“Hi! Elena…” she greeted me before smiling sweetly my way.
“Hi, Millie. Looking forward to the party?” I asked as I smiled back at her.
She’s such a cute girl, really. It took quite a while for her to warm up to me and come to terms with the fact that I’m dating her father. Now, I could proudly say that we are on very friendly terms.
“Yes! Let’s go!” Millie cried out cheerfully.
“Right. Let’s go!” I also cried out excitedly as I mimicked her cheerful pose.
Adrian took her hand and together the three of us walked to the car. The nanny helped put her backpack in the bag seat of the car along with Millie while Adrian and I rode in the front seats. At times like these, I couldn’t help but feel like we really were a family. Millie chatted away about some toys that she played with and what was happening at school with her friends.
Adrian made appropriate comments here and there while I listened to their conversation. I felt a small tug on my hand and realized that Adrian had started holding my hand in his. His hand around mine was warm and I couldn’t help but smile a little at him. The tender touch of his hand and the family-like atmosphere in the car reminded me that once, I too, had a family like this.
It was a short drive to Millie’s friend house where the party was taking place. My job for today was to act as Adrian’s girlfriend and Millie’s new mother. From what I’ve been told, Adrian and Millie’s mother divorced when she was just a baby. From then on, Adrian had been raising Millie as a single father. Now that Millie is growing up and socializing more with the people around her, Adrian’s family wanted him to remarry to find a new mother for Millie and to produce more children. The classic rich and demanding family story.
If your family isn’t perfect, it was very hard for you to avoid dark gossips in high society. Adrian’s divorce from his ex-wife was having many negative repercussions on Millie. Now that she has grown up enough to understand a bit of what was going on, she was feeling the negative impacts firsthand such as being teased at school for not having a mother. That was where I entered into the picture.
“We’ve arrived,” Adrian said as he got out of the car and opened the door for Millie.
“Yay!” Millie cried out happily before laughing.
I offered the girl my hand and she took it while smiling up at me. We led her inside the house where her friends were already there playing with some games.
“Adrian, so happy that you and Millie could make it,” a woman with blonde hair and a very beautiful smile greeted us at the door.
This must be one of the hosts for today’s party. The mother of one of Millie’s friends, I quickly took mental note. She’s a target for me to impress as Adrian’s girlfriend and Millie’s mother.
“We’re glad to be here. Thanks so much for the invitation. Millie has been excited and looking forward to this party,” Adrian replied before smiling politely at her.
Her eyes were immediately on me, and I smiled at her while I waited for Adrian to introduce me. This is the first time that he’s introducing me into Millie’s world of acquaintances and failure on my part wasn’t an option.
“This is Elena, she’s my girlfriend,” Adrian introduced me with a proud smile before putting an arm around my waist.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said, my voice sweet and dripping with honey.
“Wow. I didn’t know that Adrian had a girlfriend. I’m Gemma, Isabelle’s mother. You two come inside,” Gemma said.
By this time, Millie had already rushed into the house to join the rest of her friends. We both followed Gemma inside of her house. The kids had formed their own group to play games and the parents had formed another group to socialize while they waited for their kids to be done. It was a simple and clean set up that allowed both age groups to past the time enjoyably.
“This way,” Gemma said as she led Adrian and I to the sofa where the other parents were chatting.
“I’m Adrian, Millie’s father and this is my girlfriend, Elena. Nice to meet you,” Adrian introduced us flawlessly as I plastered on one of my most charming smiles.
If nothing else, I knew that I was an easy sight on the eyes. It was common for people to think that I’m nothing more than a beautiful face and that worked in my favor most of the time. Honestly, you have to look at least above decent to date billionaires and Adrian was definitely one of them.
“So, Elena, what do you do?” one of the women in the group asked.
It was one of the most common questions that I would get whenever I went out with my clients. The way that everyone was looking at me made it clear that they were wondering how I managed to hook someone has handsome and rich as Adrian. The fact that he hasn’t been in a relationship for many years probably only added to the mystery.
“I’m a designer. I own my own line of clothes and accessories. I have a degree in business management, but I honestly feel more inclined towards design. So, combining my passion for fashion and my background in business, I somehow managed to launch my own fashion line,” I replied flawlessly before smiling warmly at my audiences.
It wasn’t a lie. I did own a small company that sells clothes and accessories produced based on my own original designs. Obviously, the company was small and couldn’t support my current lifestyle or the overwhelming amount of debt that I had on my shoulders. Obviously, these people didn’t need to know that.
“Wow…that’s amazing…” one of the men said as he smiled at me.
Some men are easy to bewitch and this gentleman here is definitely one of them. They asked me a couple of other questions before the conversation finally steered in a different direction. I could feel Adrian’s eyes on me as I conversed fluidly with the other parents. Whenever our eyes met, I would smile at him to assure him that I was fine and that everything was going according to plan.
“Why don’t we all head out to the garden for some drinks? I’ve already prepared everything outside,” Gemma suggested energetically.
“That’s a great idea,” another parent said.
“Yeah…let’s do that,” another woman readily agreed.
“We should have enough nannies to cover the kids,” another mother said before smiling brightly.
--To be continued…
“What are you sorry about, Elena? Are you sorry for turning me down?” he asked.His cold and very calm tone made my body tremble, and I could feel myself sweating from my own nervousness. I wanted to answer him but then I realized that I didn’t know what I was sorry for. “Please let me go home. I’ll make it up to you another day,” I said to excuse myself for the day. I turned to reach for the car door and once again I felt his grip on my arm pulling me back. It was rare for Brandon to act persistent like this, and it just made me want to scream at him out of frustration. I whirled around to face him ready to do just that.“What is it that you really want?” I spat. “To have sex with you,” he replied smoothly.“You know well that that isn’t want I’m talking about…” I said through clenched teeth as my frustration quickly turned to anger. “What’s wrong, Elena? If you can do it with him in the hospital, surely, you can do it with me here in the car…” he said as he stared at me with a v
The lights turned green, and we were on our way again. Our brief yet intense conversation came to a pause. We were getting close to the intersection where Brandon would usually let me off so that I could walk back to my place. The night felt darker than normal, and I wasn’t sure if that was because of my mood or not. Not a lot of cars were on the road which thankfully made the traffic lighter than normal. “Should we go to your room? It’s supposed to be really close by, isn’t it?” he suggested seductively. I turned to give him a curious look. His sudden question came out of nowhere and it surprised me even more to find that he seemed quite serious about it. My lips curved into a smile before I automatically began laughing it off as a passing comment that didn’t mean anything. “Thanks for driving me back,” I said as I reached for the door. There was no point in delaying my departure any further. We had arrived at the spot where I was supposed to get off and so I should do exactly th
“Yes, and I like it that way as long as I’m the only one buying,” he replied without missing a heartbeat. I bit hard on my lower lip when I had to admit to myself that I had asked him the wrong question and had invited this misfortune upon myself. His hand around mine felt warm and his grip was firm as he pulled me after him toward his car. Something told me that he wasn’t kidding when he said that. I let out a sigh when I resigned myself to following him silently to his car. Fortunately, there weren’t many cars on the road and traffic was extremely light. That meant that it wouldn’t take too long for him to drop me off so that I could walk back to my place. It wasn’t like I was scared of him, but I did feel uncomfortable being in the enclosed space of the car with him alone. The revealing and brightly colored dress that I had on did not make me feel better and I wondered why I wasn’t smart enough to opt for a pair of pants and matching blazer instead. Everything might have been in
The desire that I sensed in his intense gaze made my heartbeat quicken despite the many times that I told myself silently in my head to remain calm. My lips felt dry, and my tongue instinctively moved to lick my lower lip. “Thanks for the advice, I guess. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave so you can get back to whatever it was you were working on,” I muttered softly as I tried my best to excuse myself. “One more thing before you go,” he said to halt my departure.This time it was Brandon who got out of his seat. I turned my head around as he walked toward the worktable in the room. To my surprise, he returned with a box. Brandon came to stand right in front of me before shoving the box toward me. “What is this?” I asked with a hint of suspicion. “Open it and you’ll see,” he said without answering my question. “Ok…” I murmured while feeling slightly confused. It was so like Brandon to be mysterious about everything. With what had just happened between us, I didn’t think
Maybe, just maybe, things would have turned out differently if he hadn’t left me. If we never broke up, my life might have been better or more normal. I was very tempted to think that it was his fault that I ended up the way I was. If I had been younger and less experienced, I would have thought exactly that. That it was all because he dumped me that I was forced to marry George to save my family’s face. Back then, I was too heartbroken to think straight or resist my parent’s proposal. The man that I chose out of my own free will had betrayed me and suddenly left. I was too shocked to even face reality and the mistake that I made. It made me lose all self-confidence that I could make any correct decisions in my life and that perhaps, my parents were the ones who knew better. If I had been younger, I would have pinned everything on Brandon as his fault. However, I was no longer that young, fresh, and green. I looked up and I couldn’t hold in my giggle and ended up laughing softly at
There were many things that I needed to apologize for, and I was certain that he knew that already. It was unfortunate, but I wasn’t in a position with a whole lot of bargaining power, and he absolutely knew that as well. It wasn’t going to be easy, but he wanted to hear me say it, then I had no other choice but to say it. “That day at the hospital, I was unprofessional. Although I was supposed to be working for you, I ended up serving another client when we happened to run into each other…” I said before I pressed my lips tightly into a thin line. My throat and my lips felt dry, and I had to run my tongue along my lower lip. Brandon did not say anything, and he did not seem at all impressed at my attempt to do things his way. His eyes stared coldly at me, and I knew that he was waiting for me to go on. “This is all still kind of new for me, and yes, I know that it’s not a great excuse, but I didn’t know how to handle running into two of my clients at the same time. I panicked…” I
Just as I had expected, within the already very private space was another level of privacy when he led me to a private room. Once again, I began to wonder what exactly Brandon had planned. Although he appeared the way that he always did, I couldn’t deny that the atmosphere between us was unusually tense. I wondered if he also felt the way that I did or if I was the only one who felt unusually stiff while we were together. “Sit anywhere you like,” he instructed casually as he gestured to the large set of white sofas in the middle of the room. My eyes scanned the pristinely white and modern interior of the private room that we were in. Apart from the large sofa set that was in the middle of the room, there was a very large shiny white work desk with a matching white leather chair. Brandon must have been working in this room before my arrival because his laptop still had its lid open on the table. “I didn’t know that you liked working in shared working spaces nowadays…” I said to make
Brandon was definitely the heir to the largest chain of casinos on top of hotels for sure. Brandon never played any game unless he was the gamemaster. I have never seen him lose a bet before either in my life. George was seriously a fool to think that he could win against Brandon and at his own casino at that. So now, what game is he going to make me play?The only way to find out was to ask him. I thought that that was ironic in and of itself. If I had to pick, then I would say that I would prefer not to see Brandon. Although what happened was more my fault than his, my desire to hide away from him outweighed my rational sense and reason to want to meet him. Before I would chicken out and change my mind, I took out my phone and sent a simple text to Brandon. ‘Where and when do you want to meet me?’ I counted silently in my mind to around twenty as I stared at my phone screen. Just as I had anticipated, Brandon sent me back a reply within that timeframe. Had he been expecting for m
“About that trip to the orphanage that we were talking about…” he began before looking at me as if to gauge my reaction. “I’d still love to go if you still want me to,” I replied almost immediately. “Really?” Adrian asked with such an excited look on his face. Suddenly, he appeared much younger and a lot more innocent. Just like an excited little boy who had successfully invited his friend on a trip, he beamed a smile at me. With what had happened between us, maybe he thought that I would have changed my mind about going on a trip with him. If he was someone else, that might have turned out to be the case. However, if I was being honest, I really looked forward to going on that trip with him. It wasn’t just because it was a chance to spend more time with Adrian, but the idea of visiting orphanages felt like the right thing to do for me. Getting in contact with my past life might do me some good and help me figure out something about my sense of self and who I was. After being adop