"If you weren't Xavier Salvador, who would you have been. What would you have loved to become."
Xavier smirked, still eating his pancakes, "Certainly not a chef."
She shrugged, "You cook so well but honestly I'm curious. Tell me. If you didn't have Salvador's conglomerate to manage, what would it have been for you?"
He paused, then a frown flickered on his face before he replaced it with a smug grin, "Nothing. Mr. Dominic saw to it that my mind was shaped to be CEO and nothing else. I was basketball president, music instructor, and soccer coach," He tilted his head back, watching her intrigued face.
"Funny thing is that I hated soccer, thought basketball sucked, and was horrible in singing though good with the instrument. The point was that" He smiled, "He saw to it that I was always a leader. Have this thirst for power, used to people followi
Maya closed her laptop with a sigh, done pretending to herself that a Marathon of Never have I ever, will take her mind off Xavier. It was no use as the replay of what had happened in the kitchen kept making a return in her head, without her own volition. She heard the revving of an engine, making her sigh in relief. Finally, Xavier was gone, she'll be able to leave her room now without the risk of running into him and hearing him try to pacify her with lies. God, her face should as well be uploaded to the word pathetic in the dictionary. Just remembering the pity in his eyes as he had looked at her made her tummy remain in knots. He had looked at her like she would a homeless wet dog. Like he was scared she might just slit her wrist or do something even nastier if she didn't get some kind of cooked-up validation from him. Her tummy rumbled, she checked t
Maya wondered if she was going too far at her charade as her lips quivered, tears gliding down her cheeks while Jessica rubbed her back comfortingly. She raised her head Peeking at him through her lashes, he looked disheveled and completely out of it. Deciding to end his misery and Jessica's, she stood up and then glaring at him, she shook her head, "Now I think you are punished enough for calling me fat, undesirable, and not your type. What do you have to say?" A smile teased Jessica's lips making Maya shocked while at this point Xavier was leaning on a chair, his eyes that of incredulity and wonder not knowing Maya had it in her to pull such a stunt. "I'll give it to you, you have talent but I didn't know when I had seen the signs, you know your Pinocchio telltale but I decided that Xavier deserved to suffer too."  
No, that'll not happen. I won't let Maya be exposed to such Ever." Xavier glared at the man who'd suggested something so outrageous and satisfied with how hard he'd gulped in fear, he tucked his hand into his pocket about walking out when he saw Maya. Her hair was disheveled. She was just waking up from sleep. She was barefooted which explained why they had not heard her come in. "What won't you let me be exposed to?" Her voice was tiny and her eyes wide. Seeing Xavier in such a mood was not really a new sight but knowing he was this riled up because of something that was connected to her, was a whole new foreign land. A land she was scared of exploring and figuring out. So she'd allowed it to remain a patch of just green grass and dirt in her head. "Maya, you are up?" His Rolex shiny watch caught her eyes and then she took in his white shirt, tucked into grey pant
"Stay poised, smile, and joke your way through a sensitive question, your head should be straight and your shoulders poised at all times. Looking away is a sign of weakness avoid it." Laura quickly mumbled as the tech guy announced that the interview was about to commence in five minutes. "Lastly, don't ever be silent, being quiet is an admission of its own. Avoid it." Maya smiled at her even though she felt like screaming and asking her to stop making her even more nervous. Xavier had refused to come to the studio saying that he can't watch insensitive questions being jabbed at her and not be tempted to hit the annoying popular news anchor of everything celebrity, Mr. Sampson on his mouth. The bigger the party, the merrier and that was why they had decided to go on National TV rather than the local reporters who wanted an interview. Consequently, that decision also came with the infamous anchor know
"You did good baby," Xavier whispered, kissing the top of Maya's head. She looked at him, still shocked to see him. The shock she haven't recovered from ever since he burst into the room breathless and noticing she was staring at him, he had given her a heart halting grin and a thumbs up. The rest of the interview had happened with Mr. Sampson, shaking like he was the one being interviewed even though he held the questions. "I'm so glad to see you." She whispered. "Hello, we are here too." Jasmine butted in, smirking. Maya turned to face them all, Mrs. Laura, Melissa, Jessica, and Jasmine. "Thank you all for showing up." "We couldn't possibly let you have all the fun of kicking that anchor's ass on TV," Jasmine smirked while the rest Chuckled. "Quite a nice surprise to see Mr. Sampson being at the receiving end of the glowering, smirking, and ev
"So what next?" Maya asked Mrs. Laura. It has been two weeks since the interview and there has been no sign of her blackmailer, taking the bait. The interview was meant on publicizing where she stayed which was in turn supposed to make her vulnerable to their attacks but so far nothing has happened even the threat mails have abruptly stopped coming. "It is obviously not working," Xavier snapped, "Can't believe you have to go through all that trouble for nothing at all, even worst I can't believe you talked me into agreeing to such ploy." She rolled her eyes, "Don't you think you are crying More than the bereaved. I was the one interviewed, the one who has a serial killer on her tail and probably with any slight mistake the one who might end up ___" He slapped his hand firmly over her mouth and then with a warning glare he shook his head, "You should never talk about that ever. You won
"What do you mean by nobody showed up?" His new substitute assistant flinched at his outburst. He was the 3rd in a week. Xavier narrowed his gaze on him, even as he smacked his lips and tried to compose his expression. "It's either they are suspicious or they are off my back. Nobody showed off." Maya repeated. "I did everything as we planned," Maya's voice was low and gravelly making him angry that this was putting her through a lot of stress. Emotionally and physically. "I went to the House to pick up the duffel bag as we've planned," "Maya." His voice was a whisper, "Deep breaths." He coaxed. He could almost imagine her rubbing her hand on her face and then with her hands now wrapped around her body, she takes a careful burst of deep needed breath. "Maya all will be fine, soon." He sat down on his seat, his hand ruffling hi
Maya waited impatiently, even as she heard the doorknob turn, to resist the urge to take a little peek of where they went she placed her palm over her face. She understood that he didn't want her to know where his treasure laid so she didn't go there all the time hence the blindfold but damn, the wait was Killing. The smell of paint hit her nose even before he lightly shoved her and then removed the blindfold from her eyes. In split seconds her eyes was adjusting to the light in the room. Pale grey walls, windows that showed off the city but she could tell the pedestrians didn't have the same luxury. Her eyes then landed on the paintings hung on the wall. Her legs made their way to them before she could stop herself, her fingers tracing one of the pictures of a boy writhing in his bed, underneath it lay hands clawing on his neck more like a Dropbox exposing his horrifying dreams. Maya