The man standing in front of me is a mystery now. I have known him for a long time but even after all years, I feel like I have still lot to see— lot to know.
Mr. Carlton was indeed worried about his daughter. But the way Neil reacted that day is bothering me. When Stella told me about her nightclub incident she was holding back something inside her heart.
She may have casually told me how everything went like it was nothing, deep down she was feeling uncomfortable as if she was not wanting to discuss the real thing.
I guess everyone has a bad side and a back story of their life.
I am still waiting patiently to hear it all from Stella's mouth. I want to know how Mr. Carlton really is.
As a son-in-law, I was showing my respect and talking politely with him. He is a really easy going chilled person.
We were both at the bar, taking sips from our drink. Mr. Carlton is a good drinker. I have heard it from my dad and Stella also. Mr. Carlton likes to arrange branded collection of alcohol in the bars when ever he throws a party.
Quite a fancy man.
There were times when Stella stole her father's alcohol bottles which were extremely costly. Later Neil joined her then they would enjoy those drinks with their friends. She was quite a rebel back in the days. Her family was always restricting her from all shorts of things. Which made her break all those boundaries and break free from the walls.
Although it idn't lasted long. When her college life ended she had no other option left. Like any other wealthy families, most of the daughters usually gets married to other rich families.
Stella's father prohibited her from getting a job. Her life stopped there at that point. She became a total introvert and locked herself in the room.
Her friends had left the country for their jobs. They were busy with their own life and carrier. Thus she was left alone. Her brother was the only one here for her.
I continued to chat with Mr. Carlton and Neil came there to meet me.
" Hey bro. How you doing?"
" Good. How about you? You doing well with the company? Listen Neil if you ever have any issues with the company,just ping me up."
" Definitely bro."
I looked at Neil to see his appearance. He was dressed up formally. Mr. Carlton kept the glass on the counter.
" Neil you stay here with Theo. I'll be attending the other guests."
" Okay dad." Mr. Carlton left us at the bar counter.
" Where were you all this time? I was looking for you."
" Actually our friends are coming since I invited them. So, I was waiting for them"
" 'Our friends'? You mean you and Stella?"
" Yeah. They are technically my sis's friends but I also started to hang out with them
so, I invited them saying they're my friends."
" Oh. I see. So that's why Stella was excited to come here since all her friends will be here."
" Umm no. She still doesn't know I haven't told her yet."
" Why's that?"
" My dad didn't liked her friends. We never really invited them in any occasion before, in fact they couldn't come at the wedding either. I thought that she will be happy to see them again after a long time."
" Your dad won't mind seeing them here? "
" Nah, we just gotta make sure not to be seen by him." Neil smirked and both of us started to laugh at his remark.
Neil's phone rang up and he picked it up. I guess his friends are here.
" Come at the bar." Neil ended the call and put his phone inside his pocket.
" They're here?"
" Yup. Look there" I moved my head to my side. Three good looking men were coming at us.
Holy shit! Are you kidding me?
Now I can understand why Stella's father never liked her friends. All three of them looked like they were some model or movie stars. I mean seriously all three of them?
Even I started to panic in my mind.
What if one of them was her ex boyfriend? Or what if all three of them were her ex boyfriend? Oh no don't tell me that. Or what if she likes one of them?
There are so many possibilities for worse case scenario. I'm trying to prepare myself for the worst. I mean they knew her from a long time and me— I have known her for only few months.
The chances are so fucking low. Oh god.
" So, this is Vincent " Neil introduces him and Vincent reaches out his hand to shake my hand " Hey"
" I'm Theo. Nice to meet you." I noticed his feathers while shaking our hand. He looked like same as my age. Brownish hair with fair complexion, sturdy figure and his height was same as mine.
" This is Albert." Next came the guy named Albert. He also had dark brown hair with tall build figure. This time I only shook my hand since he was quite, he only nodded his head while shaking hand.
" And this is Simon."
" Yo." Simon seemed to be a chilled guy. He had blonde hair and compared to other two he was little short in height.
" Where's Stella?" Vincent asked Neil in a hurry.
" I've texted her, she'll be here soon."
As Neil ended his speech I heard someone grasp with excitement. Stella was keeping her mouth covered with the palm of her hand. She was shocked and surprised at the same time.
She walked at those three boys and started to hug them one by one.
Wait what?
Deep in my heart I was feeling jealous just a little bit. Wish it were me—not them.
" You guys! I can't believe you all came. I had no idea that you were coming. I'm really happy!" Stella exclaimed in joy.
" Neil invited us besides we didn't even came to your wedding. We are really sorry for that."
" It's fine. But why are you alone? Where's Stacy? You came here without your wife!"
" You know she's pregnant and she wasn't feeling well after the morning sickness."
So, seems like this Vincent guy is married and his wife is also pregnant which makes that I don't need to worry about him further.
Green signal all the way!
" Hey don't make me sound like a bad guy here. You should ask your friend instead that why she didn't came. "
" Jeez! Fine. I'll call her later. " Stella moves her head to Albert's direction. " And what about you? Your girlfriend isn't pregnant then why didn't Nora came? "
" Nora is out of country. End of story." Albert sounded little off as he spoke off his so called girlfriend Nora.
" Did you guys had fight again ?" Stella asked him with a smirk in her face.
" No..... whatever. Why aren't you asking Simon? "
" What's with him? We all know none of his girlfriend lasted long enough to take them in a occasion like this." Stella told Albert while frowning.
" Haha. Very funny. But for your information I have decided to get married soon."
Vincent and Albert started to chuckle hearing him and Stella was literally face palming.
" You what?! Is this for real?" She asked Simon more like yelled at him with excitement.
" Yup. Unlike you people I like to keep my personal stuff to my self."
Hearing all the conversation between them I realised that none of these boys are going to be my rival.
~To be continued