THE FIRST GAZE

The jet ski roared, carving a frothy path through turquoise ocean waves. Salt spray stung my cheeks as the blazing sun beat down above my private island. You heard me right: I live on the island that Daddy gifted me when I was born. I asked him to build a house for me on my fifteenth birthday. The construction finished when I turned twenty-two. It’s been roughly three years now since I opened my eyes to this beautiful coast.

“Woo hoo!!! Girl! You are on fire! Yay! That’s crazy. Baby, you are on fire!!!”

Those were my friends from college, cheering for me as I was skiing. My cousin Miranda from NYC came for a visit, and she organized our little party.

“Emily! We wanna hang out in the cheap pubs of Mexico City and drink those disgusting mojitos! What do you say?”

This is what she said immediately as I arrived at the docks. This kind of behavior of hers had never made sense to me at all. She was just a cashier, yet she was acting like she was royalty and looking down on every low-class person like she wasn’t one of them.

I know that sounds odd, but her dad, who is my paternal uncle, and my dad had a big income gap between each other. My uncle never accepted my dad’s offer, and I always appreciated his dignity. No man would take care of his family on someone else’s charity. He accepted my dad’s scholarship only for Miranda, so she and I ended up at the same college. It’s another sad micro-story, because Miranda thought she could rely on my dad’s pocket ever since and didn’t make it to graduation. Now all she has are some mutual friends from college and cash register diaries.

“I am kind of tired, girl. Also, I need to get ready for bed,” I responded.

She mocked me by saying, “C’mon, girl! It’s only 7 PM! What are you? A toddler?” and made our friends giggle.

Getting ready for bed at seven might sound strange, but that was part of my anti-aging routine. Removing sunscreen, taking a shower, applying my full skincare and haircare routine, drinking my collagen booster herbal tea, brushing my teeth, staying in one hour of total silence, and then sleeping until 3 AM. That wasn’t just for anti-aging; it was also good for my brain.

“You know, Miranda, how strict I am with my self-care and health. Besides, I have work tomorrow.”

“I never understand why you bother working, girl! Your dad can buy you everything that money can purchase. You don’t even work with your father, and that never makes sense.”

“Don’t start that over again, Miranda. I want to build a life of my own. This is a need for me to prove myself, that I am not just my daddy’s girl. I am not Emily Arquette, the daughter of Timothy Arquette. I need to prove to myself that I can be just Emily and still stand on my own feet in life, no matter what…”

“Pfffttt! Bullshit!” she said as she was rolling her eyes.

“Any who, chica. Emily on, Emily off! See you in the morning.” Then I left to head to my bedroom as the party was going on. Miranda was the host of the party after all, since she called our friends from college.

I left the beach as the sunset painted the sky in pinks and golds.

Miranda didn’t get it; she never would. Work wasn’t only about money. It was about carving my name into the world.

In the morning I woke and slid straight from my bedroom balcony into the ocean via the sea slide. Swimming until sunrise is my favorite ritual. When the first rays touched my skin, I climbed out, showered, had breakfast with an entire pot of coffee while reading stock-market news, then headed to the office. We were on the verge of signing a huge new project, and convincing Bernardo, my CFO, was proving harder than dealing with the cartels.

The moment I stepped into my skyscraper on the city square of Mexico City, my assistant handed me my matcha. Sipping it while walking to the elevator and listening to the day’s briefings is part of my daily rhythm.

Bernardo was already waiting in my office.

“So you say that if we agree on that project, we will increase our customer base, but that would take a while, or it wouldn’t?” he said immediately.

Obviously, he was referring to my very last email. To be honest, I truly appreciated him making his point to avoid time wasting.

“¡Buenos días to you too, Bernardo. Thank you, I am good. Yourself?”

“Ha ha, very funny! But not as funny as you suggesting signing this project. Can we go back to business if we’re done with sarcasm, you little comedian?”

I sat on my armchair first and then responded to him. “My suggestion is that if we agree on the project, we will reap the benefits in the long run. I can sense that it will work very well and seems like we are on the edge of a tremendous leap in a sudden. Our rise will be like a spring.”

“Really, you smartass? What are we going to do until then? Eat rock and drink mud?”

“I would not comment on your diet plan; however, I would not recommend a thing like that, you glorious mind,” I said with a mocking face before making my point. “We will sign other projects in the meantime as this one tracks in the background until the harvesting day. Do you want to grow, or what? This project is going to be international and viral. Why do you insist on not getting the point? We have approximately twelve employees in each department, and three people do one person’s job together. If we agree on the project and sign the contract with that company, there will be enough jobs for every employee. So you will not be paying in vain. Hope you get me!”

His gaze wandered around the room, as he always did when I made sense to him. “You sound right in theory, but-”

“No! Na-ah!” I interrupted him. “Don’t you want to work, or what, Bernardo? You’ve gotta move your ass. Life is not all about siesta and sangria,” I said while pretending to pack my things to leave. He knew I was bluffing too, but every time he acted like he was buying it. That was an unspoken rule between us.

“Okay, Puta!”

“Heard ya! Better put 10 more pesos in the jar!”

After kindly getting rid of him, I had a blast at work as usual. As I was burying myself at work like I always do, my hunger rang the bell in my stomach. That’s when I headed to our diner for my dinner. After dining alone, a small walk in the park felt nice. It was finally time to be home, so I got back on the island.

Miranda was asleep when I finally got home. She had to shape up someday. I said, “She’s surely risking her life on a roulette bet,” to myself.

I changed my clothes to ride my horse and walked to the horse barn. There was nothing better than riding a horse by the beach at sunset…

When I returned from riding, I saw him in the yard… The guy with the unique aura, big body, broad shoulders, smooth skin, silky, shiny, curly dark hair, and magical hazel eyes… He was shining like a full moon in the sharp dark sky with his grace, and he even blocked my recognition of my dad’s approach until I heard him saying, “That’s her, my one and only treasure, Emily!”

“Daddy!” I ran into his arms.

He laughed and hugged me tight. “How is my Emily doing?”

“I am good, Daddy, how are you? Where is Mom?”

“She is at home,” and by “home,” he meant our mansion in Beverly Hills, where I was born and raised.

“Why didn’t you bring her with you?”

“I came here to hire this young man, dear. I will fly back; my jet is waiting.”

Yes, the young man… The one who blew my mind away at first gaze.

“What did you hire him for?” I asked as I was kindly greeting him with a head gesture not to be rude. He probably must be a model or an actor to be in our commercials, but it was really weird, because hiring a model wasn’t my dad’s job; he was the chairman of the group after all.

“He is your bodyguard from now on,” he said. That was strange, because I had never needed a bodyguard before.

“My bodyguard? Are we in need of protection currently?”

“I have the most precious thing in my life alone in Mexico. I should’ve thought about that way earlier, darling.”

Then he officially introduced us to each other.

I couldn’t help whispering his name as we were shaking hands.

“Nice to meet you, Eduardo…”