3 - The Reason

Amber still couldn’t understand what Scarlet was saying, and she couldn’t understand why Scarlet wanted her to tame her Uncle Stephen. “I won’t do that, Scarlet. I don’t want to get into that kind of game,” said Amber, turning away from her friend.

Amber went to the staff dressing room to get dressed in her uniform for her first job today as a sales lady at a famous store owned by Scarlet. She thought Scarlet was following her, so she turned around, but she saw Scarlet talking to someone. She sighed with relief, thinking that  Scarlet finally stopped teasing her about Stephen, but that was what she felt because when lunch break came, Amber pulled by Scarlet to bring her to her office.

“Let’s have lunch. I made a reservation for us, and we have someone to be with us,” Scarlet said with a smile.

At first, Amber let it go because she thought she and Scarlet might eat lunch together, but she didn’t expect Scarlet to be referring to Stephen.

“What is he doing here?” Amber whispered to Scarlet as she looked at Stephen walking emotionlessly inside Scarlet’s shop.

“I called him to come here,” Scarlet said and walked to meet Stephen. “Hi! It’s good that you arrived; come to my office?” Scarlet happily said to Stephen; Stephen did nothing but follow his niece Scarlet.

As Stephen followed, he saw Amber standing there, avoiding him. Amber would ignore Stephen, but because Scarlet mentioned her name, she looked at Stephen.

“Amber, come to my office too. I will introduce you to my Uncle,” she said, smiling.

Amber wants to tweak Scarlet, but she stops herself. Amber smiled at Scarlet, still not looking at Stephen even though she could feel him staring at her.

She smiled at Scarlet, holding back from hitting her friend. “Of course, I’ll go after you—”

“Come with us,” said Scarlet, taking Amber by the hand. The two of them were the first to walk to Amber’s office, and Stephen followed, ignoring how people looked at him inside Scarlet’s shop.

“So, you already met him, right?” Scarlet asked Amber with a smile when they entered the office.

Amber slowly looked at Stephen, who had his back turned, apparently examining the surroundings. “Uh, yeah...” Amber answered weakly.

When Stephen heard Amber, he turned to the girl with a severe face. “What am I doing here, Scarlet?” Stephen asked Scarlet even though he was looking at Amber.

Amber can’t swallow her saliva because of Stephen’s presence. She couldn’t understand herself as if she became a tiny puppy who suddenly became silent in front of Stephen; unlike last night on their blind date, Stephen was the one who hardly spoke, but now the situation was suddenly reversed; she couldn’t talk because of Stephen’s stares.

“Well, I invited you to have lunch with me and Amber. Because you just arrived this week, and I missed my favorite Uncle,” Scarlet said lamely. “You’re going to take us to a lunch date, right? Me and Amber,” she added.

Stephen looked at the two of them seriously and didn’t even know why he agreed to Scarlet’s desire to come today. “I have a meeting after this, so make sure this lunch ends early,” said Stephen, leaving Scarlet’s office.

Scarlet applauded. “You see that? He agreed! He didn’t say no, even I am with you!” Scarlet happily said to Amber, who was now frowning at her.

“What are you doing?” Amber asked, shaking her head at what Scarlet had done.

“Well, I told you. I want you to tame my Uncle Stephen, so I will be the first to find a way so that you will not have a hard time,” Scarlet said, smiling at Amber.

Amber sighed. “Scarlet, why do you want me to do what you say? Is there no other man that you can order me to tame? Not him, not your Uncle, and Carson’s Uncle,” said Amber, her face seeming to be pleading with Scarlet.

Scarlet held Amber’s hand. “I know you are my best friend, and it’s hard to ask this as a favor to you, but this is my request, Amber. I want you to win Stephen’s heart…” Scarlet stopped speaking and took out her phone. She did something on her phone and showed Amber the screen. “This is my mom, Stephen’s twin sister. I know you know her; you are her favorite among all my friends. You also know that she died because of the accident and because of that tragedy I was not the only one who lost everything...as well as Stephen, who is my mother’s brother. Since then, he has been elusive to people, especially to women who approach him, and this…” Scarlet swiped the screen and showed Amber, a woman she was unfamiliar with. “This is his ex-fiancee, my mother’s best friend. They were about to get married, but Leandra was involved in the accident, so Stephen thinks he’s an unlucky guy because both important women in his life are gone. He blamed himself until he lost the desire to talk to any woman, and our business is in danger because he is still not married..” Scarlet explained at length.

Amber felt sad at what she found out, but she still couldn’t understand what Scarlet wanted to convey. “But why does he have to have a woman in his life? We should give him a time, Scarlet. We can’t do your plan because I am sure we will get hurt,” Amber said calmly.

Scarlet shook her head. “It’s been five years, Amber. It’s been five years since Mom and her best friend disappeared, and it’s been five years since Stephen blamed himself. He is important to me, and I don’t want him to blame himself for the rest of his life, so I thought about it and know that you are the only one who can help me. So, please….help me on this. I will pay you, no matter how much—”

“You know I won’t accept the payment from you, Scarlet, especially if what we do isn’t right,” Amber said, shaking her head.

Scarlet’s face became sad, and she seemed to lose hope that Amber would agree as she wanted. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have bothered you with something like this. Just forget about it,” Scarlet said, and she was about to leave the office when Amber held her hand.

Amber took a deep breath. “What can I do besides taming him?” Amber asked as Scarlet smiled widely; she seemed to hear magic words from Amber.

“Will you agree?” Scarlet asked excitedly.

Amber shrugged her shoulders; she couldn’t stand Scarlet either because she was the only one who accepted her among her friends. Scarlet has never left her since then.

“I don’t want you to get mad with me if I don’t do it, so come on, what do I need to do to satisfy you?” she asked.

Scarlet hugged her because of happiness. “I will tell you everything after this meeting with my uncle!” she happily said.

They went to Stephen, who was waiting outside in his Raptor car. Amber looked away. She didn’t want to say that she was fascinated by Stephen’s handsome appearance and body posture, even though Amber knew there was a significant age gap between her and Stephen. Still, as she watched Stephen, it didn’t seem obvious from his appearance that he was older than Amber.

“Let’s go?” Scarlet asked Stephen.

“I thought you weren’t going to come out; you were already inside forty minutes after I got out of there,” said Stephen gruffly. Scarlet just apologized, and then they got into Stephen’s car.

Amber was also shocked by what Scarlet did because Scarlet made her ride in the front seat while Scarlet was in the back. She couldn’t do anything but agree because until now, she still didn’t know what to do with Scarlet’s wishes.

They arrived at an expensive restaurant owned by Scarlet’s family. Amber is used to seeing properties owned by Scarlet’s family, and it seems that she is no longer shy because Carson has become her boyfriend; Carson always brings her several times to their properties, but this time, she feels different. She wants to go home.

Scarlet was the first to sit at the VIP table for them. Amber was about to follow Scarlet when she suddenly tripped; fortunately, a hand caught her.

“Careful,” Stephen whispered, causing Amber’s face to heat up. She gulped twice when she felt the closeness of their faces to each other, and it seemed like she couldn’t move or get away from Stephen. “You’ll get hurt if you’re not going to be careful...”