He flipped the other side of his pillow, it was cold. It gave him a sting on the cheek just as his alarm was about to go off. And he turned it off while getting up. He had so much hangover, but knew he had to get dressed for work. He looked at himself in the mirror, his hair had gotten undone while he was asleep, now he had to get hair dressed afresh. He brushed his teeth and got dressed, ready to leave, making his way downstairs to find the maid just arranging his breakfast at the dining table. It was only six in the morning, and he was the only one awake, his cousin, Olivia was still asleep in the other room opposite his upstairs. She was staying with him because she was not yet married. Not because there wasn't anyone to marry her, but she had been a runaway bride a year back. After engaging to her boyfriend, he had proposed, and she had said yes. But on the day of marriage, when they were on the altar, she threw away his ring and took off, running out of the church. That day everyone was left in awe since no one had seen that happen to anyone in real life. Since then, she didn't want to return home, and his cousin, Jiren offered her refuge. Now she was part of his family. Because he was single, they would go out together. Yesterday however, Jiren had gone out on his own, and she still wanted an apology for that. An apology that Jiren would not give through words, Jiren had his way of making everyone's heart softer. He knew a bunch of flowers would do, and some street food. Olivia adored him so much, he was always straight to the point with everything he did, but that's not why she adored him. The reason she loved him - the reason everybody did, was because of how wealthy he was, he lived like a king! His house was a whole empire!
"Hello sunshine, finally you're awake just as I'm leaving." Jiren said to Olivia
"Yea, all the noise down here, if I were deaf, I'd still be asleep. But I'm not. So, going out with the prettiest girl in the world again or going to work, which one is it?" she said turning around.
"I have to work, but on my way back I can get you some nuggets at KFC, see ya."
He opened the door and walked to his parking area, his gateman already had the gate open, waiting for him to pass. Today he decided, he wanted to drive his new Mercedes GLE, he just wanted something simple but yet classic. His two bodyguards always followed him in two the Chevrolet cars, they always had their eyes on him to ensure his safety whenever he was going out.
His first stop was at his favourite salon nearby, then the next stop was at a stall he had gotten used to over the past few days. It was beside the road, and she was always there, selling her hotdogs and sausages and the kind of street food that Jiren liked, but he didn't even know her name. As usual, he made his stop there, but today she had a bigger trolley, and it looked new.
"Sir, you came, you see the other day you.... Youu...." Mara started.
" I paid an extra ten thousand, I know, it's just that the food you sell smell so good, I think they should be worth double the price."
Mara was startled, she buffered, "How can I be of help today sir?" She said with a melting heart, trying so hard to beat his eye contact.
"You know what, I'll buy all of it again and share it to people at work, then I'll come back in the evening, and I want more for myself and my cousin, how does that sound?" he said, knowing well today was a holiday and no one would be at work.
"It sounds great sir, all except it will be hard to go back home and cook some more then come back again." she replied amid concern.
"In that case, how about you just deliver it to my house, then I'll pay for your total transport cost?"
"Sir I.... I.."
"Then I'll pay you double." Jiren insisted.
"Sir please don't...."
"Okay I'll pay triple the total cost, how's that?"
In an attempt to stop the money from quadrupling, Mara blurted out, "Yes! Yes, I will." And she gave him his package, and for the third day in a row, her trolley was empty before she even had a chance to walk around selling. In her mind she thought how crazy this guy was, but secretly started to feel like she was crushing on him. As she walked home, she kept assuring herself that she was there for business and not love, but she felt cold shivers run down her spine as if to interject the speech she was having within herself. Jiren on the other hand drove much slower now, he had forgotten to do something he had meant to do, he had spent the whole night convincing himself that he would ask her for her name but saw the opportunity slide without doing it. On the contrary, he had given her his card that contained his address and was sure she would come. And he told himself again that he would ask for her name when she came around.
Here he was, at the parking lot of the European Union headquarter here in the city. The cars weren't as many since today was a holiday. Jiren was only going to check in some information on the server and would go out afterwards. This was what he was paid millions for. To just key in details on a computer and make sure he gave stamps and signatures for sales coming through and going out. He was the CEO of EU. He never let it get to his head though, he had been introduced to this job when he was still a young boy in high school, and when his dad felt too tired to continue, he was more than ready to take over his legacies. Adrian Velar, who was his father advised him on company matters. Even though Jiren had become a guru here, he still contacted his father many times to ask for advice regarding company matters and he was always there for him. He had this seriousness in the way he talked that one would find it so hard to even laugh at a joke he made. Jiren thought about his father and smiled, today he should have been alone at work, but here was Lana Hawkins, she was a supermodel for TV shows and movies. She had talked to Jiren on Instagram a few days back and had booked an appointment with him.
"Nice to see you weren't actually joking about the appointment." Jiren started.
"No, I wasn't at all. I'm very eager to be here but obviously I had to book an appointment with you on a holiday since you have a tight schedule on the other days." she replied.
"I agree, but since we're alone here and the media didn't follow you here, we can be a little more casual, as friends, and I'll try to answer you with sincere honesty, how about that?" Jiren said.
"Actually, I didn't come alone, the media team are outside, but they won't come in if you don't want them to."
"No, it's fine, they can come in, if that's how you had planned it."
LANA: Hello guys and welcome back to Qtv, this is your favourite episode of Uncut and I'm your host, Lana Hawkins. Today we bring you in the studio with us, a billionaire, not just a billionaire, a CEO of EU, welcome to the studio, Jiren Velar. Jiren, how would you describe your feeling to be in this interview in one word?
JIREN: I'd say relaxed.
LANA: If you were to swap jobs today, Jiren, who would you swap with? And why?
JIREN: Obviously, every job comes with its own responsibilities, unfortunately, mine is so tiring but great, nonetheless. I think if I were to swap jobs with someone, it'd be one of the hawkers around Eastleigh town, I don't know her name well, but I usually pass by to buy her food every time I'm going to work or coming from work. The reason is that I think she's really humbled, obviously it doesn't pay much but I think it requires someone who loves what they're doing. But I don't think I'll ever swap jobs though, I'm good. [he chuckles]
LANA: That met me as a surprise, I don't think I anticipated that. We'll be going for a short commercial break after which we can find out who this 'Girl in the streets' really is. See you till we're back.
Mara was watching this episode, Uncut was her favourite show, and she had heard that today's host was a billionaire, she had seen Jiren on the preview and become interested right away. She couldn't wait for the show to continue so she would know who this girl was. Unfortunately, there was a power outage, and she didn't get to watch the remaining part of the episode.