with a melancholic expression on his well-outlined face and he put the glass down on the table after having giving enough thought to what he was going to say." I pretty much remember telling you my wife.. well, cheated on me...?" Val quickly shook herself from her thoughts to listen. She could notice Bob seemed to still be hurt by what he was about to say. Though, now on a lesser scale than what Val remembered from the other night." ... She didn't do it with one man, however. She's whom you'd call a whore, a slut, and basically, a bitch!""Huh!" realizing he'd let out too much irrelevant statements, Bob scoffed softly." Anyway, Val. Even after doi
Few weeks later A luxurious car rolled up in front of a towering dazzling modern commercial building made of more glass than walls. The driver hurried out of the matte black car and hurried to open the back door. A handsome middle-aged man well dressed in a deep blue blazer over a black turtle neck shirt and matching pants, stepped out of the car in his shiny black shoes. His black shiny hair was finely slicked back. Bob stood to tuck on his suit and turned around to offer a hand to the other person in the car. A long slender arm extended out of the car and was gently placed on the man’s hand. The man stepped back as a beautiful blonde lady dressed in white blazers worn over a black formal gown with a small black purse to match, stepped out of the car in leather black sandal heels. Bob smiled at the lady and said to her. “Are you ready, Val?” Valerie who seemed a little below the age of thirty retracted her hands from the gentleman’s and nodded her head as she said. “ I can’t wa
The board room had a delicate interior design of cream and golden. A chandelier hung on the ceiling along with artificial lights that had the whole room looking dimly celestial. Brown curtains with golden embroidery covered the transparent window glasses, efficiently making the business meeting that was going on in the room at the moment seem quite weighty.A screen was cast before the four individuals who sat on the round table in the middle of the room. A man of excellent countenance stood beside the screen and pointed at the screen at intervals as he made explanations as to the statistics on the board. " ... Therefore, you'll agree with me that productions have been steady in the past weeks as illustrated in this chart"" While we managed our best to reduce cost placed on us by both our suppliers and maintenance, it is quite in remorse that I say that the current economy isn't aiding as much as presumed..." " But indeed we've managed to sustain stability in our business through th
Bob stared in silence at his wife for a long while with a delighted smirk on his angular face. Courtney didn't back down either as she glared with a frown on her face at Bob. From Val's perspective, it only seemed like the couple were having a conversation with their gazes. Val just watched this without expressing much of her worry, despite what she was feeling inside. " It's simple..." Bob broke his stare with his wife and turned to face Val as he spoke. " Miss Val here is a very talented asset, and I've gone the extra mile to convince her to put in her talent for our company"' Miss Val?' Courtney creased her gaze." I want her to take the position of Managing director Parrish"Courtney's previously calm expression instantly bittered after hearing Bob's words. She couldn't help but let her eyes widen in utter shock. She stared at Bob like he was crazy or something. However, seeing his firm demeanor, She looked towards the so-called " Miss Val" with extreme prying intent in her gaz
Maggie stood in front of the table with her gaze fixated on the ground and her whole body grew as tense as the room. "Strip!" Courtney ordered in a chill tone that resounded in an echo through the room, making Maggie shiver and shoot her gaze up towards the magnificent lady staring daggers at her from afar. Her heart crossed and her legs became weak just at the sight of the gaze she gave her. Maggie quivered again as she suffered from a blazing cold. This cold wasn't due to the surrounding temperature nor the air conditioner in the room, this was due to the cold gaze that latched unto her from across the table, as over there sat a person that gave her the cold chills. It was like a predator peering a gaze at its prey.Seeing how the CEO creased her gaze, Maggie quickly started to unbutton her cloth. Piece by piece, layer by layer, until she was left only in her black brassiere and lingerie, with her long sexy legs in pantyhose in view. She slowly reached to unbuckle her bra, and let
Monday, following week..." Mark, do you happen to know who the new managing director is?" Asked a brunette lady dressed in a black sleeveless buttoned blazer gown worn over a white shirt, portraying her vase-like curves as she leaned over the long table which the marketing team was seated. With the crease in her almond shaped eyes, one could tell that she was curious to know who the new managing director was. And who better to ask than the assistant manager?Everyone else in the room anticipated the answer of the young looking middle-aged man reclining in his chair with his brown hair standing tall in a neat quiff style. His symmetric jawline was cordially outlined by his beard. It was exactly Mark Hawkins.Mark raised his gaze from his cell phone towards Kaitlyn, " I have no idea, Kate." He shrugged. Mark wasn't in the least worried about a change in who held the position of managing director. Odds are, he'd be named the new managing director. Who knows?Kaitlyn made a difficult fac
Mark quivered as he paced about in his office after the introduction was over. He tried to understand just what was going on.He pondered just how Val had made it into Citadel's, that too becoming the managing director. The last time he checked, wasn't she a customer service assistant? Mark thought even himself, with all the experience he had, couldn't have gone from being a customer service assistant to a managing director within weeks. He knew there had to be a likely story behind it, and he sought to figure it out...Mark stopped on his pace and perched on the ergonomic desk of natural wooden preface. He tapped his index finger on his temple as he tried to recall a clue from his past interaction with Val. He knew she majored Corporate communications in college. Without doubt, it wasn't even about qualifications. ' What then..?'He rummaged in his memory of years spent together with Val, only to end up clueless. That only meant one thing...' Something must have happened after we