Chapter 2

LIZA POV

“So we are 8 in my family. And there are 3 sets of twins. Basically, there are just four kids, just that we multiplied and became 8. So I have a twin brother. Hehe! We call him Four because he has four toes on his left foot, which means he has only 9 toes. And guess what they call me?” 

Alan, Alarm, or whoever this fucker was grinned excitedly from across the table. 

I picked over the menu card which was my umbrella, gracefully shielding me from the spitting rain that he showered on me non-stop.

“Six,” I replied letting out a very weird grin. The menu card didn’t just serve as an umbrella, but it was a shield that hid my super crossed face.

“Bingo! They call me Six. I have 6 toes on my right foot. And that means I have 11 toes in total. We like to joke with it that I stole a toe from him when we were in the womb.” He let out a cackle as he happily laughed and began glancing around. He was such a happy man!

“This restaurant is so whacked! Why haven’t they served us already?” He asked fixing his red tie over a lime green suit he had on. Just the color combination made me want to run for the hills screaming.

The man in front of me was the opposite definition of decent, and I had so many questions as to how and where my mom stumbled upon him.

“So what do you do?” he asked reclining in his seat.

“Me? I am just an assistant.” I said setting the menu card down. Now that he was leaning backward, I hope the spitting rain wasn’t going to reach me.

“Oh. That’s a decent job. I am a manager at Clover.” He boasted and I almost lost it. I fixed my glasses and the scarf I wrapped around my head, made sure it was well fastened under my chin.

“Oh wow. I heard it’s a pretty big company.” I commented because inside, I was dying. I wanted to laugh so hard because trust me, I wasn’t expecting that.

“Yeah! I kind of have connections with the CEO, she is like my cousin.” He said and this time, I choked on my own saliva.

I reached for my handbag and searched for mint candies. I had to redirect the conversation before I blew my cover-up. How the hell did I even end up here?

“You like mint candies?” I offered and he reached out with his hand, his fingers grazing my hand causing my skin to crawl painfully. Gosh, this was the biggest holocaust in the history of deadly disasters. I was on a date. Not just that, but with my 'cousin'.

While he chewed on the candy like a dog, with spit literally gushing out of his mouth, I opened my phone and decided to do something else. Anything to keep my mind off the horrible creature in front of me. I opened my mails and scrolled through them, his voice fading into the background as I got sucked in by my world. 

“You aren’t listening.” He banged his fist against the table causing me to yelp hard from shock as the cutlery went ballistic. I relaxed and gave him an apologetic smile.

“I am sorry I just had to reply to my boss,” I informed, and right at that moment, my phone buzzed and I nearly screamed halleluiah when Gail’s name popped up on the screen.

“I am sorry. But I have to take this! It’s work.” I informed already slipping out of the seat and ran to the small terrace.

“How is it going?” Gail inquired with laughter already dripping from her tone. Fuck her and her perfect life, she found this insanely amusing.

“You are lucky you ain’t stuck with a narcissist weirdo in a lime green suit with six toes and has a breath worse than a dog’s. Not only that, he ‘works at Clover and is the CEO’S s cousin.” I gave her the briefest explanation of the disaster I was currently in, causing her to double over with laughter.

“Bitch!” I cursed and looked back at my dear date that was checking himself in a… Is that a mirror? Oh, God! I slapped my palm on my face and turned forward, this couldn’t be happening. Mom was going to pay for this one!

“Well, that sounds fun.” She said as she heaved through heavy peals of laughter,

“But I didn’t call for that. There’s an emergency.” She informed causing my mood to shift so quickly I almost saw stars.

“What’s up?”

“The Balu Auction was brought forward. The reason is, the owner tried to sieve out the participants since there was like, a whole bazillion of them. Sooooooooooo…” Her voice trailed,

“When will it be? It was supposed to be held next week Friday.”

“Yahp. But there's a change of plans. It’s a week ahead. I forwarded the email to you and it's...”

“This Friday.” I cut her voice and she gave me a small ‘uh-huh’!

“Oh my goodness!” Things couldn’t get any worse now, could they?

“So what do we do?” Her voice boomed in the speaker as I placed my hand on my waist,

“We cancel everything for tomorrow and Friday, and then we fly to Nebraska by tomorrow."

“About that, it’s Jord’s big day at school and I promised to be there for him. His dad…” 

“I get it, girl. It's okay, really! Don’t beat yourself for that. Stay behind and take care of my nephew, then take care of things at the office. I’ll handle the auction.” I said with a small smile because I knew I was leaving my baby in capable hands. Gail Clovis wasn’t just a best friend, but she was Clover’s most crucial asset the company could ever possess.

We talked a bit and then cut the call, then walked back into the restaurant to find my date fuming.

“You know what, I have a life also. I am the manager at the biggest company in California and I refuse to have my time wasted by a lowly assistant like you. Today was your lucky day because I was going to take you to my house, and show you that I am a good man and I can take care of you with my money. I’m pretty sure you earn not more than 800$ a month. And now here you are…”

 HIS! SHEER! NERVE!

 I didn’t waste time; I quickly yanked off the scarf from my head and took off the glasses, then watched as his expression dropped from pure brashness to utmost abashment and total ignominy.

“L-Li… L-Liza Forbes?” He stammered as he shot out of his seat on a reflex.

“Sit down please.” The playful look on my face was long gone, and by now I was in a badass mood, ready to yank this faggot off his high horse. He slowly sat down and gulped audibly.

“Listen here Alan, Alex, Alarm or whatever they call you. You are in no place to talk about wastage of time because the little minutes I spent here listening to your ridiculous stories of how you got six toes, I would have made more than a million-dollar. But instead, I sat here, gave you the ear while all you did was spit in my face. I am not just a mere assistant, I am the CEO of Clover, and trust me; I know for sure there isn’t someone like you in my company. Now pick up your damn jaw from the ground. Had you been nice, I would have considered hiring you. But you decided to be a dick. Which was rather very sad of you.” I said and began gathering my things, ready to get the hell out of this place.

“I… I d-didn’t know it’s you.” He said in a small voice, almost melting into the seat!

“How can you not recognize your cousin, ‘cousin’?” I called out and stood up, then looked down at him.

“The bill is on the house. If you don’t mind, I have gold to mine”