At exactly 2pm, Laurel heard a slight knock on her office door. She asked the person to come in and realized it was the man that had stood behind David during the morning meeting. He looked decent dressed in a very costly suit attire that Laurel guessed would cost more her entire wardrobe.
"Good afternoon, ma'am," he greeted her once he entered the office. "Mr Edward sent me to pick you up for lunch." he offered when he noted Laurel's inquisitive look.
Immediately Nicole heard what he said she quickly got up from where she was seated and started packing up her things together. Once she was done packing, she rushed to the man's side and stood too waiting for her mother to get ready. "Good afternoon, sir," she greeted him as well.
"Please give me a sec." Laurel told him as she was packing up things together.
"Okay," the man agreed.
Nicole who stood close to the man, slowly trailed her eyes up to his face and she noted that he was a very handsome man. But she agreed that David was more handsome. But the man standing before her, had a well built body and a handsome face to go along with it. Suddenly, he turned his face to look at her and caught her staring, Nicole blushed and turned her face away.
The man slowly bent down to Nicole's height before saying, "Hey, how are you?" in the calmest voice he could muster.
"I'm sorry, I was staring," Nicole said instead of replying the question. "I was just admiring your body build and face. I feel like you're too handsome for a driver." she added shyly.
"And who said I'm a driver?" he asked.
"Mr Edward said he'll send his driver over." she replied sheepishly.
"Well, I'm anything Mr Edward says I am." he offered, "But, my name is Charles, in case you don't find it suitable to call me 'driver'." he said winking at her.
"I think Charles sounds a lot better." Nicole said nodding vigorously. "I'm Nicole, by the way. she told him and they both smiled.
"Why don't we seal these introductions with a handshake?" Charles asked stretching forth his right hand.
"Okay." Nicole agreed and gave in her hand which was engulfed by the big hands.
"I'm ready." Laurel announced as she stood with her bag on one hand and her laptop clasped to her bosom with the other hand.
"Shall we?" Charles intoned and they all filed out with Nicole clinging close to her mother.
***
Some minutes later, they were being ushered into a very exquisite restaurant named 'Alpha Foods' and Laurel immediately knew that it was an Edward family owned restaurant. The restaurant was very big and contained several sections, breakfast section, Chinese section, French section, snacks section, English dish section and so on. They were led into a separate section labeled 'Executive Lounge' where they noticed that David was engrossed in a meeting.
Immediately they entered, David raised up his head and waved at Nicole who happily waved back. Charles led them to set seats at the far end of the lounge where they'd not disturb nor be disturbed by the meeting.
"Mr Edward said to let you know that he'll be done in exactly 45 mins," Charles started saying, "but while you wait, I'll have the kitchen serve you lunch, if you'll just choose what you want." he added offering them each a menu.
Laurel could tell the menu would be exotic and expensive as hell immediately she saw how catchy the menu reader looked. She opened the first page and her breath caught. All the meals available were as expensive as she could never dream of spending in her life.
She was immediately at a loss of what to choose. She slowly glanced at her daughter who was very enthusiastic and eager about the food she's seeing on the list. Nicole looked at her mother pointing on one of the foods Laurel was sure she couldn't even pronounce.
One look at the price of the food Nicole posted and Laurel's heart almost jumped out of her mouth. She quickly collected the menu from her daughter and closed it with an unease look on her face.
"Or," Charles cut in to save the moment, "better still, I'll just help you make a choice and have them serve it." he offered as he stretched out his hand for the menu which Laurel handed back to him with grateful eyes.
"Thank you Charles," Nicole intoned with her tiny voice and Laurel nodded shyly at him.
"I'll be right back." he said and walked away just as a waiter appeared with drinks for both persons. Red wine was poured into Laurel's glass while fruit juice was poured into Nicole's glass.
Minutes later, their food was placed on their table and Nicole dug in without waiting for anything while Laurel took her time before she started eating.
They were already done eating before David was done was with his meeting and join them. He came with a smile plastered on his face as he approached them.
Nichole also had a wide grin on her face as well as she moved forward to hug his legs, "How's my favourite seven year old doing?" David asked when he squatted to her height.
"I'm fine." Nichole said in a lively voice unlike when they first met. "Thank you for the food. I enjoyed every bit of it, even though I don't know what it's called."
"Well, I didn't see what you ate, if I did I'd sure have told you the name." David offered with a little pull at her cheek playfully. Nichole smiled happily like she had no care in the world.
All these were happening and Laurel was busy watching them play together and she felt a little prick at her chest and she realized it was jealousy as a result of Nichole adoring someone else as much as she adored her or even more.
"Do you want to go play at the children quarters?" David asked the excited Nichole.
"Yes, yes." she immediately replied before looking at her mother with pleading eyes.
"I'll have Charles stay close to her at all times." David assured when he noticed Laurel's hesitation.
"Okay, but you have to be extremely careful and not come back to me with any injury at all." Laurel cautioned sternly.
"I promise." Nichole said raising her right palm up to show scout's honor.
"Okay, let's go." David said as he picked up the chuckling Nichole and placed her on his neck and walked out of the lounge.
Laurel watched them leave and imagined what it would have been like if David had been there through the upbringing of Nichole. He'd have been an interesting father, she thought. Maybe even the best father, but he left. And the situation can't be changed now. David toyed with her feelings and left her to be ruined, there's no way he's ever forgetting that.
The biggest problem she was facing was the fact that whenever he was around her, she has this twist in her heart and hollow in her stomach that makes her feel uneasy. She wanted to hate him so badly, despise him even but she finds herself wanting to find reasons to not hate him.
What is she thinking? Why won't she want to hate someone that made her pass through hell? Was she going crazy? He made her daughter grow up without a father. The sleepless nights, the tears, the questions that left her groping for answers.
Even though she had told Nichole that her father died before she gave birth to her, she always found a way to ask her questions that'll throw her off balance and have her groping for words. Like when she asked if she could meet her father's family.
After all these, Laurel thought, she's not giving up her daughter that easy, Nichole is hers and hers for keeps.