Chapter 1

“Hey bestie, I just arrived at the airport and got cleared, I wanted to let you know, just so that you won’t be worried.”

Nora moved her phone from one hand to the other as she collected her luggage and started moving out of the busy airport, there were so many people around as it was the holiday season, people were either returning home for the holidays or going on vacation, but she wasn’t one of them though, she wasn’t here for a vacation but for work, in fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she has had a vacation, that was years ago. Not like she didn’t want a vacation but she was too busy setting herself up career-wise to think about a vacation.

“Baby, have fun and make sure to grab your Italian man, I heard they are mostly hot men and they are rich too, put those good looks of yours to use, I want Christmas baby news, wedding news, and more,”

Roseline, her best friend babbled on chattily, Nora rolled her eyes, the last thing on her mind now is finding a man, the last man she swore was her forever love showed her just how delusional she was and since last year, she swore off relationships and anything that has to do with the opposite sex, the only time she had interactions with them was when it was unavoidable, like her workplace, when she went shopping and others.

“I know you just rolled your eye but I think it is time you get over Caleb, mudafucker already moved on, you should too,”

Rose went on. It wasn’t the first time Rose has told her to move on from Caleb. The truth is, she already moved on. She just didn’t have the time for a new man. She had no interest either.

“Rose, I am not holding on to that, I am just too busy right now career-wise to care about the opposite sex, once I finish with this project, I am pursuing my Ph.D., I got no time for your silly man talks, let’s keep it cute bestie, I love you, and I think I found my ride,”

Nora said, even though she hasn’t seen anyone the lab had said they will send, she was in Italy for a research purpose and she would probably spend all the time here in the laboratory, not that she minds, she loves her job as a research scientist, it was time-consuming and requires a lot of brainstorming and no sleep but it was what she signed up for and what she came to Italy to do, for the next one month and two weeks, she would be stuck in the laboratory doing what she loves and finding out new things, the thought of it already made her so excited.

“Call me every day, at least get fucked, you are twenty-nine and needs to have a sex life again,”

Rose yelled over the phone. Nora didn’t even know she hasn’t ended the call yet. Way to remind her that she hasn’t been getting some since she broke up with Caleb, she didn’t want to think about the reason she never wanted to let a man close ever.

“I will call you every day, bye, I love you,”

She let out and hung up before her bestie could say more. She dumped her phone in her mini bag and dragged her luggage with her, looking around for the person the laboratory had said they will send, she didn’t know the person, obviously, this was her first time in Italy.

Getting this job had not been easy, she had to prove herself to her superior that she was ready to take on overseas projects, she had almost given up but thankfully, the mail landed on the night of her twenty-nine birthday which was two months ago, she spent the whole of May and a portion of June planning this trip and now that she was here, she couldn’t wait to discover new things. Working as a research scientist was everything and getting a job in a country she has always wanted to visit was the icing on top of an already sweet cake.

She saw someone who she assumed was the person that was there to pick her up and walked towards the person, she smiled and waved just to be sure, the man didn’t smile back but he did walk towards her and took her bag from her, she had a weird feeling about his behavior but just shrugged it off and assumed he wasn’t the friendly type, not everyone was friendly and she was one of those unfriendly people which explains why she only has one friend and why she is not close to anyone in her extended family, not like they give a fuck about her, her mom and dad died four years ago and being an only child, she was left on her own, at least she was already independent before they passed. She already moved out of their family house and was living on her own when her parents died. She did move back into the house after their funeral because she just couldn’t let the house be abandoned or left unused.

Nora shook her head to clear off the thoughts of her parents, she was sure they were happy where ever they are, they were soulmates who spent a happy long life together and also passed away almost at the same time, only a month apart. Her parents adopted her when she was five and they were in their fifties, she spent twenty long happy years with them and they gave her the best of everything they could offer and till the end of time, she would be grateful to them. If they hadn’t taken her out of the foster system, she didn’t know what would have become of her.

“Enough,”

She mentally scolded herself as she hurried up after the man who was walking very fast without even looking back to make sure she was following behind him. His level of unfriendliness was a higher grade than hers. At least she said hi to people she newly meets and tries to keep a smile on her face when people approach or talk to her. This was different, Nora couldn’t help measuring his shoulders with her eyes as she walked behind him. He had wide shoulders which fitted his big and muscular body. She stopped checking him out when her eyes went to his butt.