FRIDAY, 2nd MAY 2022.
Ten days went by without Elena and Mark contacting each other.
During that short period that felt like a millennium had gone by for Elena, she tried to keep her ears to the ground to see if Mark would be attending any functions, but she never heard any news about him.
It was like he had gone off the radar, but how was she supposed to confirm that if she didn't reach out to him?
After an entire morning of contemplation and goal reviewing, Elena sat down at the foot of her bed, her heart pounding in her chest as she held the phone in her trembling hand.
She had been staring at the screen for what felt like an eternity, unable to gather the courage to press the call button.
Elena had checked into her contact list and found Mark's. Instead of her usual way of leaving him a text, she opted to reach him directly by dialling his contact.
Her mind raced with a million different scenarios, each one more terrifying than the last.
Anxiety tightened its icy grip around her thoughts. She knew she needed to reach out to Mark, to ask for his help, but the fear of rejection and disappointment clouded her judgement.
Taking a deep breath, Elena closed her eyes and tried to steady her racing thoughts. She summoned every ounce of courage she could muster and finally pressed the call button.
As the phone rang with each passing second, her anxiety intensified as she waited for Mark to pick up.
"Hello?" Mark's voice finally broke the silence, his tone filled with warmth and familiarity.
Elena's voice caught in her throat for a moment, but she pushed through, determined to overcome her emotions. "Hey, Mark. It's Elena. I… I wanted to talk to you about something important."
"I'm pleased to hear your voice again, Elena," Mark said with a hint of amusement in his tone. "What do you want to talk about?"
As he began to speak, Elena felt the weight of her anxiety slowly start to lift. "I-I… Can we meet?" she asked.
There was a three seconds silence before she heard the shuffling from the other end. "Date, time and location. I will add it to my schedule."
Elena was wowed for a moment. The conversation flowed more smoothly than she had anticipated. Without wasting a second, she went ahead to give the date and venue for their meeting.
"Tomorrow, by 4 PM at…"
"I will see you tomorrow then." It didn't matter to Mark who had his schedule packed if he had the time or not. For the main fact that Elena had reached out to him first, he was going to make meeting her a possibility.
By the end of the call, Elena realized that her fears had been unfounded. Mark had been receptive, just as she had hoped at the back of her mind.
She couldn't help but feel a sense of relief wash over her as she dumped her phone on the bed to relieve the moment.
It must be a trait of healthy wealthy people to go straight to the point and not waste a second of their time because, how was she supposed to explain a success in communication that didn't even last more than sixty seconds?
Elena was glad and hopeful, and she looked forward to meeting Mark the following day.
Having ticked off that task on her To-do list for the day, Elena got off her bed to get ready for work.
Thank God it was Friday, the last day of the week she had to work so hard. On Saturday, she only had to work for four hours. From 9 AM to 2 PM.
---
After the call with Elena, Mark was in good spirit. A smile remained at the corner of his lips as he rose to his feet.
Since he woke up that morning, he had been sitting behind his home office desk trying to get some work done. And he could promise that he wasn't having the best time of his life until Elena's call came in and gave him something worthy to hold unto.
With that wide grin on his face, he packed up the items he would be using at work into his workshop before carrying them it of the room along with his phone. Straight away, he went to the bathroom to freshen up before putting on an outfit deserving of a jewellery designer.
Mark looked absolutely sun-kissed in that chic outfit of white pants and a print shirt that had trails that fell behind him from his shoulder blades.
He was really slaying with his shiny long hair tied in a small bun at the top of his head.
Satisfied with his looks, he threw on a pair of white sneakers and picked up his sunshades before making his way out of his bedroom with his workshop bag in hand.
Mark only looked like a complete celebrity when he stepped into his sports car.
Today was already a promising day as far as he was concerned.
---
The first thing Elena did after she returned from work was to find an outfit to wear to her meeting with Mark the following day.
Fashion was one of the weapons used to make people take you seriously. It didn't matter how much ready Mark was to help her because he somehow fancied her. But if she didn't present herself well, he would lose interest in her soon enough
Elena needed to make sure she had the power to keep Mark's eyes on her otherwise, she would lose him so soon.
Unknown to her, she already got his attention. She didn't need to do too much to get him on his knees.
After a lot of deliberating in front of her small closet, Elena chose an outfit that was chic enough to keep a few quality pairs of eyes on her.
She was having a meeting with one of the most influential men in City H and the country at large. Surely if she wanted quality terms, she had to look the part at the least.