Chapter 3: Chapter Three

The weekend went by quickly and I was certainly not ready for work this morning. I had not gotten an inch of sleep the night before since every time I closed my eyes Stephen’s face popped up. Grabbing my phone and pressing the snooze button, I tried once more, to go to sleep. Ahh…no Stephen. Yes! Just as I was finally drifting to sleep, my irritating alarm began making noise once again and I groaned, realising that I now had to wake up. Throwing my comfortable, warm beige quilt off my body in frustration, I hopped out of my queen size bed and put my hot pink house slippers on before heading to the bathroom.

I looked a mess. My hair was still neatly in a pony tail, showing my lack of sleep, yet my eyes were a visible red colour and my face looked plainly miserable which I was. Slipping off my engagement ring and placing it on one of the counters, I walked into my walk-in shower and allowed the water to caress and awaken my muscles. Washing my body and hair, conditioning it as well, I sadly walked out of the shower when I remembered that I was already late. I stalked over to my wardrobe, pulling out my uniform of a black pencil skirt, a white crisply ironed shirt and matching black blazer. I could already tell that today was going to be a long, tiring one. When I had finished moisturising myself and getting dressed, I did my make up, applying some foundation and mascara and then made myself a sandwich. I completely admired my apartment since it was a place that I could be alone and reflected my personality. From the pink and silver damask print on my walls in my room, to the pictures of flowers and rabbits down my corridor. It all showed that I was a kind, vibrant, stylish person.

Hearing a knock on my front door, I rushed to open it so that I came face to face with my loving fiancé, Trevor.

“Morning beautiful,” Trevor greeted, pulling me in for a small kiss.

“Morning handsome.” I replied with a grin on my face.

“Shall we go?” Trevor suggested.

“Yeah, let me quickly grab my bag and shoes,” I stated, running back into my room to slip on my tights and black ballet flats. I threw my bag over my shoulder and taking my house keys off the glossy black coffee table in my living room, I headed off to work, locking the door behind me. It was starting to get chilly in Manhattan which I was quite sad about, yet I knew that I couldn't fight Mother Nature and so there was no point in complaining. I and Trevor didn’t work together since he was a model and I was a Director at Fern and Ethinal Corporations but he always came to my house in the morning to drop me off at work. That showed exactly how sweet my Trevor was.

“I’ll call you later, have a good day at work and don’t tire yourself out,” Trevor said. Nodding in agreement, I leaned in to give him a peck only for him to pull me in closer, expertly parting my lips allowing his tongue to merge and play with mine. I faintly hear the taxi driver clear his throat and so pulled away, giggling.

“Call me later,” I instructed, receiving a wink from Trevor before I got out of the taxi and headed into my office in the F&E Corporations building.

“Morning,” I greeted everyone, earning the same greeting back.

“Wait a second, what is that on your finger?” Robin, one of my co-workers asked, causing everyone to look at me.

“Oh this?” I questioned, playing with my engagement ring, trying to keep a straight face.

“He finally did it, didn’t he?” Martin joked.

“Aww, how did he do it?” Jessica squealed, running towards me to look at my stunning ring. More of the workers gathered around, pulling my hand in direction after direction, admiring the ring and saying their congratulations, which I truly appreciated.

“If only I had put that ring on your finger first,” Robin stated, glaring at the ring playfully.

“If Trevor heard that, he’d kill you,” Martin replied.

“Hey, it’s not my fault that I’m a guy and find her attractive,” Robin defended making me and Jessica roll our eyes and shake our heads.

“Anyway, let’s get back to work, since we do have a lot to do today,” I reminded them. I was the head-director with Robin and so we were in charge of directing people correctly and right now, we couldn’t waste any time since we had loads of things to be doing.

“I thought that I should remind you that Mr. Hobson is coming in today from Carlson & Zane, to talk about business and the shares that they wish to buy,” Martin jogged my memory.

“Thanks, I totally forgot about that. I’m gonna quickly gather up all the relevant papers. Tell Cynthia to call me when he arrives,” I thanked him, and then went to my office to do as I had said.

Since the office was extremely busy, I would be doing the meeting on my own, one-on-one with Mr. Hobson because Robin has some other business to attend to. This is when I had to step up my game so that I could be promoted to manager of the office, which meant even more money! After twenty minutes, the phone in my office went off and pressing the loud speaker button, I listened carefully,

“Mr. Hobson is here. Should I send him straight in?” Cynthia asked.

“Yes please,” I answered, cutting the call and straightening my uniform. The door opened as I was doing this and my heart stopped when I heard the voice that I was least expecting, however it did make sense since it was his surname.

“What a coincidence. I would have never guessed that you’d be the director of F&E Corporations. Actually, I would have,” Stephen explained smugly, with a smirk on his full lips. Full lips? Shaking my head at that ridiculous thought plus ignoring his comment, I signalled for him to take a seat. My eyes couldn’t help but travel up and down as I took in his smart navy blue suit, and white shirt which was slightly open at the top allowing me to see the tiniest part of his well defined muscles.

“Let’s just get on with this, shall we,” I suggested, wanting him out of my office as soon as possible.

“Okay Melanie,” Stephen agreed, leaning back casually in the chair in front of my desk.

“It’s Miss. Zeleny to you Mr. Hobson,” I corrected, as we were doing business.

“Oh yes, that’s right,” Stephen smirked wider.

“So you want some shares, is that correct?” I began, glancing at the papers in front of me, so that they could guide our conversation.

“Yes, I want some shares of you,” Stephen repeated, rephrasing it and leaving me slightly confused.

“Excuse me?” I quizzed, leaning onto the table, confused.

“I want some shares of you. Sorry, it sounds a bit jumbled, I want to share you, precisely. Really, I want you all for myself.” Stephen informed me, with a straight face.

“Is this a joke?” I spat, getting annoyed. Did he really just come to waste my time?

“No, it’s not,” Stephen chuckled, the sound taking me back to college. Snapping out of it, I glared at him across the table, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Fine, it is. Kinda. I came to see you really; another one of my workers will come to do the real deal with the other director here. So how are things? And I’m not referring to the dumb piece of crap you now call your fiancé,” Stephen finished, making me laugh in shock. He came to see me? Was he insane?! This was a business, you could not do that.

“Things were fine until you came back here and call Trevor a dumb piece of crap again and I will get you thrown out. Now, since you came to chat rubbish, would you like to leave my office before I call security,” I threatened, as I walked to my office door, about to open it, only to be pushed against it. How he got to me so fast, I have no clue.

“Feisty. I’d always liked you like that,” Stephen whispered, his hard, muscular body pressed against my small one as he towered over me at 6’2 ft. My heart beat accelerated as it always did when he was around and his sweet scent of cologne filled my nose. I could feel myself instantly being sucked in and I didn’t want to be. I was finally happy without him.

“You need to leave or I will call security.” I repeated, my voice still surprisingly strong.

“Do you really think that I’m afraid of security? You know me better than that Melanie,” Stephen commented and it was true. Stephen wasn’t scared of anything and that’s what scared me sometimes. An arm had already snaked its way around my waist pulling us as close as possible and his cool body seemed to be keeping me from over heating, even though mentally, his body was making mine feel as though it was on fire. His other hand stroked my cheek softly as his shining black eyes stared into my light brown ones.

“I bet you missed this, cause I know I did,” Stephen confessed, his voice coming out softly, making my knees go weak for a second.

“Wait a second, don’t fall on me,” Stephen smirked, pulling me back up. I suddenly felt his nose going up and down my neck, the feeling making the lust, love and desire for him build up again, resulting in me closing my eyes and enjoying the feeling whilst it lasted. I already knew that my love for him would never fade away, but I didn’t think that it’d spring back up so fast either. I struggled to keep my arms by my side and resisted the urge to wrap them around his neck and kiss him until I died from oxygen debt. I was engaged. Yet I couldn’t push him away. I felt his lips pressed against my neck and gasped in shock.

“By the way, happy late valentines day,” He murmured in my ear, his lips brushing past it causing an electric spark to flow through my body as he slipped something inside my skirt pocket. Easily, he lifted me out of the way of the door and opened it, his eyes never leaving mine.

“It’s good to know that I still have the same effect on you Melanie. See you around,” Stephen promised again, leaving, remembering to close the door behind him. When he left, my heart beat dropped back to normal and breathing out a ragged breath, I ran a hand through my hair before remembering that he had slipped something into my pocket. Placing my hand into my pocket, I pulled out a luminous yellow rubber band which made memories flood back.

***

“So, that’s the college. I hope I helped,” Stephen smiled nervously making my heart swell, as well as pulling a smile on my face, due to his cuteness.

“Thanks. I know where I have to go for some of my classes now…I think,” I thought out loud, making him chuckle slightly.

“Do you know what? If you need any help tell me.” Stephen stated. How I was going to do that, I had no idea. Knowing myself, I would probably never see him again.

“Put this on actually, I’ll see it whenever you wear it on your wrist, run a hand through your hair or something and I’ll be right there,” Stephen insisted, handing me a luminous yellow rubber from his own wrist.

“Are you being serious?” I asked, having no faith in his plan at all. There were so many other girls or guys in the school who could be wearing a rubber band the same colour. How could he guess that it was me? And how did he come up with that idea so fast?

“I know it sounds weird but it will work, trust me,” Stephen smiled confidently, showing his perfect smile and teeth, making him look even more gorgeous. For a weird reason, I trusted him that it would work, almost as soon as he had said it. Taking my hand in his, he softly slipped the rubber band around my wrist, causing something that felt like an electric shock to flow through my body, just as it had when we first shook hands. Our eyes snapped up at the same time and I smiled shyly, looking away.

“Well thanks then. I’ll see you around,” I thanked him before scurrying away from him in embarrassment. Great. I’d embarrassed myself twice in matter of minutes of meeting him!

***

Deciding not to throw it away, I placed it in my bag and tried my best to get back to work.