Frank ran through the dirty streets he had always hate walking on, he stepped into many puddles but he didn’t bother to curse as always nor was he worried at the dirt on his pants. A bright smile was clear on his face and his green eyes were shining like never before. When he finally saw their building, he increased his space as he spotted his girlfriend talking with their elderly neighbor, “Athena, Athena,” he shouted.
Athena turned at the sound of her name, she was shocked when she saw him running and how dirty he looked and for the first time, he doesn’t have a deadly scowl on his face for being dirty, what is going on? She wondered before excusing herself from the woman and walking to his direction, “Frank?”When Frank got closer to her, he picked her up and swirled around, Athena gasped and wrapped her hands round his neck to keep her from falling, “oh Athena, my life has changed, my life has changed!”Athena pressed her hand on her chest when he finally put her back on her feet, she breath in and out continuously before looking up at him, when was the last time she saw him so happy, when was the last time he exhibited such happiness outside? “Okay,” she took in one last breath, “what is going on?”Frank showed her a paper he was holding, “I won Athena, the CEO of Fashionista chose my design at first glance, oh, I am a designer of Fashionista, Athena, my dream has finally come true and my hard work has paid off.” He cupped her cheeks and looked deeply into her brown eyes, “and I wouldn’t have done it without you, I wouldn’t have achieved this without you, Athena, never. Oh, how I love you,” he leaned down and kissed her, when he tasted something salty, he released her and discovered that she was crying, “why are you crying?”“I’m happy, Frank, every night I pray to God that you should win so that you will be happy, when you left for the show this morning, I couldn’t concentrate on anything, all my thoughts were with you and my heart kept praying. I knew if you win this that you would be happy, but I never knew you would be this happy. It’s been a long time I have seen you like this, Frank,” she cupped his cheek, tears trailing down her own, “I will do anything to keep this smile on your face forever.”Frank closed his eyes and when he opened them, he kissed her again, “thank you, Athena, you are the only one for me and right now, our luck has just started shining.”Athena smiled through her tears and nodded, she hugged him and before she could know it, he picked her up in bridal style and carried her inside, with all their neighbors watching and wondering what’s with them.***Three months later, Athena got down from a cab in front of a very tall building, the street was bustling and people were walking around, minding their businesses, it was her third time out in the city, the first time was during her fifth birthday, her father had promised to take her sightseeing as a birthday gift and she had enjoyed it so much. The second time was two years ago when Frank had insisted they watched the fireworks from a park.Now standing before the very tall building, she heaved a sigh and intended to walk into the building when a car horn behind her got her attention, she turned back to see the cabdriver glaring at her, “you haven’t paid, ma’am,” he announced.“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she apologized and brought out some bill from her purse and handed it to him, she picked up her bag and turned back to the building when he drove away. Gulping, she made her way into the building, there was a black haired woman sitting at a corner and reading a book, she walked up to her, “em…excuse me ma’am,” the lady looked up and Athena flashed her best smile, “I’m looking for someone.”The lady smiled, “who is that?”“Frank Jones, he told me that he lives here.”“What’s his floor number?”Athena brought out the piece of paper she had been showing around the whole day, to the bus driver and the cabdriver and now this woman, “it says 2302.”“Oh, just take the elevator and press the number 23, when you get to the floor just search for 2302 on the doors, then you will have who you are looking for,” the lady smiled.“Thank you,” Athena returned the smile and shoved the paper pack in her pocket and she made her way to the elevator, there was a man standing there already and she just joined him. When the man pressed a floor, she just relaxed on the wall and stared around, it was her first time being in an elevator.“Press the number of the floor you are going,” the man said to her and she looked at him.“Huh?” She asked, then realizing what he said, she gulped, “we are going to the same floor.”“Oh,” the man nodded, then he looked her down, from her head to her toe, at the simple jeans and top she was wearing, probably wondering why he had never seen her on his floor when she says that they are going to the same floor.Athena felt scared at his scrutiny, she clutched tightly onto her bag and using her other hand, she brought down her hair and hid her face with it. She was going through many ways to defend herself when a loud bell made her jump and she clutched her chest immediately.The man glanced at her once more, wondering what was wrong with her but decided to mind his business and stepped out of the elevator. Athena put herself together and walked out too, she followed him silently and he stopped before a door to input his code, he looked at her, “do you mind?”“Oh, sorry,” she apologized and glanced away, the man input his code and got in, he looked at her once more and closed his door. Athena let go of the breath she was holding and then glanced at the number on the door, 2305. Shit, she must have followed him blindly that she passed her door, she turned back, glancing at the numbers on the doors until she found the one she was looking for.She stopped and knocked on the door, after knocking for a long time, no one opened and she got worried, did she get the floor number wrong? But Frank had written it for her himself a month ago and told her to come today. She had kept the paper in a safe place and she was sure that this was the right place. She continued knocking but the door didn’t open and she decided to wait for him. She sat in front of the door and waited.The sound of a door opening after a few hours had passed made her look up but it wasn’t the door she was sitting in front, seeing the man from earlier walked out, she hid her face in her hair again so that she wouldn’t have to look him in the eyes. When the man passed by her, he was surprised to see her and he looked at the door she was leaning on but deciding to mind his business, he walked on to the elevator.Athena sighed and rubbed her tummy, she was getting hungry and she had no idea how to contact Frank, he didn’t write down his number or she would have called him with the phone-booth she saw earlier downstairs. Minutes turned into hours and soon, Athena dozed off in front of the door.The elevator chimed and the man from earlier came out, he stopped, frozen when he saw her sleeping, what the hell? He wondered, he approached her and wiped away the hair from her face, she didn’t even flinch and he guessed she was really tired and she should be, it has been ten hours since they got into the elevator together. He fetched his phone from his pocket and dialed a number, when the line connected, he sighed, “em, Frank, I’m usually good at minding my business but there is a lady waiting for you in front of your door and it’s been hours, you think you can come attend to her?”“Shit, she came today?” Frank asked.“Em, am I supposed to answer that?”“Listen Fred, I am in a party right now and I can’t come out, you think you can take her in with you till I am back?”“Frank, I called you to tell you that someone is waiting for you not for you to ask me to babysit,” Fred replied.“Then there is nothing I can do, let her stay there, nothing is going to happen to he
Athena got up in the morning, she heaved a deep sigh and remembering she was not in her house nor in Frank’s, she sat up immediately and looked around the room, she was lying in the bed and it was the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in. She had fallen asleep immediately her head touched the pillow. Fred had been kind enough to give her the bed and took the couch, even though she was the intruder.She climbed out of the bed and readied her things; Franks should be back from wherever he went to, right? She thought and walked out of the bedroom to find Fred still sleeping on the couch. She approached him gently and didn’t know if he would be angry that she woke him up from his sleep but she really has to go and it would be wrong if she left without telling him, he was a kind soul and she would never forget that. After staring at him for a few minutes, she finally cleared her throat and his eyelid flickered before he opened them to stare at her. “I-I-I’m sorry to wake you, is
A week later, Frank was talking with some models outside the hall that the fashion show was taking place, when one of them scowled in disgust, “who the hell is that? That dress is so outdated, in fact, I don’t think I have ever seen such.”“My goodness, you don’t think she is attending the show, do you? I mean, dress in that?” Another said, her face and tone no different from the first model.Hearing the ladies’ words, Frank was forced to turn around and he froze when he saw the brunette who just got down from a cab and was looking around the place. She was dressed in a pitch pink dress which he recognized as her mother’s, her hair was let down on her shoulders and she was putting on a white two inches heels, he was with her the day she had bought the shoes but he never realized how ugly the thing looked until now. She smiled and waved when she saw him and he woke up at that moment as he heard one of the model’s words, “my gracious, is she waving at us?”“It can’t be, where
Athena gulped, staring at the man beside her, he had deep brown hair in a slicked back style, his face was oval with sexy cheekbones, his nose was perfectly pointed. His lips so succulent with the lower lip fuller than the upper and light red in color, his eyes, a beautiful shade of hazel and his lashes so long that she would have been jealous if she wasn’t a little tipsy. A sexy line of bears graced his cheeks and jaw and for some reason, she wanted to run her fingers through them.Her eyes trailed from his face to his fair neck and his body, he was dressed in a navy blue blazer with white shirt underneath and white pants. He had broad shoulders and his athletic body complimented his blazer making him look godly sexy, she gulped once more, her eyes going back to his face to meet with his smiling eyes.“Like what you see?” he asked with a soft chuckle, “I’m beautiful, I know,” he winked and pulled the stool next to her, sitting on it, he looked back at her, “you don’t mi
Athena glanced at him with a frown, “in your world, are you an alien?”“What?” He asked shocked and they both laughed, “why would you think that?” He asked, still laughing.“You kept mentioning your world, forgive me if I had to think so far,” she giggled.“Ah, to be honest, those in my circle often classifies themselves as a different world, a bigger world and more.”“Wow, I will like to be in that world.”He looked at her, for once since talking to her, he didn’t smile, “I wouldn’t want you to, it would stain you, take away that innocence that makes you different and soon, you would be just like them, with nothing to differentiate you.”“That’s not true, nothing can change me.”He smiled then, “ah my dear, you don’t understand, it changed your darling Frank, and it will change you too. It changes anyone who finds themselves in its midst.”“What about you, it didn’t change you?”He didn’t answer for a while, then he whispered, “it did, I think I am the mo
It’s been two weeks since the day Frank pushed her away and the night with the mysterious gentle stranger, Athena had tried not to think about it but even though she had tried to live like it never happened, he had haunted her dreams, his face, his hazel eyes, the feel of his hand on her body, the taste of his lips. One might say that as it has been fourteen days and she was drunk when it happened that she shouldn’t have so much detail of it, but that wasn’t how it was, every single night, she dreamt of it and the more she dreamt of it, the clearer and more detailed it became.She had downed herself in alcohol during the first few days to forget about both the man and his touch but it was never possible, it had also been her reason for not going after Frank since then, although she had wished that he would miss her and would come for her, telling her that he didn’t mean what he said but that wasn’t the case, she didn’t see neither heard from him and coupled with her guiltiness fo
Athena stood in front of the biggest house she had ever seen, her eyes had widened when the cab had stopped in front of the house, people were going inside but they always stopped in front of the door to hand something to a very huge man. She gulped, taking in her surrounding, never in her life had she dreamt of stepping into a house that big, there were different types of cars parked around and everyone going into the house all dressed so beautifully that she had taken another look at herself, but having decided to come over, she wasn’t going to let anything discourage her. She entered through the big open gate and walked straight to the line which has thinned down by then.Soon it was her turn and she stood face to face to the big man who was dressed in black suit, with dark eyeshades, something like an earphone with a white wire was attached into his ear and the wire inside his suit. She gulped and stood straight, trying not to look intimidated by him, even though she was scar
Athena heaved a deep sigh and walked carefully around the room, she was careful not only because she didn’t want to be spotted and thrown out but also because she doesn’t want to slip and fall. The floor was too smooth and she fears that if she lets go of herself, that she might slip, it wasn’t just her assumption but the fact that she had almost slipped when she had entered the hall. She searched everywhere her eyes could go, looking for only one person; she avoided her face when someone looked at her for a long time. She looked different from all of them, she knows and she had no intention of staying around for long, she just wants to see Frank and talk to him, after that she would leave.Minutes passed and Athena was beginning to have the feeling that Frank might not be in the hall, for Christ sake she had been searching for a long time and still could not find him, it’s also not helping if the hall looked like it houses a thousand people and it was s