Chapter four

The elevator chimed and the man from earlier came out, he stopped, frozen when he saw her sleeping, what the hell? He wondered, he approached her and wiped away the hair from her face, she didn’t even flinch and he guessed she was really tired and she should be, it has been ten hours since they got into the elevator together. He fetched his phone from his pocket and dialed a number, when the line connected, he sighed, “em, Frank, I’m usually good at minding my business but there is a lady waiting for you in front of your door and it’s been hours, you think you can come attend to her?”

“Shit, she came today?” Frank asked.

“Em, am I supposed to answer that?”

“Listen Fred, I am in a party right now and I can’t come out, you think you can take her in with you till I am back?”

“Frank, I called you to tell you that someone is waiting for you not for you to ask me to babysit,” Fred replied.

“Then there is nothing I can do, let her stay there, nothing is going to happen to her after all.”

“She is sleeping on the cold floor!” Fred felt like he should let him know of it, how could he have said that?

“What do you want me to do? I can’t leave here at the moment, I’m trying to earn clients Fred, I am not giving it up just because of her.”

“Who is she?”

“She is just a friend I’m trying to help, no one serious. Listen, let her stay there, she would be safe, I need to go now, Hillary just came in and I am not missing my chance of talking to him,” he hung up before he could hear a reply.

Fred stared at the sleeping Athena and sighed, he had tried his best, there is nothing else he can do, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and left for his flat but when he stood by the door, he looked back at the sleeping girl and sighed once more before walking back to her. He tapped her softly on the shoulder thrice before she opened her eyes, and on seeing him, she sat up immediately. “I don’t think he is coming back tonight.”

Athena looked at the door behind her and sighed, “I can wait.”

“You are sleeping on the floor,” he reminded, “don’t you have a place to stay and then come back tomorrow?”

Athena bit her lip, “it’s already late and besides…” she stopped, she didn’t want to admit that she doesn’t want to spend too much.

Fred ran his fingers through his blonde hair and let out a deep breath, “why don’t you come stay with me for the night.”

Athena felt alerted immediately, she grabbed onto her top and shrink away, “I’m fine out here, thank you.”

“The more late it gets, the colder the floor will be and Frank won’t be coming home until early in the morning, you might catch a cold before he does. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you, I promise, I have a girlfriend,” he smiled, feeling the need to add that.

Athena bit her lower lip and looked at the long hallway, then back at him, she was already cold just sitting on the floor and she knew she would catch a cold by morning so she nodded after a long time and Fred helped her stand on her feet and carried her bag before walking to his door. He put in his code and Athena instinctively looked away. He chuckled softly and pushed open the door, going in first to turn on the light.

“That’s the bedroom, you can use the bathroom if you want,” he pointed at a door.

Athena looked around the living room, she hasn’t been in a place so beautiful and her face revealed it, the living room was so big and they were many art works on the walls that added a beauty to it. 

Fred caught her staring and answered, “I’m an artist, I love drawing. If you are hungry, that’s the kitchen, you are welcome to fix something up for yourself,” he pointed to another door.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, she was really hungry.

“You are welcome,” he smiled and walked to the corner of the living room where there was a canvas with few sketches on it. He sat down on the chair opposite it and began looking at the paper he had picked from the floor, totally forgetting about her presence.

Athena dropped her bag on the floor, she didn’t want to place it on the sofas least she dirty them for him, she heaved a sigh and made her way to the door that leads to the kitchen, she was so damn hungry.