Clare went to her mother's office, straight from the restaurant.She dumped her bag on the couch, and sulked. Her mother noticed her daughter's face and went round her table to meet her daughter.“Didn't you enjoy your date with Nate?" Elizabeth asked Clare.Clare was surprised as to how her mother knew about her date.“ How did you know?" She asked Clare.“ Who do you think set the date up? I asked Nate's grandfather to convince Nate to go on a date with you." Elizabeth declared with a proud smile. “Well, mother. It didn't work out. I sat there for almost half an hour, before Nate acknowledged my presence, and even when he did, he made it clear that he wasn't interested. He didn't order anything, and he was just on his phone, while I ate." Clare whined to her mother.Elizabeth was shocked that Nate could act that way even after his grandfather set up the date. She felt he'd acknowledged her and treated Clare nicer.“We need to think of something. Something strong, able to hold him d
“Don't go." Nate dragged me back, drawing me closer to him. I tried to release my arm from his grip, but this seemed to only make him tighten it.He finally succeeded in pulling me down to his level, and I crouched in front of him, coming very close to his face.“Vine?" He called me“Yeah?"He slowly opened his eyes into slits and blinked a couple of times, before finally focusing them on me. He raised his hand and pushed my hair, behind my ear and cupped my face.“You're so beautiful. The most beautiful woman I've ever met." He whispered, looking deeply into my eyes.“You're really annoying though. You never listen and you can't discern my truth from my lies. Sometimes, I want to bring out my heart and show you how true I am to you." I didn't know Nate to be this open about how he felt so I think the alcohol did one good thing for me.“You're really attractive and I'd give anything and everything up, just to be with you. If only I'd met you under different circumstances, I'd have ma
Vine looked at herself in the mirror one more time and smiled, satisfied with her look.She had been overjoyed when Nate asked her out for dinner and thankfully, she had gone shopping a few days before so she had the perfect dress to wear.She picked up her clutch and walked out of the room.“Hey Abuela, I'm going to be late tonight, so don't wait up, okay? " Her grandmother smiled at how beautiful she was, and she hugged Vine giving her a kiss on the forehead.“You look so beautiful, my love."Vine blushed. “Thanks Abuela. I have to run. Take care."She ran out the front door because her Uber was already waiting for her. Her mind was all over the place as she thought of what the night held in store for her. She got to the restaurant, and Vine stopped for a second to make sure she was at the right place.The place was empty, left for a few waiters she saw around. She checked her phone again, to make sure the address was right before she told the Uber driver to go.She walked in and
Vine walked into Nate's office wondering what could have made him call for her.As soon as he saw her, he smiled, standing up from his desk and completely forgetting whatever work he had.“Hey." He opened his arms for a hug, and Vine stayed put, not returning his smile or enthusiasm.Nate noticed this and stoops in his tracks.“What's wrong? Clare trouble again?" “No," she walked past him, “You nearly got me into trouble today."“I had no idea!" Nate tried to defend himself.Vine knew that there was no way he could have known that Clare was there, but she just didn't like that they almost got exposed.“What do you want, Nathan?" “Well, since I meant it when I said I didn't want to marry Clare, I was thinking that maybe I'd get a definite answer on whether you wanted to marry me." Vine turned around and looked at him, with an amused face. That was the funniest thing she has ever heard anyone say.“What?" She tried very hard to control her laughter.Nate didn't know whether to join i
Clare gulped down her fourth glass of liquor for the night. She had never taken it easy on the drinks even when she was supposed to.Although, she did have to take a forced stop when the incident had happened. That night, she had been drunk, too drunk and very distracted.After leaving the club and getting dragged to her boyfriend of the time, Zack, Clare got into the car and drove under the influence. She felt very carefree, not giving a thought to whatever may happen, as she felt she was rich enough to handle any situation.She had been laughing at Zack’s burping and hadn’t taken one last glace at the road, before letting go of the steering wheel. At the last moment, she had looked back to the road, all she saw was a bright light, and she tried to avoid the car by swerving out of the way, but that didn’t work out very good. The last thing Clare heard was a loud scream and a crash.When she woke up, her parents had been there to tend to her, fortunately for her, she had got away wi
Nate got home that night, happy about his eventful day with Vine. He had found it really funny as well, when Vine started acting strange, unbeknownst to him, that she had seen Clare. That was another thing he liked about her. She was prepared for everything. If only he had known that the night won't end on a happy note. “Hey grandpa. How's your cough?" He went to sit beside his grandfather, who had been having a cold for some days.“I'm okay, son. How was work?" His grandfather quickly dismissed the topic. “Work was good. We're getting closer to finalizing the deal with Mr Yakomoto." It would be a very huge deal of Nate was able to get the contract, and he really wanted to, so he could make his grandfather proud. He saw how his grandfather smiled when he told him the news and Nate was more determined. “That's good news, Nate. I'm proud of you." He patted him on the back.Nate would never admit this, but he was a grandpa's boy. Since his parents had died a long time ago, he had be
Clare couldn't have been happier when the driver arrived at her house, and she looked to see Nate still passed out beside her. She asked the driver to carry him inside, following closely behind. She passed her father on her way upstairs, ignoring him as she had done ever since the family business went bankrupt because of her father. Despite not understanding that her father had done everything for the sake of the company, Clare blamed her father. Since he had made those investments, with the shareholders' money, they had taken every last penny from them, before pulling out of the business. Thai left them peniless, and even still in debt. Mark, her father, had been made to look like failure since he has been pushed aside by his wife and daughter who had lost every iota of respect for him, and had taken over the company.As soon as he saw the driver pass, carrying a man on his shoulder and Clara walking behind, he quickly got up from his seat and chased after her. “Clare" He called
Vine's day was going smoothly. Too smooth. Maybe it was because she ate breakfast early today. Well, that in turn was because Clare hadn't shown up to work today. Which was shocking. Her phone lines weren't going through either, and she didn't know whether to be happy about it or worried.Either way, she was having the time of her life, sitting in her office, watching her favorite show and eating a hamburger. She was interrupted by a call , and when she saw who it was, she smiled. “Hi Abuela!" It may have been only two and a half days, but Vine missed her grandmother very much.“Mi Corazon. I've missed you so much. How're you and how's Tony?" Vine liked how vibrant her grandmother sounded. “We're good, Abuela. How's Peru?" When Vine ended the call, she felt more at ease, speaking to her grandmother, letting her continue watching her movie. Only to be interrupted by another call. Everyone just seemed to want to call her at the moment.She hadn't even even looked at the caller a