The Piercing Eyes of the Stranger.

Clarissa opened the door. “Do not tell me you are spending another weekend, holed up in your bedroom all by yourself…”

Scarlett turned to her. “I have so much to do ma.”

“You had a whole week, it is Friday night. I will watch Levi for you, you should be out there in the biggest city, having the time of your life!” she said excitedly.

“I told you, I went in late to work today and because of that the drama king gave me truck-load of work to do and not to forget, I was supposed to be formally introduced to my boss today and I stood him up.” She explained.

Clarissa shut the door and sat on the bed, “That is not your fault. Your boss has been absent for weeks, if he needed to see you, he should have informed you.”

Scarlett looked at her with a smile on her face. “You are my mom, of course you are always going to have my back.”

“But seriously, you need to get out there, there is a lot to do and I don’t want you wasting your youthfulness in your untidy bedroom...”

Scarlett chortled.

“Doing work…” she continued. “Call up your friends, there is a lot of places to be at.”

“I do not have friends, remember? I am in a new city.” she replied.

“What about work friends? Surely you have made new acquaintances…”

She thought about the girls from the legal department, they seemed like fun people but she only just met them and all they spoke about was the handsome Cameron Grayson, she tried to paint a picture of what he looked like but she shook her head. She could not entertain such thoughts at all. She was unbothered by these sort of things.

“I am just saying, I am a widowed fifty-four years old woman and I get more action than you do...”

Scarlett groaned and covered her ears with her hand, “Mommmm!”

Clarissa burst into loud laughter, “But seriously…” she began when she quieted down, “You can not let your experiences in the past, prevent you from having something beautiful. You have let a lot of time go by, you are far gone on your healing path, you are much better than you were and even more radiant. I need you to be truly happy and as much as you have found happiness in yourself, you need to find happiness in other people…”

She was opening her mouth to speak but Clarissa shut her down, “And that is excluding Levi and I, Scarr.”

Scarlett chuckled.

“I am serious Scarr…”

She exhaled. “I have heard you mom.”

“Okay, so get up and pack up…”

“Right now?” her brows shot up in surprise.

“Yes! Right now!”

“But I have nowhere to go.” She protested.

“Go stand on the street or something…”

“Mom…”

“Or maybe go and get some Chinese down the street, that is nearby…” she thought about it. “No, go to that restaurant I told you about, the one near the house I work that sells the tasty burgers…”

***

Scarlett had woken up that morning in high spirits, she had put in effort into her look that morning. Her long hair was tied up in a high ponytail. She wore a white lace blouse and grey pencil skirt that accentuated her curves, with a black stiletto. When she walked past Lucious that morning, his stare had lingered. She turned in all her work to his table, complete and early.

His response was a nod, but she was willing to take it, it was the nearest thing to a commendation she would get from him and she could not complain.

When she sat at her table, she took a couple of selfies and posted to her I*******m, every one else deserved to see how pretty she looked that morning.

She finished more work in less time and when lunch came, she walked up to the table and engaged the legal girls in a hearty conversation.

It was the poster perfect day, that she could have wished for until…

“Blondie, I need you”

Scarlett was slightly taken aback by the urgency in his voice, she stood to her feet. “What do you need?”

“Mr Grayson is having a meeting…”

“The boss is around?” her eye widened in alarm.

Lucious was irritated. “Yes, he is and is in a really crucial meeting rigghhtt noww…” he drew out the last words, emphasizing on them. “I need you and Audrey to quietly walk into the meeting and hand out papers timely…”

“I do not understand…”

Lucious had his hand on her back and was lightly pushing her forward. “They have all the information they need on the projector and has been sent to their mails but just in case, we have printed papers for those who do not care for the screens and would like to read from the paper…” he finished and let out a huge breath.

They stopped at the door of the large conference room.

Audrey was waiting for them at the entrance.

“Audrey, please help me out” Lucious said with a sigh.

Audrey nodded. She turned to Scarlett, “On my cue?”

Scarlett had not finished nodding when Audrey opened the doors and strutted in. It took her a minute to walk in after her.

Lucious let out a heavy sigh, massaging his temples.

Scarlett looked ahead of her, making sure to avoid direct eye contact with anyone in the conference room. Audrey handed her a small stack of papers.

Then in that moment, she felt a piercing stare on her back. She turned around and that was when she saw it. Those mesmerising grey eyes, she could not forget them even if she tried. She would recognize them anywhere, light, soulless, staring into them was like staring into a portal to another world, she could see all the emotions swirling in them.

Her heart was beating aloud in her chest, it was deafening. It was like time had stopped and it was only them in that room for a moment. It all came rushing down, memories she told herself were locked away forever. Sitting at the head of the large table was the stranger, the stranger from that wild night in Paris. She lost her hold on the papers and the stack came tumbling down…