Chapter 3

Calvin frowned deeply, perplexed, rubbing his chin lightly as he stood in the elevator that took him up to the floor where he worked. Getting in, he pulled out his phone as he plopped down onto the upholstered sofa in the room and dialed a number.

“This is quite surprising. You never call unless it’s something really important”, Came the silky smooth voice from the other end.

“Where are you? I thought you were spending a couple of weeks in Milan for a magazine shoot”.

“That’s where I currently still am. Aww, are you seriously worrying about me right now? Or are you just asking to be sure that I’m not cheating on you with someone else”.

Calvin scoffed. “We both know I couldn’t care any less about who you roll in the sheets and have hot, steamy nights with, Linda. Just as long as you do the responsible thing, keep it out of the press, don’t make headlines with your escapades and embarrass both our families”.

Calvin had know Linda Thorne ever since he was old enough to realize how insanely wealthy both his parents were. They had bee passing acquaintances since their parents flowed in the same social circle. They barely ever spoke to each other since as kids they had different playmates who were children of their families' inner circle and they had no reason at all to be close. They didn’t dislike each other since they knew next to nothing about each other except their parents' net worth and small family history and would only exchange polite greetings as casual conversations when they met at social functions, benefits or charity events which they almost always did.

That was until both their mothers began to converse after the realized after six years that they were in the same tennis club and worked well as teammates. This led to their men forcefully having to meet every now and then to please their wives and they soon found out that they had quite a lot in common as wealthy businessmen who loved and enjoyed the benefits of capitalism and excessive profiteering. The two families grew quickly attached and their children had the pleasure of running into each other more times than they wanted to, the Thornes with their only daughter, Linda who was a beautiful upcoming fashion model in her late teens and the Sinclairs with their two children, Calvin who was already in college studying Finance and Business Management and their younger daughter, Caryn, who was in her early teens.

The two families were excited at this new found friendship and close bond that the two ladies discussed and proposed to their partners to engage the two oldest children to each other to further strengthen the bond and join their families together for eternity. The two men didn’t particularly care about the agreement and also found no reason to fault it either especially after the women decided that after the two got married and had children, one of the kids would bear the surname of the mother's family to further extend their bloodline. And so, without the input if the actual involved parties, their engagement, marriage and children had already been completely decided by their children without their consent or approval whatsoever.

When they heard the news, Linda and Calvin had met up in the private booth of a restaurant as a 'date' their parents had arranged to discuss the ridiculous idea both families had conjured of getting them together and essentially forcing them to get married so that their close friendly relations both parties had would turn into familial ones. The both of them were less that thrilled about this compulsory suggestion but seeing how serious and adamant both families were about the arrangement and knowing that their entire lives and livelihood depended on their families’ support and how convinced both families were of how beneficial it would be for them financially and socially and how wonderful they felt the two would look together, Linda and Calvin had to grudgingly go on several 'romantic' dates which were spotted and which found themselves as headlines on several newspapers and gossip magazines before hosting an extravagant engagement party with many celebrity and public figure attendance which was televised on many entertainment and even news channels.

The two knew quite well that they were stuck with each other for the time being and their relationship was no longer just between them and their families, now the entire country was involved in it too and so they had to tread carefully to prevent scandals that would ruin them at the height of their careers. They had inevitably grown closer and became friends even though they had a five year age gap hanging between them.

Calvin could feel her rolling her eyes where she was even though he couldn’t see her. “Whatever. You know I’m always careful, aren’t you? Oh, wait. You’re still the same loner that you’ve always been. Have you even been with someone? Sexually?”.

“If you’re asking if I’m promiscuous, then no. I didn’t call you so you could give me a lecture”.

“Why did you call me then? Don’t tell me it’s because you miss me. Or did you just call to annoy me?”.

Calvin sighed. “It’s nothing if you’re really abroad. Let's meet up when you return, my mother has been asking a lot about you and when we’re going on our next romantic rendezvous”.

“Alright. We’ll talk better when we see each other”, Linda said and hung up.

Calvin put down his phone and turned on his laptop to review the documents he had requested for but he paused as his thoughts trailed back to the girl he had run into on his way from the HR department. She had large doe eyes with long, unbound and wildly curly hair and her face that was expressive and vividly alive. Comparing her to Linda's seductive figure, plump lips and perfect sultry beauty, he could easily see how vastly different from each other the two women were. Linda couldn’t pull off a nice naïve look and would quickly turn her nose up at plain clothes and air she couldn’t easily get under her control. That girl was nothing like Linda and for some reason, that seemed to greatly intrigue him.

“Melanie Campbell, was it?”, He murmured under his breath as his fingers reached for his phone.