Chapter 63

~Alistair~

Garrett had set me up with the daughter of a renowned business mogul. Her name was Gina, and her family had been in the Fashion Industry for a good number of years. Although I had initially refused to meet with her, I had been forced to just see her since I had promised myself that I was going to attempt to move on with my life, at least.

We had decided to meet in an Ice cream shop, far away from the eye of reporters and citizens who just couldn’t mind their business. We were both public figures, and it was annoying at times because we couldn’t live how we wanted to live in public, as everyone made our personal lives their business. As for me, no one had really cared about me, until after what happened with Eliana, and as for Gina, she was a top model.

The car screeched to a halt in the parking lot, and I alighted from the vehicle after Mr Coleman had opened the door. After all these years, he was still my personal driver, as he had been from the time he had to drop me off at school as my late dad would never allow me walk or board a bus.

I buttoned my suit properly, and put my hands in the pocket, while I walked towards the Ice cream shop. According to Garrett, Gina had a photoshoot to do around this area, and appreciated the fact that I could come all the way just to have ice cream with her, and finally meet in person after chatting online for the past three days.

The door was opened by the doorman, and I stepped inside the highly air-conditioned ice cream shop. I had never gone on a date with a total stranger before, and this was the first time it was actually happening. I barely knew anything about her; she liked alcohol, enjoyed working out, hanging out with her friends, and was only thinking of settling down because her father wanted her to.

I never even asked her any of those things, but she enjoyed texting me a lot, and three days of knowing her had been more than unbearable. I couldn’t wait to just mess up, so that she’d be the one to call it off, and I could tell Garrett that what happened was based solely on her own will, and there was nothing I could have done to change it.

“Alistair,” I heard a tiny voice say.

I looked up, then saw her in a corner, waving at me. I could hardly recognise her, even though she had sent me multiple pictures of herself. If not for her red hair, I probably wouldn’t have been able to recognise her. Pictures can be so deceiving, and I knew why some people said so now.

“Hey,” I said, when I got to where she sat.

“Hi,” She said, beaming with a smile.

“I’m not sure we’ve officially met. I am Alistair Duke,” I said, stretching out my hand for a handshake.

She shook hands with me. “I’m Gina Leblanc, it’s my pleasure to meet you,” She said.

I forced a smile, after which I let go of her hand, and sat just opposite her, running my eyes over the menu.

“So, what would you like?” She asked.

“I’m not sure. I was thinking of getting a milkshake,” I said.

“Nice. I’ll just get an Ice cream Sundae. The weather has been so hot today, and I really need it to cool off. I mean, being a top model is so not easy. Can you believe we’ve been shooting in the sun?” She asked.

“Oh, I’m so sorry about that,” I said, feigning concern. Honestly, I couldn’t care less.

“Thank you so much, you’re such a darling, unlike my stupid ex-boyfriend, who felt that I complained so much,” She said, rolling her eyes.

“I’m sure he’s wrong about you,” I lied.

“Yeah. He’s definitely wrong,” She said.

“So, what are you shooting for?” I asked.

“You don’t expect me to start talking without having something in my stomach first, do you?” She asked.

“No, I’m sorry. I’ll just go and get what you want,” I said, and was about to stand up.

“That won’t be necessary,” She said. “Hey, waiter,” She called in a loud voice.

A few seconds later, a young man came to our table, and began to jot down what we requested for, then he left afterwards.

“I wonder why people bother to walk all the way to order for something, when there are people who are paid to just do that. If I’m doing your job for you, then, you don’t deserve to get paid at the end of the month. Don’t you agree?” She asked.

“Totally,” I told her, which again, was a lie.

“You know, I was in the Vogue magazine last year,” She said, unlocking her phone.

“That’s cool,” I told her.

She looked up at me, and eyed me viciously. “Are you kidding me? That’s cool? Seriously? It isn’t cool, it’s superb. Here are some of the pictures,” She said, shoving her phone in my face.

I heaved a frustrated sigh, and collected the phone from her, then went through the pictures, while she sat, eagerly waiting to hear my thoughts. The pictures were meh, but I already figured out what she wanted to hear, and for peace to reign, I was going to tell her exactly that.

“Wow, these are so mind-blowing and exceptional. You were born to be a model, darling. This is top-notch,” I told her.

“I know, right?” She squealed, then collected her phone back from me.

“Yeah. So, apart from modelling, what else do you do?” I inquired.

“I am working on this shoe collection that I’m going to introduce through my father’s company,” She said to me.

“That will be so nice,” I told her, which was she first honest thing I had said to her, apart from my name, since the beginning of this so-called date.

“Yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll send you an invite for the launch party. It will be so nice if you can propose to me on that same day, wouldn’t it? Hopefully, you won’t do the same thing you did to that other girl...was it four or five years ago?” She asked, smiling.

“Six years. It’s been six years now,” I said, and bit my lower lip, wearing a sullen look.

“Whatever. All that matters is that it did happen, and no one will ever forget about it. Why that look? I’m only saying the truth, and trust me, I am not in any way judging you. She cheated on someone like you, who is apparently caring and supportive, and she got what she deserved. People who cheat and betray our feelings deserve to be punished. When my stupid ex boyfriend cheated on me, I made sure he lost all his endorsements. He was an up and coming model, and I met him at a photoshoot. Apparently, the guy never liked me, and he just wanted to make use of my fame and wealth, so, this time around, I took my father’s advice, and decided to go out with a member of my social class,” She explained, without even pausing for breath.

“He’s a jerk, and he got what was coming to him. It’s heart-breaking when you give your all to someone, and they just play with your heart. It would be a shame to let them go scot-free after toying with your emotions,” I said.

“Exactly. They have to pay the price for treating us unfairly,” She agreed.

I opened my mouth to say something, but the waiter was my saving grace, as he appeared before us in that moment, and placed our orders right in front of us, after which he handed the bill over to us.

“Took you long enough,” Gina said, dismissively, and he left after giving her a small bow.

I took a sip of the milkshake, while she dug into her ice cream sundae.

“This tastes so good,” She said, licking her lips.

“That’s good to hear,” I said, feeling like there was nothing special about my own order. It was just the same old thing, and I could bet that hers was just there as well, but as usual, she was making unexceptional things look magnificent.

Someone walked into the ice cream shop, and when I turned around, I noticed she had the same physique Eliana possessed. There had been so many different girls that I had seen over the years, but none of them had the same physique of Eliana, except this one. I would have thought she was the one, but for her short hair, and the boy, whose hand she was holding.

“Alistair? Alistair,” Gina called.

I looked back at Gina, and smiled uneasily.

“I would have said you were checking out another woman in my presence, but I know you despise those who cheat, so you’d definitely not do that to me as well. I guess you were just checking out her hoodie, which means you’ve done a lot of research on my family. In case you ere wondering why the design of her hoodie looked so familiar, it’s because it was produced by my father,” She said, with a small smile.

“Wow, I knew I had seen that hoodie somewhere,’ I lied.

“At least, now, you know where,” She said, pushing her hair behind her ears.

As she picked up her spoon to continue from where she left off, I discovered that she the spoon now had a red stain, obviously gotten from her excessive red lipstick, which was surprisingly not the expensive type which didn’t stain everywhere. She had so much makeup on, which didn’t suit her white skin, and didn’t even cover up her pimples, which she needed to treat as soon as possible, instead of focusing all her intention on wearing the most expensive clothes and shoes.

“Why are you staring at me?” She asked, looking up.

“You just look so beautiful,” I told her.

“You can thank my mama when you see her in person,” She said, and winked.

I forced a smile, wondering why she had to be so forward when I wasn’t even thinking of dating her. She was already thinking of getting engaged to me, or meeting her mother. I was sorry to be of any disappointment, but she just wasn’t the kind of person I was interested in, and everything about her clearly seemed to annoy me.

It was a miracle that I was still sitting right here, and acting like I was enjoying this conversation, when I couldn’t wait for it to end, so, we could both go our separate ways. I already had a plan of texting her that another date wouldn’t be possible, but for now, I was going to let her keep deceiving herself.

“Stop walking all over the place,” I heard what was undeniably Eliana’s voice say. I hadn’t heard her speak for six years, but I sure as hell could tell when I heard her voice.

No, I was probably mistaken. It was probably because I had seen that girl who had entered here a few minutes ago that had a semblance of how she looked, or maybe it was because Gina Leblanc had mentioned the false proposal I had had with Eliana, or it was probably because we were close to the area where her family’s Lake house was located that I was hearing things.

“Ian, come here. Ian! Ian Venator!” The voice said again.

Venator? It was probably one of her sibling’s kids, but none of her siblings shared the same voice with her, and people’s voices don’t just change in a space of six years. I had to see who it was.

I turned around, and just then, I locked eyes with the only woman I had ever loved in my life, and she opened her mouth in surprise, as her eyes met mine.

“Alistair, are you okay?” Gina asked.

I didn’t bother to say anything, and I just stood up, walking like someone who was hypnotised, as I went to where Eliana stood in front of the counter, obviously placing her order.

She didn’t look away either, and held my eyes instead, but managed to close her mouth.

“Eliana,” I said, in a low tone, trying to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

“Alistair,” She said.

I pulled her into my arms, and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly, as I sobbed gently.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I said, holding her in my arms, like I was never going to let her go again.

I blinked my eyes severally to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, and it turned out that everything was actually a reality. Eliana was here, and I was holding her in my arms. She was with me in flesh and blood, and she wasn’t just a dream. She was real, and things were finally going to be okay.