I Swear, Let Me Love You Again

Nathan’s POV:

“Your team will set up the press conference, but we need to move quickly,” He said, with a sense of urgency in his voice. I nodded my head, taking in the cool office we were seated in.

“Other than that, I agree with the plan of holding a charity event but your mum is still bullying Lydia? If she indeed had something to do with this rumor, which I doubt. That will cause further harm to your image. So let’s just deal with these two.” I took in his advice letting all sink in.

“I really appreciate you taking your time to even listen to me, man.” Jacob smiled and we shook hands.

“No problem bro but umm…. Do you think it’s possible to reach Lydia?” Jacob asked, sitting back in his seat and I relaxed on mine thinking back to the last time I was able to contact her.

“I don’t know man. I really put her through enough crap. I think it will be better to handle this myself.” He nodded and a knock came from the door, a second later his secretary walked into the office with two glasses of coffee.

“Thank you.” We appreciated her and she smiled politely about to exit the room but stopped.

“Sir, I would like to show you the reports for the event of last week for the meeting at 2 or should I come back later?” I gestured for Jacob to allow her to proceed and he did.

Jacob was that one friend you talked to on any serious and important issue, we often joked on how he was an old man in a young person’s body. It was a joke but it held truths, his words held wisdom and truths. So though he was only a year older than I was, I respected the kind of love he had for his wife which was the type every woman dreamt of. He treated her like a gem.

When the rumors of him cheating came out last two years, he was quick to debunk such false accusations and his wife defended him publicly. People knew not to try him with the powerful, outspoken woman behind him and I loved their relationship.

Just as I was lost in thought, the vibration of my phone in my breast pocket brought me back to the present moment. I pulled out my phone, half-expecting to see my mother’s name on the screen. To my surprise, it was Jenny. My expression soured as I considered the prospect of speaking to her, knowing that our conversation would inevitably lead to last night’s events. I weighed my options, trying to decide whether to answer the call or not.

I awoke this morning with a throbbing headache, disoriented by the bright light shining through the uncovered windows. I turned to my right and nearly fell off the bed in shock when I saw a familiar face staring back at me – it was Jenny, looking far too awake and chipper for my liking. My brain struggled to process this information, but the evidence was clear – she was there, her messy hair and bare chest peeking out from under the white sheets. Before I could fully grasp the situation, she said something that left me frozen in terror.

“Good morning my love.” She said flirtatiously and without uttering a word, I got off the bed and headed straight to the bathroom in only my Calvin Kevin Black pair of boxers. Afterwards I dressed up for the day ignoring her questions and long speeches, in fact she was still speaking when I shut the door behind me.

I was already furious and hungover, the last thing I needed was any confusion, nagging or unneeded affection.

As soon as her call dropped for the fifth time in a row, a call from Rachel came through and I let out an inaudible groan.

They must be together. I thought to myself while debating whether to answer or not.

The call dropped and instantly she called again and I answered on the first ring,

“WHAT?” I asked as soon as I answered and I could hear a breath of relief.

“Nathan, we have been trying to get you for a minute now.” Rachel whined and I rolled my eyes. “Anyways, we are at the mall and we just might have exceeded our spending and I need you to come bill us out. People keep staring at us in a disgusting manner and I don’t like it at the slightest in fact you wouldn’t even believe who we happened to come across righ—”

“I don’t care, just let me send you the money.” I cut her off harshly watching as Jacob and his secretary concluded on their discussion and she walked elegantly out of the office.

“NO! We do need a ride after and wouldn’t you like to see your baby sister. Please Nat, pleaseee.” Jacob, who could hear the conversation, gave me a look and I knew he meant to go.

I shut my eyes and sighed deeply, “I will be there. Send the address.”

“Yayyy…Hurry up, okay?” I hung with responding and I could vividly imagine the look on her face.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

“Alright man, go ahead and take care of your sister. Lest I forget, I still need the tea on what happened last night.” I rose to my feet and did a double take at his choice of words.

“Bro, did you just say tea?” He laughed deeply and I chuckled as well.

“You know what I mean.” I simply hummed and dapped him up. I bid him goodbye and once again appreciated him for taking out of his time to actually listen and give advice.

My phone dinged as I got to the parking lot indicating Rachel had sent her location, I reluctantly cruised to the mall.

********

Arriving at the fourth floor of the mall, I caught myself walking into a luxurious boutique store, the interior design was majestical and the store was simply peaceful.

I fixed up my suit and walked towards the check out point, my eyes darting around the store in search of either Jenny or Rachel.

“Good afternoon sir. Welcome to Chic Thread Boutique, What can we help you with?” A young employee inquired politely and since I couldn’t still locate the whereabouts of Jenny and my phone was almost dead, I ended up asking her if she had probably seen either one of them while giving a vague description.

“Oh sir, Rachel King?” I sighed in relief as she finally got her description after about three trails.

“Yes.” Just as she was about to take me to where they were seated, the two came running to me like kids whose father came to pick them up.

“Nathan, you’re here,” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me in a dramatic fashion. Jenny too greeted me warmly, but my mind was elsewhere.

My eyes fell upon a woman I hadn’t seen in a long time. She had always been beautiful, but now she was radiating an inner glow that took my breath away. I couldn’t help but stare, entranced by her almond-shaped eyes that seemed to hold an indifferent expression, a stark contrast to the loving gaze I remembered from before. But there was something else about her that struck me – a confidence and air of success that she exuded. It was as if she had transformed into a different person entirely, one who commanded attention and respect.

“I didn’t call you for no staring competition with that woman who literally tricked us into buying all of these. I have no idea when she became this cunning and grew this amount of pride.” I was taken aback at the information of Lydia tricking them.

I never knew her to be like that but the smirk on her face confirmed Rachel’s words and I wasn’t the slightest pleased.

I offered my black card to the cashier and turned my attention to Lydia who seemed to be waiting for someone. I was uncertain on how to greet her, what to call her and what to say.

“How have you been Lydia?” I could hear a scoff coming from Jenny but I ignored it, keeping my eyes on the woman in front of me.

“Very well, thank you.” She responded dryly without giving me a second glance. I was about to speak again when a young woman ran from the back of the store and whispered into her ears.

Lydia’s face lit up at whatever the lady had said and in record time, a man who looked way too familiar came into the store stealing the attention of every single person in the store including employees, customers and most especially Lydia. He had two guards behind him who went straight ahead to gather Lydia’s thousand shopping bags.

I never even knew she cared about material things.

“Andrew.” She smiled widely running into his arms and he held her in an intimate embrace. As soon as they broke apart, I heard him ask her if she had purchased everything she needed and she responded affirmatively.

“Bye Lydia.” The young woman hugged her and after they broke apart, Lydia walked out of the store holding hand in hand with that man. She didn’t even look back but he did and stared at me intently with a stank look just before he shut the door to the store.

So it was true that Lydia was following a wealthy man after our divorce? She had probably even been behind tarnishing my image…What if my mother is right about Lydia?

“It’s all done, Nathan. Now let’s get some pizza, I’m hungry, tired and thirsty.” Rachel announced handing me back my card all while interrupting my thought.

I didn’t utter a word as we all exited the store while Jenny and Rachel talked amongst each other. Just like Lydia’s man, as soon as I got to the entrance of the store, I turned around and made eye contact with the woman who seems to be friends with Lydia. We made eye contact but I broke it following behind the two.

“Hold up you two, I will be right back.” I told them as soon as we arrived at the ground floor. I could hear Rachel whining and complaining but I strongly believed I had to do this.

I arrived back at the Chic Thread Boutique and the employees all came towards me inquiring what the problem was.

“I need to speak to the lady who was just here.” They furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.

“Sorry who?”

“It’s alright you all. It’s me.” I remember her somewhat, Lorena the fashionista, Lydia’s best friend.

“So how may I help you, Nathaniel King?” She inquired with an attitude but I needed to do what had to be done.