At two am in the morning. The rain had stopped and there were only a handful of people left at the club where Leo went to meet Chris. The two men were still talking. Mostly Leo was the one doing the talking while Chris patiently listened to his friend who has gotten more talkative than usual.
Chris could tell from the way Leo was talking and what he was saying that his friend was already drunk. He has let his guard down and his words were more emotional. All he talked about and continually repeated over and over again was how he made a mistake and misjudged Emma, how he loved her so much and how he was afraid of losing her.
"You should call her, you know... It's wrong for you to just leave her alone by herself anyway. And you're also miserable because of that as it is so just call her already"
"I should call her and tell her what exactly?... What am I going to tell her because I had no idea..." Leo looked at his friend pitifully like a little boy asking his father for an idea about a problem he couldn't figure out a solution to.
"You could start by apologizing. I mean you left in anger during a conversation and you stayed out all night when you were the one that proposed you guys have the conversation in the first place."
"Agreed... I owed her an apology... No, not just one apology, I owed her so many apologies..." He stopped, down the content of his glass, and poured himself another. "Hmmm... What was I saying?..." He looked towards Chris for an answer before immediately answering his own question."
"Oh yes, I remember!... Apologies. You advised I apologize right?... Okay, I'll apologize for leaving her all by herself all night... And for ràping her and..."
"No, don't say that man... We didn't know that for a fact yet and..."
"Oh, we didn't know?..." Leo asked sarcastically before he snorted derisively. "But I thought we were sure? We talked about it right now and established the fact that I'm a monster!... I ràped and almost murdered an innocent girl." He said loudly and downed another shot in one go
Chris looked around to see if anybody was paying them any attention because of Leo's outburst. There was nobody around the booth they were sitting and thank God the music playing in the club was loud.
"He sighed sadly, feeling sorry for his friend "Stop talking nonsense Leo you're drunk!... And stop drinking already!..." Chris said seriously but Leo just carried on talking like Chris didn't even open his mouth to talk at all.
"A friendly piece of advice... You should keep your sister away from me, I'm a very, very bad man..." Leo declared drunkenly, gesturing with the bottle of whiskey that he now held in his hand
"No, you're not... You're just a clueless one... Now give me that! No more drinking, you've had enough already!" Chris snapped and snatched the whiskey bottle away from Leo who was about to drink directly from it.
"Hey!... Common man don't be mean, give me that!" Leo drunkenly lunged for the bottle but Chris was faster than the drunk Leo and quickly held it away from him. He called the barman and signaled for him to come and clear away their table. Shortly after, a waitress came and cleared their table.
"Hey! Don't do that!... We paid for that...' Leo slurred out a protest
"Get up, I'm taking you home" Chris held onto his friend's arm, helping him to stand on his feet so he wouldn't fall.
"Home where?... Y-you don't have to hold me you know, I-I'm not that drunk" Leo slurred and removed his arm away from Chris's hand
"Yeah right, you're not that drunk!..." Chris held Leo's arm again. "Common, let's go. I'm taking you home to your wife... Where else would I take you to?... Or would you rather go to grandpa's mansion?"
"Don't wanna go to grandpa's mansion... Don't wanna go to Emma also... We're not married yet anyway and she might not even want to marry me again after what happened today... I'd rather sleep here. See the beds look very nice and comfy" Leo sat back on the chair he was sitting in and bounced on it. "See comfy..."
"Today was fine until you blew it out of proportion. Common get up! Let's go to my house then..." He helped Leo up and they both staggered out of their booth
"Yeah... Today was amazing. How I love her so much... Today was so blissful until I learned I was a rapist..."
"Just shut the fuck up and stop talking before you talk yourself into trouble!"
~`••'~
The first thing Emma did when she woke up was to check her phone to see if there was any message from Leo. She was disappointed and sighed sadly to see there was no voicemail and no text message either.
Next, she checked the file she created for all her emails and saw a message icon on the business email that the Salvadorian Empire already created for her. She opened it and saw it was a memo from The Human Resources Department, informing all Directors, Managers and executive staffs about a meeting with The Chairman of the Empire.
'The Chairman?... Isn't that my future grandfather inlaw?" She wondered aloud. "Of course I'll attend the meeting since I'm also a staff member. What a perfect opportunity to see Leo" She said to herself and rushed to check through the shopping bag that was still lying beside the bed to see if there were any clothes suitable for corporate wear.
God bless whoever helped Leo with this shopping." Emma thought and breathed a sigh of relief when she found a black knee-length tight skirt and a black heel pump that would go perfectly with the white shirt she already picked early that morning. By the time she put away the shopping bags, had her bath, and did a light make up the time was already six in the morning.
She found some car keys inside Leo's bedside drawers and took them all since she couldn't tell which car was readily available for driving. When she got to his garage the first car her eyes located was a Bugatti Veyron.
Leo owned a Bugatti?" She wondered with her mouth that was opened so wide her jaw nearly fell off. Her heart jumped for joy because even as rich as her father was she has only driven two cars in her life, her grandmother's Mercedes and her own Lexus.
Finally, she's going to know what it feels like to drive a car as expensive as the Bugatti. She excitedly searched through the keys in her hand and dumped the rest in her bag when she found the right key. She opened the door and was about to get inside the car when she heard someone greeted from behind her
"Good morning ma'am"
Emma was startled. There was a man in the house with her all along!? She thought to herself. How could Leo have left her alone in the house with another man!? She wondered to herself in annoyance and tried to steady her heart beat.
She turned and saw with relief that it was Leo's driver. She immediately tried to recall the man's name before answering his greeting
"Oh, good morning Matt, how was your night?"
"It was great, thank you, ma'am. Where would you like to go, I'll take you myself?"
"You don't have to bother yourself about me. I'll drive myself." Emma said in dismissal
"If you insist ma'am... But why not take another car, this one..."
"I'm sorry Matt, I don't mean to be rude but I don't think you have the right to tell me what to do! If you have any problem with me driving this car then I'd suggest you take it up with your boss, alright?..."
What is it with his staff about telling her what to do and what not to do? Jeez!... And why couldn't she drive a Bugatti? Not like she would go and bash it or anything of such.
"I'm so sorry madam. No problem at all!... Just that the driving might be a little different from what you're used to... Never mind, I'd just show you what's different." Matt nervously said, opened the door wider for her, and quickly explained the basics before wishing her a safe journey.
The Chairman had already explained to all the staff who she is and it's not in his place to stop her from driving the most expensive car inside her husband's garage.