Chapter 2: Wife Hunt

It was almost Sunday and Lucas still didn't know what to do. He had promised his grandma that he was going to bring his wife to dinner but he needed to find a wife first.

The truth was that he could get any woman he wanted in the country, after all, he was Lucas Anderson, the most eligible bachelor in the country. If he wasn't so hung up on Mia this would be an easy feat for him.

Suddenly he hoped that Mia would appear out of nowhere so he would propose out of nowhere and they would get married.

Lucas could still remember the first time he saw Mia as he stared down at the streets through the tall window in his office with a hot cup of coffee, black as he liked it.

He was at a charity event organized by Mr.Giovanni, he didn't want to come but his grandmother told him that Mr.Giovanni had asked for him so he decided against it

Back then, he had liked Carla and her father a little. 

"Sorry, I didn't see you coming," Lucas said, apologizing to the girl he bumped into on purpose.

He was trying to create an excuse to leave the room, there were too many people in the room and he was starting to feel a little claustrophobic so he needed to leave.

He looked up to see the girl he bumped into but she was already on the floor picking up the items she dropped.

"Sorry," Lucas said, holding out a hand for her. But she refused his help, only giving him a nod and acknowledging his apology.

"I am Lucas" he continued trying to get her attention.

"Mia," she said, glancing at him.

Lucas was short of words "She was pretty" he thought as she gracefully walked out of the room

He resisted the urge to call her out but didn't want to deal with the looks he would receive from everyone in the room.

Lucas looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to him, even his grandmother, everyone was involved in one conversation or the other, so he decided to follow Mia quietly from behind unaware of the glares he was getting from Carla

"Uhh… all these puny orphans" Carla exclaimed when Lucas left the room, she had begged her Dad to invite Lucas because she liked him and wanted to talk to him but he was talking to that orphan.

"Why does Dad always invite them," she mumbled angrily, thinking of ways to punish Mia.

Lucas continued to follow Mia quietly from behind trying to get to her as fast as he could but he was stopped in his tracks by his best friend Austin.

"Lucas I just got a new game," Austin said while shaking his shoulders 

"Yeah, yeah…" Lucas answered back his eyes on the hallway searching frantically for Mia who had disappeared from the hallway 

"Where did she go," Lucas said as he released Austin's grip on him. He resumed searching for Mia without paying a second glance at Austin.

"Come play at my house so I can win against you" Austin laughed while calling out to Lucas when he was almost at the end of the hallway.

"You wish," Lucas chuckled, taking one last look at Austin.

Austin was contemplating whether to go after Lucas or to go to the chocolate chocolate fountain. "I'm sure he can take care of himself," Austin mused as he decided the chocolate fountain was a much better option.

Lucas wondered where Mia went, he had reached the end of the hallway and he did not know where else to look for her.

"I guess I am not going to find her," Lucas remarked, his voice filled with disappointment.

"Looking for me," Mia said, her voice laced with excitement as she walked past him.

"Yes, I've been following you," Lucas said without skipping a beat 

"Why would you follow me," Mia asks, her eyes popping out amazed at Lucas's reply.

"I wanted to talk to you," Lucas said

"Why" Mia said walking with Lucas following closely behind her

"I wanted to apologize for bumping into you on purpose, I just wanted an excuse to get away from there… '' Lucas was definitely babbling at this point, he wanted to tell her that he liked her that was the reason he followed her even though he was just a kid he knew what he wanted and he wanted Mia.

Lucas regretted not telling Mia he liked her the first time because the next time he saw her was during the charity event a year later or he could have told her but knowing Mia she would have evaded the question like it was the plague. Lucas chuckled at that thought. They were a perfect fit; he was darkness and she was his light.

"Mr Anderson, Mr Anderson…The shareholders are here" Daphne, his receptionist announced as she walked into the office.

"When did they get here," Lucas asked as he turned back and dropped his cup on the table.

"About ten minutes ago," Daphne said calmly as she quietly handed Lucas the brief for the meeting. She was walking on eggshells. She did not want to get her boss angry. He already fired Jacob yesterday and she did not want to be next so she just walked beside him as they headed for the conference room.

"Good morning gentlemen and ladies," Lucas said calmly as he walked into the conference room.

Lucas took his seat in the middle and he was met with impatient eyes staring him down as if questioning him for coming late. He was only giving them a taste of their medicine, they started it first.

"I need your approval to sell our retail store here in Orlando, there is a brief in the folder beside you that comprises all you need to know about it, so read it and sign and that will be all."

"How can you say that's all Lucas? Mr. Wilson asks, raising his voice.

Lucas already expected that kind of reaction from him, after all, he was the one in charge of that retail store. He did not have the patience to deal with his whining today.

"That retail store has not brought in any profit for three months now, I keep spending money to maintain it and I can't do that anymore," Lucas said calmly, not moving an inch from his seat.

"Technically, it's the Company's money, not yours, and I am sure the company has enough money to cover the overhead cost of my retail store," Mr Wilson said angrily

Lucas raised his eyebrows at his statement," You made two mistakes there, It is my retail store and it is my company, and I can do anything I want with it or do you want me to remind you who runs things in this place" Lucas said calmly looking at Mr Wilson dead in the eye.

Mr. Wilson knew that tone all too well, so he decided to calm down even though he was seething with anger.

"I guess that will be all," Lucas said calmly. He was ready to take his leave, so he stood up and left the conference room to go to his office. 

Lucas opened the door to his office only to see Austin sprawled on his sofa.

"Hey man, what's up," Austin said when he noticed him.

Lucas crossed his legs over so he was sitting down instead. "What are you doing here in the morning? Don't you have a business to run," Lucas said to Austin.

"Mr.Workaholic, some of us like to take breaks, the company wouldn't crash even if I disappeared. I came to see if my friend already had a wife" Austin said chuckling

Lucas knew already that it was Grandma who told Austin. She would have asked him to tell her the truth and Austin would have said "Lucas is telling the truth, He is married." 

"Grandma told you right, I knew she would, that's why I didn't bother," Lucas said, shrugging.

"What a friend you are, anyways what are you going to do about it? Austin said 

"I need to trick Grandma and Carla into thinking that I have a loving wife and we are happily married," Lucas said calmly, his eyebrows creased as he continued thinking of a solution.

"Well that fact is already obvious if you can't tell," Austin said as he burst out laughing.

"Oh shut up Austin, I am just going to hire one, a wife" Lucas declared. He didn't even know if it would work, All he knew was that he didn't want to waste his time going on dates with women he wouldn't love.

Lucas glanced at Austin expecting a reply but he was already looking at him in disbelief with his jaw lowered.

"That's crazily stupid, genius," Austin said with a smile, he had expected that kind of reply from Lucas, he would rather hire a wife. That was just your typical Lucas.

"But did you think this through at all, where are you going get the woman," Austin said, laying emphasis on "the woman?"

"That I don't know, yet" Lucas replied as he wondered who he was going to choose, he had to choose somebody who Carla and Grandma knew nothing about.

"Do you want me to give you one," Austin said, putting his phone on Lucas's face as he scrolled through pictures of different women, asking him to make his choice.

Lucas sometimes wondered how Austin managed to keep his company at the top if he had time to play like this. He was going to tell Austin that none of those women were his type before Daphne interrupted them.

"Sir this is the document containing the list of people who applied to be your personal assistant, they will be coming in for their interview tomorrow," Daphne said as she gave the document to him.

"Hi Daphne, How's your day going," Austin said smiling. Lucas immediately knew where this was going Lucas was trying to flirt again, he does it flawlessly every time.

"Thank you, Daphne," Lucas said dismissing Daphne.

"Spoilsport. That reminds me, I don't see Jacob anywhere and why are you looking for a new assistant" Austin said.

"If you must know, I fired Jacob, that's why I am looking for a new assistant," Lucas answered back

"I swear you have a new assistant each time I come to your office, take it easy on them. Aren't you going to take a look at the document" Austin said, pointing to the document.

"I am busy right now, you can make yourself useful," Lucas was busy going through the mail he received from an investor.

Lucas was sure Austin would make a good choice, after all, he had a company of his own so he left him with the document and focused his attention on the mail he received.

They were both focused on what they were doing before Austin called out.

"Hey Lucas, only one woman applied and she's pretty, I know you have a rule about how you don't use female assistants but you have to see her profile," Austin said as he handed the profile to him.

Lucas was busy but he chose to look at the profile or Austin would not let him be. Her name was Emma Smith and she was 25 years old. She was qualified for the job but he doesn't hire females, he was about to tell Austin the same thing but that was before he saw her picture.

Lucas was mesmerized, and he knew why, it was her eyes, they looked so much like Mia's. Mia had brown eyes but Emma had blue eyes, Lucas couldn't place it but those eyes held a sense of familiarity in them and suddenly Lucas wanted to know more about her, and he had a plan just how to go about it.

"She's the one," Lucas said to Austin who was busy typing away on his phone.

"I am always right, I would have loved to stay longer but duty calls," Austin didn't even spare Lucas a glance as he left his office.

Lucas didn't even bother about Austin because he was probably going to come back in the next two or three days to see him. They were practically brothers at this point.

The only thing Lucas had on his mind now was dinner on Sunday and Emma Smith. His entire plan depended on Emma Smith and the interview tomorrow. He was going to ask Emma to marry him during the interview tomorrow, she would say yes and he was going to show her to his grandma on Sunday.

This was it. The plan was set. There were no loopholes anywhere. It was going to be as easy as signing a business contract and Lucas was sure of it.

Lucas leaned back in his chair with a satisfied smirk on his face. The plan was foolproof, or so he thought. Little did he know that Emma Smith was hiding a secret, one that would change his entire life.