Chapter 5: Brave or bold
"If you win, I will grant three wishes for you. Do we have a deal, coffee girl?" Asher brought out his hand for a shake.
"Deal" Eden shook his hand.
"Good. Because we are at the airport" Asher opened the car door and came out.
"What did you say? Wait! Did you say airport?" Eden was confused but she got down from the car too.
Asher didn't lie to her, they were at the airport.
"No, no, no you said we were going to a party" Eden protested.
"We are but I didn't say where" Asher replied with a smirk.
Eden scratched her head like she was afraid of knowing the answer to the question she was about to ask "Where exactly is the party?"
"New York" Asher told her.
"No, no, no, I am going back home. Please tell Damon to take me home" Eden started walking back to the car and Asher followed her.
"I am sorry, Eden"
"No need to be sorry, sir. It's my fault; I should have asked where the party was"
"I am not sorry for that. I am sorry for what I am about to do"
Eden was confused until suddenly her feet were dangling over the ground as Asher lifted her up and placed her on his shoulders.
"No...No, please put me down. Asher, put me down" Eden tapped him gently on the shoulder in protest.
"Ouch! You are hurting me, Eden" Asher feigned pain to know her reaction all the while he kept walking towards his private jet.
"Oh sorry, I am sorry. Did I hurt you too much?" Eden asked with a concerned voice.
"God! You are worse than a doormat. You are gullible too" Asher jeered at her.
"That is not very nice, Asher"
"I am not a very nice person, Eden"
Soon, they were in the jet and Eden was looking like a terrified puppy. Kidnapped by a stranger was not in her to do list when she woke up today.
"I am not going to hurt you or touch you. I am just going to show you that the world is a wicked place and you need to toughen up to survive" Asher told her.
"I like who I am" Eden murmured.
"Like yourself less, darling" Asher answered and closed his eyes as the jet took off.
Soon, they were in New York in a sapphire boutique and Eden was looking for the perfect dress.
Asher sat comfortable on the chair with a magazine while Eden tried several outfits. She would show it to him for approval.
Asher rejected most of the dresses until she tried on a red gown that showed off her delicate features.
For the first time, Asher took his time to look at her.
She wasn't bad looking. She was the opposite, actually with a comely figure which suited her perfectly.
Her crescent shaped eyebrows that almost looked artificial could use some trimming but when she blinked her languid eyelashes of velvet-black made it impossible to ignore that she was a beautiful woman.
If Asher wanted to be honest then he would call her teeth heavenly-white teeth alongside her hair, which was a glorious tumble of midnight black and her virility-brown eyes could set any heart a-thump.
"You are beautiful" He told her sincerely.
Eden's heart fluttered, she had never had anyone apart from her dead parents say those words to her and mean it. Her ex-fiancé, Liam Barrington didn't mean it or he wouldn't have dumped her a week before their wedding.
Eden believed Asher. She didn't know why but she believed him.
"Can I have my eyeglasses back, please?"
"No. The contact lenses work the same" Asher told her.
"They are making my eyes itch, please" Eden lied
"No, they are not. You just find comfort in having another layer of protection between you and the world. Without the glasses, you are... exposed"
Eden knew he caught her in a lie.
"Just give them to me, please"
Asher placed it in her outstretched hand. He looked at his watch.
"We have two hours until the party starts. We are going to play a game, an experiment if you will"
"Okay, what game?" Eden asked him.
"You are going to go shopping in different high-class boutiques or shopping malls guaranteed to have mean divas. How good is your acting skill?"
"Good, I guess but why?" Eden asked him.
"Because you will go to one of those shopping malls as yourself, kind and apologetic but the other...you will go as a mean diva like Lean Jackson. You will waste roughly one hour in both places and you won't buy anything" Asher told her.
"But that is just wrong!"
"Exactly, let's see who they insult and be mean to, the real you or the diva you"
Eden wondered whether she would be able to pull it off, to be mean and rude to someone without breaking into cold sweats.
"Do you really believe that there is no good in this world?" She asked him.
"Yes... I believed it until I met you and I hate being wrong. So, I am going to prove myself right"