Jake enjoyed showing Celeste off. They were around the same height, but she always wore heels that made her look taller than he was. But, Jake did not mind. He would take her on long and short trips around the world, whether they involved his business or not.
She practically went everywhere with him, ever since they met at that seminar where their school made him the lead speaker. They both went to MIT, and he graduated two years before her.
Jake stood on the podium, with a serious look on his face. He was flanked on both sides, by his bodyguards who did a bad job of hiding their guns.
Meanwhile, Jake could hear his heart pounding against his chest violently. He hated public speaking because, he was always scared that he would mince his words, and despite he was very successful. He found it difficult to tell other people how to live their lives.
When jake was feeling nervous, his throat usually went dry, and this time it led to him coughing uncomfortably in front of everyones.
Jake's dry cough was beginning to make the room uncomfortable and there was no water within his reach to relieve him of the discomfort he felt.
Celeste was in her finals and was the only student assigned to chaperone the conference by her computer science professor. She was the one that was supposed to set down water on the podium in case it was needed.
Quickly, rectifying her mistake, Celeste rushed forward carefully trying to ensure that she did not make any sudden movements that lead to her falling from her heels while clutching a can of spring water in her hands. And, that was the moment celeste and Jake first met.
His bodyguards rushed forward trying to stop her from gaining total access to him, but she showed them the water and they let her through.
Jake's cough disappeared the moment he saw her and they were both lost in the gaze of the other. Jake was well-traveled and had come across several women from all over the world, but none had been able to mesmerize him like celeste.
Celeste smiled nervously because he kept staring at me. "Your water, sir," She said, knocking him out of his trance.
"Thank you." He said sheepishly as she walked away from the prying eyes of the rest people in the hall who were wondering why it took so long for her to deliver a can of water and returned to my seat at the corner of the podium. The rest of his address went on smoothly, as he took small sips from the water she provided whenever he decided that he needed to pause.
After the seminar was over, Jake walked up to celeste as she discussed with a teacher of hers about allowing her to do extra work that would lead to her getting better grades.
"Excuse me, miss." He said with a cool voice. I turned around and saw jake standing in front of me. His baby blue eyes, pierced into mine causing me to almost lose my footing.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Jake," She responded, unsure of what I was supposed to say.
"There is no need for you to be formal with me, you can call me jake. I hope that I did not bore you with my long speech. I hate hearing the sound of my voice too."
Celeste swallowed a lump of spit. She was standing in front of Jake lively, he was number on the list published by Forbes for young billionaires shaping the world through technology.
And he was standing in front of her asking to be informal.
"What is your name?" He asked calmly.
"Celeste," I responded with a smile.
"You have the most beautiful hair that I have ever laid my eyes on." He said, pointing at her lush red hair that flowed down her shoulders.
Her cheeks turned red and her tongue became heavy. Then, like someone who was snapped out of a trance, she remembered that I had somewhere that she needed to be.
"I am sorry," I said. "But, I need to go."
Jake was startled by her sudden response. He must have felt like he was making headway with her because he was seeing all of her teeth.
"Go where?" He asked like he had any right asking someone he just met where they were headed to.
But, Celeste replied.
"I promised my mom that I would meet her after the seminar was over. We have plans for lunch."
He exhaled deeply. "I was hoping to take you out to lunch as well."
"Lunch?" She wondered aloud, and he nodded back sheepishly.
"I do not know. We just met." Said Celeste. She was not the kind of person that you could classify as adventurous, even if she had the looks and height of a supermodel, Celeste was a nerd.
Jake sensed that she was not comfortable, so he stopped pushing. But, he did not want a situation where he would leave there without getting her contact details or a way to reach her at least, so he pushed one more time.
"If it is not too much trouble, maybe I could get your number sometime and we reschedule our lunch," Jake said.
Celeste chuckled. "Our lunch?"
And jake shrugged without saying anything else. Celeste knew that by now her mother would already be waiting for her at the restaurant that they picked after three hours of surfing through yelp reviews.
She exhaled deeply and stretched out her hands for him to place his phone in. One of the jake's bodyguards reaches forward and placed a phone in her hands. She quickly typed her phone number on it and said.
"You are not like anything that I imagined," Celeste said. Jake's eyes widened at the response. "So, you have been thinking about me?" He asked.
"No, I mean when I see you in newspapers and tabloids." Celeste splurted out. Jake chuckled. "I would call you."
Celeste smiled back and then she turned away. "Goodbye." She said and she made her way out of the hall into traffic.
Jake turned to his bodyguard that collected the number from Celeste and said. "Go with her, I want to make sure that she gets to her location safely."
David had been Jake's bodyguard for three years, and he was used to his boss making that kind of request, without arguing he nodded back and said. "Yes, boss."
"Make sure that she does not know that you are following her," Jake instructed further.
"Of course," David replied as he quickly made his way outside trying not to lose her.