Chapter Two — Fell into Temptation
Gigi paced up and down Makisha's apartment, anxiety gnawing at her. Whereon earth could her friend be? She'd waited for only Zeus knew how long but Kisha seemed to have just vanished of Earth's surface! Well, that might be an exaggeration but still, Gigi was worried to death.
The surprise party was a bust, but Gigi's worry overshadowed the disappointment. She'd been calling too but nobody answered the goddamned phone.
"Should I just involve the police?"she was still thinking when the door swung open, and Makisha stumbled in, looking like she'd just raided a stranger's closet.
"Kisha!"Gigi breathed out in relief, rushing over to Makisha's side.
"Are you okay? Hurt anywhere?"
Makisha sank onto the bare floor, exhaustion etched all over her face. "I'm fine, okay?"she mumbled.
"You're fine? I was about to launch a full-scale search party to come find you! Where were you? You had me so fucking terrified,"Gigi spoke all in one breath.
"Calm down, girl. I'm really fine. It's just.....A mistake sorta happened last night,"Makisha spoke lowly.
"What do you mean mistake?"Gigi frowned.
"The I-kinda-got-drugged-and-slept-with-a-stranger kinda mistake,"Makisha sighed, slowly recounting the events of the previous night.
Gigi's jaw touched the ground after the small narrative was over.
"Oh. My. God. But who the fuck would drug you? Not many people there even knew you,"Gigi frowned in confusion.
"No idea. I'm only just hoping I never cross paths with that man ever again. If I do, I might as well just summon the god of thunder to add me in his list of art collections,"Makisha mumbled, facepalming herself with a low groan.
Gigi chuckled, sitting beside her friend.
"Hey, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Statistically, there's only 5.3% percent possibility of coming across your one night stander in your whole lifetime. What are the odds? So chill,"Gigi assured.
"I hope so.....oh fuck,"she cursed on seeing what the time read.
"I'm so fucking late. It's not gonna be funny with Madame Louise. She's been looking for a way to kill me and today is not going to be her lucky day,"she got up, bolting out of the living room and disappearing down the corridor.
Gigi shook her head with a smile on her face as she picked her phone.
"Have you seen her?! Please say yes,"Jenny's voice crackled through the phone.
"Yes,"Gigi laughed. "You can tell your husband to call his boys back."
"You both seriously had people searching for me? Who does that? It wasn't even twelve whole hours!"Makisha's voice echoed from the bathroom.
"We're your besties and our job is to keep you safe, so duhh,"both friends chorused. The call with Jenny was on speaker so Makisha could hear.
"I'd awwn right now, but I'm more of embarrassed for you both. Argh,"Makisha said in a grossed out tone.
"And this is what we get for worrying,"Jenny chuckled. "We'll talk later, girls. Love you!"
"Love you."
"Love you, bae."
Both Makisha and Gigi blew kisses and Jenny dropped the call.
Their friendship was a constant source of gratitude for Makisha. You know the kinda friendship where one person commits an offense and the others claim to have been the brain behind it? That was the kind of bond they shared. They're ready to move hills and mountains if it meant keeping the other happy.
As Makisha ran out of the bathroom and into her room, she tried her best to just forget about the hot stranger. She didn't know why she was restless. As if something related to last night was going to happen in the nearest future.
"Calm down, Kisha. What's the worse that could happen,"she mumbled to herself, finally succeeding in pushing aside the heavy feeling in her chest.
★★★
Jenny put down the call, a wide smile on her face. She turned around, walking into the suite where her husband and herself were to spend two weeks. They were in the capital of South Korea, Seoul. Josh had certain businesses to complete here with his Korean business partner so they decided.....why not kill two birds with a stone? They chose to have their honeymoon there but for just two weeks. They'd take off to Paris after that.
"Babe, could you call Clinton and the guys? Makisha just came back,"she spoke, talking to Josh who seemed engrossed in his phone.
Josh replied without looking up, "Okay."
Jenny climbed onto the bed, sitting closer to him as she tried to see his phone screen.
"Who're you talking to? C'mon, lemme see,"she whined, trying to reach for his phone.
Josh's abrupt shove had her sprawling to the floor, her elbow slamming into the sharp corner of the bedside table. A sharp pain shot though her arm and blood welled there.
"Josh,"she looked up at him, wide-eyed but the man's response was only a cold glare.
"What on Earth did you think you were doing? Don't you know what privacy means?"he questioned, anger sipping through his voice.
That was the first time he was using that tone on her. She couldn't believe it. Tears welled up in Jenny's eyes as the shocked feeling settled within her.
"But....you go through my phone all the time! You always want to see what I'm doing and I don't even complain,"Jenny spoke hurtfully, supporting her bleeding elbow with her other hand.
"That's different, Jen. I'm your husband now and you going through my phone means you don't trust me. You do....right?"
"You know I do,"Jenny said lowly.
"Good. Now let's take care of the cut ,"he gave a smile as he went for the first aid kit.
Jenny was left speechless. No apology?
"It's okay,"she told herself. "He was probably just in a bad mood. This won't happen again,"she assured herself. She got up, following behind him.
It's only been a day since their marriage, and this? She could only hope against hope that this was only just a blip in their newly married life.
The fingers of Andre Richard gracefully danced on the keys as he kept his eyes trained on the screen of his computer.
He didn't feel like going into the company today, his assistant, Romeo would take care of business there. He'd just work from home for just today.
The door swung open and a very slender figure stepped in. She was a blonde, fairly tall for a female and she's got the hourglass figure. In summary, she's drop-dead gorgeous.
"Hey, Baby,"she said in that tiny but high pitched soprano voice.
Her call for attention had Andre looking up from his work, giving a small smile.
"Bianca,"he acknowledged.
"I dropped by the office but Romeo said you called in tired. You okay?,"she questioned, sashaying her way towards his table.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thought I deserved the small break,"he sighed in exhaustion.
"Yeah, I suppose you do, workaholic,"she teased, sitting on his lap and pressing a kiss on his lips.
He froze in place, not attempting to reciprocate it. How could he when a certain brown haired girl occupied his mind? Hell, she'd been occupying his thoughts ever since he woke up to find her gone and that was the main reason he didn't go to work. He couldn't risk messing up anything major.
He was the CEO of a popular perfume company and his fiancéé, Bianca, had a shoot here in the not really modernized part of Las Vegas. He came with her per her request... after all he had a branch here , purposefully for the sake of the not so privileged. Having no apartment around, he decided to just lodge in a hotel. Only for a strange woman to force her way into his room and made him fall into temptation?
Who was she? The fact that she left without his knowledge was enough proof that she wasn't someone who knew who he was and was trying to rip him off his money. She wasn't herself from what he could notice and....
"Baby?"Bianca's voice drew him out of his reverie.
"Yeah?"
"You're sure you're okay? I've been talking to you,"Bianca shot him an offended look.
"Sorry, what were you saying?"Andre asked, trying to focus on the girl sitting on his lap.
She was the one he was going to get married to, no matter what. They'd been betrothed since birth and soon, their wedding would kick off. Who didn't know they were couples? All that was left was sealing the bond with marriage.
"Ryan is in Las Vegas. He just got back....I think,"she informed.
Although Andre and Bianca had been betrothed, they'd been friends since the get go. Ryan was the third in the friendship zone. He was the typical playboy who chased anything under the skirt.
"I know. He called to say he'll be coming...."he trailed off when someone barged in.
"What's with everyone and barging in on me? There's a word called knock,"Andre spoke, frowning at the blue haired guy who just walked in. He had the looks too.
"Hello, Bibi. Hey, Andre,"he grinned, showing off his perfect pearl white teeth.
"It's Bianca, Ryan,"Bianca corrected for the zillionth time since they've been friends as she got off Andre.
"Bibi, Bianca, same thing. So, anyone missed me?"
"You just got back and you're causing trouble. Go back, please,"Andre mocked and Bianca chuckled.
"Got a shoot you catch, bae. I'll get going,"she spoke, pecking his lips and he returned it.
"Alright then, see you later."
"Sure will. I love you,"she smiled, walking towards the door.
"Love ya,"he said after her as she disappeared out of sight.
"How've you been, bro,"Ryan asked, grabbing a seat in front of Andre who was battling with himself internally on whether to just tell Ryan about last night, or let go.
"What is it you want to tell me?"Ryan asked knowingly.
"You went to study witchery instead of business administration in NYU, didn't you?"Andre eyed him suspiciously.
"C'mon, just tell me already,"Ryan rolled eyes.
"What I'm about to say is top secret. Like, I'm gone if Bianca ever finds out,"Andre warned.
"Won't tell a soul. Spill."
"Last night...."he began his tale telling of what happened.
"And now, I just can't get her out of my mind,"he concluded. Ryan stayed quiet for a while.
"Can't believe you finally ditched your I'm-loyal-I-can't-cheat motto. I'm proud of you,son,"Ryan spoke, fake pride in his voice.
"How are you helping?"Andre glared.
"Chill. Knowing you, you're probably just concerned as to if she's okay. Like you said, she looked like she was drugged. Just don't think about it too much,"Ryan shrugged. "Besides, it's not like you'll ever see her again."
The reality sunk in hard. Ryan was right. What happened was a mistake that was meant to never happen again. He already knew this....so why did it hurt?
It was probably because the first thing that struck his mind after seeing her note, was finding her....