Chapter 1 : Alex

“Hey, wake up we're gonna be late.”

I groaned at her when I felt a nudge and turned to the side then nuzzled my face on the pillow, “What time is it already?” I asked.

“It's already 7:36 in the morn—!” she flinched when I immediately stood up, “What?! Why didn't you wake me?!” I shouted, but I received a smack on the back of my head in return.

‘Sh*t, that hurts.’

I pouted then rubbed the back of my head as she glared at me. You might be wondering who she is, her name is Louisiana Augustus. My best friend, I've been friends with her since senior high school and she's always by my side, no matter what. We're inseparable and I like it. She would always save me from the bullies and I would always save her from the bullies in her class. We treat each other like brothers and sisters. I'm very thankful that I met her, I would've been a loner if I didn't.

I snapped back to reality when I heard her voice again, “Just get up and go get ready, I've already cooked food for us and Jordan is joining us, he's gonna take us to the company,” she said as I nod in response.

She can always be a mom sometimes, she's the mom of our group. She always has this unique way of looking at life and she always gives the right advice. She's also boyish sometimes but she's an outgoing person. She has lots of friends than me. She has a cool personality, which is why many girls like her too.

I watch as she leaves my room, I started outside for a second thinking about what would happen today, or if something new will happen—before even leaving the bed and brushing my teeth. After brushing my teeth, I went straight to the shower and played Cloud 9 by beach bunny.

It's a popular song nowadays and I'm very proud that I discovered this song before it blew up. Yeah, I'm weird, aren't I?

I focused on taking a shower and then after taking a shower I wiped the water off of my body then starts to get ready for the day.

When I head downstairs I immediately hear Louisiana's moans making me groan, “Come on, it's too early for that, love birds.” I shouted while approaching the kitchen making them laugh.

“If you're that jealous, you can join us you know? I don't mind having a threesome.” he teased making me frown in disgust as they both laugh again.

After we had breakfast, we had already gone to our jobs. Louisiana and I are working on an architecture company, Three Lines Inc.

Seems like they ran out of ideas when it comes to naming the company, but it works too. I'm an Architect with only 4 years of experience and while Louisiana is the Project Manager. She handles managing, scheduling, budgeting, and many more. She's very good at her job, to be honest, and she seems to love it so, I don't worry that much. I also love my job too, being an architect has been my life-long dream. And I'm really happy that I've already achieved my dream.

I was about to head to my desk when suddenly someone wrapped an arm around mine, I turned to look at the person and it turns out that it was Jen, my coworker. She was also an excellent architect. Although her rank is higher than mine, she's still the same Jen I met on my first day, friendly, outgoing, kind, and very hardworking.

“Hey, Alex! Can I talk to you for a bit?” she asked. I nodded in response and she immediately pulled me to the side.

‘Knowing Jen? I already know what she's gonna tell me, it's always about blind dates.’

“Soooo... I have this friend of mine, and she told me that she wanted to meet you, she saw your profile on I*******m and I sent her photos of you. And, surprise surprise! You're her type! What do you think? She's pretty, okay? Well, it's not as if—” I cut her off, “Jen... How many times am I gonna tell you that I don't want to date anyone? I have a boyfriend already.” I smiled at her apologetically.

She sighed and held both of my shoulders, “I'm just not comfortable with that person, Alex and you know that.” she eyed me worriedly.

I nodded then sighed, “I know, but he's not a bad guy,” I paused, “Please? Just give him a chance.” She sighed in defeat and nodded.

“just know that if he ever did something to you, tell me immediately and I will rip that guy into pieces!” she said and pulled me into a hug then waves goodbye when she let go of me.

Many people have always seen me as a weak person, and I can't blame them. I always smile and I'm pretty much the 'happy-go-lucky' person in the group. I know she's just concerned, but sometimes it's just too much.

I watched as she walked back to her work making me sigh and wonder why Lucien hasn't contacted me for a week now. I would always text him in the morning but, after a couple of years with him? He's slowly being distant and he's just calling me for money. I pulled out my phone and texted him, asking him if he's okay. I sighed, I know he's hiding something. I just can't find the right timing to see it for myself. Maybe that's just an excuse, I don't know.

I'm starting to get suspicious of him but I just shrugged it off, scared that my suspicions would be true. I closed my eyes for a minute trying to calm my thoughts down then head back to work.

I'm too focused on my work that I didn't even know that an hour had already passed and it's already lunch break. I didn't even notice it until Louie tapped me on the shoulder, “Hey, let's go to the mall.” she said.

I looked at her and Jen then smiled innocently, “Convince me.” I replied making Jen laugh and Louie just rolled her eyes, “I'll buy us lunch.” she said.

I laughed then stood up and went to the mall with them, all three of us looked around and they stopped at a shop to buy something.

“Ohh! Look! This is cute!” Jen exclaimed. I looked at the pink dress and smiled then nodded at her, “You should try it on.” I encouraged her.

She smiled then went to the fitting room, I tried to look around again but Louie called my attention, “Alex, what do you think?” she asked.

I looked at her and gasped, “Oh, my god! That looks sexy! Holy cow! You have to wear that and tease Jordan!” I laughed. She chuckled then shakes her head and grabbed another dress to try on.

Minutes passed by while they're trying on new clothes and taking turns asking my opinion but I decided to look around for a while, waiting for them because they're trying on another dress—which I hope is the last when suddenly I heard something.

“Hey, sweetie tries this on.” a voice of a familiar man. My body went cold, I know that voice. I tried to follow the voice but then I accidentally bumped into someone.

“Hey! Watch where you're going!” she shouted at me, I stopped and opened my mouth to apologize but she immediately opened her mouth and shouted, causing a ruckus.

I tried to look around again, but I can't hear the voice anymore. Am I just hearing things? I continued to look around and sighed in defeat then looked down at my feet.

“Hon! Look! My dress is ruined!” she cried like a f*cking kid at the man sitting on a chair in front of her.

I rolled my eyes secretly and looked at the man in front of her, and that's when my mouth fall slightly open. Tall, tan, wearing long sleeves, slacks, and probably very expensive shoes.

‘Sh*t, did I just meet a man of my dreams?’

I gulped at the sight of him and when he slowly turned his gaze at the two of us, my knees started to feel weak. As if on cue Louisiana arrived.

“Hey, what's wrong?” Louie whispered while rubbing my back, I immediately turned my gaze to her when he looked at me.

“I bumped into her in an accident, and she... Made a fuss about it,” I whispered then shrugged.

I can still feel his hot gaze on me, but I refused to look at him and decided to look down at my feet. After a few minutes, I heard his voice. Not too deep, and not too high pitched either. Just normal.

“What happened?” he asked, I can feel his eyes still on me.

I can't help but to look at him when I heard his voice, I can see the corner of his lips twitching, it's almost as if he's trying not to smile or laugh.

I noticed that Louie continued to rub my back as she stood up straight and looked at the man, unfazed. “Your girlfriend just bumped into my friend and she's not even apologizing,” she answered confidently making me frown secretly.

‘That's not what happened, though?’ 

"T-that's not true!! They're lying!" she shouted.

I can see the annoyance in his eyes when he heard the woman shout like a kid. She's acting pretty immature for a grown woman. I can't even believe that she's not shy about this.

"We're done here, I'm sorry on her behalf but would it be alright if... I asked the two of you out for lunch?" He asked with a smile on his face while looking at us.

‘Well, that's fast. And not so smooth. Is he being serious?’

I looked at Louie and she nodded then looked back at me with those eyes that seemed like she's planning something or she's picturing something inside her head. It's creepy.

I saw him look at my lips when I opened them to say something, "We would love to... But she's busy right now and she's gonna be late for work she also has a boyfriend already."

‘wait, just why did I say that?’ 

I heard his faint chuckle before opening his mouth to speak again, "That's fine, I'm also okay with just the two of us." He smiled at me, but then I suddenly felt a warmth on my cheeks and that's when I remembered that I also have a boyfriend.

"I-i'm going on a date with my-" I was cut off by Louie, "He's free today!" She shouted, my eyes widened and I secretly pinched her on her waist.

I heard him laugh and he nodded, as he was about to open his mouth to say something. His girlfriend suddenly cut in.

"B-but, hon! I thought we're gonna go on a lunch date today?" she asked in a very annoying way.

‘What's her deal? I mean, they don't seem like a lovely couple because I can see that he's too uninterested in what she's doing.’

I saw him turn to face her, "I'm afraid that you're the only one who planned that 'lunch date'." He replied.

I bit my lower lip to fight my laugh as I watched her face turn flush with embarrassment as she huffs and walked out of the store. My friend suddenly patted me on the back and stick both of her thumbs up, encouraging me while Jen is pulling her and fanning her left hand on her face as if she's saying that this person is hot.

‘which is true, by the way—wait... What?'

He turned back to us only to find me, standing alone. I bet he didn't notice that my friend left while he's talking to his girlfriend.

"Shall we?" He asked me politely. I sighed in response and nodded then a smirk slowly crept up to his lips.