Amelia felt a bit relieved knowing that Blaze was intentional about protecting her even from a far distance. This simply meant she didn't have to worry about the strange caller at the moment.
Nevertheless, she felt trapped and piqued by her lack of privacy. If Blaze had all her phone lines tapped, it meant he would be listening to all her conversation and there was no hiding from him. This was really irritating and they had to draw the lines when he returned.
Carefully putting away her gun in her handbag, Amelia hurriedly got ready for work.
At the office, the hour slowly passed by with a lot of papers to sign and scheduled Zoom meetings to attend. She got some calls from some of her friends including Tina, asking her to meet at their favourite handout. But she declined all the offers under the pretense of being very busy.
As the day drew to a close, Amelia felt physically exhausted and mentally burnt out. She packed up her stuff, hoping to briefly stop by the pharmacy to get some aspirin before heading home. She had just gotten into the elevator when she received a call from Maria.
"Hello Amelia, have you closed work for the day?" Maria asked in her usual friendly voice.
"Oh yes, I'm currently on my way out of the office," Amelia replied smiling to herself well massaging her aching neck.
"That's great because I'm waiting for you outside your office."
"You are?" Amelia abruptly stopped what she was doing, her eyes widened. She tilted her head towards Pascal who was obviously listening to her conversation.
Ding!
The elevator door opened and Amelia gestured for Pascal and Clay to go ahead of her so that she could talk freely with Maria.
"Maria, why are you waiting for me?" Amelia asked, while scanning the busy reception hall for a quiet place to talk.
"I sent you a message earlier informing you that I wanted to take you out for dinner. And I said I was going to pick you up by 6:00 PM. Didn't you read my message?" Maria asked jovially.
"Oh no!" Amelia's face palmed her forehead. She hadn't checked her messages for the past two hours.
'What would she say now?' She pondered, massaging her aching temple. How would she fix this mess? She would give anything to be in Maria's company right now but the timing was wrong. Someone out there was planning to hurt her and she recalled Blaze asking her not to meet up with any of her friends, probably for her safety.
"Amelia, are you still there?" Maria's worried voice pulled her out of her reverie.
"Yes...umm...I'm sorry, Maria. But I umm... didn't see your message on time. Please forgive me. I'll have to turn down your offer."
"Oh dear, I've already made a reservation and I was hoping we could hang out. But it's fine. I'll cancel and go home."
Maria's disappointed voice cut Amelia deeply.
"Wait! Don't cancel yet. Just give me a minute. I'll be with you shortly."
Amelia hung up and dialled Blaze's number. But for some awkward reason, her calls were diverted to an answering machine.
"How odd!" Amelia thought. This was the first time her call had been diverted. Probably he was busy and didn't want to be disturbed. Waving off every contradictory thought, she sent him a text message informing him of her decision to dine with her new mature woman friend, specifying the woman in block letters.
Afterwards, she joined Maria, who was patiently waiting outside her car by the driveway They both exchanged pleasantries and hugged briefly before each got into their separate cars.
Forty-five minutes later, Amelia and Maria were seated opposite each other in a VIP private dining room of a five-star restaurant.
The round table for four was filled with assorted and mouth-watering delicacies, varying from local to continental dishes. The soft lighting in the room reflected over the blend of gold and white interior decor, creating a calm soothing atmosphere for small talk and relaxation. With serene background music evoking a sense of tranquillity, Amelia felt in sync with her environment and the kind-hearted woman seated across the table from her.
They were chatting spiritedly and enjoying each other's company when a decently dressed waiter in a bow tie walked into the VIP room holding a bottle of one of the oldest and most expensive wines in the world, De Rosa Blanc 1942, worth over half a million dollars.
"Good evening, ma'am." The waiter greeted them with a bow, distracting Amelia's attention from the two gentlemen who just entered the room, undetected.
"Who is this from?" Maria asked sweetly staring at the waiter.
"That would be your son, mom." Blaze came into view, taking an unsuspecting Amelia by surprise.
Amelia, who was in the process of eating another scoop of her delicious spicy beef stew froze at the sight of Blaze, her hand hanging in mid-air.
Blaze strode purposefully towards their table, like a dangerous mafia warlord about to claim his prey. He was closely followed by Henry, who was still left in the dark about Blaze and Amelia's relationship.
"Blaze is Maria's son and Henry is his friend?" Amelia echoed in her erratically pounding heart.
Suddenly, it felt as though someone had just lowered the temperature in the room, causing Amelia to tremble as she brought her hands down. She watched in complete horror as Blaze walked over to Maria and kissed her on the forehead.
"I hope, I didn't keep you waiting Mom," Blaze spoke in the softest and sweetest voice, ignoring Amelia as if she was invisible.
"You came right on time," Maria replied stroking his cheek lovingly while turning to face Amelia.
Hello Amelia," Henry playfully sauntered over to her, taking the seat beside her, his eyes glimmering with so much love. "We meet... Amelia, are you all right?" He was shocked to see her looking so pale as though she had seen a ghost.
"Amelia..." Maria also noticed her pale and trembling look. "It's something the matter."
"Amelia, how nice to finally meet you again." Blaze finally locked his vicious and spine-chilling gaze with her, a devilish smirk dancing at the corner of his lips as he took the fourth seat between her and his mother.
"You know her?" Maria shifted her attention to her son.